AppAssessor

Send and Receive SMS with Salesforce [In-Depth Review]

By Andreea Doroftei

Mogli SMS is a robust and user-friendly native SMS/WhatsApp solution for Salesforce. With features like one-on-one conversations, bulk messaging, and lead qualification surveys, as well as an unlimited user license, you’ll be sure to see more engagement with your clients and prospects.

Highlights

  • SMS, MMS, WhatsApp, and voice messaging directly from Salesforce.
  • Salesforce-native, EDA, NPSP, and Pardot compatible to optimize automated customer conversations.
  • Automated SMS-based data intake capabilities for lead qualification and inbound marketing.
  • Inbox-like interface to manage multiple conversations simultaneously.

There are so many ways to connect with customers nowadays – be it via email, social media, or the tried and tested text message. In a business context, Salesforce’s Web-to-Case or list emails are a good starting point, but are they sufficient for keeping up with the pace of customers’ expectations? 

How can you ensure high open and response rates while providing an awesome end-to-end experience?

Mogli, which stands for “Mobile Global Impact”, was initially developed to send text messages to rural Kenyan farms with information on how to protect their corn crops from disease.   Having evolved and expanded around the world, Mogli now helps hundreds of commercial, nonprofit, and educational institutions, reach their target audiences in a simple (yet incredibly effective) manner through leveraging SMS, MMS, WhatsApp, and voice messaging.  All natively from your Salesforce org 

This in-depth review will dive into Mogli’s features, ideal use cases, and setup effort, as well as the different ways this app could be a great addition to your Salesforce org.

Features

As a powerful two-way messaging tool, Mogli has identified text messages as a better, faster way to obtain a response from (or to simply alert) Leads, Contacts, Person Accounts, or any other standard/custom object.

Salesforce Native, Lightning-ready

Once the AppExchange managed package is installed (we’ll go through the setup later), the Mogli SMS Lightning app becomes available, along with a collection of Lightning Web Components (LWCs). You can make use of these while setting up your org for outreach success. 

Messaging

Did you know that text messages are typically read within five seconds of arriving to the recipient, and have a 98% open rate? This speedy open rate should also be enjoyed by sales, service, and recruiting teams. Let’s see how Mogli can bring this to your organization.  

One-to-one Messages

There was a time when you had to keep both your laptop and work phone in-hand at all times. Since text messaging functionality can now be embedded in Salesforce records, this is a thing of the past. 

It’s time we touch on the first LWC included in the Mogli package: the Conversation View. Usable for any custom and standard Salesforce objects, this will allow direct one-to-one conversations to happen in an instant. In this example, we will use Leads:

  • Mogli users can customize their message color and bubble color.  This allows users to very easily see all of the conversations that have taken place and with whom.
  • Users can choose to send a message from any number they’re assigned to,
  • An SMS becomes an MMS simply by attaching pictures or files,
  • Each message can be scheduled for a certain date and time, 
  • There’s an option to use a template, which we will explore later.

Note: within the Mogli SMS Lightning App, Record Pages with the Conversation View component are already in place as a jumpstart!

You can check out all the details, tips, and tricks for getting started with one-to-one conversations here

Bulk Messages

The Bulk SMS functionality that Mogli has developed will enable your teams to reach out to hundreds or thousands of people in no time at all! 

You’ll find the bulk messaging functionality as a tab within the Mogli SMS App, or can be added as a component on any Record Page. The first step is finding your audience via Recipient Selector, where you will be able to: 

  • Search for Campaign Members, Leads, Contact, Opportunities, or any other configured object
  • Use a Campaign with its member list, or directly send from a Salesforce report.
  • Select manually one single record, or in bulk.

The same options are available for bulk SMS, too. Attach files, apply-templates, and schedule messages. You can even send an automated survey to hundreds of people from here.  Read more about Mogli’s bulk messaging here.

Custom Notifications

Being able to respond rapidly when your prospects reach out is crucial. By leveraging Mogli’s native Salesforce functionalities, the sky’s the limit when it comes to how your notifications are delivered to your Salesforce users. 

Out-of-the-box, Mogli provides the in-app utility bar, which is available within the Mogli SMS Lightning App, but can be added to any other custom app. Users can customize their notifications when it comes to the Lead or Contacts they own (or both), as well as the Gateways used – such as WhatsApp or SMS.

Templates

Templates are a huge timesaver for the interactions your team are doing repetitively – plus, using templates within your org will ensure consistency, and up-to-date data merged into the predefined responses. Mogli SMS enables you to create your own templates for both SMS and surveys, a series of one or more questions which could be leveraged easily obtaining feedback or data intake (to automatically create or update Salesforce records based on responses).

SMS

Suitable for simple messages through to announcements. The text field on the SMS template record shows the exact content that will be sent out once the template is selected, plus use mail merge syntax to personalize the message.

Below is an example of the short promotional message that offers a discount code for their next purchase:

Form

Did you notice the Form Template field on the SMS Template record? This relates to a whole other functionality that can help you build multi-step and automatically triggered message sequences. 

Let’s take the example of a prospect looking to update their information. This prospect can be anything from an actual potential customer to a student, or maybe even a donor.

After the Form Template is created as a draft, at least one Question Template needs to be created. A maximum of five questions is recommended for a swift experience, but you can add as many as you wish.

Everything happens in real-time to ensure fast responses for the recipients. Certain keywords can trigger an action (in our case “Change number”). For this particular example, once Bertha texts her new phone number, her response will update the phone number field on the Lead record. 

Even though this is happening through Salesforce Flows, the Mogli team is open to supporting any customization you have in mind (but maybe don’t have resources for). Mogli also provides a list of potential responses to a variety of questions that you can copy and paste – this will reduce the amount of time spent having to identify and decide these.  These ‘Possible Answers’ tell Mogli how to branch the survey based on responses to questions.  For those of you in the US or Canada, try it out yourself by texting STUDENT to +1 720 513 5553.

WhatsApp Integration

While text messaging is generally a more popular option in the US and Canada, WhatsApp can give organizations access to an international audience.

WhatsApp Business as an option is a real game changer. With 2 billion+ monthly active users sending upwards of 100 billion messages each day, WhatsApp is a popular choice over other messaging platforms. 

Reaching out through WhatsApp requires having pre-approved templates beforehand; if the recipient reaches out first, or responds to your templated message, then a 24-hour window opens for back-and-forth conversations. That 24-hour clock restarts every time the recipient sends a message.  As WhatsApp supports text, pictures, and even videos, it’s ideal for real-time reminders, transactional information, and support conversations with clients.  

Read more about Salesforce + WhatsApp options in our guide. 

Additional Features

Mogli Voice

When it comes to communication, it’s important for all critical messages to be heard loud and clear (literally!)

Mogli Voice allows you to convert a message from “text only” to “voice message”.  In other words, you can type a message and when it’s sent and instead of sending an SMS, it will call the recipient’s phone and read the message aloud when they answer.  Users can choose from a wide range of voices and accents to suit their audiences.  This feature is great for notifications, automated reminders, and accessibility.  And calls can be made to a single person or in bulk.

There’s also the ability to simply send a voice file.  Record your voice, upload or link to the file, and send the voice file to one or hundreds of recipients.  When they answer, the recording will be played.   

On top of their 1% Pledge, Mogli developed these functionalities to ensure that, in the eventuality of a hearing or sight impairment, the information will reach the recipient in an accessible way.

Reports and Dashboards

Text messages and WhatsApp messages are stored as records of the SMS custom object (which comes with the Mogli package). It takes just a matter of minutes to get all kinds of reports and dashboards ready to go. 

Obviously, the count of messages is just the tip of the iceberg. Within the SMS record, information such as the Status or related records can be viewed and reported on.

Take a look at the Reports & Dashboard example Mogli provides for Student Surveys data analysis.

Mogli Inbox (Coming Soon!)

Customers asked… and the Mogli team listened! Coming soon, Mogli Inbox will enable users to check back-and-forth message threads, in a birds-eye view. It’s similar to any email inbox, like Gmail or Outlook, and it works great for sales and service teams to manage inbound messages.

This familiarity will help users manage their conversations effectively, regardless of which Salesforce record they’re attached to.

Use Cases

Sales and Support

Sales teams are batting for attention with competitors. Using SMS can help them cut through the noise, and help reach high response rates and provide an awesome end-to-end experience. 

SMS and WhatsApp both reduce the hassle of emailing back and forth when a problem occurs (case management). This is also a great way for customers to obtain immediate help.

Plus, the Custom Notifications are always an option to ensure your teams don’t miss anything!

Marketing and Customer Success

Following either an event (marketing), or after onboarding with a new product or service (customer success), tailor-made surveys or polls through SMS can increase the amount of feedback you receive. The responses can also be used to update or create Salesforce records.

Mogli SMS not only ensures successful delivery (and a well-defined path), it also ensures that all data will be stored to be either further analyzed or reported on later. 

Bonus: Mogli SMS is compatible with Pardot, a significant benefit versus its competitors.

For Education

As an EDA-compatible solution, Mogli can bring your college’s communication into the 21st century! Check out how, alongside Salesforce’s Education Cloud, Mogli SMS can revamp the entire student journey – communicating in the way students prefer.

Setup

Not only is the Mogli SMS setup a breeze, but the Mogli team is available to support you every step of the way! 

Similar to any other managed package, it only takes a few minutes to install from AppExchange and go through the available components. Also, an implementation by Mogli’s Client Success Team is included with any license purchase.

Documentation

Up-to-date documentation can be found either within the knowledge base or by accessing the most recent user guide published by Mogli in the AppExchange listing

On top of the old fashioned written documentation, Mogli also has a lot of insightful videos on their YouTube channel, which are sure to help along the way!

Pricing

One of the unique advantages Mogli SMS brings to the table is being a site license – this means that all users in your org are included. This approach is sure to result in significant savings compared to a seat license model.

Mogli also offers one of the most competitive per message prices around the world, along with discounts for nonprofit and higher education organizations.

You can request more information about the available plans and their price by reaching out directly.

Summary

Beyond a shadow of a doubt, Mogli SMS will increase your team’s productivity, regardless of which way the SMS, MMS, or WhatsApp functionalities are going to be used within your organization.

From plain text messages to multiple-step surveys (all available at an accessible price), the experience is sure to be as pleasant for the recipients as it is for the internal teams using this tool.  With a 5-star Client Success Team, your implementation is sure to be triumphant – just check out their reviews on AppExchange.

While it’s fun to discover new apps on your own, I highly recommend pinging the Mogli team (info@mogli.com) as soon as you’re done installing the managed package – you can install this in either your sandbox or production org so that a Mogli Client Success Manager can help you get going. 

Before proceeding with the installation, you can also opt to schedule a Live Demo – the Mogli team will deliver a ‘best fit’ demo for your org including potential uses of Mogli SMS.

The Author

Andreea Doroftei

Andreea is a Salesforce Technical Instructor at Salesforce Ben. She is an 18x certified Salesforce Professional with a passion for User Experience and Automation. 

Comments:

    Brett Waters
    September 11, 2018 11:57 pm
    Try SMS Magic ... supports MMS and is the no.1 rated SMS solution on the AppexChange. https://appexchange.salesforce.com/appxListingDetail?listingId=a0N300000024XvyEAE
    Johann
    January 08, 2019 3:40 pm
    I agree. SMS Magic has a great product, easy to implement and good customer support.
    Michael
    October 03, 2019 7:26 am
    Problem we discovered with SMSMagic is setting up a workflow is a PITA for as we need to reach out to them for every single change. After our contract was up we landed on 360smsapp because of their drag and drop worklfow builder and marketing sets it up without code. Overall pretty happy as I feel like marketing and sales are more effective now instead of sending continual request to Magic's support team.
    Charlie Johnson
    November 17, 2021 5:08 pm
    I do not see anything addressing Opt-In/Out or preference center management and compliance. Any additional perspective on that aspect of considering a solution and how this solution differs from others?
    Adrian
    July 06, 2022 9:39 pm
    This looks like a great option for larger teams or companies because of the unlimited licenses. For smaller companies, however, it's cost-prohibitive.
    Karthikeyan
    July 24, 2022 3:07 pm
    How to automate mms in mogli sms app? any references, please help u, send Your suggestions at mr.karthikcse005@gmail.com
    Chellappa
    August 06, 2022 6:45 pm
    Can you please explain why this App would be better than Digital Engagement SMS . Just trying to understand and compare Salesforce Native product vs App Exchange.
    Jason
    September 30, 2022 9:34 am
    I thought you can use MobileConnect to send and receive SMS https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/sms-messaging-with-mobileconnect/send-sms-messages
    aryan
    June 08, 2023 7:00 am
    informational post thanks for posting
    Twitter Proxies
    December 16, 2023 12:28 am
    There is certainly a lot to know about this issue. I love all of the points you've made.

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