PetGroomBossPro Blog — Billing, Tips & Payments

Grooming Invoice Emails: What the Customer Gets After the Van Pulls Away

For a lot of mobile grooming customers, the invoice email is the only part of the visit they see in real time. They were at work. They got the “on the way” text, then the “arrived” text, and then, an hour or so later, an email with the bill. That email is doing more work than most groomers give it credit for.

The Email Is the Receipt and the Report

Whether the card is charged at the van or later, as explained in Auto-Charge on a Schedule: When Charging Later Fits Better Than Charging at the Van, the customer still needs to see what they are paying for. That is the job of the invoice email.

In PetGroomBossPro, when the groomer taps Complete, the invoice is created from the job. The customer gets it by email and can also open it in the customer app. If the card on file was charged, the invoice shows as paid. If not, they can pay it online.

For the customer who was not home, that email is how they find out the groom is done and how much it cost.

What Belongs in a Grooming Invoice Email

A good invoice email answers every question the customer might have without a phone call:

• Who it is from. Your company name and details, so it is not mistaken for spam.
• What was done. A line for each pet's service and each add-on, at your prices.
• The total. Including sales tax where it applies.
• Whether it is paid. Charged to the card on file, or waiting to be paid.
• How to pay or tip. The customer app, where the customer can pay online and leave a tip on a paid invoice.

Because the invoice comes from the job, the pet names and add-ons are already there. The office does not write anything by hand.

Why Itemized Emails Get Fewer Questions

Most billing questions start with a total that looks different from last time. An itemized email answers them in advance. If the customer sees “De-Matting” as a new line, they know why the bill is higher. If the second dog was a bath & brush this time instead of a full groom, the lower total makes sense.

That is the same idea behind One Line per Pet: Building a Mobile Grooming Invoice the Customer Understands. The email is just the place most customers read that invoice first.

Pair the Email With the Grooming Notes

The invoice tells the customer what they paid for. The grooming checklist tells them what was done. The groomer fills in the checklist for each pet in the groomer app and can add a note for the customer, such as “matting behind the ears is coming back.” The office can print a Grooming Report from it.

Customers who get a clear invoice and a thoughtful note feel looked after, even if they never saw the groomer. That is also when many of them decide to leave a tip.

Timing matters too. An invoice that lands while the customer is still thinking about the groom gets read. One that shows up days later, mixed in with other mail, is easy to ignore. Because the email goes out when the groomer taps Complete, it arrives while the visit is still fresh, often not long after the arrived text the customer already saw that day.

Emails for Monthly Accounts

Not every customer gets an email after every visit. A senior living community, doggy daycare or apartment community set to Monthly gets one statement each month covering every visit. The person who pays the account gets one bill, which is usually what an organization wants.

The residents or pet owners at those accounts can still get their visit alerts — night before, when they are next, when the groomer arrives — depending on how you set the account up. The billing just goes to one place.

The Email Plus the Customer App

The email is the push. The customer app is where the customer can go back any time. In the app, they can see every invoice, pay any that are open, update their card on file, request service, and see today's route on service day. On a paid invoice, they can tip $10, $20, $30 or another amount.

Pointing customers to the app in your welcome message saves your office a lot of “can you resend that invoice?” requests. The next article, Paying in the Customer App: How Grooming Clients See Their Invoices and Pay Online, covers it in detail.

A clear email after every groom is one of the cheapest ways to look professional. To see invoice emails alongside card on file, tips and the rest of billing, visit the pet grooming invoicing software page.