Salesforce SMS: How to Text from Salesforce & Why You Should

One of the biggest reasons 150,000 businesses use Salesforce (including 90% of Fortune 500 companies) is that it’s highly adaptable and can be used to meet a wide range of needs. It goes beyond data tracking—companies and organizations use Salesforce to handle sales, communications, technical support, marketing, and yes, even texting. 

Using Salesforce to send SMS simplifies text personalization, allowing you to easily connect with customers or constituents through text. To introduce you to all the capabilities and benefits of Salesforce SMS, we’ll cover the following:

• Can You Text from Salesforce?
• How to Send SMS from Salesforce: 3 Options
• Mogli: The Top Salesforce SMS Solution
• How to Choose the Right Salesforce SMS Solution for You
• Salesforce Text Messaging FAQ

When you start texting from Salesforce, you’ll be able to seamlessly pull stakeholder data to streamline the texting process and track all of your SMS conversations in one place. Let’s explore how you can make it happen.

Can You Text from Salesforce?

The short answer is yes, you can send SMS from Salesforce. While you can’t send texts using the base Sales or Service Cloud alone, there are plenty of ways to add text capabilities to your Salesforce org. We’ll discuss your options for unlocking those capabilities in the next section, but first, let’s break down what sending SMS from Salesforce looks like.

Businesses can send a variety of texts from Salesforce, but some of the most common types across industries include:

• One-to-one texts: Connecting on an individual level is the best way to build relationships. From Salesforce, you can send personalized messages from your company to a single customer or constituent.
• Bulk sends: Announce sales, upcoming events, or important news to select segments or your entire customer base.
• Automated texts: Leverage Salesforce automation tools like journeys and triggers to guide customers along a custom message pathway.

You can use Salesforce SMS for marketing, sales, customer support, or all of the above. You can also add images or videos with MMS (multimedia messaging service). Salesforce makes sending any of these messages simple and fast by automatically pulling clients’ contact and preference information from your Salesforce data.

How to Send SMS from Salesforce: 3 Options

To be able to send texts from Salesforce, you will need to go beyond your standard Sales Cloud or Service Cloud purchase. Luckily, there are plenty of additional SMS tools and resources out there that you can add to your toolbox. We’ve grouped your options into three main categories:

1. Purchase one of Salesforce’s text messaging products

Source: Salesforce

Salesforce offers two add-on products with texting capabilities: Service Cloud’s Digital Engagement and Marketing Cloud Engagement’s Mobile Studio. 

The main difference between the two is that Digital Engagement focuses on customer support conversations while Mobile Studio provides SMS marketing capabilities meant to fit in with the other marketing channels in your strategy. Here are a few more key differences between the two Salesforce products:

• Digital Engagement: Priced at $75 per user per month, Digital Engagement includes automated SMS, one-to-one conversations, and web chats for Service Cloud users. Users can send unlimited messages within a single conversation (as long as it lasts less than 24 hours), but you are limited to only 25 conversations each month. Go beyond that, and you’ll need to pay extra for additional conversations.
• Mobile Studio: To access Mobile Studio, you need to invest in the Corporate or Enterprise version of Marketing Cloud Engagement, which starts at $4,200 per org per month. Once you do, you’ll receive access to Mobile Studio’s SMS, MMS, WhatsApp, chat, and push notification features. Messages are template-based, and you can add SMS as a touchpoint in multichannel customer journeys via Journey Builder. 

Both Salesforce products come with additional costs and are fairly limited in features. Setup can also be complicated, as it requires you to complete an authorization or new number request process that can take weeks to get approved. 

2. Create a custom solution

If you want more flexibility, you have the option to create an entirely custom texting solution for your Salesforce org using Salesforce API or another API company. This process involves finding a third-party messaging service provider and building an integration from scratch that connects your Salesforce org to the provider. 

By building a custom integration, your company or organization would be able to create any functionalities you need and avoid the subscription costs of an additional Salesforce SMS product. However, this option is complex and time-consuming, with high implementation and development costs.

3. Invest in a Salesforce native SMS application

Your best option is to use an application that is tailor-made for both Salesforce and SMS marketing. By visiting the Salesforce AppExchange, you can find a variety of apps built specifically for Salesforce text messaging to meet the needs of businesses and organizations like yours.

Compared to add-on products and third-party integrations, these Salesforce native SMS applications offer the following benefits:

• More SMS features built for Salesforce
• Leverages the functionalities you know and love
• Faster, simpler implementation and setup process
• No development costs
• Dedicated, knowledgeable customer support teams

Overall, investing in a native application will save your team time, stress, and money. These apps allow you to avoid the complexity and cost of custom solutions while providing all the SMS features you need, built directly on Salesforce technology. 

Mogli: The Top Salesforce SMS Solution

The easiest way to send SMS from Salesforce is by using Mogli, our highly robust, Salesforce native SMS application. Mogli works seamlessly with Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Education Data Architecture, and the Nonprofit Success Pack, making it an ideal solution for businesses, education institutions, and nonprofits alike. Its features offer limitless possibilities to meet the SMS needs of any company or organization.

Some of Mogli’s standout features and benefits include:

Unlimited users

With Mogli, you don’t have to worry about paying a separate fee for every single person who needs to send a text. We offer unlimited users at a fixed price, meaning that everyone at your company or organization can access your Salesforce SMS capabilities when they need to. We don’t place limitations on who you can text, either—unlimited contacts mean you can text any and every customer in your database.

Easy-to-use interface

Mogli was designed with organizations like yours in mind. See a straightforward historical view of every incoming and outgoing text message in one place, and easily generate reports to guide your SMS strategy. The app is easy to set up, as well—get started in as little as 30 minutes so you can reap the benefits of SMS marketing as soon as possible.

Automation

Mogli includes a variety of SMS automation features that leverage the Salesforce functions you’re already familiar with, like Process Builder, Flow, and Triggers. Customize user journeys and easily integrate text messages with touchpoints on other channels like email. Go beyond simple one-word triggers by:

• Using scheduled, record-triggered automations to send follow-up texts, requests for feedback, and reminders.
• Building complex, interactive text surveys that automatically collect the customer data you need.
• Setting up conversations to automatically flow from one team to another as needed.
  
  You can even use automation to ensure your messages align with recipients’ native languages. In the example below, a hospital used Mogli to set up a series of scheduled appointment reminders using different branches for English and Spanish messages: 

Five-star customer support team

The above features are just the beginning of what you can accomplish with Mogli’s Salesforce SMS solution. Our app has a 4.99 star rating on the AppExchange, and one of the top reasons clients love Mogli is our top-notch support team. Our fully U.S.-based support team is comprised of Salesforce experts, ensuring you have all the technical support you need during setup, implementation, and beyond. 

How to Choose the Right Salesforce SMS Solution for You

Some Salesforce SMS options may suit your company or organization better than others. To determine which direction to go in, start by defining what SMS success would look like for you. Do you want to build stronger relationships with prospects, help clients solve issues, or generate more leads for a new product or service? 

Discuss priorities with your team, then evaluate your budget for a Salesforce SMS solution along with the most important features you need.

Then, evaluate the pros and cons of each option we’ve covered:

If you have a large budget and need tailor-made features, a custom solution might be your best fit. If you want more features and the support of Salesforce experts, however, consider a Salesforce native app that comes equipped with the best features at a lower cost.

Salesforce Text Messaging FAQ

Still have questions about Salesforce SMS? Let’s recap the answers to a few frequently asked questions.

Can Salesforce send text messages?

Yes, you can send SMS from Salesforce—if you have the right tools. This means investing in a Salesforce SMS add-on like Digital Engagement or Marketing Cloud Engagement, creating your own solution with API, or using a Salesforce native SMS app. Each of these options will enable you to text directly from Salesforce and track conversations directly in your database.

How does Salesforce SMS work?

Sending SMS from Salesforce will work differently depending on the solution you choose, but any option should allow you to send bulk, one-to-one, and automated messages to the contacts in your Salesforce database.

What’s the best Salesforce SMS integration?

There are a variety of third-party SMS solutions that integrate with Salesforce, but we recommend choosing a Salesforce native app like Mogli instead. This way, you can rest assured that you’ll get all the best SMS capabilities that work seamlessly with the Salesforce tools you’re already using as well as expert support.

The Power of Salesforce SMS

With the right resources, Salesforce SMS can be a powerful tool for building relationships, promoting products, and utilizing your Salesforce data effectively. As you explore the best options for your company or organization, remember that trusted, robust solutions like Mogli are here to support your SMS strategy with all the functionalities and help you need.

To learn more about Salesforce SMS before getting started, check out these additional resources: 

• 7 Best SMS Marketing Apps in 2024: Salesforce Integrations. Want to explore more options before committing to a solution? This article reviews seven of the best SMS apps you can use with Salesforce.
• SMS Marketing: Complete Guide to Finding Success with SMS. Knowing how to text from Salesforce is only half the battle—you also need to know how to use SMS marketing to meet your goals. Learn all the basics in this guide.
• User Guide | Setting Up Automations in Salesforce. Need technical help setting up your first SMS automations? Check out our user guide, which walks you through the setup process for Mogli automations.