SMS or email

Should you reply to a customer by text or by email?

Reply to a customer by text if they wrote to you by text, by email if they wrote by email, and switch to email for anything they need to keep, such as a quote. When they text your business's 09 number, a Muzau agent replies with one short text, on its own or after your approval. It asks for their email only for a meeting invitation, and your team picks the conversation up by text when the agent hands it over.

Why the channel matters as much as the reply

A customer who sends a text has chosen a short exchange. They write from their phone, often between two things, and they will read the reply in the same place. Answering by email means asking them to go and look for the rest elsewhere, and first to give you an address they had not planned to give. The question was simple, the answer becomes a chore.

The opposite is true too. A quote, terms, a document to reread have no place in a 160-character text. The rule has two parts: reply on the channel where the customer wrote to you, then switch to email when there is something to keep. Muzau's text agent handles the first part, alongside your team: it replies by text, and asks for the email only for a meeting invitation. The second part stays with your team.

How the agent goes about it

Input

A customer's text to your business's 09 number

It does

Replies by text, and asks for their email only for a meeting

It delivers

A short reply to the customer's number, and their email kept when they give it

The customer's number is enough to reply

A customer's texts to the agent's number form one conversation, and the agent rereads the latest messages before replying. From the very first text, it replies to that number: it does not ask for contact details to do so. Its first message begins with "Hello, this is the AI assistant of" your business, so the customer knows right away who they are writing to.

A reply written for a text, not a shortened email

The agent replies with what the Brain knows about your business, your site and your documents, and only with what is marked public. It writes plain text, with no lists or formatting: a reply made for a text, not a shortened email.

Your team stays on the same channel

The text reply follows your setting for what goes out without you, the same as for your email replies. It goes out on its own, or it waits for your approval in a "To approve" card. When the agent does not know how to reply, your team writes its answer from the card, and it goes out from the same number: see the AI that replies to your customers' texts.

The customer's email, asked for a meeting then kept

When the customer picks a free slot, the agent asks for their address: "To hold this slot and send you the invitation, please leave me your email address." It books the meeting if your setting allows it, and the invitation goes out by email (the details are on booking meetings by text). The address stays in the conversation. If the agent keeps a tracking file and is allowed to write to it, it files the customer there with the origin "SMS" and their first question. If it is also the address for your email follow-ups, it makes the link: a text reply stops the follow-up, just like an email reply.

Text or email: which channel for which reply

The right channel depends on what the customer will do with your reply. If they read it and answer in a word, a text is enough. If they need to keep it, reread it or pass it to someone, it is an email.

• By text: an availability, a time, a yes or a no, the confirmation of a slot, a short question to move forward.
• By email: a quote, detailed pricing, terms, an attached document, a meeting invitation, anything that will serve as a record.
• Only switch channel with a reason the customer can see: "To send you the quote, what is your email address?" rather than "Please write to us by email".
• One question per text, so the customer has only one thing to answer.
• After the email, leave the text channel open: a customer who got the quote by email may still want to answer in a word by text.
• Do not switch to text on your own with a customer who writes to you by email: a number at the bottom of their signature is not an invitation to text them there.

For the shape of the message itself, see how many characters a business text should be.

What it does not do

• It never writes the first SMS: it only replies to customers who have written to your business's number.
• It only reads text: a photo or a document sent by text is not kept in the conversation.
• It does not reply by SMS to a landline or a foreign number: the message is received, and a card warns you that this number does not receive SMS from France.

Frequently asked questions

Should you ask for an email from a customer who texts?

Not to reply to them: their number is enough, and Muzau's text agent replies to that number from the first message. The email is only asked for to send a meeting invitation, at the moment the customer picks a slot.

Can you send a quote by text?

Email is better. A text holds 160 characters of plain text, with no formatting, while a quote, with its lines and terms, has to be kept and reread. By text, answer the question and ask for the address to send the quote to.

Is it professional to reply to a customer by text?

Yes, when the customer wrote to you by text and the reply fits in a sentence or two: an availability, a time, the confirmation of a slot. Say who is writing, use full sentences with no abbreviations, and switch to email for a quote or a document.

Can you reply by email to a customer who wrote by text?

Yes, if they gave you their address and the reply has to be kept, like a quote; otherwise, reply by text, to the number they wrote from. When Muzau's text agent hands over and the customer wrote their email in that message, the agent replies "Noted, we will reply to you at" that address, and it is up to your team to write to them by email.