A caller who reaches no one may not leave a voicemail. They can ring the next business on the list instead, and a call back at five may come after they have booked elsewhere.
Sound familiar?
Three moments when the phone goes unanswered.
The plumber under a boiler. The phone rings while both hands are busy. A new customer who hears nothing back may not ring again.
The salon on a Saturday. The phone sits by the till and rings while every chair is busy. Someone who wanted a colour next week can just as easily ring the salon across the road.
The garage at half past five. The last call of the day could be someone whose car has just failed its MOT. They may want it booked before the weekend. The phone rings out, and the job may go with it.
How a missed-call text-back service works
- You keep your number. Unanswered calls are diverted to a line we set up. The number on your van, your website and your Google profile does not change, and switching the divert off puts everything back. If your own voicemail answers first, the call never reaches the line, so the divert is set to come before it.
- The caller gets a text (an SMS). Once the call counts as missed, the text says who missed it, how to reply and, if you want, how to book. GoHighLevel, the platform it runs on, says the text "may come from a different number than the one they originally called". On a divert, the text comes from a line on the platform, not your published number, so it names your business first. We write it with you and test it from a real phone before it goes live.
- Replies land in one inbox. On a phone app and on a screen, so whoever is free picks it up, and the next person to look can see what was said.
- You see the counts. Once a month: calls missed, texts sent, conversations that replied, bookings that followed a reply. Four counts taken straight from the system that sends the texts, with no estimates.
What the starting price buys
The divert, the message written with you, the inbox and app, the test from a real phone and the monthly report. Usage is not included: whatever the platform charges for, such as the texts and replies, the calls on the divert and the number, is billed on top at cost, based on what you use. Your own phone provider may also charge for the diverted part of each call.
Add when you need it: a new UK number instead of a divert · web chat and WhatsApp in the same inbox. Each is priced separately and can be added later; none is required to start.
The text, word for word
Hi, it's Business Name. Sorry we missed your call. Reply here and we'll get back to you, or book at example.com/book. Reply STOP to opt out.
It names who sent it and says why. It gives the caller a way to reply, a way to book and a way to stop, and carries no offer. That is 140 characters in the 7-bit alphabet, with room for a business name of up to 33 plain characters, so it fits in one 160-character text. The link goes on your own domain, because the platform advises against URL shorteners. Its compliance settings can add opt-out wording and sender identification "when those elements are missing", so we count the text, with your domain, as it arrives on a real phone. The wording is yours to adjust within those points.
What keeps you safe
On our reading, a text that only names you, says you missed the call and says how to reach you is a service message (missed-call text rules). An offer, a discount or "reply YES for offers" makes it marketing, so we add none. By our standard, a review link stays out and a booking link, unsettled under the test of the Information Commission (the ICO), is one plain link on your own domain. Our build standard: the caller's number is used to reply to that call, and for nothing else unless they ask. A STOP reply blocks further texts.
What it costs
A set-up fee and a monthly fee, shown on the pricing page with the rest of our services. Usage is billed on top at cost, based on what you use; on a plan we host, in pounds. Your industry does not move the price; the add-ons do.
When something else fits better
If nobody can watch the inbox, callers who reply get no answer. A voice agent that answers the call itself is an add-on to AI Integration, built to your own systems and answer sets, on a divert from the number you already publish. If what you want is to message past customers with offers, that is Email & SMS Marketing, and it starts with who you may lawfully message. On our reading, a missed call alone gives no basis for marketing texts to someone on their own phone (who you may email or text).
None of this is legal advice; it describes how the message is written and the number is set up. Get in touch with the number you publish and what happens today when it rings out, or read how a project runs first.