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Working with SMS – A New Feature

In addition to email, BizConnector supports SMS (text) messaging – both outbound and inbound.

Outbound text messages, which are set up as rule actions and are sent when a rule fires, have an impact unlike emails. For example, they are more likely to be read immediately by their recipients and are useful when simple communication is required, such as confirming an appointment, and perhaps responding to a question.

Outbound and inbound text messages show up as related lists (after installation) in your Salesforce Lead and Contact pages.

sms_related_lists

In addition to message logs, rules can be defined which can fire on receipt of an SMS message.

sms_rule

Up till recently, rules based on inbound SMS messages were restricted to text messages from people who were already saved in your Salesforce Lead or Contact database.

But now that has changed! We are pleased to announce that inbound SMS messages can result in a new Lead or Contact record being created. And that rules can be written to fire when this happens.

This new feature now enables a type of application: For example, capturing new lead subscriptions – eg. when people send a specific text or number pattern to your SMS number.

I hope this gives you some ideas for applications or workflows that you can build using BizConnector. If you have questions or would like a demo, please contact us.

What’s your vision of customer interaction?

From its inception, the BizConnector/Lead Follow-Up vision has promoted two-way communication with prospects and customers. This is in stark contrast to the one way communication paradigm manifested in mass emailers, and is exemplified by the ‘Insert a Question’ feature in Lead Follow-Up which makes it easy to get customer feedback.

Let’s assume for a moment that two-way communication is the preferred approach. Well, of course there are risks, but I am not the first to submit that this – interaction – is a cornerstone of the trust between business and customers that is a requirement for sustainability.

But here’s something else to consider – as posed by Gary Lemke, publisher of CRM Advocate:
‘Any strategy which posits a holistic view of the customer and attempts to co-develop value with these same customers must have in place a methodology for unfettered two-way communication…. …too many companies take a transactional, cash-register approach…‘.

In other words, a ‘holistic view of the customer’ is a precursor to (unfettered) two-way communication, and this is antithetical to a ‘transactional’ approach.

It seems that industry trends are well on their way towards ‘one view of the customer’, although there is plenty to be done before this can be considered an established practice.

What do you think? Do you regard this as a no-brainer? What obstacles do you consider are in the way to this ideal?

Here’s to new beginnings!

Colin Goldberg