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Effective communication is key to success in the dynamic world of business. An organization's ability to interact with its customers can make or break its business, whether it's through customized service, order updates, or knowledge of the newest offerings. Customers are constantly looking for an omnichannel experience that is both personalized and seamless. Flyers and emails, which were once the mainstays of communication, are no longer sufficient. Consumers require two-way, real-time interactions, which is where a Salesforce SMS app comes into play.
For this reason, the SMS apps, that seamlessly integrate with your existing CRM, have become a potent instrument in business communication, revolutionizing the way companies interact with their customers.
5 Reasons You Need SMS for Salesforce
SMS for Salesforce can greatly improve your company's operations and offers several advantages. This integration's primary driver is its unmatched customer-facing efficiency and efficacy.
Here are 5 benefits of integrating SMS with Salesforce.
- Real-Time Communication
Businesses can offer real-time customer support by utilizing SMS for Salesforce. For example, logistics providers can use SMS to quickly notify customers about delivery locations. Additionally, they can update customers in real-time via SMS about their appointments, keeping them informed throughout their engagement journey.
SMS has an extremely high open rate (over 95% within the first 3 minutes of delivery). With a much higher open rate than emails, SMS is a more effective medium for increasing marketing engagement when using Salesforce.
- Higher Efficiency with Automation
By automating processes like order updates and appointment reminders, workflow automation can be streamlined when SMS and Salesforce are integrated. As a result, less manual labor is required, increasing productivity. This allows businesses to shift their attention from regular tasks to strategic ones.
Moreover, it enables you to schedule texts in response to customer behaviour or sales phases, optimizing processes and increasing productivity.
- Increased Open Rates and Response Rates
SMS messages have a response rate of roughly 45%, which is significantly higher than other methods of communication. They are excellent for eliciting replies since they are precise and reach out to people immediately. Sales and marketing teams can interact with their audience more successfully as a result.
Retail establishments, for instance, can send out discount codes by SMS to get a quick response from customers. Additionally, they can employ SMS for important notifications to drive efficient and quick customer service.
- Personalized Messages to Customers
Businesses can personalize their communications by integrating SMS with Salesforce. They can craft messages that speak to the specific needs and pain points of the audience, which is crucial for building a strong rapport and increasing conversions.
For example, a travel company can provide personalized vacation suggestions based on past reservations. Similarly, financial advisors can provide detailed client-specific investment updates and advice over text.
- Tracking and Analytics
Salesforce also needs SMS because of its ability to monitor and evaluate customer interaction and campaign efficacy. Marketing teams can fine-tune their messaging strategies by analyzing open rates, click-through rates, and conversions from SMS campaigns thanks to SMS integration with Salesforce.
In order to increase customer satisfaction and service efficiency, customer support teams can also assess response times and resolution rates via SMS exchanges.
How Do You Send SMS from Salesforce?
You will need more than just the regular Sales Cloud or Service Cloud license in order to send and receive texts using Salesforce. You can extend your functionality further with third-party SMS tools and apps. These are your options.
Use Salesforce’s in-built SMS messaging products
Salesforce has two add-on products for SMS: Mobile Studio and Digital Engagement.
The primary difference between the two is that while Mobile Studio offers SMS marketing features designed to work with other marketing channels in your strategy, Digital Engagement focuses more on customer support interactions. Here are some further significant differences between the two Salesforce products:
Digital Engagement: Digital Engagement is available for $75 per user each month and offers web chats, one-on-one interactions, and automated SMS. There is a cap on the number of conversations you can start each month, however, users can send an unlimited number of messages within a single chat (within 24 hours).
Mobile Studio: The whole Marketing Cloud Engagement solution must be purchased in order to access Mobile Studio. This will enable you to use the messaging features of Mobile Studio. SMS can be included as a touchpoint in multichannel customer journeys with Journey Builder.
Both Salesforce products entail additional costs and have a limited feature set. Additionally, setup can be challenging because you have to go through an authorization or new number request process, which can sometimes take weeks to be approved.
Build a custom solution
You can use Salesforce API or another API provider to build a completely unique texting solution for your Salesforce organization if you'd like greater freedom. Your business or organization can develop any features you require and avoid paying for an extra Salesforce SMS solution by creating a custom integration. This solution, however, comes with a significant implementation and development cost and can be complicated and time-consuming.
Use a 100% Salesforce native app
Using a solution designed specifically for SMS and Salesforce is your best bet. You can find a range of apps designed especially for texting from Salesforce on the Salesforce AppExchange, which caters to the needs of companies just like yours.
In contrast to third-party integrations and add-on products, these native Salesforce SMS applications offer several key benefits:
- Lower development expenses
- More functionality
- Easier to set up and use
- Save time on implementation
In addition to these benefits, the app team's experienced customer support team will be at your disposal. All things considered, your team will save money and time by implementing a Salesforce native application.
Best Practices for SMS from Salesforce
Should modern-day businesses text their customers? Of course. SMS boasts of an open rate of 98%. Not only that, it also has an impressive response rate of 45%. Furthermore, nine out of ten text messages are read in a matter of seconds and are answered in a span of three to four minutes. Do these engagement rates imply that companies should have unrestricted texting policies? Not even in the slightest! You don't want your closest friends and relatives to text you at all hours of the day or night, right? Think about your relationships with them. So, the key question is, how should a business interact with its customers via text messaging?
Acquire explicit consent from your audience
Acts protecting consumer data privacy are very important. The regulations clearly outline the penalties for breaking the GDPR, which can amount to up to 20 million euros or 4% of the offending company's global annual revenue, whichever is larger. The CCPA also lays down the consequences of violations. Once the initial opt-in time limit has passed, make sure you automate the re-opt-in procedure and obtain consent once more.
Consider your recipient’s time zones
Avoid being that organization that texts customers at two in the morning when they are most likely asleep. Make sure the timing of your texts is aligned with your recipient's time zone. When sending texts, stick to the regular business hours of the recipient's time zone.
Maintain cadence in your texting
Make sure to stay in touch with your audience on a regular basis; you don't want them to forget who you are. A word of caution here to avoid undesirable effects. Make sure the texts you send are insightful or offer something of value. People may become disinterested in hearing from you if you communicate too much, which could lead to a spike in unsubscribe rates. A person's day might easily become unnecessarily stressful from receiving too many texts.
Be consistent.
Maintain the same number when texting your recipient. This will enable them to recognize the message as coming from you, and even if they haven't read it yet, they will recognize its significance. When you consistently provide messages on topics that matter to your customers, from the same number, they will come to trust you and your business.
Stay engaged in the conversation.
Effective communication is always reciprocal in nature. When customers reply to your messages, make sure you answer promptly and politely. Make sure you respond to inquiries precisely and completely. To make your points clearer, include citations and links to your sources. All of that gives your customers a growth-oriented learning experience.
Delight your customers.
Reward your customers when you see them doing something outstanding with a wonderful text message. If you can, follow up with a surprise package or something meaningful. For instance, call out your customer and make a donation to their favorite charity in their honor if they recently wrote a blog about taking part in an activity that improved the lives of others.
Impress upon your customers that they might miss out on something big.
The fear of missing out is the best engagement tool available. Your customers will be all in for the next big thing if you can make them believe they are going to miss something important or that they have already missed something important. Announcements, events, and participation opportunities are all excellent places to start when trying to create the fear of missing out.
Don’t overdo your messaging.
Who would actually want to talk to someone who is constantly attempting to upsell them something? Even while increasing sales may be the goal of your text marketing, keep in mind that the person receiving the message is a real person. Be conversational and avoid coming across as pushy.
Focus on the call to action.
In the end, you want to start a dialogue with the customer that will lead to the next phases of an engagement. Make sure the customer is encouraged to continue their experience with your business in the text message. Notifications such as “Free trial on registration”, “Enter code DEAL15 at checkout!”, or “Fill out this survey to be eligible for a free gift voucher!” are quite helpful.
Give people the option to opt-out with every message.
The consequences of texting those who haven't opted in have already been discussed. Likewise, failing to provide recipients with an unsubscribe option is illegal, so make sure that every message you send says something along the lines of "Text STOP if you wish to opt out of future messaging."
What are you waiting for? Set up a call with the GirikSMS team right now and get a free 30-day trial of a 100% native Salesforce texting app.
About Author
Indranil is a technology enthusiast with over 25 years of experience in project management, operations, technology and business development. Indranil has led project teams in egovernance, business process re-engineering, product development and worked with Government and Corporate customers. Indranil truly believes in the power of technology to drive productivity and growth for teams and businesses.
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