Integrated SMS: What to Know, + 17 App Integrations [2024]

Imagine seamlessly connecting your favorite apps… with text messaging.

In what ways could your business benefit if there were seamless ways to really reach people with the high read rates of texting?

Here are some examples to help you visualize how integrated SMS could look:

• A text message confirmation when an order is inputted into a customer’s profile in your CRM
• An “abandoned cart” text message reminding a prospective buyer to purchase when they leave their cart without following through
• A text message drip campaign building anticipation for your webinar

Those are the kinds of flows you can create with integrated SMS.

Because we all know the power of automation—and the power of texting (read rates as high as 55% and view rates as high as 100%).

So what exactly is integrated SMS? How does it work? How can you set it up?

Let’s jump in and find out.

What Is Integrated SMS?

Integrated SMS (otherwise known as integrated text messaging) refers to combining the use of SMS with your other solutions via automations that connect the two softwares together.

In other words, integrated SMS involves your tech stack “speaking” to each other in regards to your SMS – so that you can use the effectiveness of texting in a way that helps your processes run as smoothly as possible.

Smoother processes = more efficiency.

How Can You Set Up Integrated SMS? – 3 Ways

There are at least 3 ways to set up integrated SMS:

• APIs
• Zapier
• Native integrations

Let’s go through each in turn.

APIs

SMS platforms such as Mobile Text Alerts offer APIs that developers can use to connect 2 services together.

All developers need to do is follow the instructions in the API documentation and they can create any number of integrations to meet your business’s needs.

(After all, one survey found that 70% of survey respondents expect to grow their use of APIs from the previous year.)

More on APIs later!

Zapier

Zapier is the go-to no-coding integration platform for thousands of apps across the business sphere.

The positives of Zapier include…

• It’s compatible with a huge number of apps/softwares
• It’s easy for non-developers to set up and use since there’s no coding required
• It’s affordable

The primary negative of Zapier is that you are limited in your integration options by what they offer.

Native

More limited than using APIs or Zapier, and yet still highly convenient, are integrations built specifically within SMS platforms.

Many SMS platforms, such as Mobile Text Alerts, will offer these native integrations without any need for a third party (Zapier) or without needing to build out something using APIs.

Native integrations are the easiest for you to set up and use, but they are limited to what the SMS platform offers and is capable of.

What Is API Integrated SMS?

API integrated SMS involves using APIs to connect to SMS gateways so that you can send out text messages programmatically.

Developers can program the SMS according to whatever way you want to incorporate SMS into your processes.

API integrated SMS gives you freedom to ramp up SMS efforts at scale. It allows you to coordinate your tech stack with SMS so that you can automate tasks such as…

• Keeping your texting database updated according to your HR management database
• Texting and following up with people who sign up for your product or service
• Sending order updates via text message

If your SMS service offers an API, you’ll be given API documentation that you can use to implement the integrations that you’re wanting to set up for your business.

Can the API Send Text Messages Triggered from Another System?

Triggering text messages based on activity in other systems and softwares is one of the main functions of an integrated SMS API.

What that means is that you can really incorporate SMS into your processes to help improve engagement with whoever you’re trying to reach.

How to Use the Mobile Text Alerts API

An account at Mobile Text Alerts comes with free access to our SMS API.

You’ll be given an API key upon signup, and you can use this API key to implement the API per the provided documentation.

Why Use an API?

Using an API with Mobile Text Alerts for your SMS messaging efforts provides a couple of advantages:

• Allows you to scale – For a business trying to scale, you need ways to automate processes; you can’t manually do everything, so this is where APIs can help.
• Less expensive – You can save money on your scaled SMS efforts by using a less expensive, yet still reliable, API via Mobile Text Alerts.

What Is Zapier SMS Integration?

Zapier is the go-to third-party integration app for connecting your tech stack.

With Zapier, there’s support for thousands of different software applications, so the odds are good that the solutions you use are supported on their platform.

And the best part is that there’s no coding required, so you can set up integrations even if you don’t have developer resources.

How it works…

1. You designate what event takes place in the “trigger app” that you’d like to trigger an action in the subsequent “action app”
2. You then determine what action you’d like to take place once triggered by the initial event

Pretty simple!

(P.S. You’re able to connect apps to Mobile Text Alerts via Zapier directly through your Mobile Text Alerts platform—you don’t even need to log in to the Zapier dashboard.)

Why Use Integrated SMS?

Everyone texts.

And people are much more likely to actually check their text messages than they are other channels—for example, email.

So SMS is a way to really reach and connect with people.

Therefore, integrating SMS into your tech stack only makes sense. It will help you…

• Scale your communication
• Reach more people
• Save time with more efficient processes

What Can You Do with Integrated SMS?

Integrated SMS allows you to incorporate SMS into your processes.

We’ve mentioned a bit about how that works and we’ll provide some specific examples below, but broadly this typically comes down to two primary use cases:

• Being able to sync up your SMS database with your CRM or HR database
• Being able to trigger text messages to send based on specific events

Most use cases for integrated SMS fall under one of those categories—and these categories open up a world of possibilities for how you can use SMS in your business.

Integrated SMS Examples

Below are a few examples of specific software that can benefit from integrating SMS (some of these are repeated since many apps would have similar use cases).

You can check out Zapier, from which some of these ideas came, for more inspiration.

MailChimp SMS Integration

Some examples of ways that you could integrate SMS with MailChimp would include:

• Sending someone a text message and/or a follow-up SMS drip campaign when they join your email list
• Updating your SMS contact database whenever your email database changes

SMS Integration with Salesforce

Some examples of ways that you could integrate SMS with Salesforce would include:

• Sending a lead a text message and/or a follow-up SMS drip campaign when they’re added to your Salesforce database
• Updating your SMS contact database whenever your Salesforce database changes
• Triggering SMS campaigns when certain properties are edited in Salesforce (reminders, updates, birthday notices, etc.)

Slack SMS Integration

Some examples of ways that you could integrate SMS with Slack would include:

• Sending a corresponding text message when there’s an important Slack update
• Giving people a way to submit text messages to their network or employees via text messages

SMS CRM Integration

This is more general, but you can broadly integrate SMS with whatever CRM you use – some examples of ways this can be helpful would include:

• Sending a lead a text message and/or a follow-up SMS drip campaign when they’re added to your CRM database
• Updating your SMS contact database whenever your CRM database changes
• Triggering SMS campaigns when certain properties are edited in your CRM (reminders, updates, birthday notices, etc.)

Zoho SMS Integration

Some examples of ways that you could integrate SMS with Zoho would include:

• Sending a lead a text message and/or a follow-up SMS drip campaign when they’re added to your Zoho database
• Updating your SMS contact database whenever your Zoho database changes
• Triggering SMS campaigns when certain properties are edited in Zoho (reminders, updates, birthday notices, etc.)
• Sending a text message confirmation when a Zoho form is submitted

SquareSpace SMS Integration

Some examples of ways that you could integrate SMS with SquareSpace would include:

• Sending order notifications to customers when they place an order on your SquareSpace website
• Sending appointment reminders to prospects who book through your SquareSpace website
• Following up with leads who submit a form on your SquareSpace website

Microsoft Teams SMS Integration

Some examples of ways that you could integrate SMS with Microsoft Teams would include:

• Updating your SMS contact database whenever your Teams database changes
• Sending a corresponding text message when there’s an important Teams update
• Sending text message reminders for Teams meetings and events

HubSpot SMS Integration

Some examples of ways that you could integrate SMS with HubSpot would include:

• Updating your SMS contact database whenever your HubSpot database changes
• Following up with leads who submit a HubSpot form
• Sending reminders for events managed via HubSpot

Zendesk SMS Integration

Some examples of ways that you could integrate SMS with Zendesk would include:

• Sending text message updates to people who create support tickets
• Sending follow-up customer satisfaction surveys via text message after a support ticket has been closed

WhatsApp SMS Integration

Some examples of ways that you could integrate SMS with WhatsApp would include:

• Sending a WhatsApp notification when an SMS is sent via your texting platform
• Sending a WhatsApp notification when you receive a reply to a message sent via your texting platform

ActiveCampaign SMS Integration

Some examples of ways that you could integrate SMS with ActiveCampaign would include:

• Sending someone a text message and/or a follow-up SMS drip campaign when they join your email list
• Updating your SMS contact database whenever your ActiveCampaign database changes
• Triggering text message campaigns when attributes are updated in your ActiveCampaign database profiles

ClickFunnels SMS Integration

Some examples of ways that you could integrate SMS with ClickFunnels would include:

• Adding new leads from ClickFunnels into your SMS database
• Sending a text message to new leads you receive from ClickFunnels

InfusionSoft SMS Integration (Keap SMS Integration)

Some examples of ways that you could integrate SMS with InfusionSoft (by Keap) would include:

• Adding new contacts from InfusionSoft (Keap) into your SMS database
• Sending a text message to new contacts you receive from InfusionSoft (Keap)

Monday.com SMS Integration

Some examples of ways that you could integrate SMS with Monday.com would include:

• Sending SMS notifications for task assignments, updates, and deadlines
• Sending text message reminders for events managed via Monday.com

Outlook SMS Integration

Some examples of ways that you could integrate SMS with Outlook would include:

• Sending an SMS notifications when a new email comes in
• Sending SMS notifications and reminders about calendar events
• Send an SMS notification when an email is flagged

OpenCart SMS Integration

Some examples of ways that you could integrate SMS with OpenCart would include:

• Adding new customers and prospects from OpenCart to your SMS platform database
• Sending a text message when someone abandons their cart to give them an incentive to follow through with their purchase

Vtiger SMS Integration

Some examples of ways that you could integrate SMS with Vtiger would include:

• Sending a lead a text message and/or a follow-up SMS drip campaign when they’re added to your Vtiger database
• Updating your SMS contact database whenever your Vtiger database changes
• Triggering SMS campaigns when certain properties are edited in Vtiger

Xero SMS Integration

Some examples of ways that you could integrate SMS with Xero would include:

• Receiving (or sending) an SMS notice when there’s a new bank transaction
• Receiving (or sending) an SMS notice when you receive a payment
• Sending an SMS when any update is made to an invoice

Integrated SMS FAQ

Here are a few lingering questions and summaries of some common questions about integrated SMS.

What is integrated text messaging / SMS Integration?

Integrated text messaging / SMS integration refers to incorporating SMS into your other solutions, tools, and workflows.

This includes integration via APIs, third-party integration apps such as Zapier, and native integrations directly offered through SMS platforms.

Is there an integrated messaging app?

Some SMS platforms such as Mobile Text Alerts will include their own integration options and come with a corresponding mobile app you can use to manage your messaging efforts.

In regards to an integration app itself that could be used to help facilitate integrated messaging—Zapier is the leading third-party service. However, Zapier currently has no mobile app option.

What is an SMS integration API?

An SMS integration API is an API developed for the purpose of integrating SMS efforts with your current processes and softwares.

Through an SMS integration API, developers can program messaging efforts according to whatever need you have.

Take the First Step Toward Integrating SMS

Intrigued about integrating SMS into your own workflow and tech stack?

Take the first step today by trying an SMS platform for free.