Yes — your Swiftlee AI receptionist can now text a caller photos, price sheets, and PDFs while the call is still going, sent from your own business number. You upload the files once; when a caller says "can you text me that?", the answer is finally "sending it now."
We built it after a prospect asked us for exactly this twice on one call and heard "no" both times. That's two chances to win a customer, spent on an apology.
Why does texting during the call matter?
Because the caller is deciding right now, not after you email them tonight. Someone shopping for a wedding package, a kitchen remodel, or a dog-grooming plan wants to look at the options while they're talking to you — the same way they'd look at a menu across a counter. "We'll send that over later" gives them an evening to call someone else.
It's the same math as a missed call, which we broke down in the true cost of a missed call: the job goes to whoever makes it easiest to say yes. A picture in their hand while you're still on the line is about as easy as it gets.
How does it work on a real call?
The caller asks for something; your receptionist sends it and tells them it's on the way. The conversation keeps going. Behind that, three things happen:
- You upload the files once, on the Text attachments page in your Swiftlee portal, and give each a plain label — "Packages," "Price list," "Service area map."
- When a caller asks to receive something — "text me your packages," "mándame los precios" — the receptionist matches their words to your labels and sends the right file.
- The text goes out from your business's own number, the one they just dialed, and lands in your portal's text inbox. If they reply, the reply lands there too, for your team.
It only sends when the caller asks to receive something. A question like "how much is the deluxe package?" still gets answered out loud, from the prices you've given it — the text is an extra, not a way to dodge the question.
What can you text a customer?
Photos and PDFs — JPEG, PNG, GIF, WebP, or PDF. Good candidates are the things callers ask to see:
- Price sheets and service menus.
- Package or bundle comparisons — the "which one should I get?" question.
- Before-and-after photos of real work.
- A service-area map, a parking or entrance photo, a flyer for this month's special.
One practical limit: phone carriers cap a picture message at roughly 1 MB in total, so each file needs to fit under 1 MB, and one text can carry up to 10 files within that total. A phone photo usually needs a quick resize; a one-page PDF usually doesn't. If a caller asks for more than fits, the receptionist sends what does and offers to email the rest.
Where doesn't it work yet?
Toll-free numbers. Mid-call texts go out from a local business line, and today that excludes toll-free numbers — so if your only Swiftlee number is an 800-style number, your receptionist will offer to have your team follow up by email instead of texting. If you have a local number on your account, that's the one it sends from.
And if you haven't uploaded anything yet, nothing breaks: the receptionist answers the question out loud from what it knows about your business and offers to email the details.
Is this the AI or a live receptionist?
Mid-call texting is a feature of the Swiftlee AI receptionist, on the AI and AI-plus-live hybrid plans. It's the kind of routine, fast, "here's the thing you asked for" moment AI handles well — in English or Spanish. The calls that need judgment, patience, or a human voice still belong with our live bilingual receptionists; our comparison of AI receptionists and live answering covers where each one fits.
It also pairs with the other thing your receptionist learned recently: reading your price sheet and website so it can answer pricing questions correctly. Teach it what you charge, then give it the sheet to send.
How do you set it up?
It takes about as long as finding the files. Open the Text attachments page in your portal, upload your price sheet and two or three photos callers ask about, and give each a label a customer would actually say out loud. Then call your own line and ask it to text you the packages.
Start your free trial at getswiftlee.com/signup, upload your price sheet, and the next caller who asks "can you text that to me?" gets a yes.
Frequently asked questions
Can an answering service text a customer during a phone call?
Yes — Swiftlee's AI receptionist can text photos, price sheets, and PDFs to a caller mid-call, from the business's own phone number. The caller asks, the receptionist sends the file and confirms it's on the way, and the conversation continues.
What file types can be texted to a caller, and how big can they be?
JPEG, PNG, GIF, WebP, and PDF files, each under 1 MB. Carriers cap a picture message at roughly 1 MB in total, so one text carries up to 10 files within that limit; anything that doesn't fit can be offered by email instead.
Does mid-call texting work on toll-free numbers?
Not today. Mid-call texts are sent from a local business number, so a business whose only line is toll-free gets an email follow-up offer instead of a text.
See what Swiftlee can do for your phone line.