GoHighLevel Missed Call Text Back: How to Set It Up Step by Step (2026)

Missed call text back is the single highest-ROI automation in GoHighLevel. A local business misses roughly one in four inbound calls, and most of those callers never call again. An automatic text sent seconds after the missed call keeps the lead warm long enough for someone to call them back. This guide walks through building it from scratch in GoHighLevel, the settings that trip people up, and the shortcut of importing a pre-built snapshot instead.

What you need before you start

• A GoHighLevel sub-account with a phone number purchased inside GHL (Settings → Phone Numbers). The trigger only fires for calls to a GHL number.
• A2P 10DLC registration approved for that number. US carriers block business texts from unregistered numbers, so until Trust Center shows "Approved," your text-backs will not send.
• Call forwarding set up so the GHL number rings your real business line. That way GHL knows when a call was missed.

Step 1: Create the workflow and trigger

1. Go to Automation → Workflows → Create Workflow → Start from Scratch.
2. Click Add New Trigger and choose Call Status.
3. Add a filter: Call status is → no-answer, busy, and voicemail. Add a second filter, Direction is → incoming, so outbound calls you make never trigger a text.

Step 2: Send the instant text

Add an SMS action immediately after the trigger. Keep it short, use the business name merge field so it works in any sub-account, and include a booking link:

Hi, this is {{location.name}}. Sorry we missed your call! How can we help? Reply here or book a time: [your booking link]. Reply STOP to opt out.

Two rules: keep the first text under 160 characters where possible, and keep the opt-out language in it. Carriers score your number on complaint rates, and an opt-out line protects you.

Step 3: Notify your team

An auto-text without a human follow-up is a leaky bucket. After the SMS, add:

• Internal Notification (push or email) to the assigned user or contact owner, with the caller's number and time.
• Add Task assigned to the contact's assigned user: "Call back missed call from {{contact.phone}}".

Step 4: Wait, then follow up softer

Most leads do not reply to the first text. Add a Wait step of 1 hour with the condition "until contact replies," then an If/Else on whether they replied. If not, send a second, softer message:

Just checking in from {{location.name}}. If now is a bad time, no worries. You can grab a slot that works for you here: [booking link]

Then wait roughly 23 hours and, if there is still no reply, add a tag such as missed-call-no-reply and move the opportunity to an "Attempted Contact" pipeline stage so nobody chases a dead lead by accident.

Step 5: Publish and test

1. Toggle the workflow to Publish. New workflows sit in Draft and will silently do nothing until you flip this.
2. In the workflow settings, turn on Allow re-entry so a repeat caller still gets a reply next week.
3. Call your GHL number from your cell and let it ring out. You should get the text within about 30 seconds and see a new contact, a task, and a notification.

The mistakes that break missed call text back

• Workflow still in Draft. The number-one cause of "it doesn't work."
• A2P not approved. The workflow runs, the SMS step shows as sent, and the carrier drops it. Check Trust Center.
• Wrong default number. If the sub-account has several numbers, set the one with A2P approval as the default for outbound SMS.
• Hardcoded business name. If you build this for clients, use {{location.name}} so the same workflow is correct in every sub-account.

Should you build it or buy it?

Building the basic version above takes an experienced GHL user about an hour. Building the full system, including the follow-up branches, form and chat follow-up, booking reminders, and the nurture sequence, takes most people an afternoon, plus testing. If you run one business, building it yourself is a fine way to learn the workflow builder. If you are an agency deploying it across several client accounts, a genericized snapshot you can load in a few clicks pays for itself on the first install. Prefer to have it installed for you? Done-for-you installation is available on Fiverr.

Related guides

• 12 missed call text back templates that get replies
• How to import a GoHighLevel snapshot into a sub-account