Library / Guides / SMS has to be two-way

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SMS has to be two-wayA blast to a phone is not a conversation. A conversation books.

Reminders, missed-call text-back, recare, and speed-to-lead all fail the same way: the text cannot be answered, or nobody owns the answer. Interns watch the inbox. CEOs staff the after-hours path. Two-way is the difference between SMS as a cheaper email and SMS as the front desk.

00

In plain words

Intern through CEO

Every outbound SMS has a job and a way to reply that a human will see.

  1. 01

    Every outbound SMS has a job and a way to reply that a human will see.

  2. 02

    Keywords (STOP, YES, BOOK) are handled. Unhandled replies become tasks — not a black hole.

  3. 03

    Quiet hours still exist. Two-way does not mean 3am chatter from an automation.

Who

Same lesson. Three jobs.

Read your row

Intern

What you actually do

Run steps 01 and 02 this week. Do not add a feature. A person or a rotation. Named.

Operator

What you protect

Protect the sequence. Keywords (STOP, YES, BOOK) are handled. Unhandled replies become tasks — not a black hole.

CEO

What you refuse to fund

Do not fund more traffic or more seats until the scoreboard in this lesson is a number you will defend. Quiet hours still exist. Two-way does not mean 3am chatter from an automation.

Steps

Do this in order

Why, then done when
  1. 01

    Own the inbox

    A person or a rotation. Named.

    Why: Unowned replies are how you look like a bot.

    Done when: A reply creates a task if not handled in minutes.

  2. 02

    Handle STOP and YES

    Compliance plus a book path.

    Why: Ignoring STOP is how you lose the channel. Ignoring YES is how you lose the booking.

    Done when: A test of both.

  3. 03

    Match the job

    Missed-call texts book. Recare texts rebook. Reminders confirm.

    Why: One generic SMS is email with a worse reputation.

    Done when: Templates mapped to journeys.

  4. 04

    Respect quiet hours

    Unless it is a true emergency line.

    Why: You will get muted.

    Done when: A window on paper.

  5. 05

    Log on the contact

    The thread lives in GHL.

    Why: Otherwise the next human starts from zero.

    Done when: A teammate can see the last SMS.

After hours

The missed-call SMS is useless if the reply sits until 9am. Either staff it or say in the text when a human will answer — and mean it.

Why

Questions people actually ask

Pushback is normal

Can we automate the replies?

A little. Booking links, FAQs. A human still has to catch anything that is not the script — or you will lose the expensive jobs to whoever answered like a person.

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Working notes

GHL Engine Checklist

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