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Texts and opt-outs
Every text your receptionist can send, who it comes from, and how STOP and START work.
Your receptionist can send texts for you: a "sorry we missed you" text, a summary of each call to your mobile, reminders and more. This article lists them, explains who they appear to come from, and how people stop them.
Texts go through your phone line, so it needs to be set up first. See Your phone line and number.
The texts
Some texts come with phone answering. Others come from plugins, which you add from Plugins.
| Text | Who gets it | Comes with |
|---|---|---|
| Sorry we missed you | A caller who rang off without speaking | Phone answering, when switched on for your business |
| Call summary | You, after each call | Phone answering, see Call summaries |
| Verification code | A caller or chat visitor checking who they are | Patient records, when switched on for your business |
| Registration link | A caller who said yes to getting it | Registration, when switched on for your business |
| Appointment reminder | The person who booked | Appointment reminders |
| Booking and cancellation confirmations | The person who booked | Appointment reminders, if you choose Text a confirmation when a booking is made or cancelled |
| Review request | People after their visit | Review requests |
| An earlier slot | People on your cancellation list | Cancellation list |
| Deposit link | The person who booked | Booking deposits |
| Replies to texts | Anyone who texts your number | Text messages |
| Daily summary, urgent call alerts | You or your team | Daily summary, On-call rota, Smart routing |
The "sorry we missed you" text
When someone rings off before saying anything, your receptionist decides whether they meant to call. A caller who stayed on a few seconds, heard the greeting or rang again gets a text. A pocket dial that hangs up straight away doesn't. The text reads:
The chat part only appears if you have website chat. "Or just reply to this text" only appears when people can reply (see below). It only goes to UK mobile numbers, at most once a day to each number, and to no more than 40 numbers a day in total. It never goes to numbers you've blocked or put through in Call screening.
Reminders and confirmations
Reminders go to UK mobile numbers only, once per booking, between 8am and 9pm. Confirmations made at night wait until 8am.
A confirmation only goes to a number that's proven to belong to the person: the number they called from, or the number they're texting from. A number typed into the website chat first gets one text asking its owner to reply YES. Nothing more goes to it until they do. See Appointment reminders.
Who the text comes from
- On Twilio, texts can show your business name instead of a number, if CallsCovered has set one up for you. A name is up to 11 letters and numbers. If a network won't accept a name, the text is sent from your number instead.
- Nobody can reply to a text sent from a name. With the Text messages plugin on, choose Your number, so people can reply under Send texts from, and texts to your customers come from your number. Call summaries and verification codes still use the name.
- On SignalWire, Telnyx, Vonage and Plivo, texts always come from your number. See Phone providers.
STOP and START
Anyone can stop your automatic texts by replying with one word:
- STOP, STOPALL, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END or QUIT stops them. They get: "You won't get any more automatic texts from (your business). Reply START to undo."
- START or UNSTOP turns them back on. They get: "Thanks, texts from (your business) are back on."
- HELP or INFO, with Text messages on, gets your number and a reminder that STOP works.
The word has to be the whole text, in any capitals, with or without a full stop. "Stop texting me please" is read as an ordinary message.
STOP and START work whether or not you have the Text messages plugin. But the reply has to reach CallsCovered:
- On Twilio, your number's incoming texts must point at your CallsCovered address ending
/sms/incoming. The Test button in the Text messages plugin sets this up for you. - On other providers, paste the texts address from the Phone line tile. See Phone providers.
- A text sent from your business name can't be replied to at all.
What STOP covers
Someone who replied STOP won't get the missed-call text, reminders, confirmations, review requests, cancellation-list offers, deposit links or WhatsApp review requests. That includes a member of your team who replies STOP to a daily summary or alert.
It doesn't cover call summaries sent to your own mobile, verification codes someone asks for, or a registration link a caller has just said yes to.
What you see
With Text messages on, its Recent activity shows a line such as "…123 opted out of texts", with the last three digits of the number. There is no list of opted-out numbers in the dashboard, and you can't opt someone back in for them: they text START themselves.
UK rules, in plain words
This is general information, not legal advice.
- In the UK, texts that promote your business usually need the person's agreement first, and must give them a simple way to stop. These rules are called PECR, and the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) looks after them.
- Texts about something a person has asked for, such as a reminder or confirmation of their appointment, are generally treated differently from marketing. Review requests and offers are closer to marketing, so think about them more carefully.
- Your receptionist only adds people to a cancellation list after they say yes, only sends a registration link after a caller says yes, and asks each person for a review at most once in the period you choose.
For anything you're unsure about, read the ICO's guidance at https://ico.org.uk or ask an adviser.
Still stuck? Write to hello@callscovered.ai with your business name and what you were trying to do, and a person will reply.