Your CRM provides the ability to send and receive text messages right from the lead page.
To see how to enable this feature please refer to the instructions at the end of this article.
Once the SMS feature is enabled the SMS icon appears next to all phone fields on the lead page:
To send an SMS message simply click on the SMS icon to bring up the Send SMS pop-up window.
The window already has sender’s and the lead’s phone numbers entered, so that now you can type your text (and paste in an image if needed) and send the message:
Once the text is sent a confirmation message appears in the top-right corner as shown in this example:
Note: Sending cannabis or CBD related content via SMS is not allowed. More info: Prohibited SMS Content
When your contact replies to your message, an incoming SMS notification appears in the top right corner.
The notification displays the lead’s name (if the number is associated with a lead), the text, and a Reply button:
Incoming SMS notifications are shown every 15 seconds.
You can also find them in the Notifications sidebar which opens from the bell icon next to your username (in the top-right corner of the page):
The CRM also allows you to set up SMS forwarding so that you'll continue to receive your leads' SMS messages even when you're away from the CRM.
For more information please see our article on SMS Forwarding.
Viewing the SMS Conversations
All incoming and outgoing SMS messages are automatically added as new notes on the lead page. This provides a convenient way of reviewing the conversation threads.
If an image or video file was included with the message, it will preview in the note, and also become an attachment to the lead:
Note: If using a toll-free number for sending and receiving SMS messages, image attachments cannot be received.
Inbound Messages
Inbound SMS messages trigger different kinds of notifications depending on whether the sender's number is a known number or a reply to an outgoing message.
Here is a description of a few typical scenarios and the associated notification rules:
- If a text is received in the CRM coming from a number not belonging to a lead, all Admin-type users with Dialer Metrics and Systemwide Leads permissions are notified, since the CRM doesn't know where to link the inbound SMS. We recommend then adding that number to a new lead and sending an SMS of "Which business are you from?".
- If an SMS sent from a lead gets a reply, only the person who sent the most recent SMS on that lead will receive a popup notification of the new message. Other users who are assigned to the lead will be able to see the message in the Notes.
- If an SMS message comes in and there are multiple leads with that number, the lead that was last updated will get the message added in the Notes.
Local Presence
Similarly to the CRM Dialer, the SMS feature also supports the Local Presence feature.
With Local Presence, your text messages show up on the prospect’s caller ID as having been sent from a local phone number.
For more information on this feature please see our article on Dialer - Local Presence.
SMS Reports
For reporting purposes, you can view the number of sent and received messages on the Sales Metrics page which you can open from My Leads > Sales Metrics menu in the main CRM sidebar:
More detailed reports are also available in the Communications > SMS Metrics menu.
For more information please see our article on SMS Metrics.
Enabling the SMS Feature in Your CRM
The SMS feature may be enabled for each user class individually.
For example, to enable this feature for the Administrator class, go to Manage > Users & Groups > User Classes and then click on the Administrator's Permissions button:
Now expand the Communications section and click on the Send & Receive SMS Messages checkbox:
With the permissions set, you can now create a new cell phone field on your lead form by selecting Cell Phone in the Special drop-down:
After you've saved the new field refresh your lead page and the cell phone field will appear with the SMS icon next to it.