One text.
An old list.
Booked work.

Pull and clean the list

Export every past customer and lead, then clean the list before it goes anywhere near a sending tool.

1. Export contacts from wherever they live: your CRM, job software, invoicing tool or spreadsheets.
2. Use the prompt below with your AI assistant to remove duplicates, empty rows and past opt-outs, and to tidy the phone numbers.
3. Run the cleaned numbers through a phone validation tool to strip out landlines and dead numbers. They cost you money and can't reply.
4. Remove anyone who is a current active customer.

I'm attaching a contact list export. Clean it for a text message campaign.

1. Remove duplicate phone numbers, rows with no phone number, and anyone marked as opted out, unsubscribed or do not contact.
2. Put every phone number in full international format (for example +1 for US numbers). If a number looks invalid or the country is unclear, flag it. Do not guess.
3. Keep first names and fix their capitalisation. Leave the name blank if it's missing or clearly not a name.
4. Keep any date and spend columns exactly as they are.

Give me back a clean CSV and a short summary: rows in, rows removed and why, rows out. Do not invent or fill in missing data.

Only share contact data with AI tools your business has approved for customer information.

Sort hottest first

The people most likely to say yes get the message first. The coldest contacts go last.

1. Tier 1: recent customers and recent leads from the last year, plus your biggest past spenders.
2. Tier 2: customers from the year or so before that.
3. Tier 3: your oldest contacts. They are the most likely to have forgotten you and reply STOP.

Using the clean list, sort contacts for a reactivation campaign, warmest first.

Put each contact into one of three tiers using the columns I have (last purchase or last contact date, total spent, date added):
- Tier 1: bought from us or enquired in the last year, or among our top spenders.
- Tier 2: last bought or enquired the year before that.
- Tier 3: everyone older, plus anyone with no usable date.

Add a "tier" column, sort by tier, and tell me which column you used for each decision and how many contacts landed in each tier.

Why the order matters: if early batches get a lot of opt-outs, carriers and platforms can slow down or pause your number. Warm contacts first build a clean track record before you reach the cold ones.

Write one message

One text. One true reason to reply now. One tiny ask. Keep it inside 160 characters so it sends as a single segment.

1. Who you are: "Hi Sarah, it's Mike at Oakline Builders." They should know who's texting within five words.
2. A timely reason: a season, an opening in the diary, a price you're holding. Something true that explains why now.
3. A simple offer: last year's price, priority booking, a free check. Easy to say yes to.
4. Reply YES: no link and no form. You do the work once they say yes.

Write three versions of a reactivation text message for my business.

Business: [your business name and what you do]
Who's sending it: [your first name or "the team at ..."]
The true reason to reply now: [for example a season, open slots, a price you're holding]
The offer: [what they get if they say yes]

Rules:
- Under 150 characters including a first name, so it stays one segment after the opt-out line is added.
- Start with "Hi [first name]," and say who it's from in the first sentence.
- End with "Reply YES". No links, no emojis, straight apostrophes only.
- Only use the reason and offer I gave you. Don't invent discounts or deadlines.

Show the character count for each version.

Skip the emojis. A single emoji switches the whole message to a different encoding that fits only 70 characters per segment instead of 160, which can double or triple the cost of the send.

Send in small batches

Never send the whole list at once. If thousands of people get the message together, nobody can answer them all and the warm ones go cold while they wait.

1. Use your platform's drip or batch setting.
2. Send only as many as one person can answer properly on day one.
3. If day one runs clean, send more the next day. If it doesn't, pause and fix the message first.

New GoHighLevel accounts start with a daily sending limit that rises as you send more, and US carrier limits also depend on your number registration. Ramp up slowly.

Answer every YES fast

This is where the campaign is won. A YES is a warm person holding their phone right now. Reply within minutes, not hours.

1. The best replies come from a real person who then picks up the phone. Owners who answer their own replies stay close to what customers want.
2. If no one can watch the inbox, an AI assistant can reply and send a booking link. Test it hard first and keep a human watching the conversations.
3. Treat questions as buying signals and answer them personally.
4. Anyone who says no, N or STOP never hears from you again.

When they reply YES:
Great, thanks Sarah. I'll give you a quick call in the next few minutes to find a time. Is this still the best number?

When they ask a question:
Good question. [Answer in one or two lines.] Want me to hold a spot for you while we sort the details?

When they reply N or NO:
No problem at all. You won't hear from us again by text. Thanks, Sarah.

Optional: add "Reply N if not interested" to your message, and set an automation that treats N as an opt-out.

Follow up by email, then wait

Don't chase with text after text. Every extra message raises your opt-out rate.

1. The next day, email the same offer to anyone who didn't reply and has an email address. Some contacts only have a landline on file.
2. Then leave them alone. Next month, come back with a different reason and a different offer.
3. Record what you booked. It's your case study for the next campaign.

Subject: Holding a spot for you, Sarah

Hi Sarah,

It's Mike at Oakline Builders. We're booking spring projects now, and past customers get first pick of dates before we open the diary to everyone else.

If you'd like one held, just reply to this email with YES and I'll call you to find a time.

Thanks,
Mike

Message cost checker

Paste your message to see how many segments it uses, whether anything is quietly inflating the cost, and what the whole send will cost.

Six message templates

Swap in your own business name and a reason that's true right now. Each one fits a single segment with a normal-length first name.

Two workflows. That's the whole system.

1. The send

1. Import the cleaned list and tag everyone with the campaign name, for example reactivation-oct.
2. Create a workflow with a single Send SMS action holding your message.
3. Go to Contacts, filter by the tag, select the contacts, and use the bulk action to add them to the workflow.
4. Choose drip mode. Set the batch quantity, how often it repeats, the days and the start time.
5. Watch the bulk action's progress on day one and stay near your phone.

2. The reply router

Trigger: Customer Replied, filtered to contacts with the campaign tag.

Send and call from the same number people received the message from, so replies and callbacks land in one inbox.