Sending & Receiving SMS Messages

Overview

Your CRM makes it easy to send and receive SMS/MMS messages directly from lead pages, helping your team communicate with prospects and customers without leaving the platform.

You can send individual text messages, send mass SMS messages to selected leads, receive replies, and review your SMS conversations in lead notes. The CRM also provides SMS notifications, forwarding options, and reporting tools to help you manage your communications.

In this guide, you'll learn how to:

• Enable SMS messaging for your user class.
• Send individual SMS messages from a lead page.
• Send mass SMS messages from My Leads or the Calendar.
• Receive SMS messages and manage notifications.
• View SMS conversation history.
• Use SMS forwarding, Local Presence, and reporting tools.

Prerequisites

Before sending SMS messages, make sure that:

• Your user class has the Send & Receive SMS Messages permission enabled.
• Your lead form includes a phone field configured for SMS messaging.
• To send mass SMS messages, your user class also has the Send Mass SMS permission enabled.

Enabling SMS Messaging in Your CRM

SMS messaging can be enabled separately for each user class. You'll need access to user class permissions to complete the following steps.

Step 1: Enable SMS Permissions

1. In the main CRM sidebar, navigate to Manage > Users & Groups > User Classes.
2. Find the user class you want to update, such as Administrator.
3. Click the Permissions button for that user class.

4. Expand the Communications section.
5. Select the Send & Receive SMS Messages checkbox. To also allow users to send mass SMS messages, select the Send Mass SMS checkbox.

Step 2: Configure the Lead Phone Field

After enabling the SMS permission, make sure the lead form includes a cell phone field.

1. Create a new cell phone field on your lead form.
2. In the field settings, select Cell Phone from the Special dropdown.
3. Save the new field.
4. Refresh the lead page.

Once configured, the cell phone field will display an SMS icon that you can use to send text messages.

Sending Individual SMS Messages

Once SMS messaging is enabled, you can send individual text messages directly from a lead page.

1. Open the lead you want to contact.
2. Locate the lead's phone number.
3. Click the SMS icon next to the phone field.

4. The Send SMS popup appears with the sender's phone number and the lead's phone number already entered.
5. Type your message. You can also paste an image into the message if needed.
6. Send the SMS message.

After the message is sent, a confirmation notification appears in the top-right corner of the CRM.

Sending Mass SMS Messages

You can send mass SMS messages to selected leads from the My Leads page or the Calendar page.

Mass SMS messaging allows you to select recipients, configure the sending number and message template, preview messages, and review the recipient list before sending.

How to Send Mass SMS Messages from My Leads

1. In the CRM, open the My Leads page.
2. Select the leads you want to contact.
3. Open the Actions menu and select Send Mass SMS.

The Send Mass SMS popup appears.

4. Select the lead phone field that contains the recipients' phone numbers.
5. Select the From number that will be used to send the messages.
6. Select the SMS message template.
7. Click Preview to see a live preview of the messages that will be sent.
8. Click View Recipients to review the recipient list. Remove any recipients as needed.
9. When you're satisfied with the message settings and recipient list, click Send SMS.

How to Send Mass SMS Messages from the Calendar

You can also initiate mass SMS messaging from the Calendar page.

1. Open the Calendar page.
2. Click the three-dot menu in the top-right corner.
3. Switch the calendar to List View.

4. Select the leads you want to contact.
5. Click the Mass Actions button.
6. Select the mass SMS option.
7. Follow the same mass SMS procedure described in the previous section to configure your message, preview recipients, and send.

Receiving SMS Messages

When a contact replies to an SMS message, an incoming SMS notification appears in the top-right corner of the CRM. The notification includes:

• The lead's name, if the incoming phone number is associated with a lead.
• The incoming SMS message text.
• A Reply button.

Incoming SMS notifications are shown every 15 seconds.

You can also access incoming message notifications from the Notifications sidebar by clicking the bell icon next to your username in the top-right corner of the CRM.

How Incoming SMS Notifications Work

The CRM handles incoming messages differently depending on whether the sender's phone number is associated with a lead.

• SMS received from an unknown number: If an incoming SMS comes from a number that is not associated with any lead, all Admin-type users with Dialer Metrics and Systemwide Leads permissions are notified. Because the CRM cannot identify the associated lead, we recommend adding the number to a new lead and sending a message such as "Which business are you from?".
• Reply to an outgoing SMS: When a lead replies, only the user who sent the most recent SMS on that lead receives the popup notification. Other users assigned to the lead can still see the message in the lead's Notes.
• SMS received from a number associated with multiple leads: If multiple leads share the incoming phone number, the message is added to the Notes of the lead that was updated most recently.

Viewing SMS Conversations

All incoming and outgoing SMS messages are automatically added as new notes on the lead page.

This lets you review the conversation history without having to search through separate messaging tools.

If an image or video file was included with a message, it will appear as a preview in the note and will also become an attachment to the lead.

Related SMS Features

SMS Forwarding

The CRM supports SMS forwarding so you can continue receiving messages from your leads even when you are away from the CRM.

For setup instructions, see SMS Forwarding.

Local Presence

Like the CRM Dialer, SMS messaging supports the Local Presence feature.

With Local Presence, your SMS messages appear on a prospect's caller ID as having been sent from a local phone number.

For more information, see Dialer - Local Presence.

Viewing SMS Reports

The CRM provides reports to help you track sent and received SMS messages.

Sales Metrics

To view the number of sent and received SMS messages, open the Sales Metrics page from My Leads > Sales Metrics in the main CRM sidebar.

SMS Metrics

For more detailed SMS reporting, navigate to Communications > SMS Metrics.

For more information, see SMS Metrics.

Frequently Asked Questions

• How many mass SMS messages can I send at once? You can send a maximum of 500 SMS messages per sending.
• Why can't I see the SMS icon on a lead page? Make sure your user class has the Send & Receive SMS Messages permission enabled and that the lead form includes a phone field configured with Cell Phone selected in the Special dropdown. After saving the field, refresh the lead page to display the SMS icon.
• Why can't I see the Send Mass SMS option? Verify that the Send Mass SMS permission is enabled for your user class.
• Can I preview mass SMS messages before sending them? Yes. In the Send Mass SMS popup, click Preview to view a live preview of the messages. You can also click View Recipients to review and remove recipients before sending.
• Can I send images through SMS? Yes. When composing an individual SMS message, you can paste an image into the message. However, image attachments cannot be received when using a toll-free number.
• Where can I find my SMS conversation history? Incoming and outgoing SMS messages are automatically recorded as notes on the associated lead page.
• Who receives notifications when a lead replies? The user who sent the most recent SMS on the lead receives the popup notification. Other users assigned to the lead can view the message in the lead's Notes.
• What happens if an SMS comes from an unknown number? Admin-type users with Dialer Metrics and Systemwide Leads permissions receive a notification. The number can then be added to a new lead for follow-up.
• Can I receive SMS messages when I'm away from the CRM? Yes. You can configure SMS Forwarding to continue receiving your leads' text messages when you're away from the CRM.