Missed-call text back
Missed-call text back is an automatic text sent to someone who called and did not reach a person. The call rings out, goes to voicemail, or is declined, and a short message leaves from the business number a moment later. The point is not a marketing blast. The point is to catch the person before they dial the next company on the list.
Local service work creates this gap all day. A plumber is under a sink, a roofer is on a pitch, an electrician is in a panel. The owner cannot pick up, and the caller rarely leaves a useful voicemail. They wanted a person, or at least a fast reply. A text that says you saw the call, names the company, and asks what they need gives them a way to stay without waiting on hold.
A good message is specific and short. It identifies the business, acknowledges the missed call, and asks one question the caller can answer in a single reply: what is going on, and what town they are in. It does not pretend a person already read the job. It does not pitch an offer. The reply, when it comes, should land in the same lead list as a web form, with the caller's number already filled in, so the callback has a record and a next step.
Missed-call text back is not the same thing as two-way texting you start yourself, and it is not an answering service. Two-way texting is the conversation after someone is already in touch. An answering tool can pick up the line. Text back covers the calls nobody answered. Many shops use all three: a person when someone is free, an answering tool after hours, and a text when the call still rings out.
The text has to come from a number the carrier will actually deliver. That is a registration problem, covered under A2P 10DLC, not a cleverness problem. Write the message in the owner's voice, keep it under a couple of sentences, and make sure the lead it creates is visible the next time someone opens the list. Puffly sends missed-call text back from the phone settings and files the caller as a lead in the free CRM.