How to Text a Customer in LeadLocate

Texting from the CRM means the message leaves from the store's number, lands on the lead record and shows you whether it was delivered. Here is the whole loop.

1. Open the composer

   From an open lead, use the text option on the record and the customer's number is already filled in. From anywhere else, click Send a Text in the top bar or open Messaging and click New Text Message. On the phone app, Text is on the bottom dock.

2. Pick the customer

   If the number is not filled in, type it in To or use Contact Lookup to search by name. A contact with more than one lead shows them so you pick the right one; the text will be logged on that lead.

3. Write the message

   Type in Write your message..., or choose one of the store's saved messages under Select a Template. If you want help with the wording, open AI Writing Assistant, tell it what the message should do, and edit what comes back; Clean Up My Text fixes spelling and grammar on what you already typed. Keep it short and sign it with your first name.

4. Add a vehicle or a picture if it helps

   Click Insert a vehicle from your inventory to drop a unit from the store's inventory into the message with its photo and price, or Attach file (MMS) to send a photo or a document. A shopper who asked about a specific car gets a better reply with the car in it.

5. Send it

   Press Send Text, or use Send (Enter) from the keyboard. The message appears as a bubble in the thread right away.

6. Read the delivery status and wait for the reply

   Each outbound bubble carries a status that moves from queued to sent to delivered; a failed status means the number did not take the message. When the customer answers, the thread moves to the top of the texting inbox, the desktop chimes if Play Text Message sound is on, and you reply in the same thread.

7. Schedule the follow up

   If the customer goes quiet, click Schedule TEXT Follow-up in the thread, pick the day and time, and the next message goes out without you remembering it.

You need a LeadLocate CRM login, on desktop or in the mobile app, and a customer with a mobile number on the lead. Every account gets a tracking number when it is created, and every user can text from it; there is nothing to enable. Turn on Notify me when I get a NEW TEXT in your notification preferences so a reply reaches you when you are away from the screen.

Text only customers who asked to hear from you: a lead who submitted a form, a customer who texted or called first, a buyer you are already working. The store's DNC Blacklist stops texts to numbers on it, and the phone validity dot on the record tells you whether the number is a mobile before you write. The do not call scrub and blacklist page explains how numbers get there and how a manager keeps the list current.

Your message as a bubble on the right of the thread, with the time and a status under it. The status changes on its own as the carrier reports back: sent, then delivered, or failed if the number rejected it. The customer's reply shows on the left, and pictures they send render in the thread. The whole conversation is also on the lead record in the communications log, next to the calls and emails, so a manager or a teammate reads it without asking you.

If the customer's phone supports rich messaging, the same message arrives in that format automatically and falls back to a standard text when it does not; you send once and the platform picks. When the message carried a vehicle, the customer sees the photo with the year, make, model and price in the body. If you used a template with a link in it, the link is shortened and its clicks show on the record.

Leave your number and a lead specialist calls you back to answer your questions about pricing, coverage, and setup. Mon - Sat, 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM Pacific.

Prefer to talk right now? Call or text 844-376-2274.

The bubble says failed. The number is a landline, is out of service, or blocked short business numbers. Check the validity dot on the lead, run the Phone Validator on it, and call instead if it is a landline. A number that fails twice is usually wrong on the lead; ask the customer for the right one by email.

The composer refuses the number. It is on the store's DNC Blacklist, either because the customer replied STOP or because a manager added it. Honor it; a manager can review the entry on the DNC Blacklist page if the customer asks to be contacted again.

You sent it but nothing shows on the lead. The text went to a contact that is not linked to that lead, usually because the customer has two records. Use the merge on the lead to combine them and the thread appears on the surviving record.

No sound or alert on a reply. Confirm Play Text Message sound and Notify me when I get a NEW TEXT are on in your preferences, and that the browser tab was opened at least once since login. The notifications page lists every setting.

Everything about the thread view, pictures and delivery status is on the two way texting inbox feature page. The vehicle button is covered on send vehicles by text, and the writing help on the AI writing assistant page. Texting a list of customers at once is a different tool, Bulk Texting under Marketing Tools on the dock, with its own recipient lists.

The LeadLocate Help Center has the step by step guides for sending a picture message, sending a vehicle in a text, and making a call from the CRM, each starting from the same lead record. A texting workflow your store needs that the composer does not offer is available on request, and our team puts it in production for your dealership.

Lead with the customer's question, not your name. Send the car, not a description of the car. Ask one question per text so the reply is easy. Text during the hours you would call, and schedule the follow up before you close the thread. And read the delivery status before you assume a customer is ignoring you; a failed bubble means they never saw it.

What number does the customer see when I text from LeadLocate?

The store's tracking number, provisioned when the account was created. Replies to it land in the texting inbox and on the lead, not on anyone's personal phone.

Can I text a customer from my phone and still have it logged?

Yes, from the LeadLocate mobile app. Text is on the bottom dock, the thread is the same one the desktop shows, and every message lands on the lead record.

How do I know the customer got my text?

Every outbound bubble carries a delivery status that moves from sent to delivered. Failed means the number did not accept it; check the number and call instead.

Can I send a picture or a vehicle in the text?

Yes. Attach file (MMS) sends photos and documents, and Insert a vehicle from your inventory drops a unit with its photo and price into the message.

Two way texting with pictures, templates, a writing assistant and delivery status is part of every LeadLocate plan. See it in the pre-recorded demo or start month to month.

Prefer to talk right now? Call or text 844-376-2274.