Benefits of Integrating Text Messaging into Salesforce

When it comes to Customer Relationship Management Software (CRM), there is no bigger name out there than Salesforce. (Note, this is not an advertisement for Salesforce or its products).

With over 150,000 customers using Salesforce, the software is used across various industries to manage customer relationships within areas such as sales, marketing, customer service, and finance.

The main purpose of Salesforce and similar CRMs is to provide businesses with a way to store information, communicate with potential/existing customers and partners, and track business performance.

When it comes to communication efficiency, nothing beats the convenience and speed of text messaging for both businesses and the individuals they are communicating with. Therefore, businesses need to look at integrating a text messaging solution into their Salesforce usage.

With a text message integration into Salesforce, employees in all areas of the business can enjoy many benefits like personalized and streamlined communication, as well as improved operational efficiency.

 

Understanding the True Definition of a Salesforce Text Message Integration

Before we get into the benefits of a Salesforce texting integration, it’s important to understand the different types of integrations that are available. Most text messaging providers will say they “integrate” with Salesforce, but you need to ask questions about how it’s integrated and what does it really do?

 

Here are a couple of types of common Salesforce text messaging integrations:

 

3^rd Party Integration

This type of texting integration involves third-party software like Zapier to act as a bridge from a text messaging platform to Salesforce. This type of SMS integration is more widely used because it’s easier to implement from a development perspective.

However, there are many drawbacks with this type of integration due to additional vendor costs, as well as potential message delays that may negatively affect the experience. As an example, with a Zapier integration, “zapped” messaging delays can be upwards of 15 minutes or more. This can cause a poor experience and potentially cause the business to lose a sale or customer.

As you start increasing the volume of inbound and outbound messages, the additional service and messaging costs increase dramatically.

 

Another drawback of a 3^rd party integration is the inability to send messages directly inside Salesforce. Users will need to send the message in another system, and the message will then be sent to Salesforce as a record. This makes the entire process more time consuming and inefficient from an operations perspective.

 

Native Integration

Text messaging providers that have a native integration with Salesforce that connects directly into the CRM, provide many more benefits. It eliminates potential vulnerabilities and delays in sending and receiving messages. It also provides additional security and reliability because there is no third-party vendor involved in the process.

A native SMS integration allows text messages to be directly sent and received inside Salesforce using their native user interface. There are no additional windows to deal with and no added 3rd-party costs. Native integrations are more difficult to develop but provide many more benefits. So be sure to clarify if your SMS provider has a truly native salesforce texting integration.

 

 

 

Here are 3 Top Benefits of Integrating Text Messaging into Salesforce

 

Benefit 1: Personalized Communication

In today’s digital world, businesses have a vast amount of customer information available. The key to attracting and retaining more customers is through personalization and convenience.

By integrating a text messaging solution into Salesforce, businesses can start personalizing communication with potential and existing customers in the most personal way – texting.

With text messaging capabilities available inside Salesforce, sales & marketing teams can create specific lists based on customer attributes/preferences and send them personalized text messages. Unlike phone calls, emails or even web chat, text messaging is the most convenient way to communicate with people today no matter where they are, and over 97% of text messages are read in 3 minutes or less.

Sending the right text message at the right time can significantly increase response rates and improve your chances of reaching that lead and closing the deal.

 

Benefit 2: Multichannel Communication

Even though phone calls and emails are becoming less effective, they are still necessary forms of communication. In today’s world, it’s all about omnichannel communication where businesses need to be available through whatever channel their customers choose.

According to Zendesk, 64% of customers expect to receive real-time assistance regardless of the customer service channel they use.

Integrating text messaging into Salesforce adds another key communication channel for businesses to be there for their customers – anywhere, anytime, on their channel of choice. Whether customers like to communicate via phone, email, website chat, social media or text message, every channel needs to have a presence to provide a better overall customer experience.

 

Benefit 3: Process Efficiency

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, one of the main purpose of Salesforce is to make it easy for businesses to manage customer relationships efficiently. And studies shows that with the use of Salesforce, customer service agents have a 34% increase in productivity.

Integrating a text messaging solution helps with process efficiency by enabling communication inside Salesforce with automation, which is only possible with a native integration.

One of the most powerful features of Salesforce is the ability to create custom workflows, which is now called Process Builder. It allows you to build custom processes (or workflows) based on specific criteria. For example, a workflow can be set up to send a notification to a VP of Sales when a high-value lead submits a form on their website.

 

 

In an example using a Salesforce text message integration, a salesperson can automate a text message to a potential customer if that person did not open their last two emails. Instead of having to look back and do it manually, this process is streamlined and can be personalized for every lead, enabling personalized communication at scale.

There are many other workflows that can be built with text messaging inside Salesforce based on the specific needs of the business.

 

Summary

Salesforce is a great tool on its own, but as we have highlighted in this article, integrating a text messaging solution into your Salesforce CRM can have great benefits. It’s important to work with a text messaging provider that has both a native integration with Salesforce as well as an enterprise-grade platform and the expertise to implement it the right way, so that it truly becomes a valuable tool for your business.

 

If you would like to learn more about TrueDialog’s native text messaging integration with Salesforce, SCHEDULE A QUICK DEMO TODAY!