Texting From CRM – SMS-Magic https://www.sms-magic.com Simple Business Text Messaging Thu, 23 Jun 2022 23:10:51 +0000 en-US hourly 1 Is Your Company Ready for Conversational Messaging? https://www.sms-magic.com/blog/is-your-company-ready-for-conversational-messaging/ Tue, 21 Jun 2022 23:10:00 +0000 https://www.sms-magic.com/?p=59990 The short answer is: Yes, you’re ready for conversational messaging!

How you implement conversational messaging, however, will depend on several factors. Here are our suggestions for evaluating your messaging readiness:

  1. How many messages do you expect to send per month?
    SMS-Magic is a powerful tool, no matter how many messages you send, but our platform really shines as your volume increases. You can send thousands of text messages in just a few minutes, or you can send eye-catching multimedia files at a slightly slower pace. It’s easy to tailor your message volume to your goals and budget.
  1. Do you work with a CRM like Salesforce or Zoho?
    If you send just a handful of messages each month, you can use SMS-Magic without using a customer relationship management tool like Salesforce or Zoho. If, however, you have conversations with more than a few clients or customers, a CRM can help you track your conversations, segment your delivery lists and customize your messaging campaigns. SMS-Magic is a top-rated partner for Salesforce and Zoho, and it integrates with them seamlessly.
Do you need to track all your conversations in one place
  1. Do you need to track all your conversations in one place?
    Once you’ve integrated messaging and your CRM, SMS-Magic will store all your messages to a single customer in one record. If you use a practice management tool like Litify, you can see the conversation history in Litify – there’s no need to open both applications. Accessing a conversation history allows contact centers to work more efficiently and reduces customer frustration. Customers don’t have to repeat their stories time and again because the conversation is available to the rep immediately.
  1. Do all your employees need the ability to message?
    We can provide messaging access to all your employees – not just your marketing team – if that helps you respond to your customers faster. Some of the law firms that use SMS-Magic have found that empowering all their employees with messaging access allows their staff to respond to client questions and concerns, even if the lead attorney on the case is in court. The message history is available to everyone, so staff members can relay information to clients, follow-up on missing documents or send appointment reminders.
  1. Do your employees need messaging access on the go
    The SMS-Magic Mobile App is a great solution when your staff members can’t be in the office. One of our customers, a property management company, has streamlined maintenance requests by converting to messaging. Tenants can use their preferred communication method to report maintenance issues, and staff members can respond promptly, even if they are visiting a property at the time. Because SMS-Magic is integrated into Salesforce for this customer, all conversations are stored for easy access back at the office.
Do your employees need messaging access on the go

You know how powerful conversational messaging can be. Your customers love it! They read 98% of the messages they receive and respond within three minutes to 95% of them. You can deliver a message at your convenience and your customer can respond at theirs.

Billions of people use messaging platforms like SMS, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp – allowing them to make payments, talk to their bankers, and submit applications from their mobile phones. Conversational messaging has become the preferred business communication channel around the world.

Are you ready to switch to conversational messaging? We’d like to help make your decision easier. Our customer support team would love to show you how SMS-Magic can make reaching your customers easier and more effective with a demo or a free trial!

]]>
8 Great Reasons You Should Try Out the SMS-Magic Early Release Preview https://www.sms-magic.com/blog/8-great-reasons-you-should-try-out-the-sms-magic-early-release-preview/ Wed, 15 Jun 2022 14:00:17 +0000 https://www.sms-magic.com/?p=59980 You already know how powerful conversational messaging can be. Your customers love it! They read 98% of the messages they receive and respond within three minutes to 95% of them. You can deliver a message at your convenience and your customer can respond at theirs.

Billions of people use messaging platforms like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and SMS – allowing them to make payments, talk to their bankers, and submit applications from their mobile phones. Conversational messaging has become the preferred business communication channel around the world.

Now you have a chance to test drive the newly updated version of SMS-Magic!

If you already have created a sandbox environment, we would like to push an Early Release Preview to your sandbox in the next two weeks. We’d like you to try it and let us know what you think. Here’s all you need to do:

  • If you have a sandbox in Version 1.68 now, do nothing. We’ll push the new release to your sandbox automatically.
  • If you’d rather not play, send an email  to marketing@sms-magic.com to tell us to exclude your sandbox from the push.
  • Be sure to save your work before the auto-push.

Once you’ve tried the new version of SMS-Magic, we need your feedback. We’ll give you some time to try the new release out, then we’ll send you an email with a feedback link. Your input will help us create a better product for you.

What’s New in the Early Release Preview

What’s New in the Early Release Preview?

SMS-Magic is known for sophisticated, easy-to-use APIs designed for CRMs like Salesforce and Zoho. The upgrades in the new release make those integrations even easier and give you more control over how you engage your customers.

  • Enhanced User Experience: Personalize your user experience with additional role-based permission sets and organize the records detail page with conversation component resizing.
  • Multimedia Conversations: Send bigger rich-media files over instant messengers and set Salesforce as the storage location for them.
  • Tame the Templates: Enjoy quick access to org-wide templates from SMS-Magic Global Navigation.
  • Find Your Conversation Flows: Search by “app name” or “PA-Key” and view process builders, workflows and flows linked with any Converse App.
  • Launch Conversations at Scale: Manage multiple high-volume campaigns directly from SMS-Magic Global Navigation.
  • Engage with Customers at the Right Time, Every Time: SMS-Magic’s Early Release Preview keeps track of your conversations from start to finish in a single thread – before or after you create the record. Modifying objects and templates? No problem. Your conversations are always on. You can immediately spot conversations assigned to you and keep them uninterrupted and synched with Salesforce at all times.
  • Enjoy Stronger Compliance & Support: We’ve enhanced the back-end so you can track all SMS-Magic user activity in one place and access all activity logs when you need them. Configure opt-in and opt-out keywords, templated messages, and message tags. Maintain audit trails and enable reporting for multichannel compliance, opt-out rates, message delivery, and more. Have a question? Our support team is ready to help resolve any issues you encounter. You can turn on full- or limited-access to the support team for seven days at a time.
  • Confidently Continue Conversations On the Go: You can spot new messages anytime, anywhere. The upgraded SMS-Magic Mobile App prominently displays how many unread messages you have. The app also lets you continue conversations from your mobile phone and tracks them in your CRM. You can share exact map locations in conversations to improve any in-person meeting experience.
Confidently Continue Conversations On the Go

The new release of SMS-Magic’s Early Release Preview is your perfect partner to power high-stakes conversational messaging for moments that matter. Help us make it the best it can be with your feedback. If you have questions, please contact customer support.

If you haven’t tried SMS-Magic yet, our customer support team would love to show you how SMS-Magic can make reaching your customers easier and more effective. Ask for a demo or a free trial!

haven’t tried SMS-Magic yet
]]>
How Kwartler Manus Converts More Prospects into New Clients with Conversational Messaging https://www.sms-magic.com/blog/how-kwartler-manus-converts-more-prospects-into-new-clients-with-conversational-messaging/ Wed, 18 May 2022 09:49:22 +0000 https://www.sms-magic.com/?p=59672 Joshua Kwartler identified his law firm’s communications problem in one sentence, “People don’t answer their phones.”

As chief operating officer for Kwartler Manus, a personal injury law firm based in Philadelphia, Kwartler’s job is to help the firm’s staff convert prospects into clients. Often, he said, when people are seeking representation because of an injury, they contact several law firms to compare services and expertise. Law firms that can quickly connect with prospective clients have the best chance of earning their business.

When Kwartler started working with the firm three years ago, he realized that emails and phone calls were not the best way to start those relationships. He said it was difficult to get people on the phone.

“We’re all busy,” he said. “People can’t answer the phone right away or it’s inconvenient for them to return a message.”

Conversational text messaging, however, allows the firm to reach out quickly and personally. Clients can ask questions in a live interaction at their convenience.

reach out quickly and personally

Research about messaging shows that we prefer texts because globally we send 5 billion texts a day and open 98 percent of them. Conversely, we only open our emails 22 percent of the time, according to Gigaom. Research from Asurion shows that we look at our phones at least 96 times a day or once every 10 minutes or more. Kwartler knew that the firm’s prospective customers were just like the rest of us.

He said it was quickly apparent that his firm needed a conversational text messaging solution, and he contacted SMS-Magic. He chose SMS-Magic because it is integrated with Litify, his firm’s management software.

He was interested in getting the most out of both platforms by synching messaging with his management tools. He has had some advanced training with Salesforce and Litify and has become a Litify advocate. SMS-Magic is designed so that all client contacts are recorded in one place within the Litify environment. Anyone in the firm can see exactly what has been communicated, and they don’t have to open a second platform to do it.

“With SMS-Magic, we’re able to respond quickly to initial client queries via text,” he said. “We can start the conversation and tell the client who we are and then make sure we’re talking to the right person. It’s a conversation between the client and one person at the law firm. Clients really like the personalization.”

In addition to personalization, Kwartler Manus clients appreciate the quick response, as well as the opportunity to either move forward with their inquiry or end the contact altogether. And they really like handling it all without actually talking to anyone.

Everyone in the firm has a license to use SMS-Magic. “That way, if a principle or associate is in court, someone else can respond to the client,” Kwartler said.

Kwartler Manus doesn’t market by sending mass emails to potential clients. Instead, the firm includes space for phone numbers on ads and other materials prospective clients can return to the firm to indicate their interest. The firm uses phone numbers to contact prospects by text messaging.

“We wanted to start conversations.” Kwartler said, “So we wanted a texting platform that allowed us to have conversations with our clients. As a client’s case progresses, our staff can text them one-on-one.”

text them one-on-one

Working with SMS-Magic has been very easy, Kwartler said. He gives SMS-Magic high marks for creating a product that works well and then supporting it with engineers, developers and staff members who care about their customers.

“The SMS-Magic team responds to our texts right away,” he said. “They get back to us within an hour or two – at all times of day. When we’ve needed extra help, they’ve worked with us without the extra charges other companies use.”

After the dramatic initial increase in messages during the first three months – from 89 messages to 2,634 – Kwartler Manus has sent more than 182,850 conversational messages to its clients. The increase in usage has been steady and is currently averaging just under 7,000 messages a month. Kwartler said he couldn’t be happier with the integration of the two systems and the addition of messaging to the firm’s communications tools.

“Integrating SMS-Magic with Litify has given us a real competitive advantage,” he said. “It’s made life easier for our legal teams and has helped us serve our clients better.”

“I think the numbers will show that we’re converting more prospects and earning business we were leaving on the table before we made the switch,” he continued. “I highly recommend SMS-Magic to any law firm or company that needs fast, personal communication that’s trackable.”

SMS-Magic Free Trial

If you’re interested in exploring how SMS-Magic can help you respond to your customers, book a DEMO or FREE TRIAL.

]]>
6 Things Your Boss Expects You to Know About Text Messaging Compliance https://www.sms-magic.com/blog/6-things-your-boss-expects-you-to-know-about-text-messaging-compliance/ Wed, 04 May 2022 13:16:47 +0000 https://www.sms-magic.com/?p=59652 If you’re launching a new text messaging program in your business, we’re sure you’ve done your homework. But as you explore the possibilities of reaching your customers with text messages, you should be sure you understand the laws and regulations that govern how you use text messaging.

Launching Text Messaging for your business

To help you master this part of text messaging campaigns, we have compiled 6 things that we’re sure your boss wants you to know. Here they are:

  1. You must have express written consent before your company can legally send text messages to anyone. That means more than just asking for their phone number. It doesn’t matter who it is – an existing customer, a former client, a trade-show lead, or someone on a purchased marketing list. Before that first message goes out, your customer must say it’s okay. In other words, they must opt in.
  1. Several governing bodies regulate commercial text messaging. They include individual countries, including the U.S., consortiums of countries like the European Union, state or local governments, and the carriers who deliver messages around the world. Your text messaging partner, like SMS-Magic, should be able to help you navigate the rules for your campaigns.
  1. Include the following in your first text:
    • Your company name. Don’t make your customers guess who’s sending the message.
    • The promotion premium. If you’re offering a coupon, discount or e-book in exchange for permission to text, do it at the beginning of the text.
    • Message frequency. Let your customers know how often you plan to send.
    • Message and data rates. Remind customers that they might be charged to receive SMS messages.
    • How to opt out. “Reply STOP to unsubscribe” works well.
    • How to reach customer service or ask questions.

You’ve probably received opt-in requests from companies you do business with. Take a look at how well they’ve provided information to their customers. Some of the offers we’ve seen have been really creative. One was on a parking meter. Learn from the best.

First text should looks like this
  1. Track opt-in and opt-out requests so that you send only to the customers who have specifically asked you to. European laws also require you to “forget” a customer at their request. That means purging all their information from your system and being able to show your work. If regulators ever ask, you must be able to prove you have permission to text.
  1. In the United States, commercial text messages are governed by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). It prohibits the following types of text messages:
    • Unsolicited Text Messages – businesses are not allowed to text consumers without their permission.
    • Requesting Payment – businesses may not request payment or additional identifying information before revealing the actual message.
    • Scrambled Messages – businesses must send readable texts. They may not scramble the message or use unintelligible audio.
    • Do Not Call Registry – businesses must respect the Do Not Call registry established by the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission.
    • Robocalling & Automated Dialing – businesses may not use robocalling to generate phone numbers or send text messages.
Meeting text compliances
  1. The last thing we think your boss wants you to know has nothing to do with rules and regulations. Instead, it’s about being authentic in all your customer interactions. Behaving like a trusted friend helps you build customer relationships that can last for years. Text messaging is the perfect channel for building trust.

Staying in touch with your existing customers and getting to know your potential customers has become a requirement in today’s business world. SMS-Magic, through conversational and automated text messaging, can help you reach out to customers in new ways.

SMS-Magic offers a free trial so that you can get a feel for our product. If you’re as pleased as we think you will be, you can choose the level of service that’s best for your company.

Contact us to set up a demo or to start your free trial. Let us show you how you can engage your customers in new ways!

]]>
Tips for Designing Effective Drip Marketing Campaigns with Text Messaging https://www.sms-magic.com/blog/tips-for-designing-effective-drip-marketing-campaigns-with-text-messaging/ Wed, 20 Apr 2022 01:22:00 +0000 https://www.sms-magic.com/?p=59649 Are you struggling to design effective drip marketing campaigns using email? We understand your frustration and may have the perfect solution for you – text messaging campaigns.

Emails, in general, are suffering from a lack of enthusiasm. As a group, we only open 22% of the emails we receive. That open rate doesn’t bode well for your email campaigns because your recipients are already predisposed to ignore your messages.

On the other hand, we read 98% of the texts we receive. And we send more than 5 billion texts every day. Clearly, text messaging is the channel that your customers prefer. In fact, your customers love to text.

We read 98% of the texts we receive

What makes texts so interesting?

Texts are immediate. Text messages, by their nature, are concise and usually appear on a mobile phone. These days, we carry our phones wherever we go, and we check them every few minutes all day long. Texts have the feel of advice from a trusted friend. Coming from a medical practice, lawyer’s office, financial adviser or a favorite company, texts can provide immediate advice, reminders and information that can help make our lives better. We like the convenience as much as the service.

Because of the nature of text messages, we think you’ll be amazed by the responses you receive from drip marketing campaigns designed for conversational text messaging. And with the right partner, you can craft a drip campaign combining texts and your customer relationship management software. Your CRM can help you segment your distribution list, personalize your messages, track customers who opt in and opt out, and store your pre-written messages. Your SMS or MMS platform can help you track your interactions with customers, no matter what channel was used.

What makes texts so interesting

How to Craft a Drip Campaign Using Text Messages

Drip campaigns come in two basic varieties:

  • Automated campaigns that follow a set sequence
  • Campaigns that are triggered by customers’ actions

In the first example, you might want to introduce your company or service to potential customers or clients. You might offer a special e-book, coupon or other information about your specialty or product in exchange for a customer’s contact information. Once you have their permission to text, you can start a series of automated texts that flow on a set schedule. In each new text, you can introduce an aspect of your business that might interest your customer. In each, you’ll give information that can lead to a sale.

In the second example, something the customer does might trigger the drip campaign. A customer might shop with you and leave your site with an item in the shopping cart. The drip campaign might revolve around helping the customer decide to purchase the item. Other actions on the customer’s part, such as adding another item, might trigger a shift in the campaign like a recommendation of a similar item.

The benefits of planning a drip campaign with texts are numerous. For one, you don’t have to remember to respond or to craft each message on the fly. You have already written the texts and have scheduled them to launch at a certain time or from a certain customer action.

Coupling your CRM to your text messaging platform, you can personalize each text with information you’ve already collected about the customer. Some of that information could include the customer’s name, nickname, date of purchase, item purchased, next appointment or application status.

How to Craft a Drip Campaign Using Text Messages

Questions to Keep in Mind

After considering the best channel for your drip campaign, you should spend some time crafting both the overall structure and the details for your campaign. Here are a few questions to help you plan:

  1. What’s your goal?
    Defining your goal early will help you make important decisions as you plan the campaign. It will also help you determine if the campaign is successful.
  1. Who are you targeting?
    Determine who you’re trying to reach. Some marketers use personas to define their target audiences. But no matter how you decide the commonalities of your audience, use that information to send texts and offers relevant to their situation. After all, you’re trying to help them solve their business problems.
  1. What starts the text sequence?
    If your campaign relies on triggers, decide what those triggers are.
  1. Deliver information so it leads to a decision.
    Your text messages should help your customer decide to do business with you. Think through their experience and craft your texts to meet their objections.
  1. Set the timing and frequency.
    Decide beginning and ending dates, as well as number of texts and their frequency.
  1. Segment your campaigns.
    Don’t send one message and hope it applies to all customers. Use your CRM to segment your audience with meaningful criteria.
  1. Measure, track and report
    You have powerful tools with your CRM and text messaging platform to measure responses and track effectiveness. Report your successes and tweak your next drip campaign to make it even better.

We think SMS-Magic is one of the best text messaging platforms available, and we’d love to show you how it works. We have experts ready to help you take SMS-Magic for a spin for FREE!

Or, you can schedule a demo or start a free trial today!

We think you’ll love what you see!

]]>
How Your CRM Can Make or Break Relationships https://www.sms-magic.com/blog/how-your-crm-can-make-or-break-relationships/ Wed, 13 Apr 2022 17:50:22 +0000 https://www.sms-magic.com/?p=59635 One of the benefits of texting your customers is that you’re able to approach them as a trusted friend instead of a corporate entity. You can send reminders, make appointments, ask questions or just check in with them. And your customers are likely to love the help…  until your text messages start sounding like a badly-programmed AI bot wrote them.

It doesn’t have to be that way!

We’d be willing to bet that your customer relationship management system (CRM) contains an incredible amount of information about your customers, even first names. By using a name in your emails and texting campaigns, you personalize the communications right from the start. But that’s just one way for your CRM to help connect you to your customers.

Try a Conversational Messaging Hub

Try a Conversational Messaging Hub

If your customers contact you more than once, they may not always reach the same person on your team. For example, a law firm may have a team managing the case load – attorneys, paralegals, intake specialists or other administrative staff members. When clients reach out, their lawyers may not be immediately available, but the clients still need updates. The team member who responds needs information quickly to serve the client.

If your CRM and your texting system work together, it would give you a single record that shows your staff all the interactions with the client, no matter what channel the client uses – text, email, phone or mail. When a text comes in, your staff members would be able to continue the conversation because they have the history at their fingertips.

If you have a customer service team, they will find this capability very useful, as well. One of the most often cited customer complaints is being bounced from person to person trying to solve a problem. If the customer must repeat the problem over and over, frustration can build quickly.

A conversational messaging hub stores all contacts for an individual into a single record. If a customer service rep must transfer a call, the next rep has all the information in front of them. It saves time, aggravation, and maybe, a customer relationship.

Compliance Laws are Getting Tougher. Are You Ready-

Compliance Laws are Getting Tougher. Are You Ready?

The European Union has recently adopted new privacy regulations, and we expect other countries to follow suit. Can your system handle customer requests?

You can send texts only to customers who have given you express written consent. In other words, customers who have opted into your communications. They can also opt out by asking you stop sending texts to them. If regulators ask to see your records, you must be able to prove you are following your customers’ requests.

Opting in and out of texts, however, are not the only customer requests you might be asked to verify if regulators come calling. A customer can ask that you “forget” them entirely – that all mention of them in your system is erased.

If your CRM works well with your texting capabilities, you won’t ever have to worry about compliance with GDPR or other rules and regulations.

Security is Everyone’s Concern

Even the smallest databases can contain enormous amounts of personal information that thieves want. In the past several years, criminals have hacked into the data of some of the largest and most successful companies in the world, and it isn’t pretty.

Keeping your CRM and texting capabilities secure is a shared responsibility, but your texting partner should be able to assure you that they have strong security policies in place. Their policies should be designed to keep all aspects of the system – technological, physical and administrative – secure.

What’s Your Next Step

What’s Your Next Step?

Knowing the vital role your CRM plays in your quest for more customers and higher revenues, what should you do next? Of course do your homework, but we would like to suggest that SMS-Magic is the best solution in the marketplace.

Why? Here are just a few reasons:

  1. SMS-Magic works with your favorite CRM.
    We work and play well with others. We are a preferred provider for Salesforce and Zoho, and we integrate easily with Litify. Contact us to see what we can do with your existing architecture.
  1. SMS-Magic helps you automate texts while keeping it personal.
    SMS-Magic is perfect for sending automated messages to your customers and prospects. We provide templates for your use and have lots of information about creating effective messages and campaigns. You can switch from automated to live in an instant so your customers know they’re talking to a person – not a bot.
  1. SMS-Magic’s Conversational Messaging Hub Gathers Contacts into One Record
    Working with your CRM, SMS-Magic consolidates all contacts from a customer into one record, including phone calls, emails and messages. Our conversational messaging hub is the first of its kind and is designed specifically to meet your needs. Never again will your customers be forced to restate the problem – making them and your service reps happier.
  1. SMS-Magic helps you stay compliant.
    We can help you keep up with the details like customer permissions as they opt-in (and perhaps opt-out) of your messaging campaigns. Our back-end systems are structured so that we can display individual requests, and we can prove you’ve complied with customer requests. You won’t have to worry about regulators asking to see your records. We use on-going processes to collect and store information about distribution and can share it with regulators, if necessary.
  1. SMS-Magic provides technical, physical and administrative safeguards.
    Our technical safeguards include use of access controls, integrity controls, audit controls, identity authentication, and transmission security to avoid unauthorized access. We take extra precautions to ensure the physical security of our servers and systems. Our administrative measures include administrative actions, as well as policies and procedures, to manage the selection, development, implementation, and maintenance of security measures to protect electronic information.

We have experts ready to help you take SMS-Magic for a spin for FREE!

Schedule a demo or start a free trial today!

We think you’ll love what you see!

]]>
How Opt-In Compliance Is Making the World a Better Place https://www.sms-magic.com/blog/how-opt-in-compliance-is-making-the-world-a-better-place/ Thu, 09 Sep 2021 15:09:22 +0000 https://www.sms-magic.com/?p=58056 When a customer opts out of your messaging campaigns, can you be sure you won’t send messages to them ever again? Can you prove it?

Seemingly simple requests, like a request to opt out of communications, can sometimes have expensive consequences. Fines for illegal text messages can range from $500 per text to $1,500. If you’re sending thousands of texts, fines can quickly become overwhelming due to non compliance.

Ask for compliance

More than that, however, is the desire to build trust between your company and your customers. Customers these days want a transparent look into your motives and methods. Asking permission before you send a text and honoring requests to stop sending texts are small ways to demonstrate transparency and care for your customer.

Michael Weinhouse, founder and co-CEO of Logical Position, wrote in a Forbes leadership article, “But as scary as the idea of transparency might seem, I know from experience that, in the long run, it’s good not only for your customers but also for your business. In addition to attracting new customers, transparency allows you to better serve your current ones, ensuring they stick with you.”

We think asking customers to opt into your messaging program will help make the world (and your business) a better place. It demonstrates the kind of respect we all want.

What Are the Rules?

What are the rules

In the United States, commercial text messages are governed by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). The Federal Communications Commission established the act in 1992 to slow the stream of unwanted telemarketing calls. In the subsequent years, the TCPA has been expanded to include text messages, too.

Here is a quick guide from law firm Whitfield Bryson LLP outlining what is not allowed under the TCPA:

  • Unsolicited Text Messages – businesses are not allowed to text consumers without their permission. If a consumer gives permission for texts, the first text you send to them should confirm their permission.
  • Requesting Payment – businesses may not request payment or additional identifying information before revealing the actual message.
  • Scrambled Messages – businesses must send readable texts. They may not scramble the message or use unintelligible audio.
  • Do Not Call Registry – businesses must respect the Do Not Call registry established by the FCC and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
  • Robocalling & Automated Dialing – businesses may not use robocalling to generate phone numbers or send text messages.
  • Restrictions for Residential Numbers – businesses may no longer use an “established business relationship” as the basis for texting someone’s home number. That includes mobile phones that are used as home numbers.

So what should you do? Here are suggestions from Gleantap, a customer management platform created for the fitness industry:

  • Receive consent before any message is sent
  • Mention your company name in the first text
  • Give the coupon or value proposition upfront
  • Mention the frequency of messages that will be sent monthly
  • Disclose possible carrier costs and fees
  • Give an option to ask for help and opt out of future texts

How Can SMS-Magic Help You?

Our customers use messaging in a wide variety of applications in a wide variety of industries. No matter what industry you’re in – banking, higher education, hospitality, healthcare or others – SMS-Magic can make compliance a breeze. We’ll help you keep up with customer permissions as they opt-in (and perhaps opt-out) of your messaging campaigns.

Compliance enabled

SMS-Magic is designed to track opt-in and opt-out requests so that you send only to the customers who have specifically asked you to. Our back-end systems are structured so that we can display individual requests, and we can prove you’ve complied with customer requests. You won’t have to worry about regulators asking to see your records. We use on-going processes to collect and store information about distribution and can share it with regulators, if necessary.

Does SMS-Magic sound like the answer you’ve been looking for? We hope so!

Contact us to set up a demo or to start your free trial. Let us show you why your compliance worries will disappear with SMS-Magic!

]]>
How to Fix a Flawed Messaging Integration with Salesforce https://www.sms-magic.com/blog/how-to-fix-a-flawed-messaging-integration-with-salesforce/ Wed, 25 Aug 2021 05:31:40 +0000 https://www.sms-magic.com/?p=58008 Patrick McClure, HeyTutor’s director of operations, didn’t originally choose SMS-Magic when his company needed a messaging platform. He should have.

That first company said they could provide customization within Salesforce,” he said in a recent Zoom chat, “but they really screwed it up.

The chosen company’s inability to work in the Salesforce architecture caused HeyTutor to delay their outreach at a critical time and slowed their growth. “We ended up circling back to SMS-Magic

Now, McClure said, everything that HeyTutor wanted to integrate has been integrated. “These guys (the SMS-Magic team) made it effortless and got everything set up right away. It’s been a pleasure to work with you.”

McClure said

We hear similar stories all the time. Salesforce is a powerful tool, but you need experienced people who understand both the Salesforce architecture and the structure of their own messaging platform. Otherwise, you run the risk of crashing both systems – something no one wants!

No one wants to spend time, money and resources on a new platform just to learn that they don’t have what you need. So what should you keep in mind as you search for a messaging integration platfform to use with Salesforce?

1. Hire Experienced Salesforce Developers.

It doesn’t matter if you have Salesforce developers on staff or use contract developers; you must ensure you have experienced people at critical points like initial implementation or integration. We hear horror stories of inexperienced people changing security settings and unwittingly shutting down entire systems. Salesforce is very flexible, so your team must have a strong background in the basics.

2. Clarify What Customization Means to Potential Messaging Developers.

There’s a difference between “our messaging system can work with Salesforce” and “our messaging system is designed to integrate with Salesforce.” You want to choose a messaging platform that is ready to mesh with Salesforce. McClure said SMS-Magic had already built many of the customizations he needed, and quickly created new “stuff” to support the independent use case his company required. Don’t be taken in by promises. Ask for references from satisfied customers.

3. Always Test in a Testing Environment.

One of the first tasks your integration team should undertake is to create a testing environment. If something breaks there, no harm done because they haven’t made changes to the live system. Experienced developers will tell you that testing in a live environment is very risky, and it hinders trying new ideas. If you get the new idea wrong, it might take your system off line until you can fix it. Delays cost money.

4. Find a Team Already Using Salesforce Best Practices.

Salesforce is a great partner and can help your developers use best practices to get the most out of your system. Check your potential partner’s relationship with the Salesforce team. Are they a preferred client? Do they regularly discuss modifications with Salesforce? Do they have an easy working relationship with Salesforce? If not, you’ll want to move on to a provider like SMS-Magic that has a great relationship with Salesforce.

5. Ditch the Potential Messaging Vendor and Contact SMS-Magic.

You may want to interview other messaging companies, but we bet you’ll end up with SMS-Magic. We are a preferred integration with Salesforce, top-rated on the AppExchange, and enjoy incredibly high ratings with Salesforce customers. You can even give us a test drive without spending a penny. SMS-Magic offers a free trial so that you can get a feel for our product. If you’re as pleased as we think you will be, you can choose the level of service that’s best for your company.

Salesforce Compatible Messaging Platform Checklist

Barsala, another of our customers, has two Salesforce developers on staff. Michael Copley, their chief technology officer, said his developers have been able to access the functionality of SMS-Magic and share it with other developers on their team. Developers working on Barsala’s API can ping a simple endpoint to send a message through the SMS-Magic package. It shows up in Salesforce attached to the appropriate records, and shows up in all relevant user interfaces for the support team.

We can provide the same service to you.

Let’s Go!

Does SMS-Magic sound like the answer you’ve been looking for? We hope so!

Contact us to set up a demo or to start your free trial. Let us show you how we can help you make the most of the conversational messaging!

Book a Demo
]]>
How Using SMS Messages in Salesforce Drives Revenue https://www.sms-magic.com/blog/how-using-sms-messages-in-salesforce-drives-revenue/ Thu, 04 Jun 2020 08:30:00 +0000 /?p=55216 We all know that fast response times and personalized conversations are winning factors in closing deals. Using SMS messages in Salesforce helps you optimize your communication to win over customers and ultimately drive revenue.

Research shows that 80% of sales require 5 follow-ups and 44% of reps give up after the first follow-up. On top of that, regular follow-up channels like email and calling have discouraging response rates. Customers want to communicate and respond on a channel that’s easy for them. The average American checks their phone 47 times a day. With text messaging, you can meet them where they are.

Integrating text messaging with your Salesforce CRM makes it easy for you to start engaging with your audience and responding to leads.

Faster response times. When you integrate SMS messages in Salesforce you’ll be able to respond faster to leads and customers. For leads, we know that the company who responds to an inquiry first gets the business over 40% of the time. And with customers, you’ll greatly improve satisfaction and loyalty by having quick responses.

Engage in multiple conversations simultaneously. Managing the regular influx of leads and inquiries while also keeping older leads engaged is a challenge all sales teams face. By integrating SMS with your CRM you are able to handle a higher volume of conversations each day. Reps can also quickly share resources and links from the ‘Resource Base’ saved within your CRM. This actively helps with providing customers and leads with relevant information based on the conversation.

Quickly access conversation history. It can be difficult to keep track of who said what to each prospect, what information has been shared, and how they’ve responded to interactions. By integrating text messaging with Salesforce you can easily access complete conversation history. This allows any rep, even if they have not been involved with a lead or customer before, to jump right into a conversation without anyone having to repeat questions or information.

Automating appointment reminders. Having no shows at meetings can be a huge waste of time and energy for reps. When you have text messaging integrated with your CRM you can automate appointment reminders, which cuts down on the number of no shows you encounter. By knowing the status of all meetings in advance, reps can optimize their time and spend their energy on promising leads.

Tracking engagement status. When you have your messaging programs integrated with Salesforce you can easily see the engagement of each interaction. By having this quick view you can set up campaigns to send them information based on their status. For example you could send a lead a discount code, a promotion, a reminder of an upcoming webinar or a specific case study geared towards their interest.

The Bottom Line

People want to use text messaging as a main form of communication with companies. If you’re not using it yet, you’re missing out on having personalized conversations with your customers and leads, ultimately driving more revenue for your business. And by integrating text messaging with Salesforce you’ll gain a competitive advantage because of how easy it is to have interactive conversations with your customers and leads.

If you have questions or would like to discuss how CRM integrated messaging can help your sales team, contact us or email at sales@sms-magic.com.

]]>