AI Replies to Inbound Business Texts: Setup Guide

An AI texting agent replies to customers who text your business number, using your business facts to answer quick questions like hours, prices, directions and how to book, and handing the thread to a person when it can't help or when a teammate steps in. Set it up with short-reply rules, a clear list of things it must not do, and a handoff signal your team will see.

Texting is a natural fit for AI: most questions are short and factual, and customers expect a quick reply. Pew Research reports that nearly all US adults own a cellphone, so most of your customers can text you.

What an AI texting agent handles well

Inbound text	AI reply
"Are you open Sunday?"	Hours from facts
"How much is a gel manicure?"	Price from facts
"Where do I park?"	Directions from facts
"Can I book for Friday?"	How to book; or collect preferences for staff to confirm
"Do you do emergency calls?"	Policy from facts, plus how to reach on-call
"Is my order ready?"	"I'll have the team check and text you back" (unless connected to your system)
"I'm unhappy with my service"	Acknowledge, flag for a person

When the AI should stay quiet

• A person has replied. Once a teammate is in the thread, the AI should stop so the customer isn't talking to two voices.
• Opt-out and help keywords. STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE and similar keywords must stop messages; HELP gets your standard help response. See handling opt-outs.
• Out of credits or service. Better to wait for a person than send a broken reply.

Reply rules to write

Texting rules:
- Reply in one or two short sentences, under 300 characters.
- Use only the business facts. If something isn't covered, say
  "Good question. Someone from our team will text you back
  today."
- Never offer discounts or promotions.
- Never ask for card numbers, bank details, SSNs or passwords.
- For complaints, urgent issues, or anything needing judgment,
  say a team member will follow up, and flag the thread.
- Sign off naturally as the business's assistant when it helps
  clarity, e.g., "– Ava, Corner Bike Shop".

Handoff to your team

The handoff is what makes AI texting safe. Your team needs a clear signal when a thread needs them:

• Flagged threads should appear as unread or marked in the shared inbox.
• Someone checks flagged threads on a schedule (for example, every hour during business hours).
• When a person replies, the AI steps back.

If no one checks the inbox, the AI's "someone will text you back" becomes a broken promise. See when AI should hand off to a human.

Carrier rules

Business texting from local numbers in the US requires 10DLC registration through The Campaign Registry. Your registered campaign should describe customer care and any other uses. Carrier guidelines in the CTIA Messaging Principles and Best Practices expect:

• Clear identification of the business.
• Honoring STOP and similar keywords.
• No content outside your registered use, such as unregistered marketing.

Replies to texts the customer sent are the lowest-risk kind of business text. See consent for AI text messages.

Example threads

Quick answer:

Customer: "Hi, what time do you close today?" AI: "We're open until 6 p.m. today. – Ava, Corner Bike Shop"

Booking request:

Customer: "Can I bring my bike in for a tune-up Saturday?" AI: "Yes, Saturday tune-ups are first come, first served from 9 to 1. A standard tune-up is $79. Want us to text you when it's ready?"

Needs a person:

Customer: "The brakes you fixed last week are squeaking again and I'm pretty annoyed." AI: "Sorry about that. I've flagged this for the service manager, who'll text you back today."

Working alongside staff during business hours

An AI texting agent doesn't have to be only an after-hours tool. During the day, it can give instant answers to simple questions while staff handle calls and in-person customers. A few ground rules keep it smooth:

• Staff can take over any thread at any time by replying. The AI should step back as soon as they do.
• Staff don't have to re-answer. If the AI already answered hours or prices, a teammate can pick up from there rather than starting over.
• Agree on ownership. If two teammates share the inbox, decide who handles flagged threads in the morning and who handles them in the afternoon.
• Watch for tone mismatches. If staff write casually and the AI writes formally (or the reverse), customers notice. Adjust the AI's instructions to match how your team texts.

Texts that look like calls for help

Some texts need speed more than accuracy: "Water's leaking everywhere, can someone come?" or "Locked out, help." The AI should treat these like urgent calls: acknowledge, say the team is being alerted, flag the thread, and, if your setup has an on-call number, give it. For life-safety situations, it should tell the person to call 911. See what an AI receptionist should do in an emergency.

Costs

AI text replies are cheap per message but add up in busy threads. Watch:

• Replies per thread (a long back-and-forth may be better as a call or a staff reply).
• Total AI text replies per month.
• Threads where the AI replied and then a person had to redo the answer.

Rollout plan

1. Week 1: turn on AI replies; read every AI text the same day.
2. Week 2: add missing facts; adjust tone.
3. Week 3 onward: review a sample daily, all flagged threads.
4. Monthly: review costs and handoff speed.

Measuring results

• Median time to first reply (should drop to near-instant).
• Share of threads resolved without staff.
• Flagged threads and time to human reply.
• Errors found in review.
• Customer replies like "thanks" vs follow-up confusion.

AI text replies in Callata

In Callata, turn on "Replies to texts" for one AI agent, and it answers inbound texts to your business numbers using that agent's instructions and business facts, with replies under about 300 characters. It reads the recent conversation for context, stays quiet for 12 hours after anyone on your team replies in the thread, and never answers STOP, START or HELP messages. When a person needs to follow up, the thread is marked unread in your shared inbox, where your team also has templates and AI reply suggestions. Opted-out numbers are blocked from texts automatically. Each AI text reply uses a quarter of an AI minute ($0.0625 at $0.25 per minute). Business texting requires carrier registration, a one-time $49 fee in Callata.

Callata Office is $99 per month for up to five users, plus $20 per additional user. Turn on AI texting in Callata.