SMS Flows in Salesforce: How to Automate Text Messages from Your CRM

What are SMS Flows in Salesforce and How to Create Effective Flows

There’s a text that everyone on a team is “supposed” to send. A reminder of the appointment. Follow Up After Demo. Late Payment Reminder. It works for a week or two, then someone’s on leave, someone forgets, and a client catches it before you do.

And that is why we have SMS flows. “You don’t have to wait on a person. The text goes out because something happened in your CRM. In this article, we’ll discuss what SMS flows are, present several examples that are worth replicating, walk you through how to set one up in Salesforce, and highlight the issues that will come back to bite you later.

What does an SMS flow mean?

An SMS flow is an automatic text message (or a series of text messages) that is triggered when a given condition is satisfied. Most often your trigger is a change in your data — a new lead, an opportunity advancing, a case closing, an upcoming date.

This is driven by Salesforce Flow, the automation builder your admins use to build automations for email, field updates, and tasks. A SMS flow is a text message that is one of the stages.

That’s more than it looks like. If the communication occurs within a flow you already have, you don’t need to maintain a second system and keep a second list of contacts in sync.

Examples of SMS flows to replicate

Some of these will work for most teams. Replace with your own words and objects.

Assume a new lead. When someone fills out your web form, a lead record is created and an SMS fires out instantly.
Hello priya, Thank you for calling [Company Name] One of our team members will contact you today. “Would you like a time? Just reply here.
Appointment reminder. 1 day before the appointment, a flow for appointment reminder is running.
Hi Tom, I have a reservation for 2 PM tomorrow. Reply C to confirm. Or R to re book.
Case update. Support case closed as “Resolved”
Hi Dana, Request #4521 has been closed. If not please leave a comment below and we will re-open it.
Notice of Renewal. A scheduled flow checks for contracts expiring in 14 days.
“Hi Sam, your plan renews on 9/1. Anything else you want to change? Reply and we’ll help.
Hi Maria, welcome The first step is to book your setup call: (link).”

See what they have in common. They each have a name, a distinguishing detail and an action for the reader to take. That form makes reactions quicker than fancy phrases.

3 forms of SMS flow
Tested The text fires fast on a record event trigger (such a new lead or stage change). This is the one most teams begin with.
Planned The flow runs at a particular time or finds records that meet a date rule, such as tomorrow’s appointments or invoices due this week.
Two ways. The consumer then acts. What happens next is determined on what they say. Y = appointment made R = Reschedule starts with R. You receive responses in a conversation you can read and respond to, not in a void.
Build an SMS Flow with MessageBlink

MessageBlink is embedded right into your Salesforce org, so you develop using the Flow builder you already know. The process, in general:

Install MessageBlink from AppExchange and do the simple configuration with your sending number or sender details.
Choose a use-case. Don’t begin with 5. New lead SMS or appointment reminder, etc.
Create the trigger in Flow. Choose what the flow should be triggered on – item (Lead, Opportunity, Case or a custom one) and scenario.
Added SMS action. As I have been a believer for a long time, I have been able to witness much. Add merge fields so it pulls in the name, date or anything else that lives on the record.
Try with your own number. Check content, character count and behavior on empty field.
On. See. Check delivery results and responses before adding next flow.

Teams that dumped a bunch of flows in week one had a week two to untangle them. Faster in actuality, slower on paper. One flow at a time.

How to optimize your SMS flows

Follow format. Write message once with merging fields and reuse across flows. It keeps the tone consistent and saves you from having to fix the identical information in six locations.

Check the amount of characters you are using. An average SMS is 160 characters. Add an emoji or special character and it goes down to 70. Partial charging for long texts. Test with your longest actual client name. Not ‘Sam.

Appreciate the time. 2 AM reminder sucks. CTIA rules prohibit texting outside the hours of 8 AM to 9 PM local time, while other US states have their own, even tighter, restrictions. Add Send Windows To Your Flows

Maximize Response. Ask a question and have someone view the response. Two-way chat and live inbox directly inside Salesforce so replies come to your team where they already work.

Consent and control opt-outs. Ask permission, make a note, and stop immediately. That’s TCPA and 10DLC in the US, DLT in India and GDPR in Europe depending on where you send. This is not legal advice, see the guidelines for each market.

Watch the figures. Answers and opt-outs let you know if a flow is working. If you are seeing a high opt-out rate, it’s likely a sign that you are mailing too often or to the wrong people.

When there is no SMS traffic

SMS is text. You can’t just send an image of a product, a PDF or a video.

Blink also allows you to start WhatsApp chats from the same flows, for which it provides multimedia templates for photos, videos and documents. Your flow can employ SMS for brief alerts, and WhatsApp when the message needs to be more. For the record, MessageBlink does SMS and WhatsApp, not MMS.

What You Get From MessageBlink

Features of flow-based texting include:

Trigger texts Automate and schedule messages that are triggered by record dates and events.
Custom templates Reusable merge fields for SMS message templates
Live inbox & two-way chat Replies appear in a real-time inbox and conversation in Salesforce.
Mass Campaigning. Bulk SMS from Salesforce for broadcast & automation.
Send WhatsApp messages, images, videos, and documents from flows.
Stories. Delivery analytics: See what’s landing (and what’s not).
Native to Salesforce, it’s built in your org. MessageBlink is a Meta Tech Provider to connect to WhatsApp.

Get 100 SMS credits free. No credit card needed. See pricing plans.