Text your contacts

What Texting is

Texting lets your team text contacts from your own phone numbers. Replies come back to Berchtold. Every text shows on the contact's timeline.

Texting is an add-on. Your organization's billing owner buys it in the organization's Billing › Add-ons. Once it is bought, Texting turns on in every workspace of the organization. This is the only way to turn it on. Berchtold runs the texting account with Twilio, so you do not need your own Twilio account.

Your organization has monthly credits. Every workspace in the organization uses the same credits. One credit is one segment of a text you send. A segment is up to 160 plain characters, or 70 when the text has an emoji. A longer text uses more segments. A text with a photo uses 3 credits. Texts people send you are free.

One-to-one texts past your credits cost 3¢ a segment, on the next month's bill. A text to a segment never goes past your credits.

The add-on includes one number. Each extra number is $3 a month. If you remove the add-on, it ends at your renewal, and its numbers are released then.

Before you can text

Three things come first:

1. Set up texting. Berchtold makes your organization's own texting account.
2. Buy a number. Give it to an agent, or keep it as a team line.
3. Register with carriers. US carriers block texts until they approve your business and how you text.

Only a workspace admin can do these. Everyone who uses the CRM can look at them.

Set up texting and your numbers

Go to Settings › CRM › Texting numbers.

If texting is not set up yet, select Set up texting. It is free.

The top of the page shows how many numbers you have, how many are assigned and how many are left. It also shows how many people who use the CRM have no number.

To buy a number:

1. Select Buy a number.
2. Choose Local or Toll-free. For a local number, enter a 3-digit area code, such as 314. Select Find numbers.
3. Choose a number. Choose who it is for, or Team line.
4. Select Buy number. Berchtold shows the monthly cost before it buys. Your Texting plan includes one number. Each extra number has a monthly fee.

Give a number to an agent

Each number belongs to one agent, or to nobody. A number nobody has is a team line. Everyone who uses the CRM can text from a team line.

To give a number to someone, choose them next to the number. Berchtold asks you to confirm first.

A number's conversations go with it. When you give a number to someone else, they see its past texts. The person who had it no longer sees them. Admins see every conversation.

An agent has one number. If the person you choose already has a number, Berchtold offers to Swap numbers. Each number keeps its own conversations.

When an agent leaves the workspace, their number becomes a team line. Admins get a notice to give it to someone.

Release a number

Select Release next to the number and confirm. Nobody can text from it after that, and Twilio can give it to someone else. Its texts stay on your contacts.

Register with carriers

Go to Settings › CRM › Texting numbers › Carrier registration.

US carriers approve your business and how you text before any text reaches a US phone. Until then, texts to US phones are blocked. Texts people send you still arrive.

What it costs

Carriers charge fees to register. Your organization pays them on its next invoice. For a business, that is about $23.40 once, then about $1.80 a month after approval. The page shows your price before you send it. Carrier fees can't be refunded once sent.

Choose who registers

• A business with an EIN: a team or brokerage. Its legal name and EIN must match its IRS letter exactly. A business registers as Low volume: up to about 6,000 texts a day. There is nothing to choose.
• An agent without an EIN: one agent, one number and up to 1,000 texts a day. Twilio texts a code to the agent's own mobile. The agent replies YES to confirm.

What Berchtold fills in

Berchtold fills in what it already knows:

• Your organization's legal name, EIN and address.
• Your organization's owner as the authorized representative.
• A form that has the texting boxes, if you have one.
• How you text: a description, how people agree, and three sample texts for a real estate business.

You add the rest:

• Your website.
• The addresses of your Privacy policy and your Terms.
• The representative's phone, job title and work email. The email must use your business's own domain, not Gmail or Yahoo.

The page lists everything still missing. Change the sample texts to match how you text. At least one sample must say how to stop. For example, end it with: Reply STOP to opt out. Do not use link shorteners in samples.

What carriers check

Carriers read your registration and open your pages. They say no when something is missing. Berchtold checks these before you send it:

• Two separate texting boxes. One box is for texts about a person's own request. The other is for marketing texts. Both start unticked, and people can send the form without ticking either.
• The words next to the boxes. Each box names your business. It says that message frequency varies and that message and data rates may apply. It says to reply HELP for help and STOP to stop. It also says that agreeing is not a condition of purchase.
• Each way people agree, step by step. In How people agree to texts, describe every way people agree. For example, your website form and the open house sign-in. Give each way its own numbered step: where it happens, what people see and what they tick. Name your sign-up page's address.
• Your privacy policy and terms. Both pages load for anyone. The privacy policy says texting consent is never shared or sold. The terms have a Text messages part with HELP and STOP. Name both addresses in How people agree to texts.
• Sample texts with STOP. At least one sample says how to stop.

Berchtold opens your sign-up page before you send it. If the page doesn't show the texting boxes, add them, then check again. If Berchtold can't open the page, it tells you to check it yourself.

If How people agree to texts is missing something, select Use the suggested description. Berchtold fills in a description of each way people agree, with your pages' addresses. Check it before you send.

Send it and follow it

Select Send to carriers. Berchtold asks you to confirm first, with the fees. The page then shows each step, with its status and date:

1. Business profile: Twilio checks your business details. This usually takes a few minutes.
2. Brand: carriers check that your business is real. This usually takes minutes to a few days. An agent without an EIN then replies YES to Twilio's text. Select Send the code again if the code did not come.
3. Campaign: carriers check how and why you text. This usually takes up to 5 business days. Sometimes it takes longer.
4. Approved: your numbers can text US phones.

Most registrations are approved in 1 to 2 weeks. Settings › CRM › Texting numbers shows the same steps.

Berchtold checks with carriers every 15 minutes. You get a notice when they approve or say no.

If carriers say no

The page shows what carriers said, what it means and what to change. If they refused how people agree to texts, select Use the suggested description and check it. Fix the details and select Send to carriers again. Did carriers refuse how you text? Then sending it again starts a new campaign review. Only its carrier fee goes on your next invoice. Did carriers refuse the business? They check it again for free, up to 3 times. The page shows the fees before you send it again.

Text while carriers review

Registration can take a week or more. A toll-free number can text sooner. Carriers verify it on its own, often in a few business days.

1. Buy a number and choose Toll-free.
2. On Carrier registration, find Text while carriers review. Carriers ask for a picture of your sign-up form with its texting boxes. Take a screenshot and select Add a picture of the form.
3. Select Verify and the number, for example Verify (314) 555-0142. Confirm. It is free.
4. When carriers approve it, you get a notice.

Until your registration is approved, new texts go from the toll-free number. It uses your own toll-free number if you have one. If not, it uses a toll-free team line. After approval, new texts go from your local number again. Replies always come to the number they were sent to.

If carriers do not approve the toll-free number, the page says why. When carriers allow it, fix the details. Then select the button that sends the number again, such as Send (314) 555-0142 again.

Collect texting consent

People must agree before you text them. Carriers check how they agree.

Texting boxes on your forms

In Email › Forms, open a form that has a Phone field. Turn on one or both texting boxes:

• Texting box: their request: texts about their request and their appointments.
• Texting box: marketing: marketing texts, such as new listings, open houses and events.

Carriers need these two boxes apart. Both start unticked, and neither is required. Berchtold writes their words for you. The words say who texts, that message frequency varies and that message and data rates may apply. They say to reply HELP for help and STOP to stop. They also say that agreeing is not a condition of purchase.

Links to your Terms and Privacy policy show next to the boxes. The links come from your carrier registration.

When a person ticks a box, Berchtold saves it in the contact's consent history, with the exact words they saw.

The texting boxes also show on forms you add to a WordPress website with the Berchtold plugin. They are in the HTML code you copy from Share, too.

Open house sign-in

The open house sign-in has the same two boxes. Berchtold saves a tick only when the visitor gives a phone number.

Your website's legal pages

When Texting is on, Berchtold adds texting sections to the Privacy policy and Terms of a website built in Berchtold. The Privacy policy says you never sell or share texting consent. The Terms get a Text messages section, with STOP and HELP in bold.

STOP, START and HELP

• A person who replies STOP gets no more texts from you. Berchtold saves it on the contact.
• A person who replies START can get texts again.
• Twilio answers HELP for you.

Text a contact

Open the contact and select Text, next to Email and Call. The Text button shows when Texting is on and the contact has a phone number. Your texts with them show in the dialog, oldest first.

To text them:

1. Write the text, or select Saved responses and choose a saved text. Berchtold shows the characters and segments.
2. To add a photo, select Add a photo and choose a JPG, PNG or GIF under 5 MB. It is saved in your Media.
3. Select Send text.
4. Berchtold shows the number it goes to, the number it comes from and the credits it uses. Select Send text again to send it.

The text comes from your own number. If you have none, it comes from the team line.

Each text you send shows its status: Sending, Sent, Delivered, Not delivered or Not sent. A text that was not delivered says why.

When a contact replies, the agent whose number it went to gets a notice.

You can't text a contact who has no US or Canadian mobile number, or who replied STOP.

A notice about a text opens the contact's Text dialog.

Photos people text you are kept private. Select Open the photo to see one. The link works for a few minutes.

Before the first text to a number, Berchtold checks that it is not a landline. A landline can't get texts, so nothing is sent and no credit is used.

Saved texts

A saved text is the words of a text you send often, such as "Running 10 minutes late". Fields such as the contact's first name fill in for each person.

• Use one. In the Text dialog, or when you answer a text in Conversations, select Saved responses. Search, or choose one from Yours or Workspace. The words go where your cursor was, with the fields filled in. Change any word, then send.
• Save one. Write the text, then select Save as a response. Name it. People who see all records can save it for everyone in the workspace. Others save their own.
• Make or change one. Go to Email › Templates and set Type to Saved responses. Saved texts are listed with saved emails. Select New template, then A saved text. Use Insert a field for a field, and add a word for when it is empty: . Then select Publish. A saved text is in the list only when it is published.

Your own saved texts are private. To share one, open its menu in Email › Templates and select Share with team.

On the phone app

On a contact in the Berchtold phone app, select Text. With Texting on, the text goes from your workspace number and shows on the contact. The phone asks you to confirm and shows both numbers first. Without Texting, Text opens your phone's own messages.

On the phone, Contacts also has Text conversations and Texts to a segment. Conversations has a Texts choice too. A text from an unknown number sends a notice to your phone.

Answer texts in Conversations

Go to Conversations in the menu, below Approvals. It is one inbox for texts and Facebook and Instagram messages. You see the text conversations on your number and the team lines. Admins see every conversation. Search by name or number. To see texts only, select Filters, then Texts. You can also show:

• Mine: texts to your own number.
• Unassigned: texts to a team line.
• No contact yet: texts from numbers that are not a contact yet. They show the number.
• Unread: texts you did not read.

Open a conversation to read it and reply. Enter sends, and Shift+Enter starts a new line. A reply comes from the conversation's own number, and Berchtold asks you to confirm first. It shows both numbers and the credits the text uses.

Carriers must approve your registration before you text US phones from a local number. Until then, the conversation says so once at the top, with Carrier registration. Its message box is off.

A text from an unknown number has Link to a contact at the top of the conversation. Find the contact and choose them. The texts then show on that contact. A contact with no phone gets this number. To make a new contact, add them first, then link them.

Text a segment

You can text everyone in a segment who agreed to marketing texts. In Contacts › Segments, select Text next to a segment. It is also on Texting numbers.

1. Choose the segment and write the text. You can add a photo.
2. To make it personal, use Insert a field, such as their first name or your name. Each person gets their own.
3. Select Check who gets it. Berchtold shows how many people get it and the text the first person gets.
4. It also shows who is left out and why. People are left out when they have not agreed to marketing texts, replied STOP or have no mobile. A landline, or a phone someone else in the segment has, is left out too.
5. It shows the credits the text uses and how many your organization has left this month. If you don't have enough, add credits in Billing.
6. Choose Now, or Later with a date and time up to 30 days ahead.
7. Select Send text and confirm.

A field that is empty for someone leaves a gap. Add a word for that case after a bar: {{contact.first_name|there}} reads "Hi there" for someone without a first name.

Texts go out 8am to 8pm in each person's time zone. Outside those hours, they wait until 8am. Berchtold adds "Reply STOP to opt out." when the text doesn't say how to stop.

Berchtold checks your credits again when a scheduled text starts. You can stop it until then.

The page lists your sent texts with how many were sent, skipped, not sent or waiting. It also shows how many people replied, and how many replied STOP, within 7 days. Select Stop to stop a text that is still going out. Select Who was skipped to see each person and why. You get a notice in the app when it is done.

A text to a segment can go to up to 5,000 people. You need permission to make bulk changes in the CRM.

Send texts from automations

Add the Send a text step to a contact automation. Write the text with the contact's fields, such as their first name. Then choose the Kind of text:

• Personal: about their request, showing or deal. It goes to contacts with a mobile number who have not replied STOP.
• Marketing: new listings, events or news. It goes only to people who agreed to marketing texts in writing. It waits until 8am to 8pm in the contact's time zone. Berchtold adds "Reply STOP to opt out." to the end.

The text comes from the contact's agent's number. If they have none, it comes from the team line. Berchtold skips contacts who can't get the text, and the automation goes on.

Use Texting from AI assistants

You can also text through Claude and other AI assistants. Ask them to read a contact's texts, send a text, answer a conversation or text a segment. They can also send a saved text. Admins can also manage numbers, the carrier registration and the toll-free number. An assistant always shows you a text, a purchase or a registration before it goes.