A Text Gets Read When a Call Does Not
Plenty of new leads will not pick up a call from a number they do not know, but they will read a text. For Close teams that call with Kixie, automated texts fill the gap between a lead arriving and a rep reaching them: a quick note that says who you are and why you are reaching out, sent from the same number that will call them next.
Kixie does not have a native Close connector, so automated texts run through Zapier or your own code. Close provides the event and Kixie sends the message. This page covers the setup, the choice between a rep’s number and a shared inbox, and how to get the conversation back onto the Close lead.
Choose the Close Event
Close’s lead and status triggers in Zapier are instant, so the text goes out right after the change. New Lead is the usual first touch for inbound forms. New Lead in Status is useful for mid-funnel moments, like a text when a lead reaches Demo Booked. New Opportunity in Status works for deal stages, such as a check-in when an opportunity moves to Proposal Sent.
Map the Close fields you want in the message, such as the contact’s first name, with Zapier’s personalization tokens. Keep the first text short and specific, and make it clear a real person will follow up.
Send From a Rep or From a Team
Kixie gives you two actions. Send SMS texts from a designated rep, set by that rep’s Kixie email, so the lead’s reply goes straight back to them. It fits teams where each rep owns their leads. Send a Team SMS texts from a shared inbox instead. Everyone on the assigned teams sees the thread in PowerCall’s Team SMS tab, and when one rep replies, the thread locks to them for a set time so two people do not answer at once. Teammates can still add internal notes. See Kixie Team SMS for the full setup.
Turn One Text Into a Sequence
For follow-up over days, enroll the lead in a Kixie Cadence with the Add to Cadence action. A Cadence can open with a text, follow with a call, and send another text two days later, each with its own delay. SMS steps use templates you can customize. Target Hours keep messages inside the lead’s local daytime, and harassment rules cap texts per day. When a rep reaches the lead, a disposition rule stops the Cadence. The Close speed to lead page shows how calls and texts work together in the first minutes.
After Hours and Replies
Leads reply at all hours. Each Team SMS rule has its own hours, and outside them Kixie can send an automatic reply using an SMS template or your own message, so an evening reply gets an answer and a clear next step. During the day, the Agent Assignment Time Limit decides how long the replying rep holds a thread before teammates can pick it up. The default is 30 minutes.
Keep Every Text on the Close Lead
A text thread that lives only in Kixie leaves the Close lead incomplete. Kixie’s SMS webhook sends every inbound and outbound message with its direction and both numbers, and a Zap can find the Close lead by phone and create the SMS there. The Close setup guide walks through each field.
Kixie text messaging also covers one-to-one texting from PowerCall, SMS templates, and more. For every other way to connect the two tools, see the Kixie and Close integration overview.