NEW! 24/7 SMS Text Answering by Smith.ai: Live Agents Respond to Your Business Texts

Smith.ai already supports you 24/7 via live chat on your website, and now we're offering the same superior answering service for text messages. Clients and new leads can text your business and Smith.ai live agents will respond, day and night. Let us solve client issues and answer common questions while you work, sleep, or spend uninterrupted time with your family. Plus, we can screen new leads, schedule appointments, and even facilitate payments, easing your workload.

Add SMS text answering to any Smith.ai live chat plan completely free, with a flat per-conversation charge for each response — we’ll never charge for spam or sales texts.

Why Use a Business Texting Service?

79% of consumers use mobile messaging daily and 46% prefer messaging a company over phone and email.‍

- The 2017 Market Strategies International Customer Preference for Messaging Report

Whether you run a small or medium-sized business, you can now offer texting—a communication channel that your clients already use (even doctors are sending text reminders). It’s affordable, easy to set up, and takes the labor of back-and-forth responses off your plate.

Core benefits

• Increase marketing ROI: A new way to be available to leads, 24/7.
• Every text answered: Your busy schedule won't slow down response rates.
• Capture more leads from offline marketing (like a billboard or television advertisement).
• Connect on your clients' favorite platform: People of all ages increasingly prefer texting over email or phone.
• Improve accessibility for clients with visual impairment: Text messages can be read aloud and created by dictation.
• Appointments via SMS: Your clients have meeting times, dates, and details whenever/wherever they need them.
• CRM integration: Have conversation transcripts logged in your current systems.

Example: Criminal defense (DUI) law firm

For an example, let's say you run a criminal defense firm specializing in DUIs. Your new leads are contacting you 24/7, but having recently gone through a serious situation, they have a lot on their mind. They may be in jail or just released and dealing with family and the authorities. They can reach out to your firm at any time via text message and we’ll qualify and schedule them a consultation on your calendar.

Texting is a superior experience for people who need a criminal defense lawyer — they may lack the focus for a phone call and the browser for live chat, or simply not be willing or able to speak out loud about their issue. Plus, if your new leads are distracted by circumstance and “go dark”, we’ll send you the interrupted conversation transcript and the person’s contact information so you can follow-up with them.

Check out how a conversation with the new lead might go:

In a difficult situation, Rob is able to quickly and confidentially schedule a consultation with an attorney, who will be able to inform Rob in advance what he'll need for them to get started. Instead of having a difficult and potentially confusing interaction over the phone, Rob and the Wilson Law Firm will be able to look at his case and get started on resolving it.

If Rob's case had not been one they were able to handle, they could quickly provide him that information (and potentially refer him to another firm that would be more appropriate). Either way, time is saved and the client is left feeling supported, appreciated and reassured.

Quick & Easy Setup

Ready to get started? Once you have an active Smith.ai Live Chat plan, you can get set up with Text Answering in three simple steps. (Note: Text answering is sometimes called SMS text to chat.)

Full SMS text answering setup instructions.

Log into your Live Chat account then take the following steps:

1. Within “channels,” choose “SMS Messaging”
   

2. Type in your local area code

3. Choose your new business texting number from the list
   

That’s it! The number is now yours — promote it to clients on your website, Google My Business listing, or anywhere else they’ll need it. Don’t forget to mention you receive text messages 24/7. 

Note: make sure our live agents have any special instructions for texting, if they differ from Live Chat.

Questions? Please Ask!

We’re here to help you setup and customize Smith.ai Live Chat, text answering, and any other features or services you have questions about. Please contact us by email at chat@smith.ai or simply ask our own live chat agents!