How it works
Your phone rings you first. Here is what happens next.
Five paths, in plain words: the answered call, the missed call, the reply, the caller who cannot text, and the moment you take over. Nothing here is a booking engine or a voice robot.
Available now: your manual follow-up board
Add an enquiry from your existing calls or messages, choose a next action and due time, then record the outcome. You contact the customer yourself. Manual entries do not incur conversation charges and need no phone activation. Create my follow-up board. The text-back workflow below has separate consent, approval and activation requirements.
Applications are open. Texting on a line starts after the carriers verify its toll-free number; nothing is charged until activation. A sample conversation shows what a live line does once approved.
The five paths a call can take.
You answer. Nothing changes.
An answered call never reaches BookedBack. No text, no record, no assistant. Your phone rings exactly as it does today.Most calls
Nobody answers. The call forwards to your BookedBack number.
Only calls that are busy, unanswered or unreachable move, because you turn on conditional forwarding for those cases. The caller hears a greeting naming your business. A missed call alone is not consent to text. The planned Canadian flow requires a documented opt-in and a confirmation reply before the conversation can continue by SMS. Texting remains disabled while the exact flow is finalized, implemented, tested and reviewed by the carrier.Consent and activation required
The caller replies. The assistant asks one thing at a time.
Job type and area first, timing only if it helps. It reuses what the caller already said, never quotes a price, never promises a time, never sends a link. The moment anything is unusual — or the caller asks for a person — it stops and hands the thread to you.Automatic, then you
The caller cannot text, or the text fails.
A landline, a private number, an opted-out number or a carrier failure are different cases and are shown as such. The missed call sits in your queue as a call to return. Voicemail capture is a switch we turn on per line once it has been proven on a real call; until then the greeting says the line isn't taking messages. A text is only ever marked delivered when the carrier says so. A withheld number may not be callable, and the app says so instead of pretending.Shown, never hidden
You take over whenever you want.
Reply from the app as yourself and the assistant steps back for good on that thread. A caller who replies STOP is unsubscribed immediately with a single confirmation and is never texted again by your business through BookedBack.Your call
What you see
One queue, sorted by who has waited longest.
Each row is a real next action — reply now, review and call back, waiting for the caller — never a score. Estimated value never sorts above an unanswered customer.
Inbox · Westmark Plumbing
- •••-01482m
Kitchen sink backing up
RepliedReply now - •••-02311h
Water heater replacement
QualifiedReview and call back - •••-0377Yesterday
No details yet
NewWaiting for the caller to reply
•••-0148
Missed call · 2:14 PM · No answer
Hi, this is Westmark Plumbing. Sorry we missed your call! Reply here and we'll help you right away. Reply STOP to opt out, HELP for help.
Sent automatically · 2:14 PM
Kitchen sink is backing up, water all over the floor
Caller · 2:16 PM
Sounds urgent. What's the address, and is there a time today that works for you? The owner will confirm.
Assistant · 2:16 PM
Sample data. Fictional business and caller; the first message is the real production template. Example, not a product screen. Times and names are illustrative; nothing here is a measured result.
Three numbers, three jobs.
Most confusion about missed-call text back is about which number does what. Here is the whole picture.
- Your business number
- The number customers already know. It stays with your provider, is never ported, and still rings first. You only forward the calls nobody picks up.
- Your BookedBack number
- A Canadian toll-free number assigned to your business alone. Forwarded calls land here and every text is sent from here. It is the number the carriers verify before any text can go out.
- Your alert phone
- The mobile your alerts are built to reach — by text once your line is carrier-verified. Verified once by a voice call that reads out a code, so that step works before any carrier approval.
Before any text goes out
Verification first. Then forwarding. Then one test call.
Texting from a Canadian toll-free number needs carrier verification of your business details. Review typically takes one to two weeks after submission, according to our provider's published guidance; that is their figure, not our promise. The sample above shows what the service does once approved — it does not imply your line is approved today.
- A callback request
- What the assistant produces: who called, what they need, where, and when they are free to talk. It sits in your queue with one next action.
- A booking
- What you produce: a confirmed time you agreed with the caller. You mark it in the app, along with estimate confirmed, won, lost or completed — each set by a person, each independent. Unknown stays unknown.
- Recovered revenue
- Not a number we show. A job after a text is associated with the conversation; it is not automatically incremental, and the app never claims it is.
Questions buyers ask.
- Does every missed call cost money?
- No. A substantive customer enquiry after consent starts the conversation charge. Unanswered messages, consent keywords alone, tests and duplicate enquiries do not count. Flag spam or a wrong number for review before invoicing; flagged charges are held while reviewed. New businesses get 1 free conversation to try the service, once per verified business; monthly usage and spending limits are explained on the pricing page. Texting and billing are not live yet.
- Can I keep the number customers already know?
- Yes. Nothing is ported. Your number stays with your current provider and keeps ringing first.
- Is the texting number the same as my business number?
- No. Texts come from the Canadian toll-free number assigned to your business. Callers still dial your existing number to reach you.
- What changes to voicemail, and how do I reverse forwarding?
- With forwarding on, unanswered calls reach the BookedBack greeting instead of your provider voicemail. Voicemail capture is switched on per line once it has been proven on a real call; until then the greeting tells callers the line isn't taking messages. Your carrier or portal turns the forwarding off again at any time — we show the reverse step next to the setup step.
- Does it work with a landline or VoIP line?
- It depends on whether the line can forward busy / no-answer / unreachable calls to an outside toll-free number. The setup check tells you what is supported, what needs a provider check, and what is not a fit.
- Will repeated missed calls send repeated messages?
- No. A missed call alone does not authorize a text. The planned flow requires opt-in and confirmation; repeated calls must respect consent, opt-outs and conversation limits. Texting remains disabled until that flow is implemented and approved.
- What happens when someone opts out or the text fails?
- STOP ends texting with one confirmation. A failed or undelivered text is shown as failed, and the caller appears in your queue as someone to ring back.
- Can I reply myself, and does the assistant stop?
- Yes. Your reply switches the thread to you and the assistant does not send anything further on it.
- What happens while the carriers review my setup?
- You can complete every setup step except the live text; the Setup screen shows the request as pending and tells you when it changes. Forwarded callers would only hear the greeting, so we ask you not to change your forwarding until verification is approved and the routing is live. Nothing is charged while you wait.
- Does it confirm appointments?
- No. It captures the enquiry and asks the caller what they need. A qualified enquiry is not a booking; you confirm the time and you mark what actually happened.
- What is free and what needs the paid service?
- The free tools — the setup check, the reply templates and the calculator — run without an account. Automatic capture needs the paid service: a toll-free number, carrier verification and the app.
