SMS is one of the most common ways people communicate with each other today. Approximately 5 billion people, which equals almost 65% of the world’s population send text messages every day, do you believe that?
When such a huge audience is already present on this channel, why leave the chance to talk to them, send them personalized communication and even solve their queries in a smart way? Salesforce being the World’s #1 CRM gives you a chance to communicate with your customers seamlessly through SMS, once integrated.
In this blog, we’ll delve into the intricacies of Salesforce SMS integration, why to go about it, the best practices to consider when sending SMS through Salesforce, and last but not least, go deep into 200 OK Engage, and see how it can help your business do better.
What is Salesforce SMS Integration?
Salesforce SMS integration means connecting your Salesforce instance with your SMS capabilities. This enables businesses like you to send and receive text messages to and from your customers seamlessly, all within Salesforce.
SMS messages have an open rate of 99%, hence it makes good sense to reach out to your customers through automated SMS campaigns, send them messages triggered by configured actions, serve them right when in need, and many more. Reminders, alerts and promotions campaigns, two-way lead and customer communication, and customer service are some of the most common use cases of SMS in Salesforce.
With quick and timely prospect and customer responses, Salesforce SMS messaging enables businesses to have a more personalized and timely communication strategy, leading the business to change for good.
Why undertake Salesforce SMS Integration?
- Enhanced customer engagement: With super high open rates, Salesforce SMS integration enables businesses to interact with customers directly in a timely and effective manner, resulting in increased engagement.
- Centralized Communication: Since SMS Salesforce integration empowers all the communication to be done within Salesforce, it helps all the communication to be centralized, leading to better visibility and collaboration.
- Personalized Messaging: Since all the communication is done within Salesforce, the data within can be used to craft personalized messaging, leading to a better customer experience.
- Real-time Communication: With SMS integration with Salesforce in place, enables quick and two-way communication, leading to faster response times and perfect resolutions, everything in real-time.
- Increased Customer Satisfaction: Proactive and timely communication via SMS leads to faster issue resolution and better customer service, ultimately improving satisfaction and loyalty.
- Extended Reach: Adding an option of reaching customers with SMS messages helps sales, marketing, and service teams to reach a higher audience, in addition to calls. As discussed previously, SMS messages have a very high open and response rate, leading to an extended reach.
- Convenient Channel: Salesforce SMS integration offers simplicity and convenience for both customers and employees. Customers can easily send a message to your business number through their usual texting app, while on the business end, employees can log into Salesforce to respond effortlessly.
Best Practices to Consider When You Send SMS from Salesforce
- Leverage the Salesforce data available for personalization: Don’t forget to make use of the Salesforce data available to personalize your messages to be sent, for hyper-personalization. Data like previous orders, conversations, appointments, etc. can be utilized to come up with responses that your customers can relate to, in place of the generic ones.
- Timing is everything: Never, we repeat never send messages at inconvenient times. As we said earlier, keep yourself in the shoes of your customers and then think. No one likes to receive messages when you don’t want to. So, always consider the time zones and preferences before sending any messages.
- Clarify the Call-To-Action: Be clear about what action you want the recipient to take, whether it’s replying to the message, clicking a link, or scheduling an appointment.
- Short and Clear: No one likes to hear a whole story while in need! Keep your response short, simple, and crisp. Also, given the limited length allowed, keep it concise and to the point.
- Let’s Keep it Professional: Always follow a tone that is professional and aligned with your brand. Avoid using too much casual language, including too many emojis, slang, etc. Try and keep it as concise and professional as possible.
- Easy Opt-Out: Always remember to give an easy opting-out option for your customers, meaning they can opt to stop getting your communication whenever they choose to, respecting their privacy.
Getting started with 200 OK Engage
200 OK Engage is a comprehensive, all-in-one solution for you to “engage” with your customers anywhere, anytime, on any messaging platform of your choice, all within Salesforce.
200 OK Engage makes P2P communication effortless across channels like WhatsApp, Text, and Telegram, supporting everything from text and URL messaging to media file sharing, including images, videos, and documents. You can also take advantage of voice features like voice-to-text and voice messages, with easy message management options to mark, delete, edit, or reply. Additionally, seamlessly integrates with social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X, and LinkedIn, allowing for multi-channel communication, customer information display, etc.
On the AI and automation front, integrate tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Bedrock, and Llama to offer smart AI assistance, automated responses, and even translation. Plus, the AI capabilities go a step further with sentiment analysis, recommendations, and scoring to make customer interactions more effective. To round it out, this platform also supports call recording, analysis, summarization, and transcription, giving you a complete solution for managing your communications efficiently.
Why 200 OK Engage for Salesforce SMS integration?
- Plug-n-Play Setup Seamlessly connect with any communication system with an easy ‘plug-and-play’ setup.
- Quick Call feature Initiate a direct call to the customer from the chat widget with the calling feature.
- Ready-made Message templates Increase productivity by using pre-made templates to send frequently needed messages efficiently.
- Seamless Media Sharing Share and receive files, images, audio, and video while chatting with customers
- Voice-to-text Instantly transform spoken words into text, eliminating the need for typing.
- AI Assist Summarize customer conversations and let AI provide the most suitable response options.
- Express with Emojis Use emojis to convey the right emotion, adding a personal touch to your conversation.
- Switch channels Change channels to connect with customers on their preferred platform whenever necessary.
- Smart Actions Execute actions like creating tasks in Salesforce directly from the chat widget, tailored to your specific use case.
- Achieve Quantifiable Results Elevate team productivity levels by an impressive 75% and increase customer satisfaction by up to 30%
Wrap-Up
With the world’s reliance on text messaging, the Salesforce SMS integration offers a direct and efficient way to interact with customers, personalize their experiences, and resolve queries quickly. By following best practices such as personalization, timing, and professionalism, you can maximize the effectiveness of your SMS campaigns. Tools like 200 OK Engage further simplify this process by offering a comprehensive, all-in-one solution for seamless messaging across multiple channels, along with AI-driven insights and automation. This integration can significantly improve your team’s productivity, enhance customer satisfaction, and ultimately lead to better business outcomes. The time to harness the power of SMS in Salesforce is now—don’t miss the opportunity to elevate your customer interactions to the next level.
But don’t just take our word for it, schedule a demo with our product experts today and see what 200 OK Engage can bring to the table for you!
