Why waste time logging text messages and tracking calls in Salesforce when you can automate it? Setting up a Salesforce SMS integration helps you automatically send texts and log them in your Salesforce account.
Modern teams automate call and text logging by integrating their Salesforce account with their SMS platform. In this guide, we’ll walk you through setting up a Salesforce SMS integration so you can save time and focus on more strategic tasks.
Can you send text messages from Salesforce?
Yes, you can send texts to customers from Salesforce, either directly from your Salesforce workspace or through a third-party app integration.
SMS messaging isn’t available in the base Salesforce Sales or Service Cloud options, but you can purchase add-ons to activate SMS messaging for your account. Alternatively, you can purchase a third-party app subscription from Salesforce AppExchange or integrate a third-party app with your Salesforce account.
You can send multiple types of messages in Salesforce:
- 1-1 messages: Build sales relationships over SMS.
- Bulk marketing texts: Send mass promotional campaigns to customers over text.
- Automated text flows: Nurture customer relationships and convert leads into customers.
3 methods to send texts from Salesforce
Looking for ways to send texts from Salesforce? Here are three methods to do so:
1. Use a Salesforce SMS product
Salesforce offers multiple SMS products you can use to message customers.
Digital Engagement is a Salesforce Service Cloud add-on that lets you send and receive messages and provide live chat to customers on your website.
However, Digital Engagement has some major texting drawbacks you should be aware of:
- You can only receive up to 25 SMS or WhatsApp messages per user per month.
- Your team can send up to 1,000 messages per month for the entire organization.
- If you exceed your texting limits, you have to pay $30 for 100 conversations (both inbound and outbound messaging) and $30 for 1,000 messages for bulk texting (outbound only).
- The Digital Engagement add-on only has one plan, priced at $75 per user per month, which is expensive given the texting limits that come with it.
Another texting solution offered by Salesforce is through Marketing Cloud. You can create automated text workflows to send transactional messages to customers using Marketing Cloud’s texting capabilities.
The drawback of using Marketing Cloud is that it’s even pricier than Digital Engagement, with plans starting at $4,200 per organization per month.
You’ll also be paying for features you might not need, like email marketing, mobile notifications, and digital advertising.
2. Use a third-party Salesforce app
Salesforce’s products might not be the best option for you to integrate SMS in your Salesforce account, but you might find third-party Salesforce apps to be a viable alternative.
SMS Magic is a third-party Salesforce app that allows you to send 1-1 and bulk messages and create automated campaigns. It also offers global coverage so you can text international numbers.
Keep in mind that these apps can be limited in what they offer for their price:
- SMS Magic starts at $7 per user per month, but if you want to use their mobile app, you have to pay an additional $5 per month.
- After signing up with SMS Magic, you still have to pay for SMS credits on top of your plan. The basic SMS bundle for a single user license and 1,147 SMS credits is $42 per month (billed annually).
- Salesforce texting apps offer limited functionality to your team. SMS Magic offers a number to receive calls, but you can’t make calls with it. You’ll have to get another app for outbound calls, which pushes up your costs even more.
3. Use a Salesforce SMS integration with your business phone
Looking for an affordable all-in-one Salesforce SMS integration? Consider integrating your business phone with Salesforce.
OpenPhone’s business phone platform is built on Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology and offers free calling and texting in the US and Canada. It comes with features like shared numbers, phone menus, AI call summaries and transcriptions, business hours and after-hours call flows, and advanced messaging features like scheduled texts, MMS messaging, auto-replies, and text templates.
It also comes with a native Salesforce integration so you can get all the benefits of a dedicated business phone and integrate your messages, calls, call recordings, and voicemails in your Salesforce account.
Sign up for our Business plan to integrate OpenPhone with your Salesforce account.
Note: Business phones like OpenPhone don’t allow for bulk texting capabilities. So, if you run large-scale mass texting campaigns, you should opt for a different solution.
How to enable the Salesforce SMS integration with OpenPhone
The Salesforce SMS integration is configured at the workspace level in OpenPhone and can be done in just five steps. Keep in mind you’ll need to be an owner or admin in your OpenPhone workspace and a Salesforce admin to enable the integration.
The Salesforce VoIP integration is available to workspaces on our Business plan; users must also be on one of the following Salesforce plans: Enterprise, Unlimited, Performance, or Developer.
Salesforce professional plan subscribers can also purchase the API access add-on to connect OpenPhone to Salesforce.
To set up:
- If you haven’t already, log in to your Salesforce admin account.
- Launch the OpenPhone web or desktop app.
- Select Integrations under the Workspace settings.
- Select Salesforce and click Connect to Salesforce.
- You’ll be asked to confirm you wish to allow OpenPhone access to Salesforce data
Once done, it will take you back to OpenPhone. The integration setup is now complete.
The “Log calls” and “Log texts” options for all phone numbers are enabled by default, but you can choose to disable these options. You can configure the integration to log phone calls or texts based on all phone numbers or specific ones in your workspace.
Once you’ve set up the integration, all OpenPhone calls (including call recordings) and messages are logged to the relevant lead or contact on Salesforce. You’ll see the logs grouped by the hour in your Salesforce account.
When a Salesforce contact calls you in Salesforce you can see who it is without needing to import them from your CRM. All Salesforce contacts automatically sync to your OpenPhone account.
How to streamline your texting further with OpenPhone
OpenPhone offers features that can save your team precious time each week. Try out these SMS tools to make texting your clients easier:
- SMS templates: SMS templates (or snippets) help you automate responses for the most commonly received texts. All teams, including sales, marketing, and customer service, can use snippets to optimize texting workflows and free up time to focus on other tasks.
For example, if you’re on the customer support team, you can follow up with someone who requested pricing details with the following SMS text template:
“Hi, you can find a complete overview of our pricing here: [pricing page link].”
- Scheduled messages: Maybe you need to text a client in a different timezone, but it’s too late for them. Or you’re working outside business hours and don’t want to message a client until the following day. Instead of deferring the task to later, you can schedule the text with OpenPhone based on your contact’s time zone.
Scheduling a text helps eliminate the chances of forgetting to respond to a client, which isn’t a great customer experience.
But what if you schedule a message to initiate a conversation, and the client texts you before they receive your scheduled message?
With OpenPhone, you don’t need to worry about that awkward conversation because you can add a schedule condition. You can instruct OpenPhone to cancel the scheduled message automatically if the client texts first.
- Auto-replies: Clients expect a quick response, but you shouldn’t have to check messages outside working hours. Even during working hours, you might miss a call or text from a client if you’re in a meeting.
Auto-replies can help acknowledge a client’s inbound message without manually typing a response. You can use a different message for calls, voicemails, and text messages missed during and after business hours, so your responses are always accurate.
- Automated texting with Zapier: The OpenPhone Zapier integration can also connect your business phone system with thousands of apps, allowing you to set appointment reminders and save CRM contacts automatically. The integration offers countless use cases, such as:
- Reach out to new inquiries: You can automate sending a text notification to new leads whenever they fill out a Typeform.
- Automatically send a reminder via text to someone who schedules a meeting with Calendly: You can set up a Zap to send an automated text via OpenPhone to someone who schedules a meeting through Calendly. You can schedule the reminder text to send at a preferred time — for example, a day before the meeting.
- Automated texting with the OpenPhone API: Want to have even more control over your automated texting workflows? The OpenPhone API helps you automate messaging across your tech stack.
Trigger messages based on custom criteria to send scheduling reminders, shift confirmations, project updates, and more.
Get started with the API by exploring our docs.
Streamline your business communications with OpenPhone
OpenPhone is the collaborative phone system for teams.
It brings your calls, texts, and contacts into an intuitive app that works across all your devices, so you never miss a customer.
Rated #1 in customer satisfaction on G2, OpenPhone is trusted by over 50,000 businesses, from fast-growing startups to Fortune 500 companies.
With OpenPhone:
- Keep everyone aligned with shared phone numbers, letting teammates work together to seamlessly support customers.
- Use AI for call summaries, call transcriptions, and more.
- Work more efficiently with automations and integrations.
- As your team grows, easily add and customize new numbers to ensure callers get routed to the right place.
- Build stronger relationships with a mini CRM for your team’s contacts, complete with custom properties and contact notes.
Sign up for a free seven-day trial of OpenPhone and get set up in minutes.
FAQs
Does Salesforce have SMS capabilities?
Yes, Salesforce has SMS capabilities through products like Digital Engagement and Marketing Cloud. However, these products either impose inbound and outbound messaging limits or are extremely expensive.
Consider getting a third-party business phone platform and integrating it with Salesforce so you can send texts and automatically log them in your Salesforce account.
What are the benefits of integrating SMS with Salesforce?
Unsure why you should integrate your SMS solution with Salesforce? Here are a few reasons:
1. Automatically log calls and texts in Salesforce
Sales teams spend hours logging their call and text activities with contacts in their CRM. With a native Salesforce SMS integration, your texts can get automatically logged, saving time for your team and freeing them up to have more conversations with your prospects.
2. Provide shared context for teams
Maintaining an up-to-date CRM can help your sales team move faster. Reps on vacation can pass contacts to their teammates so deals don’t lose momentum and can be closed more efficiently.
3. Maintain accurate contact information
Integrating Salesforce with your business phone cuts down on duplicate contacts so you don’t repeat yourself with customers and start from scratch each time.
For example, once a deal is closed and a prospect becomes a customer, you can update their information in Salesforce. That data will automatically get updated in your business phone as well. Sales can focus on open deals while your success team can welcome new customers to your platform.
How to set up SMS in Salesforce?
Here’s how you can set up Salesforce texting:
- Enter Messaging in the Quick Find box from Setup in Lightning Experience and select Messaging Settings.
- Select New Channel from the Channels section.
- Click Start”> SMS.
- Download and fill out a Letter of Authorization (LOA) form if you want to use an existing US or Canadian landline number. Alternatively, you can skip the form and get a new number.
- Click Finish when you’re done.
- Reach out to support and ask them to create a new SMS channel.
- Provide relevant details and click Create Case.
You’ll have to wait for the Salesforce team to process your request. If you’ve registered a new number, approval can take up to eight weeks.
Need to start texting a lot faster? Use our VoIP integration to connect Salesforce with any OpenPhone number.
Can Salesforce send mass text messages?
Yes, Salesforce can send bulk text messages with Marketing Cloud. However, there are a few drawbacks to keep in mind:
- Salesforce uses short codes to text your customers, which reduces deliverability and is more expensive than 10-digit long code texting.
- Marketing Cloud offers text messaging in its Corporate plan, which costs $4,200 per month — it’s expensive for most small businesses.
