Set up instant lead capture and speed to lead by SMS

The outcome of this guide is a setup where a new lead gets a personal text within seconds of enquiring, gets added to your follow-up list automatically, and is qualified or booked by the AI assistant before a competitor calls them back. By the end you will have an instant response firing off your enquiry sources, a dedicated number holding the conversation, and the assistant doing the first round of work.

Contacts, campaigns, and the API work on every plan. The AI assistant, dynamic segments, and the team inbox are Premium, and they are what let a lead be qualified without a person watching the phone.

Why speed to lead decides who wins the job

A lead who has just filled in a form or left a voicemail is comparing you to two or three others they contacted in the same ten minutes. The business that replies first, while the enquiry is still on the screen, is usually the one that gets the job. Speed matters more than polish. A fast, plain text beats a perfect email that arrives an hour later.

What you need first

• An SMS365 workspace, on Premium if you want the assistant to qualify and segment leads.
• A dedicated number under Add-ons, about $10 per month, so the reply lands in a two-way thread the lead can answer.
• Prepaid credit topped up under Billing.
• A way for your enquiry source to reach SMS365. This is usually the API firing when a web form is submitted, or a missed-call flow on your business line. Have your form or phone setup to hand before you start.

Step by step setup

1. Add the dedicated number. Buy one under Add-ons. This is the number the instant reply comes from and the number the lead replies to. Test it with a message from Compose first.
2. Connect your enquiry source. Point your web form or booking widget at the SMS365 API so a new submission creates a contact and triggers a message. If most of your leads are phone calls that go unanswered, set up a missed-call flow so an unanswered ring turns into a text back. Every enquiry door should end up creating a contact in SMS365.
3. Write the instant reply. This is the message that fires the moment a lead comes in. Keep it human, name the business, and ask one question that moves things forward.

   Hi, thanks for your enquiry with Kingsway Plumbing. This is Dan. What is the job and which suburb are you in? Happy to get you a time today or tomorrow.

4. Add the lead to a list. Have the flow add every new lead to a follow-up list, so nobody falls through the cracks if they do not reply straight away. On Premium you can then build a dynamic segment from rules, for example leads from the last seven days who have not booked, and send a follow-up to that segment from Compose.
5. Turn on the AI assistant. Go to Settings then AI assistant. Start in Suggest replies, then move to Reply automatically. Give it a business context and a knowledge base covering your services, service area, price ranges, and what a good lead looks like. In auto mode it can qualify the lead, add the contact to a list, and book an appointment, all inside the conversation.
6. Catch the ones that need a person. Open Conversations, the shared inbox, and assign the threads the assistant hands over. A lead outside your area or asking for something you do not do can be answered honestly and fast, which is still a good outcome.

What the customer sees

A homeowner fills in your website form at 7:12pm. By 7:12pm they have a text:

Hi, thanks for your enquiry with Kingsway Plumbing. This is Dan. What is the job and which suburb are you in? Happy to get you a time today or tomorrow.

They reply "blocked drain, in Joondalup". The assistant checks the knowledge base, confirms it is in the service area, and offers a slot:

We cover Joondalup and can look at a blocked drain tomorrow. I have 8 to 10am or 1 to 3pm. Which suits, and what is the best name for the booking?

The lead picks a time and gives a name. The assistant books it, adds them to the customer list, and the appointment reminder is already scheduled. The homeowner has a confirmed booking before they have finished texting your competitors.

Test it before you rely on it

Submit your own enquiry through the real form, or leave a missed call on your business line, using your own mobile. Confirm the instant reply arrives within seconds, that a contact was created and added to the follow-up list, and that a reply from you is answered by the assistant with a real qualifying question. Then test an out-of-area lead and confirm the assistant either handles it honestly or hands it to a person rather than booking a job you cannot do. Never rely on a lead flow you have not run end to end yourself.

How this fits together

If your leads mostly arrive as phone calls you miss on the tools, the missed-call side is the highest-value piece, covered in how a missed call turns into a booked job. The reason the whole flow needs a two-way number is set out in why two-way SMS matters, and the quality of the assistant's qualifying depends on what you tell it, covered in letting AI answer your customer texts. Trades in particular get a lot from this, and SMS for tradies puts it in context. See where lead capture sits among the platform's other jobs on the use cases page.

An honest word on delivery

SMS365 marks a message "sent" when it has been handed to the carrier, and "delivered" only when a genuine delivery receipt returns. For lead capture the lead replying is your proof it arrived, and the speed of that first reply is the number that matters most.

Once this is running, the enquiries that used to sit in a form inbox until you climbed off the roof are answered in seconds, qualified while you work, and booked before they cool. The fastest reply usually wins the job, and now the fastest reply is automatic.