Who needs speed to lead texting?
Any team whose leads ask for something and then shop around: sales teams with demo requests, real estate agents with portal inquiries, home services with quote forms, and agencies answering leads for clients.
Sales teams text demo requests before the prospect books elsewhere. Real estate agents answer a buyer inquiry while the listing is still on screen. Home services businesses reply to a quote form before the homeowner calls the next company, and agencies run the same first text in each client’s name.
What does a speed to lead sequence look like?
A first text the moment the lead arrives that offers a call or a text conversation, then two short follow-ups over the next few days for anyone who hasn’t answered.
- Text · Minutes after the inquiry
Hi {{First name}}, it's {{Rep}} at {{Company}}. Thanks for asking about your {{Interest}}. Is now a good time for a quick call, or would you rather text?
139 characters with the fields filled in, one segment. With the opt-out line: 2 segments.
- Wait
1 day
- Text · Day 2
Following up on your {{Interest}}. What would help most: a rough price, a few times to talk, or answers right here by text?
126 characters with the fields filled in, one segment. With the opt-out line: 2 segments.
- Wait
2 days, business days only
- Text · Day 4 or later
I'll leave this with you, {{First name}}. Reply here whenever you're ready and I'll pick it straight back up.
98 characters with the fields filled in, one segment. With the opt-out line: 2 segments.
Every text in a sequence ends with: Msg frequency varies. Msg & data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out, HELP for help. A reply ends the sequence, so the line is on each automated text, and your team’s answers from the inbox go without it. Names are made up.
- The first text gives a choice. Some people would rather type than talk, and a lead who can answer in one word usually does.
- The follow-ups come a day or more apart, because a Wait step is at least one day. A same-day second touch is a person answering from the inbox.
- Fields such as {{Interest}} come from your form, through the API or a column on your list. If a field is empty for someone, they pause at that step with the missing column named, so nobody gets a text with a gap in it.
How fast does the first text go out?
Within a few minutes of the lead arriving, when it comes in during your sending hours. A lead that arrives at night gets its first text when your hours open.
The quickest path is straight into the campaign: your form, Zapier or Make sends the lead to the API, and with Send new leads automatically on, a running campaign queues the first text at once. The sender runs every two minutes.
Leads from a connected CRM arrive with Keep in sync, which reads new records every hour, and a list with Auto-update on can push each new row to the campaign as it lands. That suits follow-up well, and the API suits the first minutes best.
Each campaign has its own sending days and hours. With Send in each lead’s local time on, those hours follow each person’s time zone, read from the area code of their number, and Textually never sends a campaign text before 8 AM or after 9 PM on their clock, the window US federal rules set for telephone solicitations (47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1)). A text that falls due outside the hours waits for the next allowed time.
Can I text a new lead who just filled in my form?
Yes, when the form told them you would text and they agreed. Put a clear line about texts by the phone field and keep the page, the date and the wording.
Carrier guidance expects an opt-in given to you for the texts you send, and says that when the consumer starts the conversation “no additional permission is expected” (CTIA, 2023). A lead who texted your number first can get a reply. Wording you can copy is in the opt-in examples, and the speed to lead guide covers what to say first. This is a summary of public rules as of October 2026, not legal advice.
In Textually each person needs a consent record, the source and the date they agreed, carried from columns on your list or your CRM, or you confirm consent for the whole campaign at launch. A text step skips anyone without one and saves the reason on the lead. A lead sent through the API without a consent source and date is turned away.
What happens when a new lead replies or texts STOP?
A reply ends the sequence and puts the lead at the top of Needs reply for your team. STOP or clear stop wording opts them out across your workspace.
- A reply of any kind ends the sequence for that person, and no later step goes out. The thread lands in the shared inbox with a label such as Interested or Declined, and whoever answers sends from the number the person already knows.
- STOP, or clear wording such as “please stop texting me” or “remove me from your list”, opts the person out across your whole workspace: this campaign, every other campaign that holds their number, and any you run later. The inbox won’t send to them, and a later text from them does not undo it.
Every member of the workspace sees the reply in the bell inside Textually, and each person can turn on email or browser alerts. A thread that has waited more than 4 hours is marked overdue in Needs reply. The first answer matters as much as the first text, so give someone the inbox during your sending hours.
Draft writes a first reply from the conversation into the reply box, for whoever is on the inbox to edit and send.
Can speed to lead texting work with my CRM?
Yes. Leads come in from the CRM as a list, and every reply and opt-out goes back on the record. For a first text in minutes, send new leads to the campaign through the API as well.
HubSpot and Pipedrive get a note on the contact or person, and real estate teams on Follow Up Boss see each reply on the person’s timeline. Leads in a spreadsheet come in from Google Sheets.
Webhooks send each reply and opt-out to your own URL within about a minute, so a reply can also reach your team chat or your own tools.