Two-way texting for service businesses: one number, one inbox, every message on the record

What is two-way texting for a service business?

Two-way texting means customers can text your business number and get a reply, and your team can text them first, all from a system the company controls. Messages show up in a shared inbox the office can see, threaded by customer, and saved on the customer's record next to their quotes, jobs and invoices.

Most service companies already text. The problem is where. Crew leads text customers from personal phones. The owner texts from their own cell. The office has no idea what was promised, and when an employee leaves, the conversations and the customer relationships leave with them. Two-way texting on a business number fixes that by putting every message in one place the company owns.

How does it work day to day?

A typical day of texting in a service company looks like this:

• Inbound questions. A customer texts "Are you still coming today?" The office sees it, sees the job on the same screen, and answers in seconds.
• Automatic job texts. Booking confirmations, day-before reminders, on-the-way messages, "job complete" with photos, and invoice links go out on their own from the same number.
• Photos both ways. Customers send pictures of the problem before an estimate. Crews send before and after photos. Both are saved to the record.
• Missed-call follow-up. If a call goes unanswered, a text goes out so the caller has a way to reach you; missed-call text back explains the setup.
• Weather and schedule changes. A rain delay message to every customer on tomorrow's route, sent in one step.

The inbox should show who is handling each conversation, flag unanswered messages, and let a manager reassign a thread. Templates help with common replies, but the person sending should always be able to edit them.

Which number should you text from?

The same number customers already call, if you can. One number for calls and texts means customers don't have to guess. If your main number is a landline or on a carrier that can't text, many business phone providers can enable texting on it or port it to a system that can. Our business phone service sets this up.

Whatever you choose, the number should be in the company's name, on an account the company controls. That way the number, and every customer who has it saved, stays with the business.

What is 10DLC registration and do you need it?

If your texts go out through software on an ordinary 10-digit local number, yes. According to Twilio, A2P 10DLC is the carriers' system for checking that business texts sent from ordinary local numbers are legitimate and wanted. Twilio says every application sending SMS or MMS to U.S. phones over such a number must register. Twilio also documents that it blocks messages sent from a U.S. 10DLC number that isn't tied to an approved campaign.

Registration means describing your business (the brand) and how you text (the campaign): sample messages, how customers opt in, and how they opt out. Approval can take time, so register before you need it. The steps are laid out in our 10DLC explainer.

What consent do you need to text customers?

That depends on what the text is for. The federal rules under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act are strictest for marketing. Under 47 CFR 64.1200, telemarketing calls or texts to a wireless number using an autodialer need prior express written consent, meaning a signed written agreement (electronic signatures can count) that clearly authorizes those messages. Texts to a cell phone count as calls under these rules.

In practice, keep two kinds of texts apart:

The penalties are large enough to take seriously. The statute, 47 U.S.C. 227, lets a person recover $500 per violation, and a court can triple that for willful or knowing violations. Our guide to SMS marketing rules goes deeper on marketing consent and quiet hours.

How should opt-outs work?

Automatically, and on every channel the customer might use. Under the same regulation, a customer can revoke consent in any reasonable way, and the rule names specific reply words (among them stop, cancel, unsubscribe and opt out) that always count as revoking. Businesses get ten business days at most to act on it. The rule allows one confirmation text after an opt-out, if it is sent within five minutes and contains no marketing.

Your system should:

• catch those words in replies and mark the number as opted out at once, without waiting for a person;
• block further messages to that number from every tool, including broadcasts and automations;
• allow START or a similar word to opt back in, and record when it happened;
• show staff a clear warning on the customer record, so nobody texts from a different tool by mistake.

Carriers expect the same. The CTIA Messaging Principles and Best Practices describe opt-in, opt-out and HELP handling that carriers use when reviewing business texting.

What rules should your team follow when texting?

Texting feels casual, which is why it needs a few house rules. Write them down once and show them to every new hire:

• Answer during business hours, fast. Set an expected reply time and an after-hours auto-reply that says when someone will answer and what to do in an emergency.
• Never quote a new price by text without the system. Send a quote link instead, so the price is on the record and the customer can approve it properly.
• No payment details by text. If a customer offers a card number, send a secure payment link and ask them to delete the message.
• Sign messages with a first name. Customers like knowing who they are talking to, and it helps the office follow the thread.
• Move hard conversations to a call. Complaints and disputes go better by phone; note the outcome on the record afterward.

What should you look for in a texting system?

• Messages saved on the customer record, not in a separate app.
• A shared inbox with assignment and unread flags, so nothing sits unanswered.
• Automatic opt-out handling across one-to-one messages, automations and broadcasts.
• Consent records: when, where and how each customer agreed, for job texts and marketing separately.
• Photo support in both directions.
• Quiet hours for automated and marketing messages.
• Your own number and your own registration, so the sending reputation belongs to you.

What are the common texting mistakes?

• Personal cell phones. The company loses the record and the customer.
• Marketing to job-text contacts. A customer who agreed to appointment reminders hasn't agreed to promotions.
• Opt-outs that only one tool knows about. If your marketing tool and your CRM keep separate lists, someone will text a person who said stop.
• Texts nobody owns. A shared inbox without assignment becomes an inbox nobody reads.
• Skipping registration. Unregistered texts can be blocked, so the reminder never arrives and the customer isn't home.

When is custom texting worth building?

Most field-service software and business phone systems include texting. Custom makes sense when texting has to be tied tightly to your own records and rules: messages threaded on the customer record, automations that follow your job stages, broadcasts to a route, and one opt-out list shared by every tool. Our in-house system for our own companies has a threaded inbox, broadcasts and automatic STOP and START handling on top of a registered sending service. Our custom CRM service builds texting into your system, and our email and SMS marketing service handles campaigns with separate consent.

Frequently asked questions