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The text step is the highest value step in most campaigns. It reaches the people who will never answer a call, it carries a link a phone call cannot, and it costs a fraction of a call. If you add one thing to a single step campaign, add this.

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Before you start

  • A campaign with a call step. See Build a sequence.
  • A phone number with texting switched on. US numbers must be registered before they can send. See Buy a phone number.
  • Contacts with mobile numbers. A contact with only a landline shows as Message not sent.
  • Ten minutes.

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Steps

1

Add the step

Open the campaign, go to Overview, add a step, and choose SMS.
2

Write the message body

Fill in Message Body. Keep it to one or two sentences. Say who you are, why you are writing, and give exactly one thing to do.
3

Set who gets it

Set the condition. For a follow up after an unanswered call, tick Went to voicemail and Couldn’t be connected. For a link after a successful call, tick Reached a person. See Choose when each step runs.
4

Set the delay

At least an hour after an unanswered call, so the text does not arrive while their phone is still ringing. Five to fifteen minutes after a successful call, while the conversation is fresh.
5

Send one to yourself first

Add your own mobile as a test contact and read the message on a real phone. Texts look different on a handset than in a form field, and a message that reads fine in the browser can arrive as three paragraphs.

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You will know it worked when

The text arrives on your own phone, names your business in the first few words, and contains one clear thing to do.

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Writing a text that works

What makes the difference:
  • Name the business in the first few words. People read the first line in a notification and decide from that alone.
  • Say why you are writing. “We tried to call about your check up” beats “Following up”.
  • One action, one link. Two links halves the chance either is clicked.
  • No pleasantries. “I hope this message finds you well” is three lines of a notification wasted.
  • Keep it short. Long messages split into several parts, arrive out of order, and read as spam.
What to avoid: capital letters for emphasis, more than one exclamation mark, the word FREE, and anything that looks like a marketing blast. Carriers filter on exactly these signals and your message stops arriving at all.

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The two texts worth sending

After a call nobody answered. This is the one that recovers the campaign. Around half your list will never answer a phone, and this is the only message they will see. After a call somebody answered. Send the link, the confirmation, or the quote you just promised, five minutes later while they still remember agreeing. This is the highest converting message in most sequences and almost nobody sets it up.

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What else you can do here

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If it did not work

Nothing sends. The number does not have texting enabled, or it is a US number that has not been registered. Registration is a prerequisite, not a formality. Some contacts show Message not sent. They have no mobile number on the contact record. Landlines cannot receive texts, and that is what this status means. Some contacts show Message failed. The number was rejected. Usually a wrong number, a landline saved as a mobile, or a handset blocking you. The message arrived split into pieces. It is too long. Cut it to two sentences and one link. Texts stopped arriving after a while. Carrier filtering. Look at your wording for the spam signals above, and check you are not sending the same message to a very large list in a very short window. See Control how fast a campaign dials. Replies are going nowhere. Make sure an agent is handling texts on that number. See My messages are not sending.

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FAQ

Yes. Add an SMS step, write the message, and set the condition for who gets it. The most common setup is a text to everybody whose call went to voicemail or could not be connected.
Set the SMS step’s condition to Went to voicemail and Couldn’t be connected. Contacts who answered skip the step.
Most often the number has no texting capability, or it is a US number that has not been registered yet. After that, check whether the contacts have mobile numbers, since a landline shows as Message not sent.
One or two sentences and one link. Longer messages split into several parts, can arrive out of order, and are more likely to be filtered.
Yes, using details held on the contact record, so each person gets their own name and appointment time. See Add your own contact fields.
The reply comes back to the number that sent it, and an agent set up for texts on that number can answer. Expect replies, because a good campaign text gets them. See Ways people can reach your agent.
After, in most cases, because a call that reaches somebody is worth more than a text. The exception is appointment reminders, where a text first and a call to the non responders works better.