Integrate & connect
Salesforce with SMS

Did you know that 65% of consumers prefer SMS communications with businesses? Integrating SMS with Salesforce can help you tap into this massive opportunity, enabling automated and personalized texting at scale directly from your CRM. But how exactly do you connect the two platforms?

In this complete guide, we'll break down the key benefits of SMS and Salesforce integration, the essential features to look for, and provide a step-by-step walkthrough for setting it up - both manually and using AI automation. By the end, you'll be fully equipped to supercharge your sales and support with SMS. Let's get started!

Introduction: Connecting SMS and Salesforce

Integrating SMS with Salesforce allows you to send and receive text messages directly from your CRM. This powerful combination can help streamline communication, improve customer engagement, and boost productivity.

With Salesforce SMS integration, you can:

• Send personalized text messages to leads and contacts
• Receive and log incoming SMS messages
• Automate SMS workflows based on Salesforce triggers
• Track SMS activity and performance metrics

In this guide, we'll walk you through the steps to integrate Salesforce and SMS, covering everything from choosing an SMS provider to setting up automated workflows. By the end, you'll have a fully functional Salesforce SMS integration ready to enhance your sales efforts.

Top 3 Benefits of Integrating SMS and Salesforce

Connecting your SMS platform with Salesforce CRM provides several valuable benefits:

1. Send Automated SMS Messages from Salesforce

   With a Salesforce SMS integration, you can configure workflows to automatically send text messages triggered by events in Salesforce. For example, when an opportunity stage changes to "Proposal Sent", you could automatically send a follow-up text to the lead.

   This saves sales reps time from having to manually send texts and ensures timely communications. Automated SMS helps you stay top of mind and move deals through the pipeline faster. By integrating SMS with Salesforce, sales prospecting tasks can also be automated.

2. Personalize SMS Using Salesforce Contact Data

   Integrating SMS with Salesforce unlocks your CRM data for texting. You can use merge fields to dynamically populate contact data like first name, company, and city into your text messages.

   Personalization like this captures attention and makes your SMS communications more relevant and engaging. Instead of sending generic texts, you can tailor each message based on CRM data. Personalized texts get more responses and better conversion rates.

3. Centralize Customer Communications in Salesforce

   With an SMS integration, you can receive and respond to incoming texts from leads and customers directly within Salesforce. All your SMS conversations are synced into the CRM and associated with the right contacts.

   This keeps all customer communications centralized in Salesforce, so your team has a complete history of every interaction. Reps can access context from previous conversations to provide better support and sales interactions over text. Managers can also report on SMS activity and performance. To further enrich leads, integrating SMS can be very beneficial.

The automation, personalization, and centralization benefits of integrating SMS with Salesforce lead to more productive teams and better customer experiences. Next, see what key features to look for in an SMS integration solution.

To save time on repetitive tasks, you can integrate Google Sheets with your CRM for easier management and historical data tracking.

Automate SMS Messages from Salesforce to Save Time

Connecting Salesforce and your SMS platform allows you to send automated text messages triggered by events or criteria in Salesforce. This saves significant time compared to manually texting leads and customers.

For example, say you're a sales rep and you just logged a demo in Salesforce with a promising lead. With an SMS integration, you could set up an automation to immediately send a personalized text thanking them for their time and providing next steps. No manual work required on your part.

Automating key SMS touchpoints like demo follow-ups, renewal reminders, and payment notifications keeps communications timely and consistent. This frees up your team to focus on revenue-generating activities while keeping leads and customers engaged via text.

In addition to saving time, SMS automation also enables you to personalize messages at scale using Salesforce data, which we'll cover next.

Tailor SMS Content to Each Contact Using Salesforce Data

Another major benefit of integrating SMS with your Salesforce CRM is the ability to personalize text messages based on contact data. Instead of sending generic texts, you can use merge fields to dynamically insert a contact's name, company, location or other custom fields from their Salesforce record.

Imagine you're an account manager needing to notify customers about an upcoming renewal. With an SMS-Salesforce integration, you could automatically populate each text with the customer's name, renewal date, and a link to pay their invoice. Personalization like this makes the message feel tailored to the individual.

Save time personalizing your messages by using Bardeen’s AI Message Generator. Automate and personalize communications with ease.

Studies show that personalized SMS have significantly higher engagement than generic texts. By customizing messages with CRM data when you generate emails with AI, you'll increase open rates, responses and conversions.

Beyond personalization, syncing SMS with Salesforce also keeps all customer communications centralized in one system of record, as we'll explain in the next section.

Keep All Customer Interactions in One Place by Integrating SMS and Salesforce

Finally, connecting your SMS platform with Salesforce ensures all customer communications are centralized in your CRM. When you sync texts to Salesforce, you'll have a complete history of every SMS interaction alongside emails, calls, and other touchpoints.

Let's say a customer texts your support number about an issue. With SMS and Salesforce integrated, the agent can view the customer's account details, past conversations and even open support cases - all without leaving Salesforce. Having this context allows them to provide faster, more helpful assistance.

Keeping SMS and all channels in one unified view in Salesforce is crucial for delivering seamless customer experiences. As discussed earlier, it also enables more personalized texting since agents can reference CRM data in their replies.

So to recap, integrating SMS with Salesforce drives efficiency through automation, effectiveness through personalization, and convenience through centralization. Next up, we'll cover the most important features to look for in an SMS integration solution.

Must-Have Features to Look for When Integrating SMS with Salesforce

When evaluating solutions to connect SMS and Salesforce, there are a few critical capabilities to prioritize. First and foremost, the integration should support two-way texting. This allows you to not only send messages from Salesforce, but also receive and reply to incoming texts without leaving the CRM.

Automatic syncing of contacts and message history between the SMS platform and Salesforce is another essential feature. With bi-directional syncing, contact details stay up-to-date and all text conversations are logged in Salesforce. This gives your team full context and a centralized view of customer interactions.

Finally, ease of use is key when connecting SMS to your CRM. The integration process should be straightforward, not require coding, and result in an intuitive interface for sending texts within Salesforce. A user-friendly SMS integration means faster adoption and time-to-value for your team.

To recap, look for a Salesforce SMS integration that offers:

• Two-way texting to send and receive SMS in the CRM
• Automatic data syncing to keep contacts and conversations current
• Simple, code-free setup and an easy-to-use texting interface

Prioritizing these critical features will set you up for successful Salesforce SMS integration. Next, let's walk through the specific steps to connect the two platforms with a tool like Bardeen for sales automation.

Bardeen can help you automate sales prospecting and save time with repetitive tasks.

Send and Receive SMS Messages Directly in Salesforce with Two-Way Texting

When integrating SMS with Salesforce, it's crucial that the integration supports two-way messaging. This means you can not only send text messages from within the CRM, but also receive and reply to incoming SMS without toggling to another tool.

Two-way texting is a must-have because it allows your team to have complete conversations with customers and prospects without leaving Salesforce. Reps can quickly fire off a text, see responses, and reply back in a seamless experience. No more missed messages or disjointed communications.

For example, if a customer texts your support number with an issue, the message will instantly appear in Salesforce. An agent can then acknowledge receipt, look up their case history, and text back a resolution - all from the same interface. Two-way SMS is essential for efficient communication and faster issue resolution.

In addition to two-way capabilities, your SMS integration should also automatically sync contact and message data with Salesforce. This helps in identifying buying signals for more personalized engagement. Let's explore the benefits of automatic syncing next.

Keep Salesforce Updated with Automatic Contact and SMS Data Syncing

Another important feature when you integrate SMS and Salesforce is automatic data syncing between the two systems. This means that any time a contact is added or updated in your SMS platform, it should instantly sync with the matching Salesforce record.

The key benefit of automatic syncing is that it keeps your CRM data accurate and up-to-date without manual effort. For example, if a customer texts in to update their phone number, that change will flow to their contact record in Salesforce. Reps can trust that they always have the latest information.

Automatic syncing should work both ways. If an agent updates a lead's status in Salesforce, that change should also reflect in your SMS tool. This two-way integration between SMS and Salesforce ensures a single source of truth.

As mentioned earlier, two-way SMS capabilities are critical. But those real-time conversations are only valuable if they're captured in your CRM. Automatic syncing makes that possible, connecting the dots across touchpoints.

Of course, for your team to get value out of SMS and Salesforce integration, they have to actually use it. That's why the next key feature to look for is a user-friendly setup and interface.

Automate your sales prospecting with Bardeen's playbooks to save time and increase efficiency.

Choose an SMS Integration with an Intuitive Interface for Easy Adoption

The final critical feature to look for when you integrate Salesforce and SMS is a user-friendly setup process and interface. Even with the benefits of automatic syncing, your team won't use the tool if it's complicated or confusing.

Aim for an SMS integration that is intuitive for admins to configure and easy for end users to navigate. The setup should require minimal technical expertise and training time. Reps should be able to quickly view and send SMS without disrupting their workflow.

If the SMS and Salesforce integration is clunky, user adoption will be low. But if it's seamless and simple, your team will be much more likely to utilize it. An intuitive UI leads to higher engagement.

Along with two-way texting and automatic data syncing between SMS and Salesforce, prioritize user experience. With these key features in place, you'll be set up for a successful integration. Explore our guide on automate sales prospecting for more tips.

Integrate Salesforce and SMS Without Code Using Bardeen's AI Automation

Connecting your SMS tool with Salesforce is simple using Bardeen's no-code AI automation platform. With Bardeen, you can integrate Salesforce SMS without any programming required.

To set up the integration:

1. Download the Bardeen browser extension
2. Authenticate your SMS and Salesforce accounts in Bardeen
3. Use the visual playbook builder to create custom SMS workflows

For example, you could build an automation to automatically send a personalized text message when a Salesforce opportunity stage changes. Or set up an SMS alert when a new contact is added in Salesforce. You can also automate lead management to save more time.

Bardeen's playbook builder makes it easy to visually map out the steps in your automation. Simply drag and drop actions like sending an SMS or looking up Salesforce data. The AI will handle the integration behind the scenes.

When you're done building the automation, just activate it and Bardeen will run it in the background. Your SMS and Salesforce apps will be connected, syncing data automatically. This enables you to access contact info and send texts without leaving Salesforce.

Bardeen provides an intuitive way to integrate Salesforce and SMS, empowering you to personalize messaging and centralize communications. Get started automating SMS in Salesforce today.

Get Started with Bardeen to Connect Salesforce and SMS

To integrate SMS with Salesforce, first download the Bardeen browser extension. It's available for Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge. This will add Bardeen to your browser toolbar.

Next, click on the Bardeen icon and sign in using your Google account or email address. Then connect your Salesforce account and SMS tool inside the Bardeen app:

• Click "Connections" and select Salesforce
• Log in with your Salesforce credentials to authenticate the connection
• Go back to "Connections" and choose your SMS platform (like Twilio or MessageMedia)
• Enter your SMS account details to connect it to Bardeen

Now your Salesforce and texting tool are linked via Bardeen. The AI platform will be able to access contact data from Salesforce and send SMS messages using your texting service. You're ready to start building automations to connect Salesforce SMS for sales.

Build SMS Automations with Bardeen's Easy Playbook Creator

After connecting your Salesforce and SMS accounts in Bardeen, use the visual playbook builder to create workflows that integrate Salesforce SMS. The playbook builder lets you set up automations without any coding.

To build an SMS playbook, click "Create Playbook" in Bardeen. Then choose your trigger app as Salesforce and action app as your SMS tool. For example, to send an automated text when an opportunity stage changes:

1. Set the trigger to "Opportunity Stage Changed" in Salesforce
2. Select your SMS app and "Send SMS" as the action
3. Map the phone number field from Salesforce to the recipient in your SMS tool
4. Enter the SMS template, pulling in any relevant Salesforce data (like the new stage)

The playbook builder walks you through each step to integrate Salesforce and SMS without needing any technical skills. You can add multiple actions, conditions, and triggers to create more complex SMS workflows too. For more advanced automation, you can explore AI and automation in sales prospecting.

Activate Your Salesforce SMS Integration to Start Texting

The final step to integrate Salesforce and SMS is to activate your automation. In Bardeen, once you've built your SMS playbook, just click the "Activate" button to turn it on.

When you activate the automation, Bardeen will start syncing data between Salesforce and your SMS platform. Any triggers or actions you set up will now run automatically. For example:

• When an opportunity stage changes in Salesforce, Bardeen will instantly send an SMS to the contact
• If a contact replies to an SMS, their response will be logged in Salesforce automatically
• All your SMS history will be visible in Salesforce, attached to the relevant contact and account records

By activating your Bardeen automation, you integrate your SMS and Salesforce instances. This enables automated texting from Salesforce, syncing of contact data, and centralization of customer messages - without any manual effort.

Conclusion

In this guide, you learned how integrating SMS with Salesforce can benefit your business. By connecting these two powerful tools, you can:

• Automate SMS messages triggered by Salesforce events
• Personalize texts using Salesforce contact data
• Centralize all customer communications in one system

When choosing an SMS integration for Salesforce, prioritize solutions that offer:

1. Two-way texting capabilities to send and receive SMS
2. Automatic syncing of contacts and message history
3. An intuitive, user-friendly setup process and interface

The easiest way to integrate Salesforce and SMS is using Bardeen's no-code automation platform. Just download the browser extension, connect your apps, and build SMS workflows with the visual playbook builder. Activate the automation and your systems will be synced.

Now that you're equipped with this knowledge, don't wait to integrate SMS with your Salesforce CRM. Your team and customers will appreciate the improved experience and efficiency. Happy texting!