Business Mobile Number
Give your business a UK mobile number of its own for texts: what it costs and why, getting your number, sharing one between businesses, how texts and replies reach you, and cancelling it.
The Business Mobile Number bolt-on gives your business a UK mobile number of its own for texts. Without one, your texts go from the shared Work Planner number, and only replies to texts you sent can come back to you. With your own number, customers see the same number every time and can reply to it or text it whenever they like.
What It Costs
- £15 to start: paid when you add the number, and it pays for your first 3 months.
- Then £5 a month: from the end of those 3 months, with the rest of that month added to your next normal bill.
- Why the first 3 months are paid upfront: our text message provider, ClickSend, rents UK mobile numbers for at least 3 months at a time and charges for them upfront. There's no minimum term after that.
- Texts still use SMS credits: sending from your own number costs the same as from the shared one. Replies don't use credits.
The bolt-on only appears once your account has SMS messaging, from your plan or the SMS Messaging bolt-on. In the purchase popup the billing summary says £15.00 today for your first 3 months, then £5.00 a month from the date your monthly billing starts, and the button says Confirm and pay £15.00. Each number is bought on its own, so there's no quantity to choose.
Getting Your Number
- Setting it up: once you've paid, Work Planner gets your number from ClickSend. On the Bolt-Ons page the line says Your number is being set up. It usually takes a few minutes. The page changes by itself once it's ready, and the billing owner gets a notification and is told in the notifications bell, so there's no need to wait on it.
- Ready to use: the line then shows your number and the businesses using it. The business you bought it from starts texting from it straight away, unless it already has a number of its own.
- If a number can't be got: the bolt-on is taken off and your £15 is refunded. The billing owner gets an email and a notification, and the bell says so too: something went wrong, and we'll be in touch.
- Billing column: shows Paid until the end of your first 3 months, then £5.00 / month. Once the monthly billing starts, it renews with your subscription like any other bolt-on.
Sharing a Number Between Businesses
Your numbers belong to your account, so if you run more than one business you can choose which number each one texts from in Settings > SMS. Several businesses can share one number, or each can have a number of its own: buy one bolt-on for each number you want. A business without a number of its own texts from the shared Work Planner number.
Only the account's billing owner can buy numbers and change which number a business texts from.
How Texts and Replies Reach You
- Your texts: everything a business sends goes from its number, from the Message Customers popup, automations and replies in Communications alike.
- Replies: come back to the business that sent the text, even if that business has since moved to another number.
- Texts out of the blue: a text to your number reaches your business even when it isn't a reply. If the number belongs to one of your customers, it's linked to them. If not, it still shows in Communications with the number it came from.
- On a shared number: a text goes to the business that has the sender as a customer. If more than one does, or none, it goes to the business that last texted them from that number, and otherwise to the first business that used the number.
- STOP: a customer who replies STOP to a shared number stops getting texts from every business on it, as it's one sender to them. START brings them back.
The number is for texts only, so phone calls to it don't connect.
Cancelling Your Number
Choose Cancel on the number's line on the Bolt-Ons page. The Cancel Business Mobile Number popup says when the number stops working:
- In your first 3 months: it keeps working until they're over, and nothing more is charged. The £15 isn't refunded.
- After that: it keeps working until the end of the month you've paid for, and doesn't renew.
- Where each business goes: for each business on the number, choose which number it texts from after that: another of your numbers, or the Work Planner number. It starts as your oldest other number that isn't also being cancelled, or the Work Planner number if there isn't one. You can change it later in Settings > SMS.
- The old number: the popup says texts sent to it after that date won't reach you, so let customers know your new number.
Changed your mind? Uncancel keeps the number before it stops. Cancelling your whole subscription stops your numbers with it. See Cancelling a Bolt-On.
Related articles
- SMS Settings: Choose which number each business texts from.
- Bolt-Ons: Where you buy and cancel numbers.
- Bolt-On Billing Summary: What the setup fee and the monthly price look like before you pay.
- Communications: Where texts and replies to your number appear.