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Missed-Call Text-Back AI Booker

October 15, 2026 · Intermediate · Automation

How it works

Your AI receptionist that never lets a missed call go cold:

1. STEP 1 — Twilio webhook + instant response — a missed-call status callback or inbound SMS hits the “Twilio Incoming (Missed Call / SMS)” webhook. “Respond Empty TwiML” answers Twilio immediately with an empty <Response/>, then “Normalize Twilio Payload” turns the form-encoded params into a standard lead event (event_type: missed_call or sms).
2. STEP 2 — Config + 24h dedupe — two Config Set nodes (“CONFIG — Business Settings”, “CONFIG — AI + Services”) hold every editable value: business name, owner phone, Twilio number, calendar ID, AI business profile, model. For missed calls, the log is read first — if this caller was already texted in the last 24h, the run stops (no double-texting).
3. STEP 3 — Instant text-back + logging — a new missed call is appended to the sheet with status NEW, a friendly SMS goes out via the Twilio Messages API (“Sorry we missed your call…”), and the sheet flips to CONTACTED.
4. STEP 4 — AI classifies the reply — inbound SMS rebuilds the conversation history from the Sheets log (“Build History Array”), then “AI Agent — Classify + Draft Reply” (gpt-4o-mini) with the “Structured Output Parser — Intent + Reply” returns {intent, summary, missing_fields, suggested_reply}. Intents: booking, quote, existing_job, wrong_number, other.
5. STEP 5 — Booking branch — intent booking with zero missing fields → “Google Calendar — Create Booking” → confirmation SMS → sheet BOOKED → “Telegram — Owner Alert” pings you a one-line summary. Missing details → the AI’s follow-up question is texted and the sheet flips to REPLIED.
6. STEP 6 — Quote / wrong-number branches — quote gets a quote-capture SMS (REPLIED); wrong_number gets a polite close (DROPPED); existing_job / other get the AI’s friendly acknowledgement (REPLIED).
7. STEP 7 — Daily no-reply sweeper — a second flow in the same workflow (“Daily No-Reply Sweeper”, every 2 hours) scans for CONTACTED rows older than 2h with no reply → sends exactly one nudge SMS → marks NUDGED.

Status flow in Sheets: NEW → CONTACTED → REPLIED → BOOKED (plus DROPPED, NUDGED)

Set up steps

You’ll need:

• n8n (self-hosted or cloud)
• A Twilio account with a phone number — twilio.com/try-twilio (free trial works; set the number’s voice status-callback URL and SMS webhook to this workflow’s production URL)
• An OpenAI API key — platform.openai.com/signup → API keys
• Google Sheets + Google Calendar OAuth2 credentials — n8n Credentials → Google Sheets OAuth2 / Google Calendar OAuth2
• A Telegram bot — telegram.org → message @BotFather, send /newbot, copy the token; get your chat ID from @userinfobot

Steps:

1. Import the workflow — in n8n, Workflows → Import from File → select missed-call-textback-ai-booker.json.
2. CONFIG — Business Settings — open the Set node and fill in:
   • business_name — e.g. Acme Plumbing
   • owner_phone — your phone in E.164 format (e.g. +1555…)
   • twilio_number — your Twilio number in E.164 format
   • calendar_id — your Google Calendar ID (Calendar settings → “Integrate calendar”)
   • nudge_hours — how long before the sweeper nudges a silent lead (default 2)
3. CONFIG — AI + Services — open the Set node and fill in:
   • spreadsheet_id — the Google Sheet ID
   • sheet_name — tab name (default Leads)
   • twilio_account_sid — from your Twilio console
   • openai_model — gpt-4o-mini by default
   • telegram_chat_id — your Telegram chat ID
   • ai_business_profile — describe your services, prices, hours, and booking rules — the AI receptionist’s whole brain lives here
4. Create the sheet — in your Google Sheet, make a tab named Leads with exactly these headers: Date | Phone | Name | Status | Last Message | Conversation | Intent | Booking Date | Summary | Last Updated. Then select your Google Sheets credential in all ten Sheets nodes (or use the credential prompt on import).
5. Twilio auth — in each “Send * SMS” HTTP node, select your HTTP Header Auth credential. Set the header name to Authorization and the value to Basic <base64(AccountSID:AuthToken)> (encode it once with any base64 tool; the workflow never stores your SID/token in the JSON).
6. Twilio webhooks — in the Twilio console → your number → Voice: set the Status Callback URL to this workflow’s production webhook URL (POST); Messaging: set “A message comes in” to the same URL (POST).
7. Google Calendar + OpenAI + Telegram — select your Google Calendar credential in “Google Calendar — Create Booking”, your OpenAI credential in “OpenAI Chat Model — Booker”, and your Telegram credential in “Telegram — Owner Alert”. Then activate the workflow.

Customize it

• Business tone — rewrite the instant SMS in “Send Instant SMS — Sorry We Missed You” and the nudge in “Send Nudge SMS” to match your brand voice; keep them short and human.
• Booking requirements — edit the ai_business_profile in “CONFIG — AI + Services” to list exactly what a booking needs (name, address, preferred day/time); the AI only books when missing_fields is empty, so this text is your real booking form.
• Dedupe window — “Check 24h Dedupe” skips callers texted within the last 24h; the sweeper’s quiet window is nudge_hours in “CONFIG — Business Settings”. Tighten or loosen both for your call volume.
• Quote handling — the quote branch just captures interest today. Route it into a CRM or a pricing sheet by swapping “Send Quote-Capture SMS“‘s follow-on node.
• Quiet hours — add a schedule-aware IF before the SMS nodes if you don’t want 2 AM texts going out; queue them for morning instead.
• Sell it — this is the classic $1.5–3K-setup agency product: clone the workflow per client, swap the two CONFIG nodes, point their Twilio number at it, done.

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