Missed-call text-back
Missed-call text-back
The call you couldn’t take gets a text from you in seconds.
Seven in ten people who reach a voicemail hang up without leaving a message, and most of them ring the next name on Google. Missed-call text-back replies to every inbound call you miss, within seconds, from your number and in your name, so the conversation starts before they ring anyone else. Running today for LMB Plumbing & Heating, Renovolt Electrical and TLB Plumbing & Heating.
Do the maths
Every slider is an assumption you can change. The starting values come from Moneypenny’s UK study on voicemail and from what we see on clients’ phones.
Word for word
What the customer gets, and what happens next.
This is Renovolt Electrical’s flow, reconstructed with the customer’s details changed. Aled is up a ladder most of the day. The text goes out in his name within seconds of the missed call, and the rest follows on the same thread.
1
A call goes unanswered
Inbound only. Missed, no answer or voicemail. Never when you ring someone.
2
A text from you, in seconds
Sorry I missed your call, tell me what you need. Your name, your number, your wording. Out of hours it says so and still reads right at 11pm.
3
The photos, when the job needs them
The assistant asks for the photos on your checklist for that job type, so you can price it without a wasted trip out.
4
Handed to you to price
The thread arrives with a summary and the photos, marked waiting on price. The assistant stays quiet until you reply.
5
Booked, confirmed, reminded
When the customer says yes to your price the slot goes in the diary, the confirmation goes out, and a reminder follows the day before.
The same flow runs for LMB Plumbing & Heating and TLB Plumbing & Heating. The wording is theirs, the timing is the same.
Three versions
The message changes with who is calling and when.
One text for a new caller, one for someone already in your phone book, one for out of hours. All three are written with you and read by you before they go live.
New caller, working hours
Hi, sorry I missed your call, Lloyd here from LMB Plumbing & Heating, probably under a boiler. Tell me what you need here and I’ll come straight back to you.
Existing customer
Hi Sarah, sorry I missed you, Lloyd here. Text me what you need and I’ll sort it.
Out of hours
Hi, Lloyd here from LMB. I’ve finished for the day but I’ve got your call. If it’s urgent reply URGENT and I’ll ring you. Otherwise tell me what you need and I’ll be back first thing.
The safety gate
Your phone book is tagged first: family, friends, suppliers, the accountant. Those contacts are set to do-not-disturb on every channel before the text-back is switched on, and a check runs on every send. It cannot text your mum.
What it never does
It never texts an outbound call you made. It never texts twice for the same call. It never texts a number that has replied STOP. If any of those would happen, it does nothing and logs why.
The setup
What we actually do to switch it on.
The software is the cheap part. This is the work, and it is done before anything goes live.
The trigger, set correctly
Inbound calls only, on missed, no answer and voicemail. If this is set wrong the system texts sorry I missed your call to someone who just missed your call, and that is the fastest way to lose trust in it.
Your wording, approved by you
Three versions, in your words, signed with your name. You read them, you change them, then they go live. Nothing generic.
Phone book tagged
Personal, supplier and no-automation tags on your contacts, do-not-disturb applied, and a test send to your own phone before a customer ever gets one.
SMS or WhatsApp
SMS by default because it works for everyone. WhatsApp where your number is registered with Meta and the templates are approved, which takes days rather than hours.
The follow-up rules
If they reply, the assistant or you takes it. If they go quiet, one nudge with the booking link after a couple of hours in business time, one more next morning, then it stops.
Counted
Every missed call, text, reply and job on the contact record with the source, so the monthly report says how many calls you missed and what they became. Put those numbers into the calculator above.
What's included
What the setup involves.
Want this on your number?
Is it for you?
Who it is for.
What's in it
What you get, and what it costs to ignore.
Related
Got questions