Texting your customers

Your Callify number sends and receives text messages as well as calls. Customers text the same number they’d call, and you reply from a thread in your Shopify admin.

The Messages list

Messages shows one row per conversation, most recent first.

Contact — the other person’s phone number.

Last message — a preview. Your own replies are prefixed You:.

Received — when the last message arrived.

Status — unread messages show a badge with a count, like 2 new; threads you’ve opened show Read.

Two views: All, and Unread for anything waiting on you. The search box matches phone number or message text, so you can find a thread by number or by something that was said in it.

Replying to someone

Click a conversation to open the thread. It reads like any messaging app — theirs on one side, yours on the other, grouped by day with Today and Yesterday headers.

Type in the box at the bottom and press Send. Your message appears immediately and updates as it moves along.

New messages arrive in an open thread on their own — you don’t need to refresh.

If the other person matches one of your Shopify customers, their card shows beside the thread — see linking Shopify customers.

Starting a new conversation

Press New message. You’ll be asked for:

To — the customer’s mobile number. US and Canadian numbers only.

Message — what you want to say.

A permission checkbox — “This person agreed to receive text messages from us”.

That checkbox isn’t a formality. Carriers and US law require permission before you text someone. If they texted you first, you already have it. If not, you need a real reason to tick it — permission and opt-outs explains what counts.

You don’t need to tick anything to text someone who has texted you before, or whose permission you’ve already confirmed. Replying to an existing thread is always allowed, unless they’ve opted out.

Sending takes you into the new thread. If a thread with that number already exists, the message goes into it rather than starting a second one.

Delivery statuses

Click a message you sent to see its time and status underneath. Messages that didn’t make it show their status without clicking.

Sending — on its way to the carrier.

Sent — the carrier accepted it. It’s in the network.

Delivered — it reached the handset. This is the one you want.

Not delivered — the carrier took it but couldn’t deliver it. Phone off, out of range, or blocking your number.

Failed — it never got sent.

For Not delivered and Failed, the reason is shown under the message; see troubleshooting.

Not every carrier reports delivery, so a message can legitimately stop at Sent and still have arrived.

Message length and cost

A text message is billed in segments, not messages — a plain-text SMS is 160 characters per segment, and a longer message is split and counted as several.

Emoji and accented characters switch the whole message to a different encoding where a segment is only 70 characters, so one emoji can turn a 160-character message into three segments.

The hard limit is 1,600 characters. Both messages you send and messages you receive count toward your plan’s texts, segment by segment — see how usage is counted. Messages that fail to send don’t count.

When texting pauses

If this period’s overage reaches your spending cap, or your store isn’t on a plan, Callify stops sending texts. Pressing Send shows why:

“Your line is paused because this period’s overage has reached your spending cap. Raise the cap in Settings to keep texting.”

“Your store is not on a plan, so texts cannot be sent. Choose a plan to keep texting.”

Texts customers send you still arrive in Messages. Sending resumes when your next billing period starts, or as soon as you raise the cap.

Pictures and attachments

Customers can send photos, but Callify doesn’t display them. The thread shows a note — “1 attachment - view it on your phone” — in place of the picture. Texts aren’t forwarded to your own phone, so if you need to see it, ask the customer to email it instead.

You can’t send attachments from Callify. Text only.

Texting versus calling back

For most customer questions, a text gets a faster answer than a call. The customer replies when they’re free rather than having to be free when you ring, and you both get a written record.

A voicemail is often best answered with a text — but a voicemail on its own isn’t permission to text. Read permission and opt-outs before you do.