What SMS is used for
Customer replies
Inbound texts to your business number land in a conversation your team can answer, with the agent able to handle routine questions from the same knowledge base it uses on calls.
Appointment lifecycle
Booking confirmations, reminders ahead of the visit, and follow-up after. See Appointments.
Sequence steps
SMS as a step in an outbound sequence, often as the follow-up to an unanswered call.
Programmatic sends
One-off messages from your own systems via the SMS API.
Conversations
Each contact has one running thread per number, regardless of what started it. Threads show inbound and outbound messages in order, with the sending user or agent attributed, and can be marked active, archived, or closed as your team works through them. Find them under SMS in the dashboard, or list them over the API.Writing texts that work
- Identify yourself in the first message. “Hi, it’s Dan from Coral Plumbing” — an unidentified text from an unknown number reads as spam.
- One message, one ask. Split anything longer.
- Include opt-out on the first message of a thread, and on anything marketing-adjacent.
- Watch your hours. Reminders at 7am and follow-ups at 10pm both cost you goodwill, and late-night marketing texts carry legal exposure.
Opt-outs
STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE, and the other standard keywords are processed automatically. The number is suppressed and further sends to it are blocked — including from sequences and the API.Consent
You need permission before texting a customer. In practice that means a checkbox on your booking or contact form, a line on your web form, or explicit verbal agreement on a call. Keep a record of where and when consent was given — it’s what a carrier or regulator will ask for.Recording & consent
The consent obligations that apply to calls and recordings.