Agents are assistive and autonomous software systems. Based on user input or environmental conditions, they reason, plan, and take action to achieve given tasks or goals. They are like intelligent digital assistants, equipped with the aggregated knowledge and experience of human experts, and access to all relevant data. Agents are set to become ubiquitous across every area of our lives and to profoundly transform how businesses operate and interact with customers. For example, a service agent can act as your company's most knowledgeable technical support representative, available 24/7 to handle every request. A marketing agent, much like a self-driving car, can use "sensors" (real-time data) to detect changing business conditions and respond proactively (adjust pricing, launch a campaign, and so on). Agentforce, an AI initiative from Salesforce, was announced on August 28, 2024. Described as part of “the Third Wave of AI,” it moves beyond copilots to introduce intelligent agents designed for greater accuracy and reliability, aiming to enhance customer success. This launch marks a practical step toward integrating artificial intelligence into enterprise workflows. Created to support employees and simplify operations, Agentforce helps businesses manage customer interactions and internal processes more efficiently. By automating routine tasks and offering useful insights, Agentforce aims to boost productivity, improve customer service, and support business growth. Agentforce Agents use a multilayered approach to enforce guardrails: Einstein Trust Layer: The Einstein Trust Layer enables agents to use LLMs in a trusted way, without compromising company data. It uses a secure gateway, data masking, toxicity detection, audit trails, and more to control LLM interactions. Instructions: When defining an Agentforce Agent, you can use natural language to provide clear instructions, including what to do and what to avoid, effectively setting the guardrails for its behavior. Shared metadata: Salesforce metadata defines overarching rules that are enforced regardless of whether the data is accessed from traditional applications or agents. This includes permissions, sharing models, validation rules, and workflow automation to guarantee data security and adherence to business practices. Agent Analytics: This observability tool provides insights into agent and action performance, usability, and reliability, enabling you to identify areas for improvement. AI Test Center: A unified testing framework, the AI Test Center supports batch testing for agents, prompt templates, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and model use cases. With just a few clicks, companies can scale their workforce on demand using the robust capabilities of Agentforce’s AI agents.  These digital agents can analyze data, make informed decisions, and handle tasks such as responding to customer inquiries, qualifying sales leads, and optimizing marketing campaigns. Here’s what distinguishes Agentforce Agents: Trustworthy: With the Einstein Trust Layer, your data remains secure, utilizing the same metadata, permissions, and sharing models you are accustomed to in traditional Salesforce applications. Powerful: Agentforce Agents leverage industry-leading Salesforce apps to create transformative experiences across sales, service, commerce, marketing, and various other sectors. Data-Driven: By tapping into all relevant data through Data Cloud, Agentforce Agents deliver more accurate and meaningful outcomes. Customizable: Utilizing a suite of low-code tools—such as Agent Builder, Prompt Builder, Model Builder, and Flow Builder—you can easily build, customize, test, and manage these agents. Key features and benefits of Agentforce: 1. Autonomous AI Agents: Agentforce is comprised of self-contained AI agents that can perform tasks independently, without constant human intervention. These agents are trained on large datasets and leverage machine learning to learn and adapt over time. 2. Task Automation: Agentforce can automate a wide range of tasks across various departments, including customer service, sales, marketing, and commerce. This frees up employees to focus on more strategic and complex work. 3. Intelligent Insights: It provides valuable insights and recommendations based on data analysis. This enables businesses to make data-driven decisions and identify opportunities for improvement. 4. Natural Language Processing (NLP): It can understand and respond to natural language queries, making it easier for employees and customers to interact with the system. 5. Integration with Salesforce Ecosystem: Agentforce seamlessly integrates with other Salesforce products, such as Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and Marketing Cloud. This allows for a unified and cohesive experience. 6. Scalability: Agentforce can scale to meet the growing needs of businesses, ensuring that it remains effective as the organization expands. 7. Customization: Agentforce can be customized to fit the specific requirements of different industries and use cases. This flexibility allows businesses to tailor the solution to their unique needs. 8. Security and Privacy: Agentforce is built with robust security measures to protect sensitive data. Salesforce also adheres to strict privacy regulations to ensure that customer information is handled responsibly. Pre-built Agentforce Agents Here are some pre-built Agentforce Agents for your business needs: Service Agent The Service Agent efficiently handles customer inquiries around the clock, using reliable data to provide accurate and personalized support. It can be quickly set up with templates or customized with minimal coding, ensuring a smooth implementation process. In cases where human intervention is required, the agent seamlessly escalates the issue while maintaining high standards of data security. Sales Development Representative (SDR) Agent The SDR Agent engages potential customers 24/7, answering product questions, managing tasks, and scheduling meetings for sales representatives. It offers accurate, data-driven responses and is versatile, interacting across various communication channels and languages, ensuring comprehensive customer engagement. Sales Coach Agent The Sales Coach Agent provides sales representatives with personalized role-playing scenarios to practice pitching, handling objections, and negotiating. It gives feedback on performance and suggests areas for improvement, helping to refine sales techniques. By analyzing deal outcomes, this agent can measure the effectiveness of training and provide insights for continued growth. Personal Shopper Agent The Personal Shopper Agent enhances the customer shopping experience by offering tailored product recommendations. It interacts with customers on your website or through messaging apps, assisting them in finding products and making purchases by suggesting relevant items, increasing customer satisfaction and conversion rates. Campaign Agent The Campaign Agent simplifies marketing efforts by generating campaign briefs, identifying target audiences, developing content, and creating customer journeys. It continuously monitors campaign performance and provides actionable insights to optimize results, ensuring your marketing strategy remains effective and data-driven. Which Agentforce will you build?  Agentforce is a flexible platform that allows you to create custom agents using existing Salesforce tools. This enables you to adapt agents to fit various business needs. Here are a few: Healthcare Agent: Interacts with patients, healthcare providers, and payers to answer questions, provide information, and take action. Banking Agent: Analyzes data, assists customers, and offers personalized service in retail, commercial, and investment banking. Retail Agent: Shares campaign information, reaches out to customers and resolves issues for fashion, grocery, and convenience stores. Operations Agent: Helps operations teams manage plans, resources, and progress. CX Agent: Analyzes customer feedback, suggests ways to improve customer satisfaction, and manages omnichannel experiences. Analytics Agent: Provides data insights, creates visualizations, and recommends data-driven actions. IT Agent: Monitors security threats, shares network information, and resolves customer and employee support issues. Finance Agent: Shares insights on financial reporting and risk assessments, detects fraud, and addresses compliance-related inquiries. Agentforce’s availability and price  Agentforce for Service and Sales will be generally available on October 25, 2024, with select components of the Atlas Reasoning Engine launching in February 2025. Pricing for Agentforce starts at $2 per conversation, with volume discounts available. At $2 per conversation, Salesforce anticipates a significant ROI for customers. Agentforce agents offer a more cost-effective solution by handling routine tasks, freeing up human agents to focus on more complex inquiries. Summary: How Agentforce Agents are transforming business and application development Agents are set to become ubiquitous in every area of our lives. They can reason, orchestrate tasks, and take action, delivering personalized experiences at scale. By combining the language and reasoning capabilities of LLMs with software building blocks, they are transforming how businesses operate and how software is built. Agentforce Agents are leading this transformation with key differentiating characteristics, including: Trusted. Agentforce protects your data using the Einstein Trust Layer and the same metadata, permissions, and sharing models as traditional Salesforce applications. Powerful. Agentforce Agents make use of industry-leading Salesforce applications to deliver transformative experiences across sales, service, commerce, marketing, and industries. Grounded in unified data. Agentforce Agents deliver more accurate and relevant outcomes by grounding AI in all the relevant data made available and unified by Data Cloud. Low-code tools. Agentforce Agents can be built, customized, tested, and managed using a set of low-code tools including Agent Builder, Prompt Builder, Model Builder, Flow Builder, and more. In conclusion, Agentforce is the powerful integration of Humans + AI + Data + Actions, transforming how businesses operate. By combining assistive and autonomous AI agents, employees are empowered to focus on high-value tasks, while AI handles routine work and escalates when necessary. Access to the right data through Data Cloud ensures that agents are intelligent, secure, and scalable, making them capable of delivering dynamic customer and employee experiences.  Finally, Agentforce agents aren’t just passive bots—they take meaningful action across systems, driving efficiency and completing tasks like drafting emails, creating close plans, and initiating customer nurture cadences. This blend of human expertise, AI capabilities, data access, and actionable insights ensures businesses can work smarter and faster.

By leveraging automated SMS from Salesforce, businesses can streamline sales, marketing, and customer support activities. And by doing so, businesses can boost revenue, enhance customer service, and drive customer engagement over multiple channels.  Businesses can leverage the many benefits that automated Salesforce SMS messaging offers by integrating a 100% native Salesforce SMS app directly with their Salesforce CRM workflow. The Effectiveness of Text Messaging in Customer Communication Text messages are an effective way of capturing your customer's attention quickly. Text message open rates range from 95 to 99% on average. Not only that, 90% of messages received are read within three minutes. Other avenues of communication find it difficult to match the personal touch that this text messaging offers. SMS messages establish a direct and personal communication channel with your contact, cutting through the clutter. Automated SMS messaging from Salesforce The ideal way to integrate automated SMS messaging into Salesforce is to use a native Salesforce messaging app like GirikSMS. With GirikSMS, companies can send bulk SMS message campaigns to their contacts, have two-way text interactions, send SMS appointment reminders, send event updates, send booking confirmations, and much more, all directly from Salesforce. You can also automate routine sales tasks, automate responses to commonly asked customer support questions, and solicit feedback from customers. Why Should Businesses Use Salesforce SMS Messaging? SMS messaging from Salesforce transforms customer engagement. By connecting Salesforce with an enterprise SMS messaging app, you can leverage your all your organizational data. By utilizing your CRM data, you can launch automated SMS campaigns that are triggered on specific events. For e.g. when a contact performs a certain action like a sign up on your website. There are virtually innumerable use cases where your business can use Salesforce SMS messaging to enhance engagement with customers. Text Messages Are Very Visible Text messages are always in your face, unlike emails that can get lost in a cluttered inbox. Your messages have a higher chance of being read as a result. Text messages are difficult to ignore. People have a propensity to texts as soon as it is received, unlike emails that are easily ignored. Text messaging is perfect for urgent updates or information that must be communicated at scale. Furthermore, messages are perfect for people who are always on the go because they are concise and to the point. The convenience, flexibility, and reach of text messaging make it a powerful tool for reaching people. Text Messaging is Personal and Happens in Real Time  It can be challenging to get people to listen to your message in today's "always on the move" world. Text messages, on the other hand, are an excellent approach to reaching out to your contact base because they are personalized and are delivered instantly. This implies that there is a greater chance that your recipients will reply to your communication. Text messages can also be coupled with other channels like social media and popular messaging apps such as WhatsApp to form a comprehensive communication strategy. SMS allows you to ensure that your communication stands out. Track and Measure Performance With an enterprise Salesforce messaging solution like GirikSMS, you get access to comprehensive analytics and reporting to enable you to optimize your text messaging campaigns and boost your text messaging RoI. Overall, there are numerous reasons to consider adopting automated Salesforce text messaging for your business. SMS, with its high visibility and customization ability, can add real value to your sales, marketing, and customer support operations. How To Use Automated Salesforce Text Messaging Effectively Keep your texts concise and to the point. Because SMS messages can only be 160 characters long, they must be brief and to the point. Communicate your message without any ambiguity. Embed compelling calls-to-action (CTA). You want recipients to take some action after reading your message. Isn’t that the purpose of sending it in the first place? So, make sure your CTA is a powerful one. Use compelling language, and state clearly what you want them to do, and what they get in return. For instance, use a CTA such as "Click on the link below to receive 10% off your booking" to nudge them to complete a booking. Segment Your Contacts The ability to segment your contacts so that you deliver tailored messages to the right people at the right time is one of the wonderful aspects of automated text messaging.  You can segment your CRM contacts by multiple parameters such as age, gender, geography, interests, past purchases, etc. SMS Messaging for Events and Appointments Reminding participants of forthcoming Salesforce Calendar events is one of the most useful use cases for sending texts from Salesforce. Although text reminders can also be useful for keeping internal employees updated about meetings, this usually entails alerting current or potential customers about scheduled appointments with you. Text messaging from Salesforce has been shown to significantly reduce appointment no-shows. Similarly, customers feel assured when they know that they will be reminded on time for upcoming appointments. This translates to convenience and higher satisfaction. GirikSMS leverages CRM data and can include key elements of that data within the text message itself to personalize every text. By unitizing dynamic fields and placeholders in pre-built text message templates, businesses can remind, reschedule, confirm, or follow up with contacts regarding their upcoming appointment. Businesses can send reminder texts at scale using the built-in library of templates and sequences in GirikSMS by leveraging dynamic fields, which automatically pull the relevant data from the CRM and embed them into the text message. Bulk Text Message Campaigns Sending bulk SMS to your contacts is a very effective use of SMS messaging to reach out to a large database of subscribers. Bulk texting campaigns have been shown to increase reservations, drive sales with deals and discounts, re-activate old leads or churned customers, and improve overall customer satisfaction. Similar to personalized messaging for event reminders, bulk text message campaigns can deliver relevant messaging to your subscriber base and increase the chances that they will respond and take action. Using text messaging to assist in converting leads in your Salesforce org into prospects or even customers is a fantastic example. For instance, a week after a lead has signed up on your website but has not yet taken any further action, you can nudge them to make a reservation with you and offer a link with a discount in your automated text message. Business Text Messaging in Two Ways Text messaging from Salesforce is a great tool for businesses to engage in 2-way conversational messaging with contacts. This enables businesses to establish an interactive, real-time line of communication with their contacts. Recipients can instantly reply to appointment reminder texts, re-schedule appointments, ask questions, or offer suggestions by leveraging 2-way text messaging with a business. With automated text messaging from Salesforce, customers are kept engaged and feel valued because they see that the company is responding quickly to their questions or concerns. This fosters stronger customer relationships founded on convenience and trust. Reminders for Payments Reminding people to make payments for appointments can also be done effectively with text messaging. To make it easier for customers to pay, these messages can include important information like the payment amount, pay-by date, and a link to complete the transaction. This simplifies the booking journey of customers and companies alike. Also, it eliminates the need for annoying collection calls at odd hours by sending courteous reminders, which helps to deliver pleasant experiences. How Can I Activate Salesforce Text messaging? Depending on the text messaging platform you use, there are many ways to integrate text messaging with Salesforce. Determine the text messaging requirements and budget of your company, to begin with, then identify a reliable 100% native Salesforce text messaging platform such as GirikSMS. Integrating both your CRM and your messaging solution is the next logical step. Next, you'll configure your templates, scheduling, and text message rules. Now you’re good to go. GirikSMS: Your Salesforce Text Messaging Platform GirikSMS automates customer communication with its no-code drag-and-drop interface.  GirikSMS allows you to: Configure your Salesforce Calendar to automatically send out text reminders for appointments. Leverage your CRM data to personalize every outbound text that resonates with your brand. Increase engagement by personalizing every follow-up and appointment reminder message. Monitor the performance of your text messaging by tracking the delivery and response to every text and refine your texting strategy. Allow contacts the convenience and flexibility to schedule and re-schedule appointments online by directly integrating with your Salesforce calendar. Send text messages to thousands instantly, collect payments, answer questions, and gather feedback. All automated over 2-way text messaging.  GirikSMS is a 100% Salesforce text messaging solution. This means you can embed automated text messaging with virtually zero code right into your workflows. This frees up time for your employees so that they can spend their time and energy on what matters most – building stronger customer relationships. Try GirikSMS free for 30 days to see how easy and efficient it is.

In today's hectic financial services industry, offering tailored wealth management services is crucial. Customer expectations include prompt responses, personalized guidance, and seamless interactions. There is a growing need for personalized service, thus wealth management firms need to use advanced tools and technologies to efficiently meet these demands. To achieve these goals, Salesforce Service Cloud offers a potent solution that can advance your wealth management business. Salesforce Service Cloud was purpose-built to enhance customer support across multiple industries, including wealth management. It provides a toolkit that enables wealth advisors to effectively provide tailored services. Salesforce Service Cloud allows wealth management companies to provide premium services while preserving operational efficiency and guaranteeing compliance. It does this by combining case management, omnichannel support, automation, and AI-driven analytics. Personalization of Client Communications Personalized client interactions are the foundation of effective asset management. Financial advisers would benefit greatly from a number of Salesforce Service Cloud features if they need to delve deeper into their clients' needs. Comprehensive Client Profiles By combining information from several sources, including financial history, investment preferences, personal milestones, and communication preferences, Salesforce Service Cloud enables the creation of comprehensive customer profiles. This enables you to anticipate their demands and offer tailored solutions and advice. For instance, you may better match your recommendations with a customer's financial goals if you are aware of their investment goals and risk appetite. Customized Communication You can communicate with customers via the channel that they feel most comfortable with, whether it be social media, chat, email, or phone calls, by using the omnichannel platforms support. Through automated communication technologies that deliver personalized messages, clients receive up-to-date information about their accounts, improving their entire experience. To build trust, for example, delivering tailored investment updates that remind clients of significant financial services milestones or notifications on market movements that can affect their portfolio would be quite helpful. Improving Operational Efficiency In order to successfully cater to clients' needs, one must be proficient in wealth management. Salesforce Service Cloud streamlines operations, freeing up financial advisors to focus on adding value for their clients. A Better Approach to Case Management Salesforce Service Cloud improves the efficiency of answering questions and managing cases. You won't miss a client call thanks to this platform, which makes it simple to locate and fix problems. AI-driven recommendations and automated workflows could both expedite case resolution. For example, when a client asks a question about recent transactions, the system ought to automatically identify relevant records and provide an immediate answer, reducing the amount of time wasted on human searches. AI Integration and Automation Automated systems are useful for streamlining mundane, repititive tasks. This eliminates the possibility of human error. Artificial intelligence algorithms analyze customer data to provide Salesforce consultants with insights and recommendations that help with strategic planning. AI is capable of identifying patterns in consumer behavior to recommend individual investments that complement objectives to improve the client experience as a whole. Data-Driven Decisions With Service Cloud Well-informed decision-making is critical to effective asset management. Wealth advisors can obtain insightful knowledge and make data-driven choices by leveraging Service Cloud's sophisticated analytics features. Advanced Analytics One has access to an advanced analytics tool that sheds light on market trends and client behavior. Salesforce Service Cloud analytics solutions facilitate informed decision-making by identifying opportunities and risks. For example, you can help clients reach their financial goals by identifying and advising them on upcoming investment possibilities based on your analysis of market data. Customizable Dashboards Create dashboards to track your goals' progress and keep an eye on key performance indicators (KPIs). A Salesforce consultant can assist you in this. These dashboards can have the appropriate analytics for a single consultant or your entire company. This makes it simpler to oversee activities and hold the right person accountable. A dashboard, for instance, can display the results of various investment portfolios, client ratings, and active client cases, providing a comprehensive snapshot of the business's operations. Maintaining Security and Compliance In the financial services industry, maintaining compliance and guaranteeing data security are crucial factors to take into account. Robust security protections and powerful compliance tools are built into Salesforce Service Cloud to guard against critical data leaks to unauthorized parties. Adherence to Regulations Features in Salesforce Cloud assist you in adhering to industry standards such as SEC, FINRA, and GDPR laws. These solutions offer the information handling standards that are required, which reduces the likelihood of penalties for noncompliance. Consider the automatically generated compliance reports and audit trails on the platform, which simplify the process of proving compliance with regulatory requirements. Data Security Because of the platform's strong security features, sensitive client information can't be accessed by unauthorized parties, protecting them from breaches. Salesforce Service Cloud uses strong encryption mechanisms, access controls, and regular security audits to protect data, ensuring that their client's financial services details are always secure and restoring their confidence in your service. Technology and Client Focus: A Wealth Managers' Winning Approach Wealth management companies face a difficult balancing act as they try to balance their need for cutting-edge technologies with a strict customer-focused approach. Salesforce Cloud embodies this dual strategy by offering solutions that maintain high levels of customer satisfaction while enhancing operational efficiency. Leveraging Technology to Enhance Efficiency Salesforce Service Cloud enables asset managers to streamline workflows and make well-informed decisions by integrating automation, AI, and advanced analytics into its platform. It allows wealth advisors to handle a larger clientele without sacrificing the timely and high-quality advice they provide. Preserving a Client-Centric Perspective Although technology makes things more efficient, the customer should always come first in wealth management. Salesforce Service Cloud, for example, offers advisers a range of capabilities, such as detailed client profiles, customized communication channels, and personalized service that fosters deeper relationships. This dual strategy of serving customer needs and addressing technology creates a strong base on which long-term success in wealth management can be established.   Best Practices for Implementing Salesforce Service Cloud Implementing Salesforce Service Cloud successfully requires meticulous planning. These are some recommended practices that can help wealth managers get the most out of Salesforce Service Cloud. Establish Clear Goals Clearly define the goals your wealth managers have for Salesforce Financial Services Cloud at the outset. Establish clear objectives, such as enhancing client engagement or streamlining operations. This will assist you in navigating the process of implementation and determining its success. Recognize the needs of the client Talk to your clients and gain a deeper understanding of their needs. To find out what matters most to them, do surveys or interviews. This will enable your wealth managers to better serve their clients by customizing the platform. Ensure Data Quality. Clean and arrange the data before transferring it to Salesforce Service Cloud. Check for accuracy and eliminate redundancy. Making wise decisions and offering excellent customer service depends on having high-quality data. Provide Thorough Training. Give all wealth managers thorough training. Verify that they understand how to take full advantage of Salesforce Service Cloud. They will feel more confident and be more inclined to use the new system as a result. Encourage User Adoption. Promote a positive outlook about adjusting to the new system. To help them adjust to the move, demonstrate the advantages of utilizing Salesforce Service Cloud and offer continuing assistance. Integrate with Existing Systems. Integrate Salesforce Service Cloud with current systems and tools. This maintains a comprehensive view of client data and facilitates data flow. Track Performance. Following setup, periodically assess how successfully Salesforce Service Cloud is fulfilling customer objectives. Track your progress and leverage KPIs to identify areas for improvement. Gather Feedback. Get wealth managers' opinions on the platform by asking them questions. Make adjustments and increase satisfaction by using this information. Prioritize ongoing Enhancement. The Salesforce ecosystem is always evolving. Keep abreast of updates and new features. Review wealth managers' usage of the platform on a regular basis and adjust as needed to improve customer service and performance. Conclusion Wealth management companies should use Salesforce Service Cloud to strengthen customer connections, increase operational efficiency, and make data-driven choices. The platform's extensive toolkit enables you to customize your wealth management programs and give your clients exactly what they desire. Adopt Salesforce Service Cloud to give your clients genuine value and to stay ahead of the competition in the cutthroat wealth management marketplace. To know more about how Salesforce Service Cloud can benefit your wealth management firm, talk to a certified Salesforce Development company today.

Salesforce integration is the process of linking Salesforce to other systems in the IT infrastructure of an organization, allowing for smooth data exchange and automation of workflows. Salesforce has substantially improved sales operations and transformed the business world. One of the noteworthy reasons why firms from all industries are adopting Salesforce is its ability to implement multiple interfaces that facilitate the streamlining of key operational operations. Salesforce can be integrated with a variety of systems, apps, and platforms, including automation tools, ERP systems, social media platforms, customer service, and much more. Salesforce integration is critical for businesses seeking an efficient solution to streamline operations, increase efficiency, improve data accuracy, and acquire a comprehensive view of their customers across multiple platforms. By integrating existing systems with Salesforce, businesses can efficiently handle all of the information gathered from processes that operate across multiple platforms. Consider scenarios in your IT infrastructure in which valuable data is kept in one system but is required in another. Salesforce integration is useful in such cases since it allows for the processing and synchronization of massive amounts of data across systems and applications. In a nutshell, Salesforce integration services enable businesses to unlock the true value of their data, creating limitless opportunities and driving growth. What makes Salesforce integration so important? In today's digital context, organizations must constantly enhance their offerings and operational efficiency in order to meet customer demands and remain competitive. This cannot be achieved with systems that operate in isolation. It necessitates multiple integrations in order to function more efficiently. Salesforce integration with other platforms enables enterprises to achieve seamless data sharing and process automation. Salesforce integration increases productivity, harmonizes data and improves its accuracy, streamlines information flow, and provides a holistic perspective of customers. Finally, Salesforce integration services enable businesses to maximize the value of their data, improve operations, and make better decisions. Let's take a closer look at Salesforce features and benefits, as well as how you may use this leading CRM platform to its full potential with the help of a trusted integration partner. Benefits of Salesforce Integration Services Salesforce offers endless possibilities that businesses utilize to achieve greater success. Salesforce integration services provide unique benefits based on the industry and type of integration done. Nonetheless, there are some universal benefits that improve business performance, regardless of industry or integration type. Enhanced data accuracy Salesforce accesses data from a variety of sources, including HR, sales, accounting, and more allowing your team to sync data in real-time and minimizing or eliminating the need for human data entry. Salesforce integration ensures consistency and accuracy of data across platforms. Streamline and automate processes. This is one of the stand-out benefits of Salesforce integration. Regardless of the industry, Salesforce integration enables easy data sharing across teams and departments and automates synchronization, hence boosting cross-departmental operations. A comprehensive view of customers Salesforce integration consolidates sensitive customer data from multiple systems into a single source. This unified perspective provides a complete view of customer data, allowing for one-on-one interactions, reinforcing targeted marketing efforts, delivering personalized recommendations, and improving customer support. Improved decision making Salesforce integration provides a comprehensive view of customer data, allowing businesses to make more informed decisions, enhance offerings, and augment the customer experience. When data is siloed, it is impossible to make better decisions. Having simple access to real-time data across systems allows you to study analytics dashboards and make data-driven decisions, as well as respond quickly to changing patterns based on customer insights. Boost productivity. Sales professionals are easily able to manage huge amounts of data gathered from Salesforce integration with internal as well as third-party systems. This allows them to build stronger customer relationships and tailor offerings based on their unique needs. 10 Key Features of Salesforce Integration Solutions Salesforce integration services cover almost all aspects of a business across critical functions such as marketing, sales, HR, finance, operations and more. One should be aware of the key features of Salesforce before moving ahead with Salesforce integration. Contact Management This Salesforce tool ensures hassle-free contact management for customers by providing easy access to all their information. It provides a detailed account of their activity history, important contacts, and more. Opportunity Management One of Salesforce's most significant capabilities is the ability for enterprises to examine customer activity timelines. It also displays the stages of a sales transaction, enabling you to determine what the next step should be to close the deal. Salesforce Engage This feature enhances customer engagement by providing a comprehensive view of their activity history and sending targeted communications at the right moment when response rates are highest. It serves as a bridge between sales and marketing teams, allowing marketing content to be shared with sales in order to augment the sales pitch. Performance Management This feature helps the company's sales process by establishing metric-based goals for the teams. In addition, it provides continual feedback and prizes in order to enhance performance and achieve those goals. Lead Management This Salesforce feature serves as a quick lead conversion tool, providing access to the most recent contacts on the timeline as well as the originating source of the leads. Additionally, automatic emailing templates improve your revenue-generating strategies. Salesforce analyzes leads and automatically assigns the best ones to the appropriate rep. As a result, you will never lose a lead while growing your business. File Synchronization and Sharing This is another key feature of Salesforce. It synchronizes data between systems and lets you share them from any device, at any time. This function is classified with different filters, making it simple to maintain access, regulate privileges, and locate a certain document in a pile. Email Integration One of the most popular features of Salesforce, email integration optimizes operations and improves communication. Salesforce integration with popular email platforms like Gmail and Outlook, allows you to synchronize events, contacts, emails, and other important information to get things done faster. It also provides a comprehensive view of connected consumers, making it easier to create and send emails to contacts regardless of where they are. Partner Management Salesforce integration streamlines partner management by creating an ecosystem for hiring, onboarding, and training. This feature makes it easier for partners to offer products or services while also improving performance. Custom Dashboards and Reports Salesforce's dashboard and report features provide a real-time view of the business at a glance, showing how it is doing. It allows you to discover market trends, and build unique sales forecasting reports without any help from IT. You can quickly create a custom dashboard in Salesforce by using its drag-and-drop functionality and track your team's performance. Salesforce Application Integration Users can access data, make calls, log meeting notes, view events, and update their accounts from anywhere, at any time. Furthermore, with Salesforce app integration, exchanging files and documents becomes quick and seamless, allowing you greater flexibility to work from anywhere. And with offline data, you can close deals faster. These are 10 of the most significant features of Salesforce integration services that enable workflow automation, resulting in streamlined business operations and increased productivity. Whether you're thinking about integrating Salesforce into your current operations or creating your own CRM solution, make sure it has the elements outlined above, as well as anything else that meets the unique needs of your company and industry. Salesforce Integration Approaches Salesforce typically supports two types of integration: app-based and code-based. Both of these Salesforce integration strategies handle specific business needs in different ways. Depending on your business requirements, you may find the best practices for salesforce integration that are most suitable for your purpose. As a result, your organization's specific needs heavily influence your decision to integrate with Salesforce. Code-based Integration Approach Code-based integration is an easy way to link Salesforce with other apps that use a programming language. Salesforce specialists frequently use Apex to build code similar to Java and host it on the Salesforce platform. This option is used when the integration needs are more complex, making it an excellent alternative for large organizations looking to optimize key processes. A code-based integration approach cannot be executed separately. It will be wise to work with a Salesforce partner to help you through the process. App-Based Integration Approach This is a low-code or no-code approach to Salesforce integration. This method involves leveraging Salesforce App Builder tools such as MuleSoft Composer or popular third-party apps. Because the app-based integration option does not permit complex integrations, it is simple to set up the system, allowing smaller businesses to manage the integration process on their own. However, enlisting the help of a certified Salesforce partner is always a prudent decision to ensure a successful integration with Salesforce. Start your Salesforce Integration Journey with Girikon Girikon, a gold Salesforce consulting partner, can help you transform business operations and realize the complete potential of your IT infrastructure as you begin your Salesforce Integration Journey. We provide best-in-class Salesforce integration services by following industry best practices. Our certified Salesforce consultants will ensure a quick and seamless integration with your existing infrastructure. When done the right way, Salesforce integration services can provide endless benefits to your business, ranging from optimized processes to stronger customer relationships and beyond. Our tailored Salesforce integration services attest to the success we have brought to our customers across a range of sectors.

As a business, you constantly seek the most effective and efficient ways to reach your customers and establish long-term connections with them. This task is made easier when you engage leads and customers through the channels in which they are most engaged, and SMS comes up trumps as the stand-out leader.  With a 98% open rate, SMS messaging is a great option to engage customers on a communication channel that they are already familiar with and use on a regular basis. Your Salesforce CRM stores all your customer data that your business has acquired and harmonized over time, which you can utilize to build dynamic and tailored text messaging engagements with your customers. To accomplish this, however, your organization first needs to set up a Salesforce SMS integration. Salesforce CRM is already widely embraced by users around the world to transform the way they work and propel their company to new heights. Salesforce is a global leader in innovation and for many years has demonstrated to be a game changer for businesses across all verticals, whether it's sales, marketing, customer service, commerce, or any other function. When it comes to customer engagement, businesses around the world have already transformed the way they interact with customers by leveraging the power of Salesforce messaging. Salesforce SMS has made it a lot easier to personalize interactions with leads and customers, resulting in higher customer satisfaction and stronger customer relationships. Having said that, businesses new to Salesforce may struggle to get started with texting from Salesforce effectively. We're here to assist you with the fundamentals of sending SMS from Salesforce and suggest the best Salesforce SMS messaging platform. In this blog post, we shall talk about the following topics. How can businesses send SMS from Salesforce? GirikSMS: A 100% Salesforce texting platform How Can You Automate sending SMS from Salesforce? While setting up Salesforce messaging, business users can leverage out-of-the-box SMS capabilities that can transform customer engagement, replacing traditional texting methods. This allows businesses to be creative in their communication strategy. How can businesses send SMS from Salesforce? SMS from Salesforce can be used to support multiple business functions – sales, marketing, customer support, sales, operations, and more. While you cannot send texts from Salesforce in its barebone state, there are several other ways to go about it. Before we get started, let's look at some of the most commonly used applications of Salesforce SMS messaging used by businesses across industries. Here’s how Salesforce SMS messaging can be used by businesses: One-on-one SMS Messaging: Create personalized connections by sending targeted messages directly to specific contacts directly from Salesforce. Bulk SMS Messaging: Send messages to specific contact groups or your entire contact list to notify them of important updates, announcements, new offerings, and much more. Automated SMS Messaging: Leverage native Salesforce automation tools like journeys, triggers, and flows, to automatically guide customers via bespoke message sequences. These messaging techniques have the power to transform your sales, marketing, and customer support functions. Furthermore, you can make your regular communications more appealing by including visual components such as images and videos. This allows you to interact with your audience more quickly and efficiently by adopting the most relevant texting strategy for your use cases. As was previously discussed, there are several ways to use SMS messaging from Salesforce. These fall into 3 major categories. Salesforce Solutions Salesforce offers two additional text-enabled solutions. Mobile Studio in Marketing Cloud  Salesforce Digital Engagement in Service Cloud. Mobile Studio is designed specifically for Salesforce SMS marketing, which you can simply integrate with your current marketing channels, while Digital Engagement places a higher priority on customer support interactions. Salesforce Digital Engagement: For just $75 per user each month, businesses can harness the value of CRM-powered digital engagement. This feature-rich tool facilitates seamless chat conversations, personalized one-on-one interactions, and automated SMS. There is a monthly limit on the number of chat conversations that you can initiate, but you can enjoy limitless messaging within each discussion (as long as it is within 24 hours). Mobile Studio: With Mobile Studio, you can access features like SMS, MMS, chat, and push notifications. Using customized templates, you can quickly draft messages, and using Salesforce Journey Builder, you can easily integrate SMS into your multichannel customer journeys. A Marketing Cloud license is a prerequisite to use this tool in Salesforce. These solutions do come with additional expenses, and it is fair to say, their feature sets are not very extensive. Furthermore, setting everything up can be a little challenging. Either you have to go through the entire authorization process or ask for a new number, which may take several weeks to be approved. Custom Solution Building   You can also go for a custom-built solution to send SMS from Salesforce. This, however, comes at a price and involves an investment of time and money. You will have to start from scratch using a Salesforce or third-party API which involves development, integration, and implementation expenses. Any kind of capability can be built with custom development and the downside is that the more complicated your business needs, the more time and costs will be incurred to implement it. Salesforce Native App This is the smartest and arguably the most effective way to get started with SMS from Salesforce. Go to AppExchange and find a Salesforce texting app that best fits your use cases and explore a variety of native Salesforce apps. An advanced native Salesforce SMS app should provide the following: Pre-integrated with multiple channels Ready-to-use features Simple, fast, and codeless setup No development, integration, and maintenance costs What's even more intriguing is that you can count on round-the-clock support to help you whenever you need it so you can get the most out of the solution. GirikSMS: 100% Salesforce native SMS Solution GirikSMS is a powerful solution to start engaging with your contacts via SMS directly from Salesforce. GirikSMS comes pre-integrated with WhatsApp, the world's most popular messaging platform, allowing businesses to start interacting with their contacts on their most preferred messaging channel. Moreover, it comes with a plethora of features to help businesses transform their communication strategy by fostering creativity via text interactions. GirikSMS has all the features businesses need to start building stronger relationships with their customers. Here's a sneak peek at some of the innovative features of GirikSMS. Zero Code Chatbots and Surveys No knowledge of coding? Nothing to worry. With GirikSMS, you can easily build surveys and chatbots using its intuitive drag-and-drop interface. This feature makes things easier and lets you interact more personally and interactively with your contacts. You can easily build and deploy rule-based chatbots and surveys with its zero code UI, whether you want to deliver fast customer service or gather feedback. Compliance GirikSMS was developed with compliance as the highest priority, making sure that each communication complies with industry best practices and guidelines. With flexible opt-ins and opt-outs, recipients can easily manage their preferred methods of establishing contact. To maintain your messaging strategy compliant with legal requirements, GirikSMS also allows you to create custom fields to accommodate evolving texting guidelines and regulations. AI-Powered One-On-One Text Conversations With the AI-powered chat capability of GirikSMS, manual responses are now a thing of the past. By monitoring ongoing interactions, the platform creates auto-suggested responses in real time, resulting in faster and more efficient communication. By giving fast and relevant responses, this intelligent automation improves customer service by raising overall customer satisfaction and engagement levels. No-Code Text Automation With GirikSMS's no-code text automation features and standard Salesforce automation integration, you can streamline your workflows. This capability automates follow-ups, schedules communications, and triggers responses based on predetermined criteria, among other repetitive activities, saving you time and effort. With the power of automation at your disposal, you can maximize productivity by concentrating on providing outstanding customer experiences. How Can You Automate Outbound SMS with GirikSMS? It depends on your texting tool's capabilities whether you are automating Salesforce messages using a sophisticated process or a straightforward one. Depending on your use cases, GirikSMS offers both Salesforce standard automation as well as no code support. For basic use cases, you can automate SMS messages from Salesforce using an intuitive click-and-drag interface without any coding knowledge. You can rely on regular automation features in Salesforce such as flows, for complex automation use cases. You can also specify the conditions under which you wish to trigger an automated text message. In addition, you may set up a zero-code multi-channel drip campaign by automating a sequence of text messages. GirikSMS's text automation capabilities allow you to save a significant amount of time and effort. Harness the true power of text messaging with a 100% Salesforce native messaging solution. Texting is already an effective way to communicate with prospects and customers and with the right tools, you can maximize the efficacy of your messaging. With GirikSMS, you can transform the way you interact with customers. Whether it is sales, marketing, or customer service, you can gain a competitive advantage in your industry by adopting a reliable and trusted 100% native Salesforce messaging solution.  GirikSMS offers a comprehensive array of texting features that can be easily tailored to specific use cases. We are always here to assist you in reaching your goals.

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.

Engaging with customers on the channel of their preference is key to establishing a connection with them. An intriguing statistic is that 35% of customers prefer receiving marketing communications via mobile platforms. If anything, it serves as a gentle reminder to businesses to think about utilizing SMS for business-related communications. Many businesses currently engage in this, particularly on high-volume shopping occasions like Black Friday. However, there are plenty of additional ways to use SMS to interact with your customers all year long besides the typical peak seasons. Let's look at a few strategies for using SMS to improve business communication throughout the year. What is SMS in business communication? The term 'SMS for business communication' refers to how businesses utilize text messaging to communicate with customers, convey critical information, promote products and services, and improve their overall communication. SMS-based business communication utilizes a software program rather than a specific person to communicate with people via text. This method, referred to as application-to-person (A2P) SMS, method opens up a world of possibilities. Consider a hotel as an example. To boost guest satisfaction, hotels could quickly text them to confirm their reservation. Alternatively, a doctor could notify a patient via SMS with pertinent information following a visit. Even though these communications are only being received by one individual, they are not from multiple people. Bulk SMS messages are also relevant. A retailer might send out a bulk SMS message to subscribers promoting a new product or providing a time-limited coupon. It's also important to remember that companies can communicate with customers via more than just text messages. They may also send audio files, graphics, photos, videos, and other types of multimedia via Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) messaging. Benefits of SMS for business communication As we've already indicated, a significant portion of your target market will prefer SMS correspondence. Here are four more advantages of employing SMS business messaging in addition to simply keeping your customers happy: Messages are read almost instantly SMS has an impressively high open rate and, even better, messages get read by most people fairly quickly. You can send business SMS with confidence knowing that a significant portion of your subscribers will not only see your message but will see it within a few minutes of receiving it. Because SMS can reach your target demographic much faster than social media or email, it works incredibly well for time-sensitive campaigns such as flash sales. SMS has a wide reach To put it simply, text messaging is available to everyone who owns a mobile phone. Consider this: SMS messaging can be used to communicate with over 7.2 billion people worldwide. SMS has an unparalleled reach! SMS messaging doesn’t require an internet connection SMS is compatible with any mobile device that has a mobile network connection. That's because SMS messaging doesn't require an internet data plan, it works on mobile network technology. While the proliferation of smartphones shows no signs of stopping, SMS allows users to receive messages on any kind of mobile phone, so you can reach a far wider audience with it than you could with internet-based approaches. Messages can be automated When it comes to managing repetitive tasks, automation is invaluable, and customers can also see its value. Consider this: regular SMS communications, such as delivery notifications, order confirmations, and password verifications, can be automated. Employees can rest easy knowing they don't have to perform these mundane customer service tasks manually once solutions like these are up and running. As an added bonus, you can use SMS templates to further streamline your communications. Ways to use SMS for business communications Here are seven ways to get started if you're ready to start reaching out to more prospects and customers via text messaging, which is how people like to be contacted by your business. Marketing campaigns SMS has an inherent limitation of 160 characters. There are two primary ways to use SMS for marketing. Individual texts with a clear call to action. A series of SMS messages that, typically over a few days or weeks, provide targeted offers or information to a particular segment of subscribers. Whatever method you choose, the most important thing is to make it easy and convenient to respond. Usually, this means providing a web link. That page can be a special campaign page that lets you monitor the response rate with ease. It might also be an already-existing page, such as a category or product page. Effective SMS marketing strategies cover the following: Promote flash sales Launch new products Revive older products that have been improved upon or updated. Run time-limited promotions Offer loyalty members exclusive deals; target certain subscriber categories with offers Encourage the sharing of relevant content by including links to resources on related subjects. Verification The process of verifying a user's identity or actions by text message delivery of a one-time password (OTP) or code to their mobile device is known as SMS verification. After that, the recipient logs into a website or application or authorizes a transaction using that code. This technique, which is often referred to as two-factor authentication (TFA), helps companies in preventing account manipulation by scammers and cybercriminals. Customer engagement Improved customer connections through personalized business messaging results in greater engagement and improved response rates. Your interactions can be more personalized when you have more information on your audience. Sending personalized texts on their birthday or offering them exclusive deals based on their previous purchases is possible with SMS. For instance, perhaps you would like to provide a unique discount to residents of a specific city. This demonstrates that you are aware of their needs and value their business. The messages can be made much more personalized when you integrate your CRM with your messaging app like what you can do with the GirikSMS Salesforce sms app, which can take personalization up a few notches.  This personalization strategy also works very well for marketing. You may grab customers' attention and keep them interested in your offerings by sending out highly effective messages, such as birthday offers that expire soon. Opt-in campaigns Through opt-in campaigns, businesses regardless of size can use SMS for lead nurturing or generation. By allowing potential customers to interact with your business on their terms and requesting their consent to receive SMS notifications, you can be sure that they are interested in what you have to offer. After that, you can nurture them with a consistent flow of new, valuable, informational, and helpful content, which will produce higher-quality leads. 2-way messaging Research indicates that 9 out of 10 consumers want to be able to ask questions in response to texts received from businesses. Having said that, many businesses rarely use two-way interaction capabilities. You can now instantly and individually serve each of your customers thanks to two-way messaging. This enables customers to get their questions answered quickly. And you're communicating with this person directly instead of having to call them personally. Transactional notifications One of the best applications of business SMS messaging is transactional notifications; they are quick and easy to use. Notifications via transactional SMS may include the following: Notifications of delivery and shipping updates Confirmations of purchases Confirmations of opt-in Verification of passwords Reminders for appointments Notifications for receipt of payments Notifications of modifications to account information or transaction data, such as an upgrade on a hotel room Get started with SMS for business communication As you can see, there are tons of methods for using SMS for business communication that will connect and engage more of your customers in ways that suit your specific needs as well as theirs. It's a genuine benefit that can make your business stand out from the competition. Selecting a text message service provider is the first step to launching SMS business messaging. With so many options available, it's critical to consider eight essential factors to ensure you're making the best choice: Ease of integration. To facilitate seamless integration with your other apps and systems, you should have access to a wide range of APIs. Security and compliance. In addition to having cyberattack defense and response strategies and backup systems, your provider should also be accountable for keeping you secure and in compliance with local regulations. Delivery performance. It's critical to locate an SMS provider with a track record of excellence and an engine that is tuned for minimal latency and high delivery rates.    Power to scale. Look for a supplier who can adapt and grow with you. Two-way messaging. When you want it, your messaging platform should deliver it for you. Sender ID availability. You want to be able to use this feature since it helps the recipient identify you and increases your credibility as a sender and brand. Reporting and analytics. For consistent and effective SMS marketing, real-time, comprehensive, and easily accessible KPIs are a must. Global expertise and customer support. Look for a provider with worldwide connectivity. Although SMS business messaging works well, you'll be most successful if you combine it with a more holistic omnichannel strategy for customer engagement. Have questions about conversational messaging for business? Contact us today for a free 30-day trial of GirikSMS, the 100% native Salesforce Texting App for business.