What is the Best SMS App for Salesforce, and Why Use It?

Written on October 13, 2022. Posted in Salesforce Integration.

If you’re using Salesforce, you likely understand its inherent value: helping your organization manage customer relationships. One of the most essential components of this process is managing customer communication. Salesforce lets you know how to contact your customers and when you’ve last contacted them. Identifying the best SMS app for Salesforce is critical to your customer communication.

Of course, you can use Salesforce for contacting not just existing customers but also prospective ones. You can also use it to contact them in multiple ways. One of the best communication channels you can use is SMS messages.

That leads to the big question: what is the best SMS app for Salesforce? In this post, we’ll examine:

How successful Salesforce organizations use SMS to drive success
What does the ideal SMS app for Salesforce look like?
The benefits of integrating your SMS API into your Salesforce dashboard

Before determining the best SMS app for Salesforce, here’s how you can use SMS with Salesforce to drive success

Every organization needs a communication strategy when using Salesforce. It helps inform how you connect with your existing and potential customers. SMS messaging can play a vital role in that communication strategy. It’s a versatile communication tactic that can help your organization in several ways, including:

Follow up with leads

SMS can go a long way toward building a relationship with your leads. You can use it to continue the conversation with existing, promising leads or customers who have yet to complete a purchase. You can answer any questions or concerns they may have.

A touchpoint for customer feedback

Once you’ve been able to serve your customer, you’ll want to know how you did. Soliciting customer feedback serves multiple purposes. For one, it allows you to understand where you need to improve as a business. Positive feedback will enable you to showcase those attributes to other potential customers, using that feedback as a testimonial.

SMS to reach out to your Salesforce contacts is a perfect method for gathering customer feedback. Whether you ask quantitative or open-ended questions, you can probe your customers about what went right, what didn’t, and what comes next.

Appointment reminders offer an easy method for cancellation or rescheduling

You likely need to set up customer appointments if you’re in a service business. Your clients are probably busy and may forget about these appointments from time to time. This becomes problematic from a scheduling standpoint, as missed meetings leave your employees in the lurch and keep them from tending to other things.

With SMS, you can connect with any customers who have appointments to remind that about the upcoming date. One quick text message sent before the appointment keeps them on track. That increases the likelihood they’ll make the appointment, making your business more effective and efficient.

You can include a link in your text message reminders to make it simple for your recipient to cancel or reschedule the appointment as needed.

Discount and deal reminders

If your company offers special deals or discounts, SMS reminders are a quick, convenient way to build awareness among your target audience. These messages are discreet and should be helpful to the individuals you send them to if you’ve done the proper research.

The benefits of integrating your SMS API into your Salesforce dashboard

While it’s clear that your business has many uses for SMS messages, let’s take a closer look at why it’s beneficial for you to integrate your SMS API into your Salesforce dashboard – and the many ways to make your life easier.

Below are a few ways SMS API integration with Salesforce can supercharge how you communicate with your customers.

Transparency of data across teams

You’ll want your sales, marketing, customer service, and IT tech support teams to all have access to the same information. With SMS API integration, you ensure that anyone with access to the Salesforce dashboard uses the same information. It keeps your internal communications in sync, minimizing the potential for disruption.

You won’t have to learn a new platform

Integrating your API with Salesforce means functionality exists in a platform with which you and your team are already familiar. That means you won’t have to learn the inner workings of a new platform. Learning a new system is often costly – it takes time to educate your team members on how you use it, and even after they’ve learned, they need more time to get acclimated. By integrating, you’re staying on the already proven successful system for you and your team.

Increased customer satisfaction

Think about how important it is to create a streamlined customer communication experience. When your customer service representatives have an easy time accessing data, they’re less likely to lose that information. That translates into faster customer response times when transferring them to another department to resolve issues.

Having your customer data well aligned leads to better customer outcomes, as you’ll spend less time tracking information down and more time serving those customers. You can swiftly transfer cases, moving them along with minimal delay.

Customer segmentation helps deliver the correct information to the right people

Not all of your customers need to hear the same message. You’ll want to segment your customer list based on where they are in the buyer’s journey. That way, you can craft your message correctly.

With Salesforce’s segmentation ability, you can ensure your recipients receive relevant offers or communications. This makes them more likely to engage with these communications. For example, follow-up communication may offer a discount on a related accessory if you sell a product to a customer. Sending that same text message to someone who hasn’t bought the initial product may confuse them. Segmentation alleviates that pain.

One final note: no matter what app you use, remember that when building your contact list, it’s crucial to run an opt-in campaign. This isn’t an option – it’s a legal requirement. Your customers must actively consent to receive your messages before you can send them, whether new or existing customers.

What features does the ideal SMS app for Salesforce have?

Now that you understand the benefits of integrating your SMS API with Salesforce let’s dive into what the ideal features and functions your SMS app for Salesforce should have.

Marketing software integration

If you use other marketing software, you’ll want a versatile app to help you align your text message campaigns with your marketing campaigns. If you use Eloqua, Hubspot, Marketo, or others, SMS integration can take their capabilities to the next level.

Ability to send either bulk or one-on-one messages

Sometimes, you’ll want to send mass texts to a large segment of your audience. Other times, you’ll need coordinated communication with a more personalized approach. You’ll want an SMS app that can handle both of these approaches to meet the needs of your business.

Storing conversations

Storing your conversations will allow anyone within your organization to understand where the conversation left off. This helps them better understand where the customer is regarding their interaction with your business. That ultimately helps the company serve those customers better, getting everyone up to speed faster.

Easy to set up

Of course, taking a new approach can boost your business in myriad ways. If the platform is challenging to set up, customize, and get running, it can cost your business time and money. Ensure your chosen SMS platform is intuitive to set up and offers access to a support team to work through the process with your IT team should they need help.

The best SMS app for Salesforce

Connecting with customers in the modern world requires a modern approach. SMS allows you to communicate effectively with your clients in a way that feels personal, even when sending bulk messages. By integrating SMS capabilities with Salesforce, you will be sure to reach the right customer segments, and your sales, marketing, and support teams can communicate from within a single platform.

TrueDialog offers comprehensive SMS integration to easily coordinate your text messaging communication with Salesforce, checking all the boxes mentioned above. Contact us today for more on how we can help you change how you connect SMS messaging and Salesforce.