Most trade websites have a contact form that sends an email to an address the owner checks in the evening, sometimes. The enquiry is not lost exactly. It is just answered eleven hours after somebody who was ready to buy went and found someone else. This is the fix, and it is the single feature I would keep if I could only keep one.
01The problem The gap between enquiry and answer.
Somebody filling in a form at nine at night is not committed to you. They are comparing. Most of them have contacted more than one firm the same evening, and the deciding factor is very often just who replied first.
That is an uncomfortable thing to hear if you pride yourself on the work, because it has nothing to do with the work. It is a race you can lose while asleep, and the only way to win it reliably is to not be the one running.
An email notification does not solve this. It moves the enquiry to a place you look at later, which is the same problem with extra steps.
02The sequence What happens to an enquiry.
- Somebody fills in the form On your website, at half past nine at night, on a phone, having looked at three other trades first. They are deciding between you and them right now, not tomorrow.
- They get a text almost immediately Not an email receipt. A text, because that is what people read. It confirms you have got it, says when you will be in touch, and gives them something to reply to.
- You get told at the same time The enquiry lands in one inbox with their name, number and what they asked for, so you are not scrolling an email account looking for it between jobs.
- If it goes quiet, it gets chased A polite nudge a day or two later, then another later still. Not badgering, the number of enquiries that convert on the second message rather than the first is the part most owners never see, because nobody ever sends a second message.
03The channel Why it texts rather than emails.
Because texts get read and emails get filed. That is most of it. A text from a UK mobile number arrives on the same screen the person was just holding, and it does not land next to nineteen marketing emails.
There is a second reason that matters more for trades specifically. Your customer wants to have a conversation, not fill in a form.
They want to describe the problem in their own words and ask what it will cost. A text opens that conversation. An email receipt closes it.
Email still goes out as well, for the people who prefer it and so there is a written record. It is just not the thing relied on.
04The price What it costs.
It is part of the package rather than an extra. £297 a month covers it along with the website, missed-call text-back, the review funnel, one inbox and the business number. The full list is here.
05The awkward ones Common questions.
01 Is this not just spam?
It would be if it went to people who never asked. It goes to people who filled in a form on your site an hour ago, which is the opposite. The tone matters though, the messages are written to sound like you, not like a sequence, and there are two of them rather than nine.
02 What if I would rather ring them myself?
Do. This does not replace you ringing, it covers the gap between the enquiry arriving and you being free to ring. If you ring within five minutes every time, you will get less out of this than most people. Very few trades can.
03 How many follow-ups does it send?
Two by default, then it stops and leaves it with you. I have seen setups that send six and they do more harm than good. You end up being the firm that pestered them rather than the firm that was helpful.
04 Does it work for quotes that take weeks to decide?
Partly, and this is worth knowing if you do bigger jobs. The automatic part covers the first few days. A twelve-week extension decision needs you to pick it up manually in month two, but at least the enquiry is sitting in one place with the history attached rather than lost in an inbox.
05 What if they reply while I am on a job?
Their reply sits in the inbox with everything else and waits. You are not expected to be instant. The system is instant so that you do not have to be.
If you want to know what your current form actually does with an enquiry, I'll walk through it with you on a call. Twenty minutes, and you'll find out how many came in and never got answered. Book a call. Tell me what's going on.