Two-way SMS lets you receive replies from your leads and respond to them directly from the client portal. Once enabled, every text message your leads send to your SMS number lands in your Messages inbox, and you can send messages back without leaving the portal.
Before you enable
Two-way SMS comes with regulatory responsibilities. Depending on your industry (especially financial services and legal), there may be compliance rules around recording and responding to text messages. Make sure your firm is approved to do two-way SMS before turning it on. If you're unsure, check with your compliance team first.
Plans and billing
Two-way SMS is either included in your plan or available as an add-on depending on what your firm signed up for.
Included plan: Click Enable and you're done. No charge, no subscription.
Add-on plan: Two-way SMS is $15/month + $0.06 per outbound message over 250/month. Incoming replies from your contacts are always free and don't count toward your limit. Billing is handled through Stripe.
You'll know which plan you're on by what the "Add Two-Way SMS" panel shows when two-way is off:
If it just says "Two-Way SMS" with an Enable button, you're on the included plan
If it says "Add Two-Way SMS" with a price displayed, you're on the add-on plan
How to enable (included plan)
Sign in to your client portal
Navigate to the Messages page
Click Enable Two-Way SMS
That's it. The page refreshes into the Messages inbox view and your two-way SMS is now active.
How to enable (add-on plan)
Sign in to your client portal
Navigate to the Messages page
Click Enable Two-Way SMS
A confirmation modal appears showing the price and a description of what will be charged. Review and click Confirm & Enable to confirm the subscription.
You'll be charged the $15 flat fee immediately. The portal opens to the Messages inbox view and your two-way SMS is active.
If you see "Please add a payment method to enable two-way SMS"
This means your account doesn't have a card on file yet. The error includes an Open billing portal button — click it, add a card, then come back and click Enable Two-Way SMS again. The portal will pick up the new card automatically.
What changes when you enable
Inbox becomes visible — the conversation list and thread view appear in place of the disabled panel
Notifications start firing — when a lead replies, the email recipients you've configured will get an alert (set this up next — see Setting Up Notification Recipients)
You can reply to leads who've messaged you — once a lead has texted your SMS number, they appear in the inbox and you can send messages back from the portal
You can start new conversations — use the + New conversation button to search your lead database and message any lead who hasn't opted out
Replies appear live — when a lead texts back, the new message shows up in the inbox within a few seconds, without needing to refresh
Your existing outbound SMS campaigns continue to work exactly as before — two-way SMS is a layer on top, not a replacement.
What happens if you don't enable
Your outbound campaigns still send normally
Replies from leads are still received and stored, but they don't appear in your portal
You won't get notification emails when leads reply
You can't send messages from the portal
To turn it off later, see Disabling Two-Way SMS.