Twilio SMS Is Now on the Salesforce AppExchange

Twilio SMS Is Now on the Salesforce AppExchange

Get it on the AppExchange.

Ahoy! It’s Charlie, Partnership Engineer for Twilio.org and Product Manager of Twilio for Salesforce. I’m excited to tell you about our latest product launch, but first let’s take a trip back in time.

Since the first days of Twilio.org back in 2013, we’ve seen organizations use Twilio to integrate SMS into their communication workflows on Salesforce. Even one of our first nonprofit partners - Polaris, who runs the National Human Trafficking Hotline - relies on Twilio and Salesforce to text with people at risk of trafficking to connect them with critical resources and support.

The prevalence of this need for communication isn’t really a surprise. More than 30,000 nonprofits use Salesforce to manage constituent, donor, and volunteer data. And SMS is one of the most ubiquitous messaging channels around the world. So over the years we’ve seen countless organizations - from community nonprofits to the enterprise - seek to integrate Twilio SMS into Salesforce to engage their audiences.

Guess what we noticed?

Use cases are very similar across these organizations. Salesforce developers and admins frequently want to enable users to do some variation of 3 things:

• Trigger or send alerts or notifications
• Engage in 1:1 text messaging with contacts and leads
• Send messages to a large audience using a Salesforce campaign

Twilio APIs have long enabled developers to build integrations to accomplish these tasks, but we’d prefer developers focus on the code that counts rather than build the same functionality over and over again. So last year we rolled out the Twilio for Salesforce beta package so that nonprofits that don’t have the time or resources to build an integration from scratch can still harness the power of SMS communications.

Then we noticed something else.

In the first few months, hundreds of commercial businesses also started taking advantage of the beta app. That’s when we realized we needed to make the product even more accessible.

So today we’re excited to announce that Twilio for Salesforce is now live on the AppExchange, so that any organization, whether for profit or nonprofit, can quickly add world class text messaging into their engagement strategy. 🥳🥳🥳

Introducing the Twilio for Salesforce App

Twilio for Salesforce is the easiest way to send and receive SMS messages from Salesforce. In just a few minutes you can install, configure, and start messaging with your audience using Salesforce Leads, Contacts, Person Accounts, and even Process Builder.

Instantly Familiar

One of the benefits of an in-platform SMS app is enabling users to send text messages using the components that are integrated into their Salesforce UI. So Twilio for Salesforce uses components designed for both Lightning Experience and Salesforce Classic. Users can easily personalize text messages with the data they already track and report on - all within the Salesforce platform.

Straightforward Features

We wanted Twilio for Salesforce to provide the right functionality and features without bogging down systems with complexities. That’s why we built Twilio for Salesforce with a lightweight, intuitive featureset targeting the most common use cases.

Twilio for Salesforce Enables:

• Real time 1:1 SMS/MMS with contacts, leads, and person accounts
• Broadcast SMS/MMS messaging to campaign members
• Trigger SMS/MMS messaging with Process Builder
• Message deliverability status and reporting
• Collaborative inbox for reading and responding to messages fast
• Scheduling messages to send at the right time
• Custom opt-in keywords for compliance and campaign routing
• Integrating SMS chatbots using Process Builder and Twilio Studio.
• Phone number assignments for users so they can build personal relationships
• API library to integrate additional Twilio communication channels with native Apex classes

Extremely Flexible

While we sought to address the most common messaging use cases, some organizations will have unique needs. So the app combines the programmability of Twilio with the out-of-the-box functionality of a Salesforce app, unlocking the full power of communications for Salesforce developers and administrators. With the included Apex API library, Salesforce developers can make API calls to the rest of Twilio’s communication channels and server-side developer tools for a fully custom integration. Now you can get from zero to WhatsApp even faster.

To the Cloud and Beyond

We’re stoked by the positive feedback from more than 1,000 beta users of the Twilio for Salesforce app, and now we want all Salesforce admins to have quick, easy access to world class SMS communications.

Want to take the app for a test drive? Get started on the AppExchange today.

Questions about using Twilio for Salesforce in your organization or company? We’d love to chat.