Answers

Should customers be able to text your business, and how do you set that up?

Ascent Vision · Published October 25, 2026

Often, yes. Many customers would rather send a quick text than call, sometimes with a photo of the problem. Ask your phone provider whether your main business number can take texts, decide who answers and how fast, and keep the conversation on the business's number rather than a personal cell. When a customer texts first, answer what they asked, and send offers only with the person's consent.

Why a text line can help

A text lets a customer ask a question from a job site or a parking lot, send a photo of a leak or a crack, and get an answer without waiting on hold. Because a text waits until someone can read it, it can mean fewer missed inquiries while you are on a job. It also leaves a written record of what was asked and what was promised.

What changed on Google

Google's Business Profile help page says that as of July 31, 2024, the chat and call history features are no longer available in the profile, and customers can no longer request quotes through it. It says calls from the profile continue, and that for eligible accounts, customers can contact the business from the profile "through text messages or WhatsApp".

Setting it up

• Ask your phone provider whether your main business number, a landline or an internet phone line, can take texts. Providers often offer it, and using the number customers already have avoids a second number.
• Choose how texts are answered: one phone can work for a solo owner, while a shared app on a computer lets more than one person see and answer the same conversation.
• Decide who answers and how fast, in working hours and after, and set an automatic first reply for times nobody can answer right away.
• Add a text option next to the phone number on your website and contact page.
• Keep the account and the number in the business's name; the related answer on who should own your business phone number covers why.

Answering a text, and what comes after

CTIA's Messaging Principles and Best Practices (May 2023), the wireless industry's voluntary guidance, says that if a customer starts the text exchange and the business only responds with relevant information, no verbal or written permission is expected. It treats promotional texts separately: the person should agree in writing first. It also says a business should only text-enable a number it has been assigned by a phone or internet phone provider.

In practice, a customer who texts about a repair can get replies about that repair. Before sending that customer offers or reminders, ask separately; the related answer on texting a new lead covers consent. CTIA's guidance is not law. This is a plain summary, not legal advice.

Count the texts as leads

Log every new text inquiry the same day and follow it to an outcome: won, lost or still open. The text is how someone reached you, not where they found you, so ask how they heard about you and record that as the source.

Sources

1. Google Business Profile Help, "Changes to Google Business Profile chat and call history"
2. CTIA, "Messaging Principles and Best Practices" (May 2023)

Related answers

• Who should own your business phone number?
• Can you text a new lead or a past customer, and what consent do you need?
• Should a small business get a separate phone line, such as VoIP, instead of using a personal cell?