Click-to-text and web chat both let a visitor ask a question without ringing you or filling in a form. They work differently, suit different visitors and come with different rules once you reply by text. Here’s how to choose, or run both.
How each one works
Click-to-text
A click-to-text button is a link on your website, often labelled Text us. On a phone, tapping it opens the visitor’s messages app with your number filled in. They send an ordinary text, and your reply arrives as one. Some tools work the other way round: the visitor types their number and question into your site, and the reply comes back by text. Either way you need a mobile number that can text, and someone, or something, to answer it.
Web chat
Web chat is a chat box on your website. The visitor types, and a person or an AI replies in the same window. The catch is that an ordinary chat lives in the browser tab: close it before leaving a name and number, and the conversation is gone. Better chat tools ask for contact details early, so it can carry on by email or text.
Click-to-text: the visitor’s messages app, off your website.
Web chat: a box on your website.
Click-to-text: a mobile number that can send and receive texts.
Web chat: a chat tool installed on your site.
Click-to-text: you have their number, and the thread stays on their phone.
Web chat: lost, unless the tool took their details.
Click-to-text: often no use, unless the computer is linked to a phone.
Web chat: works as normal.
Click-to-text: your mobile plan, or a per-text charge on a business texting platform.
Web chat: usually a monthly subscription.
What customers expect
We haven’t found Australian research we’d trust on which one converts more visitors, so we won’t quote a figure. Each sets a different expectation.
- A chat window promises an answer now. Someone who opens chat is still on your page, often comparing you with others in other tabs. If nothing comes back while they’re there, they can simply leave.
- A text promises an answer soon. It suits people who’d rather not talk on the phone and are happy to wait, then pick the thread up later in an app they already use.
- Both need a real answer. A message saying you’ll be in touch doesn’t win the job. A price range or a time does.
Some people won’t give a number in a chat, and some won’t text a business they don’t know, so offer both. Not sure how fast you answer now? Test your reply speed free.
Mobile or desktop
On a phone, a text button feels natural: one tap and they’re in their messages app. The trade-off is that they’ve left your website, along with the photos, prices and reviews that might have convinced them. Chat works on a phone too, if it’s built to be used with one thumb.
On a desktop or laptop, a text link often can’t send anything unless the computer is linked to a phone, so chat is the natural choice. Check your website stats: if most visitors are on phones, give text a prominent spot on mobile and keep chat on every screen.
After hours
Plenty of enquiries arrive when you’re on a job or closed. A text at 9pm lands on whoever carries that phone, and by morning the customer may have texted someone else. A chat at 9pm with nobody watching is worse: unless the chat box took their details, there’s nothing to reply to.
LeadGenie’s web chat asks for a name and contact details before anything else, so if the tab closes the conversation carries on by email, or by text on Growth. On Get Connected, A$89 a month ex GST, you reply yourself from one inbox. From Starter, A$199 a month plus A$999 set-up, an AI replies in up to 3 seconds at any hour, says it’s AI and passes anything unusual to you. Follow-ups hold for quiet hours, so nobody gets chased at 2am.
Privacy and the Spam Act when you reply by text
The Spam Act 2003 covers marketing by text as well as email. ACMA, which enforces it, says you need consent, express or inferred, before you send marketing messages, and every one must:
- identify your business as the sender and include your contact details
- make it easy to unsubscribe, for example with Reply STOP, and act on the request within 5 working days
- not be a text asking for consent, because that is itself a marketing message
Keep a record of who gave consent, when and how: it’s up to you to prove it. A customer who texts you a question has asked for a reply, not for marketing texts, so don’t add them to a promotions list unless they say yes. Not sure whether a text counts as marketing? Treat it as if it does. ACMA: avoid sending spam (checked 09/10/2026)
A text also hands you the customer’s mobile number. The OAIC says most small businesses with an annual turnover of A$3 million or less aren’t covered by the Privacy Act 1988, but some are whatever their turnover, including health service providers. Either way, keep customer texts in a business system rather than a personal phone, and use a number only for what the customer expects. OAIC: small business and privacy (checked 09/10/2026)
This is general information, not legal advice. Planning promotions by text? Read ACMA’s guidance first or ask your adviser.
Which suits which business
- Trades and home services, if your visitors are mostly on phones: offer text, and use chat that asks for a mobile number first.
- Professional services, if most visitors are on desktops: lead with chat, and keep text for mobile.
- Any business where nobody can watch a screen: an unanswered chat does more harm than good, so let an AI answer it, or lead with text, which can wait.
- Allied health and hearing clinics: the Privacy Act covers health service providers whatever their turnover, so keep enquiries in a system you control, use chat and text for bookings and questions only, and don’t ask for health details by text.
Offering both
Both work better when replies land in one place, so a customer who chats on Monday and texts on Wednesday is one conversation. That’s what LeadGenie’s one inbox is for:
- Get Connected, A$89 a month ex GST: web chat installed for you, with no set-up fee. It takes the visitor’s details and alerts you, and you reply from one inbox with Facebook, Instagram and email. No phone number, so no texting.
- Starter, A$199 a month ex GST plus a one-time A$999 set-up: the AI answers web chat and those channels in seconds, at any hour. Still no phone number.
- Growth, A$499 a month ex GST plus a one-time A$1,999 set-up: an Australian mobile number is included, so texts to it join the same inbox and the AI answers them, as well as your calls. Point your Text us button at that number. Texts cost A$0.11 sent and A$0.02 received, and missed call text back is included.
Texting needs a phone number, which arrives with Growth. Not ready for that? Start with chat that takes the visitor’s details first, and add texting when the phone becomes the problem. In short: web chat from A$89 a month, AI answers from A$199 and texts from A$499, all ex GST. See how LeadGenie’s web chat works
Questions about click-to-text and web chat
Click-to-text vs web chat: which turns more visitors into enquiries?
Web chat catches visitors while they’re still on your site, on any device, but loses them if they leave before giving their details. Click-to-text suits mobile visitors and gives you their number with the first message, but often doesn’t work on a desktop. Whichever you choose, answer fast. LeadGenie’s web chat asks for contact details first, from A$89 a month ex GST, with the AI answering it from Starter at A$199. How the web chat works
Is click-to-text better than web chat on mobile?
It can be. On a phone, a text button opens the messages app in one tap and gives you the visitor’s number straight away, but takes them off your website. A chat built for thumbs keeps them on the page, with your prices and reviews in view. On desktops chat usually works where text doesn’t, so offer both.
Do I need consent to reply to a customer by text?
For marketing texts, yes. ACMA says the Spam Act 2003 requires consent before you send marketing messages, and each one must identify your business, include your contact details and offer an easy unsubscribe, such as Reply STOP, actioned within 5 working days. A customer who texts you a question hasn’t agreed to promotions, so keep replies to what they asked. This is general information, not legal advice.
Which LeadGenie plan includes texting?
Growth, at A$499 a month ex GST plus a one-time A$1,999 set-up, and Pro from A$799. Texting needs a phone number, and Growth includes an Australian mobile number, with texts at A$0.11 sent and A$0.02 received. Web chat comes earlier: from A$89 on Get Connected, with the AI answering it from Starter at A$199. Do you need a phone number?