Texting customers from Salesforce: SMS for sales, service, marketing

You can text customers from Salesforce, but sales, service and marketing each need a different setup. Reps texting prospects one at a time usually use Digital Engagement messaging or an AgentExchange (formerly AppExchange) texting app. Service teams use enhanced SMS channels in Service Cloud, routed like any other conversation. Marketing sends at volume through Marketing Cloud. All three must capture consent, honor opt-outs, register their numbers and log every message against the customer record.

Which texting need are you actually trying to solve?

Start by naming the use case, because the product follows from it. One-to-one sales texting, inbound service conversations and bulk marketing sends run on different tools with different rules.

Sales texting is a rep and a prospect trading short messages about a meeting, a quote or a document. Service texting is a customer starting a conversation that an agent picks up, works and closes. Marketing texting is one message sent to thousands of subscribers on a schedule or a trigger.

Many companies want all three eventually. Few should build all three at once. Pick the team with the clearest pain and the cleanest consent data, then add the others on the same number strategy.

How does Service Cloud handle SMS conversations?

Service Cloud supports SMS as a messaging channel alongside WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Apple Messages for Business and chat on your site or app. Each conversation becomes a messaging session that Omni-Channel routes to an agent.

Salesforce now steers everyone to enhanced SMS channels. Its help pages say standard SMS channels have been retired in favor of enhanced channels, and that new features ship only on the enhanced version. Any org still on a standard SMS channel needs to move to an enhanced channel now.

Enhanced channels let agents transfer a session, insert quick text and files, flag a supervisor, and start outbound conversations where consent allows. Salesforce supports US long codes, toll-free numbers and short codes for these channels. Website and app chat now sits under the Enhanced Chat name, previously Messaging for In-App and Web.

Messaging is sold as an add-on rather than included in every Service Cloud license. Confirm with your Salesforce account team which bundle covers SMS for your edition.

What can sales reps use for one-to-one texting?

Salesforce documents Digital Engagement for Sales, which gives reps messaging channels inside the Lightning Sales Console. Many sales teams instead pick an AgentExchange texting app built for reps.

Salesforce's help describes reps texting a lead right after a web form submission, and Sales Engagement users working SMS steps from their work queue. Help lists it as an extra-cost option for Enterprise and Unlimited editions, with Chat or Messaging licenses required. Packaging changes often, so verify the current bundle before you plan around it.

Sales texting has a design question service texting does not. Is the number tied to the rep or to the company? A rep-owned number feels personal, but the thread leaves with the rep. A shared business number keeps history in the org and makes handoffs easier.

Where does marketing SMS at scale belong?

Bulk promotional texting belongs in Marketing Cloud, not in a service or sales console. It has the keyword handling, send throttling and audience tools that broadcast messaging needs.

In Marketing Cloud Engagement, SMS runs through MobileConnect, which handles outbound sends, keywords, short and long codes and send blackout windows. Marketing Cloud Next also offers SMS through a separate messaging add-on, with codes requested and registered inside the product.

Account Engagement, formerly Pardot, has historically had no built-in SMS, so customers relied on third-party integrations. Salesforce now describes SMS and WhatsApp steps in Engagement Studio through Marketing Cloud Next for Account Engagement, with Data Cloud as a prerequisite. Check with your account team whether your contract includes it.

Our Marketing Cloud implementation guide covers the wider build. Here, the point is narrower: keep promotional SMS in the marketing platform so frequency and consent rules apply to every send.

Should you use native Salesforce messaging or an AgentExchange texting app?

Use native messaging when service conversations need routing, capacity and agent tools. Consider an AgentExchange app when the main need is reps texting from records, or when your edition does not include messaging.

Texting apps generally fall into a few categories. Some are lightweight senders that add a compose box to the record page. Others are full platforms with their own number management, campaigns and inboxes. A third group connects an existing phone or contact center provider's SMS into Salesforce.

Before you install one, ask where messages are stored, what objects it writes to, and how it reads your consent fields. Ask also whether opt-outs flow back to every other sending tool. Our guide to evaluating AgentExchange apps walks through security review, data flows and exit plans.

What US compliance rules apply to business texting?

Texting customers in the US means consent rules, carrier registration and opt-out handling, all enforced together. Treat what follows as planning input rather than legal advice, and have counsel review the program before launch.

• Consent. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) governs many automated texts. Marketing texts generally need prior express written consent, and informational texts still need prior consent. Record what the person agreed to and when.
• Opt-out keywords. Carriers expect STOP and similar words to end messages, and HELP to return contact details. Salesforce messaging channels ship default opt-out keywords and a confirmation reply you can edit by language.
• Quiet hours. Federal rules and several state laws limit when you may text. Set send windows by recipient time zone, and apply them to automated messages as well as campaigns.
• 10DLC registration. Business texting on standard ten-digit numbers requires registering your brand and each messaging campaign through the carrier registry. Unregistered traffic is often filtered or blocked.
• Toll-free verification. Toll-free numbers need their own verification before carriers deliver high volumes reliably.
• Short codes. Short codes carry their own approval process, usually slower, and suit high-volume marketing.

Registration paperwork asks for sample messages and a description of how people opt in. Write those down early, because they also become your internal texting policy.

How should consent be stored in Salesforce?

Store SMS consent per phone number and per purpose, separate from email consent. Every sending tool should read the same record before it sends.

Salesforce messaging channels track a consent status for each customer and channel, from opted out to double opted in. Salesforce also provides consent objects for broader preference data. Decide which one is the source of truth and sync the rest to it.

Capture the source, timestamp and wording shown when someone opted in. When a STOP arrives in any tool, it should update that record within minutes, not at the next nightly sync. Our data privacy guide covers consent objects, deletion requests and retention in more depth.

How do texts get logged and reported on?

Every text should end up on a record a manager can find later. Without that, texting becomes another shadow channel like personal cell phones.

Native messaging stores each conversation as a messaging session, which you can relate to the case, contact or lead. AgentExchange apps usually write their own message object or tasks, so check what lands on the activity timeline.

Useful reports start simple: conversations by queue or rep, response time, conversations that became cases or meetings, and opt-out rate by message type. A rising opt-out rate on one template tells you more than total volume does.

How should inbound texts be routed?

Route inbound SMS through Omni-Channel like chat and cases, so agent capacity covers every channel. Texts are asynchronous, so customers may reply hours later.

Decide what happens when a customer replies to a closed session, and whether it returns to the same agent. Sales replies need rules too: a text to a rep's number after hours should not sit unseen. For queue, skill and capacity setup, see our Omni-Channel guide; for console design across channels, see the contact center guide.

How do templates, personalization and AI fit in?

Give agents and reps approved templates for the handful of messages they send most. Free-typed texts are where compliance and tone go wrong.

Keep messages short, identify your company in the first text, and use merge fields only where data is reliable. A wrong first name in a text feels worse than in an email.

Salesforce says enhanced SMS channels support AI agents, and Agentforce can answer routine questions before a human takes over. Treat AI replies like any other automated text for consent and quiet hours. Test escalation carefully, and confirm which AI features your licenses include.

What drives the cost of texting from Salesforce?

Costs come from licenses, message volume and the number types you choose. Plan each separately rather than expecting one line item.

• Licenses or add-ons for messaging, Marketing Cloud SMS or a third-party app, often priced per user.
• Per-message or message-pack charges, which scale with outbound volume and media messages.
• Number costs, which differ between long codes, toll-free numbers and short codes.
• Carrier registration and vetting fees for 10DLC brands and campaigns.
• Build effort for consent sync, logging, routing and templates.

Ask Salesforce and any app vendor to price your expected monthly volume, including replies and media, before you commit.

What should phase one of a Salesforce texting rollout include?

Phase one should cover one team, one number strategy and working consent capture. Get that right before adding marketing sends or AI.

• Pick the first use case and the team that owns it.
• Choose native messaging, Marketing Cloud or an app for that use case.
• Decide number types and start 10DLC, toll-free or short code registration.
• Define the consent record, opt-in wording and how STOP propagates to every tool.
• Write approved templates and quiet-hour rules.
• Set up logging on the right records and two or three starter reports.
• Pilot with a small group, review opt-outs and response times, then expand.