SMS is the highest-performing first-contact channel for personal injury leads. A 98 percent open rate and 45 percent reply rate — compared to email's 20 percent open rate and 6 percent reply rate — means that an SMS follow-up to a PI inquiry reaches the potential client and receives a response at a dramatically higher rate than any alternative channel. For a firm trying to reach potential clients within 5 minutes, SMS is the only channel that reliably achieves that window.
The Immediate Acknowledgment Message
The first SMS should go out within 60 to 90 seconds of the inquiry. The message should be brief, professional, and contain a single action: "Hi [Name], this is [Firm Name]. We received your inquiry about your accident. To help us connect you with the right attorney, can you briefly describe what type of accident this was?" This message acknowledges receipt, establishes the firm's professionalism, and begins the qualification conversation in a low-friction way.
The Follow-Up Sequence
If the first message receives no reply within 2 hours, a follow-up SMS goes out: "Hi [Name], we want to make sure you get the help you need. Your case may be time-sensitive. Can we schedule a 15-minute call this afternoon?" A third message goes at 24 hours if still no response. After 3 messages with no reply, the lead is logged as unresponsive and passed to a coordinator for a phone attempt.
The Injury Law AI Intake System uses Twilio to run the full SMS intake and follow-up sequence automatically, integrated with GoHighLevel CRM for contact tracking and conversation logging.