How to text from a different number is something that many people are curious about. People have good reasons to text from a different number than the one that’s connected to their cell phone. These motivations can include maintaining their privacy, avoiding spam, or separating their business texting from their personal life - causing them to have different numbers for each. But, who wants to carry around a second cell phone? So a lot of people choose to access both from the same handset.
Understanding the Need to Text from a Different Number
Protection from Scammers
Nowadays, so much personal information is connected to mobile phone numbers that having a separate number can be a very wise move. Telemarketing and mass texting solutions are legitimate avenues for sales, but some companies use them inappropriately. Having different business and personal numbers means that your business data is not tied to your personal profile in any way and is more secure.
Separating Business and Personal Calls
Keep your personal and business phones as separate as possible to help prevent identity theft. This prevents scammers from assuming you run the business and targeting you based on that information.
10DLC, which stands for 10 Digit Long Code, a standard for sending text messages to consumers, helps prevent spam. Businesses and organizations that need to send high-volume text messages, must register their brand to avoid being blocked by carriers.
Allowing More Team Members to Access Business Texts
Having a dedicated business text and phone number makes it easier to spread the workload of managing support and sales across multiple team members. Accessing all of the business calls and texts in one place can help you stay on top of all tasks.
Using one number empowers more team members to take project ownership and to immediately see the progress (or lack thereof). Managing customer conversations and journeys is an essential part of today’s businesses and anything that makes it easier is always welcomed.
Step-by-Step Guide on How to Text from a Different Number Using Clerk Chat
How to Use an App to Text from a Different Number
Clerk Chat is a popular app that allows users to text from a different number, especially if they want to have separate lines for business and personal. It’s simple, user-friendly, and allows you to activate a new number or enable an existing phone line. It is extremely intuitive to use and integrates with a variety of familiar software solutions including Salesforce, Hubspot, Shopify, and Microsoft Teams.
Step 1: Open the Clerk Chat App
The first step is to open the app, and when you do, you will see that it is already populated with any contacts you have previously added. If you’re starting from scratch, you can either manually add them, import via a csv file, or choose one of the numerous Clerk Chat CRM integrations. You can use Clerk Chat from a phone or for texting from a computer.
The integration options are one of Clerk Chat’s enormous strengths. Being able to import contacts from a wide range of sources effortlessly can make the whole process much smoother, and being able to use this app to text from a different number is incredibly easy and intuitive.
Step 2: Select the Recipient or Recipients
When you select the recipient, you can see all of the contact details, including any previous conversation history. Selecting the recipient allows you to send an SMS to the number that you have on file. You can choose to send it to an individual recipient or to select multiple recipients. It is possible to group together multiple recipients in a “cohort” and keep this for sending to the same group in the future. Here you also have the option to create a campaign.
Step 3: Compose Your Message
You will have a standard text box to type the message and can even use Clerk Chat’s AI assistant to help compose the message or respond. This can be an extremely quick and powerful way of dealing with multiple ongoing customer conversations.
When composing sales messages, it’s important to follow some common best practices including:
- Personalize using templates (like name or company)
- Reference any previous interactions
- If this is the first message, introduce yourself
- Keep messages clear and concise
Step 4: Send the Message and Start the Conversation
Clerk Chat provides you with the option to send or schedule a message. If you choose to send the message immediately, you’ll notice it located in your inbox. If you decide to schedule the message to be sent later, you can select the date and time and even have the option to modify or delete it before it’s sent.
Sending the message is only the start of the SMS lead-generation conversation. Text messaging can be used for support, sales, or marketing. So, if you have an online offer, use the text message to share available discount codes.
Making customer contact a positive experience can help close sales and build a positive brand image. Text messaging is a cost-effective way to provide potential customers with real-time, effective conversations. It’s less time-consuming than a phone call and additional features allow you to round-robin inquiries.
Legal Implications
There are many legitimate reasons for people to text from a different number. When the intentions behind hiding the person’s normal number are more sinister, there can be real legal implications. It’s not okay to use “text to different number” types of services to spoof the number you are calling from. This is often done with hopes someone will respond, but it can be seen as a form of harassment. This will not be tolerated, is against the Clerk Chat Terms of Service, and could potentially be shared with law enforcement agencies when or if required.
Additionally, you must have consent from the potential customer before you start to contact them via SMS messaging. This not only helps in compliance with regulations like the Telephone Consumer Protection Act but also ensures that your messages are welcomed by the recipients, increasing the likelihood of engagement. Failure to comply can result in fines, and the risk is simply not worth the potential reward.
Best Practices
The best way to receive warm SMS leads is to have an opt-in form on your website where people can leave their information. This provides the necessary proof that they have provided their number and have given you consent to contact them again in the future via SMS for small businesses.
When composing a sales message, it is important to consider what you know about the contacts you are sending them to and tailor the message accordingly. For example, if you are sending a message to people who share a certain interest, it can be helpful to reference this in the message. This way, you capture their attention, and they are more likely to interact positively with you and progress down the sales funnel.
It should be noted that if you are sending from a completely new enterprise SMS business number, the recipients are unlikely to immediately know who is contacting them. You should introduce yourself immediately and let them know why you are contacting them. This means you are far less likely to be reported as spam to their cellular providers.
If people reply STOP to any of your SMS communications, you should remove them from any contact lists they may be on. Again, Clerk Chat makes this a simple task. You may respond once to confirm that they have been removed from the contact list, but it’s important to honor and respect the request.
A Win-Win for Clients and Businesses
There are many advantages to why you may want to use texting from a different number and have a second non voip number that is connected to the same phone. And, from a privacy standpoint, it separates your personal and business interactions, and shields you from scammers. It’s important to know how to text from another number, and the Clerk Chat app is an examples of a user-friendly app that integrates with a variety of CRM and data management systems.
Being able to pull all of your contacts from popular CRM solutions such as Salesforce and Microsoft Outlook can help to get them all in one place. Clerk Chat streamlines communication by allowing you to import contacts, personalize messages (with AI assistance if you choose), and manage conversations efficiently. This translates to improved customer service and a positive, overall brand image.
Utilizing an app like Clerk Chat to leverage individual or shared texting lines can be a major upside for your business as a result of figuring out how to text from a different number.
