Texting
How AI texting works in ClearTalk — what you need before you can send, and the pieces that make up a working texting setup.
A texting agent holds a real two-way SMS conversation with a lead: it sends the opening message, reads the reply, answers questions, books appointments, and hands off when it's out of its depth. It's the same idea as a voice agent, on a channel where people actually reply.
Before you can send anything
Texting has a hard prerequisite that voice doesn't. US carriers filter or block business texting that isn't registered, so ClearTalk won't let you build a texting agent until you have a number that's cleared to send.
Two things must be true first
You need a number on your own carrier account (numbers on ClearTalk's managed account can't be registered for messaging at all), and that number must have completed A2P registration. The agent's phone-number picker only offers numbers where both are true — if it's empty, that's why.
Registration takes several business days and can be sent back for corrections, so start it on day one of any texting project. The approval playbook walks the whole process.
How the pieces fit together
Texting splits across two objects, and knowing which one owns what saves a lot of confusion later.
The texting agent
Owns the conversation
- Runs a pathway that decides what to say.
- Handles every reply after the first one.
- Books appointments, looks things up, answers questions.
- Owns follow-ups when a conversation goes quiet mid-thread.
The texting campaign
Owns the outreach
- Sends the opening message to each new lead.
- Optionally runs a scripted sequence until they reply.
- Sets working hours and the daily send cap.
- Carries the business name used in compliance replies.
What a conversation actually looks like
- 1
A lead arrives
Someone posts the lead's details to the campaign's trigger address — from your CRM, your website form, or your own software.
- 2
The opening text goes out
The campaign's greeting message, with the lead's name filled in. Sent inside your working hours, in the lead's own time zone.
- 3
No reply? The sequence continues
Each remaining step sends on its scheduled day — at most one text per day, skipping Sundays and holidays if you asked it to.
- 4
They reply — the sequence stops for good
The first inbound message permanently ends the scripted sequence. It never resumes, even if the conversation goes quiet again.
- 5
The agent takes the conversation
From here your texting agent's pathway drives every reply, using its tools and knowledge to answer, qualify, and book.
The first reply is a one-way door. Once a lead replies, the scripted sequence is over permanently and the agent owns the thread. This is deliberate — nothing is more damaging than a scripted "just following up!" landing in the middle of a real conversation.
Where to go next
Build a texting agent
Every setting on the agent, what it does, and the ones that matter most.
Campaigns and message sequences
The opening message, the scripted ladder, send caps, and working hours.
Follow-ups and quiet conversations
What happens when someone stops replying mid-thread, and how hard to chase.
Opt-outs and blocked numbers
How STOP is handled, what lands on the blocklist, and when unblocking is legal.
Getting approved to text
The registration process end to end, and what gets applications rejected.