The phone call turns into a text thread the caller will actually answer
A finished call leaves GreetKeeper as a webhook. A Zap on a paid Zapier plan catches it and can start or update a Podium conversation. Your team follows up by message instead of playing phone tag.
Caller
“I'm after a price on new tyres for a Golf. I'm driving so can someone text me rather than call back?”
What happened next
- Call captured with the vehicle, the request and the mobile number
- Podium conversation opened against that number with the summary
- Service advisor texted a price fifteen minutes later in the same thread
How GreetKeeper connects to Podium
Three states, and we publish the one that is true rather than the one that reads best.
| Tool | How it connects | What that means |
|---|---|---|
| Podium | Through Zapier |
What Podium is for
Podium is a messaging platform for local businesses. It pulls text messages, website chat and review replies into one inbox that your front desk works from.
Texting is the point. People who will not answer an unknown number will read a text, which is why shops and clinics use it for follow-up rather than calling back.
Podium's Zapier app can send a message to a mobile number, which opens the conversation. It has no separate create-contact action. That is still enough to turn a call into a thread somebody can carry on.
What appears in the Podium inbox
A conversation against the caller's mobile number, opened with the context from the call.
The caller's number is the key. Podium threads are per number, so a caller who has messaged you before lands back in their existing conversation rather than a fresh one.
Your Zap sends the opening message. Keep it human and short. Something that names the business and refers to what they rang about beats a machine-shaped summary dumped into a customer's phone.
What the caller said in the call sits in that thread as context. Whoever picks it up in the Podium inbox can see why the person rang without opening GreetKeeper.
Opening the first conversation
Write the message text before you build the Zap. The customer reads this one.
Catch the webhook, connect Podium and pick the location
The first step is Webhooks by Zapier set to Catch Hook, with GreetKeeper posting to its address. Then connect Podium. Each Podium location has its own number and inbox. Choose the one whose staff will answer, or your messages land somewhere nobody is watching.
Normalize the caller's number first
Podium matches conversations on the mobile number. Strip spaces and set the country format in a Zapier step, or you will create duplicate threads for the same person.
Draft the opening message a customer will read
Name your business, reference the call, and ask one clear question. Never paste the transcript. The person on the other end is getting this as a text on their phone.
Filter to callers who wanted a text, then test on your own mobile
Only message people who asked for follow-up. Send yourself one and read it as a stranger would. If it reads like an automated log, rewrite it.
What to be careful about
Questions about Podium and GreetKeeper
Should every call trigger a text?
No. Filter to the callers who asked for a text or left an unresolved question. Texting everyone who rings is how a useful channel turns into a complaint.
What if the caller rang from a landline?
The message will not deliver. Add a check for a mobile number before the Podium step, and let landline callers fall through to a normal callback task.
Does the reply come back into GreetKeeper?
No. Replies stay in your Podium inbox. The call record in GreetKeeper is unchanged, so the conversation lives in Podium from that point on.
Can we test this on a free Zapier account?
No. The Zap can't start without Webhooks by Zapier, a premium app, because GreetKeeper has no Zapier app yet. You need the paid plan before the first test text goes out.
Text yourself from a real call
Bring your mobile. Two minutes, no card.