Text messages: pre-call heads-up and follow-ups
Each campaign can send text messages from your own Twilio account — a "calling you in a couple of minutes" heads-up before the AI dials, which turns an unknown caller into an expected one, plus optional follow-ups keyed to how the call went. The feature is marked Beta in-app; connect Twilio to set it up.
Connect Twilio (one-time)
In Settings → Integrations & API → Text messages (Twilio), paste your Account SID and Auth Token and click Connect — that's all it needs. We validate on the spot and auto-detect the numbers on your account. You pick which number each campaign texts from on the campaign itself, so one account can use many numbers; an optional account-default number covers campaigns that don't pick one.
Point Twilio's STOP webhook at us (required for compliance)
When someone replies STOP to a text, Twilio has to tell us so we can suppress that person — from both texts and calls. You do this once in Twilio by giving it the webhook URL shown on the connected Twilio card. There are two ways; the first is strongly recommended:
Best — a Messaging Service (covers every number, now and future):
- In Twilio, go to Messaging → Services and create a Messaging Service (or open your existing one).
- Add your texting number(s) to its Sender Pool.
- Open Integration. Under "Inbound messages," choose "Send a webhook."
- Paste the webhook URL from lead2inbound into Request URL and set the method to HTTP POST. Save.
- Any number you add to this service later is covered automatically — nothing else to configure.
Or, for a single number: Phone Numbers → Manage → Active numbers → click the number → Messaging Configuration → under "A message comes in" set Webhook, paste the URL, method HTTP POST, and save. This covers only that one number, so if you add more numbers later you'd have to repeat it — which is why the Messaging Service is the better setup.
Before texts deliver: A2P 10DLC
Before texts deliver, your number must clear A2P 10DLC registration inside Twilio (a US carrier requirement, done once, takes a few weeks). You can connect and configure everything now; texts start flowing once registration is approved.
The five rules (set per campaign)
On the campaign form, under Text messages:
- Before we call (heads-up) — sent a few minutes before the AI dials. Set the wording, how many minutes ahead, and whether to send only before the first attempt.
- After an answered call, after a missed call, after a transferred call, and after an answered call with no transfer — each is an independent follow-up with its own message and delay.
Use {{first_name}}-style placeholders to personalize, same as whisper text.
Which number the text comes from
Each campaign picks its own sending number, so one Twilio account can serve many campaigns; an optional account-default covers campaigns that don't pick one. If the campaign rotates its caller ID through a number pool, the picker disappears — texts are automatically sent from the same number that calls that lead, so the text and the call match on their phone.
Test it before you rely on it
The connected Twilio card has a send-a-test-message box. Send one to your own phone, reply STOP to it, then check your Do-not-call list — the number should be there. That single test proves both the sending path and the opt-out path.
Compliance (always on)
Texts send only between 8am–9pm in the lead's local time — a follow-up that would land outside those hours waits for the next morning. Anyone who replies STOP (or UNSUBSCRIBE/CANCEL/QUIT) is suppressed automatically — from texts and calls. A send failure never blocks the call; the text is an optimizer, not a gate. Your Twilio charges are billed to your own Twilio account.