Don't lose another lead to a toll-free number that can't text back
Toll free texting means the 800, 888, 877, 866, 855, 844 or 833 number a business already prints on its signs, invoices and website can receive text messages as well as calls. Customers are already trying it. When a toll-free number is not text-enabled, those messages are dropped by the carrier and nobody at the business ever sees them.
Why the messages disappear
People already text your 800 number
A toll-free line that is not text-enabled accepts nothing. The sender sees no error, so they assume you ignored them.
Textstr text-enables your existing toll-free number. Calls keep ringing where they always have. Texts arrive as email in the inbox your team already reads, and a reply to that email goes back to the customer as a text.
What text-enabled toll-free numbers change
- Customers text the number they already know, so there is nothing new to advertise
- Free for the customer to text from anywhere in the US and Canada
- Every text lands in email, so no app to install and no new screen to watch
- Replies from email go back as texts, from the same toll-free number
- Texts can be routed to Sales, Service, Parts or any department by tag
- A Text Us button on your website starts the same conversation from a desktop
How toll-free text messaging works with Textstr
Keep your number
We add texting to the toll-free number you already own. Voice service stays with your current carrier. You sign a one-page authorization and we handle the rest with the carrier.
Verification
US carriers require every toll-free number that sends texts to be verified in the business's name. We file the verification for you from the details you give at signup: business name, website, and how customers opt in. It is usually approved within a few business days, and your number goes live the day it clears.
Texts arrive as email
Each conversation is a thread. A customer's text shows up as an email from your number, with the earlier messages in the thread underneath. Reply above the line and the customer gets a text.
Departments
If sales, service and parts each want their own texts, the Text Us button on your website asks the customer who they are looking for, and the message goes to that department's inbox.
Who uses toll free texting
Businesses that advertise a toll-free number nationally and answer customers from more than one location: dealership groups, franchises, insurance agencies, home services companies and any company whose customers are spread across the country. If your customers are mostly local, a text-enabled landline does the same job on your local number.
What a text to a toll-free number needs to say
Because carriers verify toll-free traffic, the customer has to start the conversation and the business replies. That is exactly how Textstr works: the customer texts first, or submits their number and question through the website button after reading a consent line. The first reply confirms who they are texting and tells them how to stop. After that, staff simply answer the question.
Textstr does not send marketing blasts from your toll-free number. It handles the conversations customers start.
What customers say
Implementing Textstr’s Toll-Free Texting has significantly uplifted our customer engagement and streamlined our support services.
The direct access toll-free texting provides has been pivotal for our marketing campaigns. We’ve seen a remarkable increase in customer responses and engagement.
Textstr’s solution has made our toll-free number a powerful tool for both support and sales, enhancing our overall customer experience.
Frequently asked questions
Can a toll-free number receive texts?
Yes, once it has been text-enabled and verified. Until then, texts sent to a toll-free number are dropped by the carrier and the business never sees them.
Do I have to change my phone provider?
No. Your voice service stays exactly where it is. Textstr adds texting to the number with a signed authorization from you; calls are not affected.
How long does toll-free verification take?
Usually a few business days. We file it for you the day you sign up, and email you the moment your number is live.
Can more than one person answer texts?
Yes. Texts go to whichever email addresses you choose, and each department can have its own. Anyone who can reply to an email can answer a text.
Does it work in Canada?
Yes. Canadian toll-free numbers can be text-enabled the same way, and Canadian numbers do not need the US verification step.
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