The short answer: connect the inbox your payment notices go to, add your phone number, and tell alfred_ once: “Text me when a payment notice says a client paid a deposit or invoice.” Each payment email from QuickBooks, Square, Stripe or similar sends you a text with who paid and how much. Text back a thank-you or a confirmed date, and it goes when you say send.
The deposit that sat for four days
You run a remodeling company. Jobs book on a 30% deposit, and your invoicing tool emails you when one is paid. So do the supply house, the bank, two software vendors and the parts distributor.
Sarah Lopez pays her kitchen deposit Friday night. The notice lands in a stack of other notices. Monday is a full site day. On Tuesday she emails: “Just checking you got the deposit? Are we still on for the 10th?” She paid on Friday, and you hadn’t confirmed.
The native ways, and where they stop
The payment app’s own notifications. Some apps push to your phone. Many small businesses get payment notices only by email, mixed with everything else.
Checking the invoicing dashboard. Accurate, on a laptop, when you remember to look.
A filter on the sender. Catches every email from the invoicing tool: sent invoices, reminders, monthly statements.
Set up the rule
- Connect the inbox your payment notices go to (Gmail, Google Workspace, Outlook or Microsoft 365). Sign in with Google or Microsoft; your password stays with them.
- Add your phone number and text alfred_ once from that phone. That turns texting on.
- Say the rule, by text or in the app: “Text me when a payment notice says a client paid a deposit or invoice.”
- alfred_ repeats it back. Check it, and it’s saved. See Email rules.
What the text looks like
alfred_: Payment received: Sarah Lopez paid $8,400 on invoice 1042 (kitchen remodel deposit), Friday 9:14 PM.
You: write sarah thanks, deposit’s in and we’re locked for nov 10 at 8
alfred_: Here’s the email to Sarah: “Hi Sarah, thanks, your deposit came through. You’re confirmed for November 10, and the crew will be there at 8 AM.” Send it?
You: send
Illustrative exchange. The client and amounts are invented.
Where each step happens
- Phone, anywhere: the text arrives in iMessage on iPhone, or RCS or SMS on Android.
- Answering: “send” or “yes” sends it; anything else changes it first.
- Desktop: rules live in Settings, Rules; the thank-you is in your sent mail like any email.
The honest caveat
alfred_ reads the payment emails in the inboxes you connect. It doesn’t connect to your bank, your invoicing tool or your accounting, so a payment with no email notice isn’t seen, and the text is only as detailed as the notice. Quiet hours hold texts until they end. It doesn’t email clients on its own. alfred_ is a paid product; plans are on the pricing page.
