> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.liftify.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Text missed callers back

> Turn on an automatic text to anyone whose call to a location's Liftify number went unanswered, write the wording, and understand when it does and does not go out.

A missed call is a customer who wanted you and got nothing. Liftify can text them
back from the number they dialled, within seconds, so the conversation carries on
by text instead of ending in silence. Their reply lands in your Inbox like any
other message.

This is set per location, and the location needs a dedicated Liftify number.

## Turn it on for a location

1. Click **Locations** in the left sidebar, then **Edit** on the location's card — or open the location and click **Edit location**.
2. On the **Location Details** tab, scroll to **Call Forwarding Number**.
3. Switch on **Text missed callers back**.
4. Optionally write your own wording in **Missed-call text** — see [Write the text](#write-the-text).
5. Click **Save Changes**.

The switch describes itself on the form: *"When a call to this location's
dedicated number goes unanswered, text the caller from that number. A caller is
texted at most once every 10 minutes, and contacts who opted out of texts are
never texted."*

> [!NOTE]
>
> **This needs a dedicated number.** The switch only appears on a location that has
> a Liftify number of its own — the same condition as **Call Forwarding Number**,
> which it sits beneath. On a location sharing a number with your other locations
> you get the note *"Call forwarding requires a dedicated number."* instead of
> either control, because a reply from a shared number could not tell the customer
> which of your businesses was writing.
>
> If you turn the switch on and the location's number has since been given to
> another location as well, the save is refused with *"requires a dedicated
> (exclusively assigned) number"*. Contact Liftify support if you want a dedicated
> number for a location.

## What counts as a missed call

Two things count, and nothing else:

* **The location has no forwarding number**, so there was never anywhere for the call to ring. The text goes out as soon as the call arrives.
* **The call was forwarded and nobody picked up** — the forwarded line rang out, was busy, or the call failed or was cancelled.

A call that was **answered** gets no text. That includes a call answered by the
forwarded line's own voicemail: the phone network tells Liftify the call was
answered and cannot say by what, so a customer who left you a voicemail is not
also texted.

## Write the text

**Missed-call text** is the message that goes out. Leave it blank and Liftify
sends the wording shown in the box as a placeholder:

> Hi, this is `{{location_name}}`. Sorry we missed your call! Reply to this text
> and we'll get right back to you.

Write your own and it replaces that for this location. You have the usual text
message allowance of 1,000 characters.

Merge tags work here, and the form says which details they use: *"Merge tags such
as `{{location_name}}` and `{{location_phone_number}}` use this location's
details. Leave blank to send the default shown."*

> [!TIP]
>
> Say who you are and ask for a reply. The whole point is to turn the missed call
> into a text conversation, so a message that only apologises leaves the customer
> with nothing to do. Naming the location matters too — the text arrives from a
> number the customer dialled once and may not recognise.

A few things to know about merge tags in this particular message:

* `{{location_phone_number}}` and `{{account_phone_number}}` fall back to the number the caller dialled when you have not filled that field in, rather than printing nothing useful.
* `{{customer_first_name}}` comes out blank for a caller Liftify has never seen before, so write the message to read properly without a name — *"Hi, this is …"* rather than *"Hi `{{customer_first_name}}`, …"*.

## What happens in the Inbox

The call is recorded on the customer's thread first and the text follows it, so
the thread reads in the order things actually happened: the call came in, then
you wrote.

The outgoing text carries a **Missed-call text** badge beside its timestamp.
Automated messages otherwise read only as **System**, so the badge is there to
stop anyone on your team assuming a colleague had already picked the thread up.

If the caller is not in Liftify yet, a contact is created for them from their
phone number, named **Caller** until somebody renames it, and the text goes to
that contact. Without one, their reply would land in the unknown-sender holding
area rather than in the Inbox — which would defeat the point. Contacts created
this way are marked as having come from a missed call, so you can tell them apart
from the ones your office added.

## When the text is held back

Liftify checks all of these before it writes, and silently skips the text if any
of them says no:

| Check | Why |
| - | - |
| The location has **Text missed callers back** switched on | Nothing happens on a location that has not opted in |
| Sending is not suspended for the account or location | The same suppression that holds back every other outgoing message |
| The caller's number can actually receive a text | A withheld or anonymous caller ID arrives as a placeholder there is nothing to text |
| The caller is in the location's own country | Caller ID is easy to fake, and a text to a premium international range costs you money |
| The location has sent fewer than 100 of these today | Bounds what a flood of calls from made-up numbers can cost you |
| The contact has not opted out of texts | Covers someone who replied STOP, a do-not-text flag from your other software, and a contact unsubscribed from transactional messages |
| The message is not empty once the merge tags are filled in | Better no text than a blank one |
| The caller has not already been texted in the last 10 minutes | Somebody redialling three times gets one text, not three |

> [!NOTE]
>
> **Your sending days and hours do not apply.** This is a reply to contact the
> customer made seconds ago, the same as the automatic reply to an inbound text, so
> it goes out when the call comes in — including in the evening and at the weekend.
> If you do not want a location answering calls out of hours this way, switch it
> off for that location.

> [!WARNING]
>
> Nothing here overrides a "no". A customer who replied STOP, one your connected
> system flags as do-not-text, and one you have unsubscribed are all left alone, as
> they are everywhere else in Liftify.

## Troubleshooting

**I turned it on and nothing was texted.** Work down the table above. The two
most common answers are that the call was actually answered — by a person or by
the forwarded line's voicemail — and that the caller withheld their number.

**The text went to a contact called "Caller".** That is a caller who was not in
Liftify yet. Open the contact and give them a real name; the next text to them
will use it.

**The switch isn't on the Edit Location form.** The location does not have a
dedicated number, so neither this nor **Call Forwarding Number** is offered. See
[Set up your locations](https://help.liftify.com/getting-started/set-up-your-locations.md).

**A customer got the text twice.** They should not: a caller is texted at most
once every 10 minutes, however many times they redial. If you have a genuine
duplicate, [contact Liftify support](https://help.liftify.com/getting-started/contact-liftify-support.md)
with the customer's number and roughly when it happened.


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