Text-back: what it is and how to set it up
Turn on a text-back tool where your calls ring. It sends an automatic text back when you miss a call.
After the missed call, the caller’s phone shows:
“This is [your business]. We missed your call. Text us what you need, or we’ll call you back by [your set time].”
That automatic message is called ‘text-back’. Adjust the wording for your business, keep it honest, and put a real callback behind it.
Need the call answered instead? See how Service Blue works.
Three steps to a working text-back
- Pick where it runsDepending on your setup, text-back comes as a phone app, a feature inside your business phone service, or an add-on tool. Ask your phone provider first, because depending on your plan it may already be included. While you ask, cover the rules: whether business-texting registration is required, who handles it, and what happens when a customer replies STOP.
- Write the text onceKeep it to three parts: who you are, why you are texting, and what happens next. Name a callback time and make sure someone owns that callback. A text with no callback behind it is a second missed call.
- Test it like a customerCall your own number from another phone and let it ring out. Check the text arrives and reads right. Reply to it, see where the reply lands, and check the callback happens on time.
When text-back does the job
Text-back fits the calls that can carry on by text: quote requests, scheduling, simple questions. The caller has something to reply to, and any reply comes back to you in writing.
When it is not enough
A caller who needs a live answer right then gets a text instead of help. Pull your own missed calls and check which kind you miss. We covered the full setup in how to stop missing calls and the costs in the cost guide.
Where Service Blue fits
If text-back gives your callers enough help, use it. It is a simple way to acknowledge the call and collect a reply.
When customers need an answer instead of a text, Service Blue is the office we make for trades, and it goes one step further. It answers the call live as your business, asks the caller’s name and what they need, and sends the details to your email and the Service Blue app.
You or your office staff decide who calls back.
Hear Service Blue answer a call