The blog/Missed calls
What to text back when you miss a call.
When you can’t pick up, a quick text can keep the caller from moving on to the next business. Below are three texts you can copy.
Published /5-minute read/By Thomas Carr and Walter Miska
The problem
What happens
after a missed call.
If you’re under a sink or already on another call, you can’t pick up. By the time you call back, the customer may have booked someone else. When something breaks, people want help right away, and many keep calling down the list until someone answers.
A quick text back can keep them from moving on. It tells them a real business got their call and will get back to them. They don’t have to leave a voicemail, either. They can reply with what they need, and you can answer when your hands are free.
What to send
A short text
that says who you are.
What a good missed-call text says
- Your business name, so they know who’s texting
- That you saw their call and can’t pick up right now
- That you’ll get back to them, without promising a time you can’t keep
- One easy question, if you want details first
- Nothing pushy, like a sales pitch or a link they didn’t ask for
- Short enough to read at a glance
Three texts you can copy
Swap in your own business name, and your first name too if you like. With a short business name, each one fits in a single text.
- During the workday
- Hi, this is Miller Plumbing. Sorry we missed your call, we're on a job. What can we help with? We'll call you back as soon as we're free.
- After hours
- Hi, this is Miller Plumbing. We're closed right now, but we got your call. Reply with what you need and we'll call you back as soon as we open.
- When you want details first
- Hi, this is Miller Plumbing. Sorry we missed your call. What's going on: a leak, a clog, or something else? Reply here and we'll call you back.
If someone might reply with an emergency after hours, say what to do instead (your emergency number, or where else to turn), and make sure someone checks the replies.
Get it right
Before you
send one.
Send it fast
The text matters most while the caller is still looking for help, so send it at the first safe chance you get, and never while driving. An automatic text can go out within seconds. An hour later, the caller may already have found someone else.
Keep it to one plain text
A text holds 160 characters. An emoji, or a curly apostrophe of the kind many phones type on their own, drops that to 70. Past the limit, the text is split into parts. Most phones put the parts back together, but a texting service like Twilio (one of the big texting companies) charges for each part. Copy the examples above as they are; they use plain characters. If your business name has an apostrophe, the safest choice is to leave it out. Twilio explains the 160 and 70 limits and the symbols that cause it.
Keep it about their call
Text back about the call they made, and nothing else. Don’t add their number to a promotions list, and if someone replies STOP, don’t text them again. If you run a health or legal office, keep the text to “we got your call” and save the details for the phone.
A call from a landline can’t get a text, so call those people back. And decide who sees the replies, so nobody who texts back is left waiting.
If your texts go out through a texting service or app instead of your own cell phone, US phone carriers require that kind of business number to be registered for texting (the industry calls it A2P 10DLC). Registered numbers are less likely to have their texts filtered out before they arrive, and your texting service should walk you through it (Twilio’s explanation).
Test it
If your texts go out automatically, call your business number from another phone and let it ring out. Does a text arrive? How long did it take? Does it say who you are? Would you reply to it? Then try it again after hours.
Or let it run on its own
Our missed-call
text-back.
Texting back by hand works when you remember to do it. On a busy day you won’t, and busy days are when the most calls get missed.
Our missed-call text-back sends the text for you. When you can’t pick up, the caller gets a text within seconds from a business texting line we connect to your number, and you get an alert so you can follow up when you’re free. You keep your number and answer calls the way you do now.
This is the text our own business line sends when someone hangs up without leaving a voicemail. It doesn’t promise a time, because we can’t always keep one:
- Thanks for calling Workload Relief. Sorry we missed you - we'll call you back as soon as we can.
Try it on your own phone.
Call (407) 305-7929 from your cell, let it ring a couple of times, and hang up. Our text reaches you in seconds, the same kind your callers would get with your name on it. The text says we’ll call you back, so one of the two owners will. It sends one text per number every three hours, so a quick second try won’t send another.