> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://crevio.co/docs/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Texting and your AI front desk > Your Crevio phone number can send and receive texts. Crevio can answer texts, book appointments, text back callers you missed, follow up with new leads, and invite past customers back. Your Crevio phone number can text as well as take calls. With texting on, Crevio can work like a front desk for your business. It answers texts, books appointments, takes messages for you, texts back people whose call you missed, and follows up with new leads while they're still interested. You can set this up by asking Crevio in the chat, or in **Settings** > **AI Assistant** > **Phone**, under **Texting**. ## Turn texting on You need a phone number first. If you don't have one, see [Get a phone number](https://crevio.co/docs/features/calls.md#get-a-phone-number). **1. Ask Crevio to turn on texting** Say "turn on texting for our number." If texting can start right away, Crevio tells you it's on. **2. Fill in the registration form, if Crevio sends one** Phone carriers have to approve your business before your texts are delivered. Every US number needs this. Crevio sends you a link to a short form that asks for your business's legal details. The link works for 7 days. If it expires, ask Crevio for a new one. **3. Wait for approval** Texting starts on its own once the carriers approve your business, and you get a notification when they decide. In **Settings** > **AI Assistant** > **Phone**, **Check status** shows where it stands. You can switch on the features below while you wait. They start working once texting is on. ## Answer texts Ask Crevio to "answer texts on our number." From then on, Crevio replies to everyone who texts your number, usually within a few seconds. It can: * **Answer questions** using what you've told it about your business. These are the same instructions it follows when it answers calls, so include your services, hours and prices. * **Look up an order.** It finds orders placed with the phone number the person is texting from. For any other order, they need to give the order number and the email they ordered with. * **Book an appointment.** It checks your open times, offers a few, and books the one the person picks once they give their name and email. They get a confirmation email. It can only book services you've set up for booking. To set one up, ask Crevio, for example "let people book a free 30-minute consultation." * **Take a message.** When someone wants a person to get back to them, or asks something Crevio can't answer, it passes the message to you and you get a notification right away. Messages that can't wait are marked urgent. Texts people send to your number don't appear in your chat with Crevio. To read a conversation, ask Crevio, for example "show me my texts with +1 415 555 0142." ### Calls get the same help When Crevio answers a call to your number, it can also check open times, book appointments and take messages. After each call it answers, you get a notification with a short summary of the call. ## Text back missed calls Ask Crevio to "text back callers I miss." When a call to your number rings your own phone and nobody picks up, Crevio texts the caller right away: > Hi, this is (your business name). Sorry we missed your call! How can we help? You can reply right here. If Crevio also answers texts, it takes the conversation from there. This only works when your calls are forwarded to you (**Forward every call** in [Send calls to a person](https://crevio.co/docs/features/calls.md#send-calls-to-a-person)). When Crevio answers your calls itself, no call is missed, so there's nothing to text back. ## Text new leads Ask Crevio to "text new leads." When someone new fills in one of your forms and leaves a phone number, Crevio texts them within a minute or so. If they don't answer, it checks in again a day later, and one last time two days after that. Each text is written for that person, based on what they told you. Like every text you send first, these go out between 8am and 9pm in the person's local time. The texts stop as soon as the person replies, books an appointment, or opts out. You can also ask Crevio to stop texting someone; a text still waiting to go out, such as one held until morning, is cancelled too. Someone whose first contact with you was booking an appointment isn't texted at all. ## Invite past customers back Ask Crevio to text a group of past customers, for example "text everyone tagged past-clients that we have openings next week." Choose the people by [tag](https://crevio.co/docs/features/tags.md) or by naming them. You write the first text with Crevio, and it can greet each person by first name. If someone doesn't answer, Crevio sends one short follow-up 3 days later, then stops. ### Who can be texted A text that invites people back is a marketing text. The law requires each person's written permission before you send one, such as ticking a box that says they agree to marketing texts. Crevio skips everyone it has no written permission for. It also skips people who opted out and numbers it can't text. It then tells you how many people were skipped and why. It won't record permission on your word to get around this. To collect permission from future buyers, go to **Settings** > **Advanced** > **Checkout Configuration** and turn on **Show phone number input** and **Ask for call & text consent**. Buyers who tick the box can be texted. If people agreed in writing some other way, such as a sign-up form that said you would text them, tell Crevio how and when, and it records that. ### See how it went Ask Crevio "how did the texts to past-clients go?" It tells you how many people replied, booked, opted out, or haven't answered yet. ## Send a single text You can ask Crevio to text one person, for example "text Jana that her order shipped." The rules depend on whether they've been in touch: * **They texted your number in the last 24 hours.** Crevio can reply right away. * **You're texting first.** The person must have agreed to hear from you, for example by giving you their number for a booking or order update. For a marketing text, that agreement must be in writing. Crevio sends these texts only between 8am and 9pm in the person's local time. Outside those hours, the text waits until 8am. Crevio texts a person first at most 3 times a day. The first text your number sends to anyone starts with your business name and ends with "Reply STOP to opt out." Crevio adds this for you. ## Opting out Anyone can reply **STOP** to stop your texts. **UNSUBSCRIBE**, **CANCEL**, **END** and **QUIT** work too. When Crevio answers your texts, asking in their own words, like "please stop texting me," works as well. Once someone opts out, Crevio never texts or calls that number again, and any follow-up texts to them stop. If they reply **START**, they can be texted again. Crevio doesn't answer a text that only says **HELP**. ## What it costs Each text Crevio sends costs 1 credit per part. A text up to 160 characters is one part. Emoji and some special characters lower that to 70 characters per part. A longer text is sent in several parts, and each part costs a credit. Texts people send you are free. Writing replies and follow-up texts is AI work, so it uses a small amount of credits as well. Your phone number's monthly cost doesn't change when you turn on texting. ## What it can't do * **Text numbers in other countries.** Your number can only text phone numbers in its own country. This is by design. * **Book paid services.** Crevio can only book appointments that are free to book. For a paid service, it takes a message so you can send the person a booking link. * **Make up answers.** Crevio won't state hours, prices or policies you haven't told it. It says it doesn't know and offers to take a message. * **Text everyone at once.** One send to past customers reaches up to 1,000 people. * **Keep a conversation going forever.** Crevio replies to up to 30 texts a day from the same person. ## If something goes wrong > [accordion] My texts aren't going out > > Check these in order: > > 1. Ask Crevio whether texting is on. If carriers haven't approved your business yet, texts can't be delivered. Finish the registration form if you haven't. > 2. Make sure your phone number isn't paused. > 3. If you're texting someone first, it may be outside 8am to 9pm where they are. The text goes out at 8am their time. > 4. The person may have replied STOP. Crevio won't text them again unless they reply START. > [accordion] The registration link stopped working > > The link works for 7 days. Ask Crevio for a new one. > [accordion] Crevio says my number can't text > > Some numbers can't send texts. Calls on that number keep working as before. > [accordion] Most of my past customers were skipped > > Those customers never gave written permission for marketing texts. Turn on **Ask for call & text consent** at checkout so future buyers can opt in. Crevio can still email them instead. > [accordion] Crevio says it needs permission before texting > > The person hasn't texted you recently and Crevio has no record that they agreed to hear from you. Tell Crevio how and when they agreed, and it sends the text. If nobody agreed, it won't text them. > [accordion] A caller I missed didn't get a text > > Missed-call texts only go out when your calls ring your own phone. Check that **Forward every call** is on, that you asked Crevio to text back missed calls, and that texting is on. Callers from other countries, and callers who opted out, aren't texted. If you still need help, contact support with your phone number and the number you were trying to text. ## Related > [card] [AI phone calls](https://crevio.co/docs/features/calls.md) > > Get a phone number and let Crevio make and answer calls. > [card] [Customers](https://crevio.co/docs/features/customers.md) > > See the leads and past customers you can text. > [card] [Forms & lead capture](https://crevio.co/docs/features/forms.md) > > Collect leads and their phone numbers. > [card] [Tags & segments](https://crevio.co/docs/features/tags.md) > > Group customers to text together. This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.