Your customers write to you
They ask a question, send a photo, confirm an appointment. Your receptionist answers from your instructions, qualifies the request and passes it to you. Those replies are metered on the customer reply pool.
SMS
Your customers text the same number they call. Your receptionist replies in writing, with the same instructions and the same limits as on the phone.
7 days, 20 answered calls, no card
The channel your customers already use
Plenty of people would rather write. They send a photo of the problem, ask a short question, confirm a time — without spending five minutes on a call. In Quebec, texting is accepted for following up a contact that already exists; unsolicited commercial texting needs consent first.
Your receptionist answers the messages that land on your business number. She follows the same instructions as on the phone: the same services, the same pricing rules, the same person to alert. A written exchange and a call about the same job stay attached to the same customer.
Two conversations, two meters
You write to your receptionist
You ask what happened, tell her to call someone back, change an instruction. That conversation is yours: it has its own meter and does not draw on what your customers use.
What it takes to switch on
Nothing to install, and nothing to configure in an outside tool.
- A number that can receive messages — the local number in your base, or your own
- Your written agreement for the receptionist to answer in your name on this channel
- Your reply instructions, carried over from your phone setup
- The name of the person a conversation goes to when the receptionist has to hand it over
If you keep your current number, receiving messages depends on your carrier: that is set up with you during installation.
What it can do on this channel
A photo beats three questions
A customer sends a photo of a leaking water heater. The receptionist files it with the request, notes the visible model and asks for the address.
Confirming without a call
“Are you still coming tomorrow?” — the answer goes out right away, with the planned window, without interrupting you on a site.
Picking up a missed call
A call that does not connect gets a written message within the minute, with one simple question to open the conversation.
What is metered on this channel
- Written replies from the receptionist to your customers, with their own monthly allowance
- Inbound and outbound message segments, metered apart from replies
- Basic confirmation messages stay included in your base, without this module
- Calls are untouched: they keep their own meter
Message transport is a carrier charge, separate from the subscription. It is shown on its own when you choose your offer.
Consent, windows and hand-off
A written channel has rules the phone does not, and they are stated before it goes on.
- Someone who writes to you opens the conversation: a reply is expected, solicitation is not
- A withdrawal is recorded and honoured across every channel at once, not only where it was expressed
- A written conversation that goes past what the receptionist can handle is passed to the person you named
- Exchanges are kept in your customer file and you remain the person who decides to erase them
The module that carries this channel
This channel is added through a module that also carries other ways of answering. Its page says which. The help explains how messages arrive and what is recorded from them.
Choose this channel, or another
Each channel is added separately. None is on by default, and removing one does not touch the others.
Questions about this channel
Do texts come from the same number as the calls?
Yes, that is the point. Your customers write to the number they already dial, with nothing new to remember. If you keep your current number, receiving messages depends on your carrier: some landlines do not receive texts, and that is checked with you during installation. The local number included in your base receives messages with no extra step.
Are we allowed to text our customers in Quebec?
Answering someone who wrote to you, or following up a contact that already exists, is accepted. Unsolicited commercial texting needs consent first, and the receptionist does not send it on its own initiative. Every withdrawal request is recorded, applied across all channels on that file, and it holds even when the person states it on the phone rather than in writing.
What happens when a customer sends a photo?
It is attached to the request, beside the caller's own words. The receptionist makes no diagnosis from an image: it notes what is visible and asks the questions still missing — the model, the address, the floor, how long it has been leaking. An attachment is scanned before being filed, and one message received twice triggers one action only.
Do texts consume my included calls?
No. Written replies to customers have their own monthly allowance, shared across the conversation channels you added, and calls keep theirs. Your own conversation with the receptionist is metered apart again. Basic confirmation messages stay included in your base, without this module.
Why is message transport shown separately?
Because a carrier bills it, by unit, and it does not depend on us. Folding it into the subscription would mean charging everyone for an average volume. So it is shown on its own when you choose your offer, with replies on one side and transported segments on the other.
And if a conversation runs past what the receptionist can handle?
It hands over. The whole thread goes to the person you named, with no need for the customer to repeat anything. It improvises no firm price, commits to no warranty, and takes no decision your instructions did not anticipate: it writes the request down and passes it to you.
Can a text recover a missed call?
Yes, if you switch it on. A call that does not connect gets a written message within the minute, with one simple question to open the conversation. The caller answers when they can, often from a job site or a waiting room, and the request qualifies itself in writing instead of disappearing.
Do our written exchanges stay accessible?
They are kept in the customer file, beside calls and requests, and readable by your team. You remain the person who decides when they are erased, and export happens from your workspace. A written thread and a call about the same subject stay attached to one customer.
Can we use a toll-free number or a second line?
Yes, and it is common when an advertising campaign carries its own number. Every base includes a local number, and you can have the receptionist answer on that one while your main line keeps its habits. Requests from both numbers land in the same place, with the origin noted, so you know which ad made the phone ring. A toll-free line depends on your carrier: some accept messages, some do not, and that is checked before anything is written into your instructions.
SMS