ETA notifications for customers: the quickest way to stop 'on my way' texts eating your morning

You know the drill. You finish a job, jump in the van, and before you've pulled off the drive you're typing "on my way, see you in 20" to the next customer. Do that six times a day and you've got a second, unpaid job: full-time texter.

An ETA notification is meant to solve exactly this: a message that tells your customer when you'll arrive without you typing a word. Most tradespeople have never used one, because they assume it means buying a bloated CRM they haven't got time to learn.

It doesn't. Here's how automated ETA notifications actually work, why they cut down the inbound "where are you?" calls rather than adding to them, and what to look for in one.

How much of your morning goes on typing the same message

Do the sum on your own week. Say you're doing six call-outs a day. Each "on my way" text means unlocking the phone, finding the right contact, typing something out and hitting send, usually sat in the van with the engine running, halfway through thinking about the next job.

Call it a minute or two each once you count the interruption. That's ten minutes or so a day gone on typing arrival messages, an hour across the week, and the best part of a working day every month, on something that adds nothing to the job you're actually being paid for.

And that's before the mental cost of context-switching between driving, working and texting. If the goal is stopping "where are you?" calls for good, the fix isn't texting faster. It's removing the manual step.

The hidden cost: a plain text doesn't stop the chasing

Here's the part that gets missed. A manual "on my way" text doesn't actually prevent the follow-up call. It often causes it.

A plain text gives your customer no proof you're moving. It's words on a screen, sent once, and it never updates. So twenty minutes later, when you're stuck behind a bin lorry or the sat nav has rerouted you, they start wondering whether you're still coming. They ring. They text again. Hiya, you still on your way? You're now dealing with exactly the interruption the text was supposed to prevent.

It's a loop a lot of one-person businesses don't realise they're stuck in:

1. You send a manual text to head off the "where are you?" call
2. The text has no live update, so it goes stale within minutes
3. The customer chases anyway, because they've no way to check for themselves
4. You answer the phone mid-drive or mid-job

A static message simply can't do what a live link does. That's the gap an automated ETA notification is built to close.

What an ETA notification actually is (and why it's not a CRM)

An automated ETA notification is a WhatsApp message containing a live tracking link your customer opens straight in their phone's browser. Nothing to download, no account to create. It updates as you drive, showing roughly where you are and when you'll arrive, the same way a food delivery tracker does.

That's a fundamentally different thing from a CRM. A CRM wants you to import your customer list, set up pipelines, log every interaction, and train yourself and possibly your staff on a whole new system. That's weeks of setup for something you only ever wanted to do one job with: tell someone when you'll turn up.

An ETA tool does that one thing. There's nothing to configure beyond having the customer's number, and nothing for the customer to work out beyond tapping a link.

The point of an ETA notification isn't to manage your business. It's to remove one small, repetitive, annoying task from every job you do.

What a good one looks like

A good ETA notification takes one tap from you. No typing, no opening WhatsApp yourself, no hunting for the contact card. From there:

1. You tap once as you set off
2. Your customer gets a WhatsApp message with a live tracking link
3. They open it in their normal phone browser, with no install
4. They see your name, your estimated arrival and roughly where you are, updating as you drive

It's the experience customers already trust from parcel and food delivery, applied to trades. No guessing, no chasing calls, and no typing the same message five times before lunch.

WhatsApp isn't an arbitrary choice, either. It's already on your customer's phone and already the app they check, so there's nothing new for them to learn.

Choosing one you'll actually use

The objection every tradesperson has said out loud at some point: "I haven't got time to learn new software." Fair enough. Most software isn't built for someone who works out of a van.

So judge any ETA tool by how little it asks of you:

• No CRM import and no customer database to build before the first message
• It runs from your phone, between jobs, with no desktop software and nothing to train staff on
• A free trial you can start without a card
• A flat price, not a charge per user or per van

If it needs an afternoon at a laptop before it sends anything, it was built for an office, not a van.

What happens after the job: turning a good arrival into a review

A smooth arrival is half the story. What happens after the job matters just as much for winning the next one: a customer who was kept in the loop finishes the job pleased with you, and that's the moment to ask for a Google review.

That timing matters. A review request sent days later, or not at all, rarely converts. People forget, or the moment's passed. Catching them straight after a good job, while the work's fresh in their mind, is when they're most likely to actually write one.

That's the part OnMyWay handles. Pick the client when the job's done and the review request goes from your own WhatsApp. If they don't open the link, they get one reminder 2 days later, and you see when the review lands. It's a flat £9.99/month + tax, with every feature included. No tiers, no per-user charges.

Frequently asked questions

Do my customers need to download an app to receive an ETA notification?

No. It arrives as a normal WhatsApp message with a link, and tapping it opens the live tracking page in their phone's browser, just like tracking a parcel. There's nothing to download, install or sign up for on their end.

Is an ETA notification tool the same as a CRM?

No, and deliberately so. A CRM manages your whole customer relationship: contacts, pipelines, notes, follow-ups. An ETA tool does one specific job: telling your customer when you'll arrive, automatically. That's why there's no data import, no setup process and no learning curve.

Will automated ETA notifications actually reduce the calls I get?

The core problem with a manual text is that it goes stale the second you send it. A live tracking link keeps updating as you drive, so the customer can check for themselves instead of ringing you, which removes the reason most of those calls get made in the first place.

How much does OnMyWay cost, and is there a free trial?

It's a flat £9.99 a month + tax, with every feature included. No tiers, no per-user charges. New users get a 14-day free trial with no card required, so you can send real review requests before paying anything.

The bottom line

Manual "on my way" texts cost you more time than they save, and they don't even solve the problem. Customers still chase you, because a plain text gives them nothing to check. An automated ETA notification fixes both ends at once: no typing for you, a live link for them.

And once the job's done, OnMyWay takes care of the next message: pick the client and the Google review request goes from your own WhatsApp, with one reminder if they don't open it. No CRM, no setup, no training. Try it free for 14 days. You can send your first review request before you've finished your brew.