Missed call text back vs an answering service

What happens to the caller

With text back, a call comes in and nobody picks up. Within seconds the caller gets a text from your business number. It says something like "Sorry I missed your call. What can I help you with?" The caller replies, and the reply lands on your phone like any other text.

The text changes with the clock. During the day it says you're with a customer and will get back to them soon. After closing it says you're closed for the day and will reply first thing. A caller who rings three times in five minutes gets one text.

Anyone can reply STOP and the texts from your number stop. HELP gets them our contact details.

With an answering service, a person picks up and writes down a message. The message reaches you later, and you call back. The caller has not started a conversation with you yet, and you are the one who starts it.

What each one costs

Missed call text back is part of the $299 a month plan. The plan has seven services: a website we build and run, local Google search setup, missed call text back, follow-up texts, a booking calendar, Google review requests and text campaigns. There is no setup fee and no contract.

Texts are paid from credits you load. Every new client gets 800 texts and 250 call minutes a month for the first 3 months. After that a text costs 2 cents.

Answering services set their own prices, so we don't quote one here. Some charge a monthly fee plus blocks of calls or minutes, which makes the total hard to guess. Ask for the full monthly price in writing before you compare it to ours.

Who does the work

With an answering service, their staff answer the phone and you do the calling back.

With text back, we build it and run it. Replying is the only part that's you. We also register your business number with the phone carriers in your business name, and that registration is what gets texts from a business delivered.

When an answering service is the better pick

Text back doesn't answer the call or hold the conversation for you. If any of these fit, an answering service does something we don't:

• You want a person to talk to every caller while they are still on the line.
• You don't want to read or send texts as part of your day.
• Your callers are likely to want a voice and not a text.

The tradeoff is the one you already know. An answering service takes a message, and you still call everyone back hours later.

When missed call text back is the better pick

Most people don't leave a voicemail. They hang up and try the next business on the list. A text that arrives within seconds reaches them first.

Speed is the reason. Harvard Business Review timed how fast companies replied to new web inquiries. The ones that tried within an hour were nearly 7 times as likely to qualify the inquiry as the ones that waited one more hour. That study is about web inquiries, not phone calls, and we cite it for why a fast reply matters.

Text back also fits an owner who is on a roof, under a sink, teaching a class or closed for the night. It runs while you're busy. The missed call is saved in the app with the caller's number, so you can call back yourself if they never reply.

How to decide

Look at what you want to happen after a missed call. If you want a conversation started within seconds that you finish from your phone, choose text back. If you want a person on the line, choose an answering service.

If you aren't sure, ask on the 20 minute call. If it isn't a fit for your business, we'll say so.

Read next: Missed call text back vs voicemail. Or see how missed call text back works and the questions owners ask.