"Answering a lead by text"
Answering a lead by text
When somebody texts you through your page, you can answer them from your own phone — just reply to the alert. We send your words on from your FirstFiveMin line.
You do not install anything and there is nothing to log into. Reply to the text you already got.
Why it goes out on our line and not yours
Your own mobile number never reaches the lead. That is not us being protective of nothing:
- They keep one number to talk to. Every later reply from them comes back to the same line, so it reaches you — and it still reaches *you* even if you are on the shared FirstFiveMin number. - STOP keeps meaning one thing. There is exactly one line a person can stop, so when they do, it is honoured everywhere at once. - Your phone stays yours. No lead ends up with your personal number in their contacts.
What we check before it goes
Your message is sent on our line and under our texting registration, so it passes the same checks everything else on that line passes. If any of them says no, we do not send it, and we text you back to say why — we would rather tell you than let a message quietly disappear.
| If | We say | |---|---| | they asked not to be texted | not sent — you can still call | | it is outside legal calling hours, and this is a new message | not sent — send it again in the morning | | it is outside legal calling hours, and you are answering a text they sent you in the last 12 hours | sent — a reply to a person who texted you is not outreach (see below) | | you are at your plan's message limit | not sent — you are at the limit | | your texting registration is not approved yet | not sent — registration still pending | | the wording is outside what we can send for you | not sent — and we name the phrase, so you can reword it |
That last one is the one worth understanding. Because the message goes out under our texting registration, it is held to the same rules as your assistant: no promises about price that your own answers do not support, no advice framed as professional advice. We name the phrase we stopped on so you can change it and send again. And you can always just call — that is what this product is for.
Answering after hours
Calling-hour rules exist to stop businesses reaching out to people who did not ask. A person who texted you an hour ago *did* ask. So when you answer a text a lead sent you in the last 12 hours, in that same conversation, your reply goes out even outside their calling hours — as long as it is an answer and not an advertisement (a discount, a promo code, a limited-time offer will be held until morning and we tell you so), and as long as your own quiet hours on the on-call page allow it. A brand-new message, or a reply to a text older than that, still waits for the morning. Your assistant's calling window never changes: it does not place a call between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m. in the lead's time zone, whatever you or your hours say.
Answering also takes the lead
If the assistant was still counting down, replying by text takes the lead, exactly as pressing Claim or texting CALL does. Your reply is you answering, so we stop the assistant from calling somebody you are already talking to.
The words your team already knows still work
Nothing changes about the short replies:
- a number on its own still buys you more minutes
- CALL still takes the lead
- DONE and NOSHOW still close it out
- STOP still stops your own alerts
Anything else you type is treated as a message for the lead.
One thing to know: a bare YES is a keyword too (it is how somebody restarts texts they had stopped), so it is not relayed. If you mean yes to a lead, say a little more — "Yes, 3pm works".
Replying by email
Replying from your inbox is coming, and the plumbing for it is already built — it needs a DNS record and one console setting on our side before it can be switched on. Until then, reply from your phone.
The thread
Every message both ways sits on the lead's page, including anything we refused and the reason. The lead's own texts and your relayed replies read as one conversation.
If you are on the shared FirstFiveMin line
The shared line has one carrier limit for everyone on it, per day. On the rare day it is spent, a reply of yours is not sent and the confirmation says so; send it again after midnight (UTC), or get your own number, which has its own limit.