This unit covers the basic Short Message Service (SMS) functionality of Fastcall. By the end of it, you will be able to send and receive SMS messages. This relies on your administrator setting up SMS functionality for you – it’s not available until they do this.
SMS on the widget
Once the SMS is enabled, you can see your SMS in the Fastcall interaction history threads interacting with recent calls and voicemails.
Clicking an SMS message you will see the details of that specific SMS message open in a salesforce tab.
Sending SMS messages
To send an SMS message, you can either:
- Just click the phone number on any Salesforce record when the SMS button is selected in the Record Interactions Thread list.
- Use the dial pad.
- Reply to an existing interaction thread in the widget.
- You have the option to use a template as described below.
Receiving SMS messages
When you receive an SMS message you have a few options for notification. The messages will be in the recent interactions threads list. SMS can also be surfaced in a Salesforce List View or Report. Check with your admin for more details.
SMS notification
Fastcall has a few options for notification in User Settings > Inbound Settings. We have several user settings:
- Forward SMS to email or to a user’s mobile phone.
- Salesforce notifications (desktop and mobile)
- Send a notification to Chrome with an option to play a sound.
SMS Templates
SMS – Basic template
You can speed things up by using SMS templates. These are added by yourself via Fastcall Settings > User Settings > SMS Templates, or by your administrator.
Once you have a template, you can select it in the widget when composing an SMS message.
SMS – With Merge Fields
SMS has the availability to add basic merge fields in Templates. To create a new template add the name, user, and text. You can also add tags to better organize them.
For merge fields, we will support common fields taken from the object you are messaging (Leads, Contacts, etc.) For example: Hello {!Name} can be used for Leads or Contacts. These templates are similar to email.
Go to the interaction thread, and click on the “add SMS template” button. A list of available SMS templates will be shown. You can filter the list by tags.
Fastcall interaction component
We’ve added a new Lightning Component for interactions. Unlike the OpenCTI component which is tied to the user, this new interaction component is tied to the record. Multiple users can message the Lead or Contact. The interaction component is also available in Salesforce Mobile.
To add the Fastcall Interaction Component to the page layout you have to go to Setup > Edit Page and then drag it to the page layout and save.
Fastcall Thread Interaction in Salesforce Mobile
Quick view of your conversation, showing Inbound/Outbound Calls, interacting with SMS.
SMS Opt-Out
Fastcall supports opt-out keywords when received as an inbound text. The only way to restart is for the recipient to send a START message.
There is a custom checkbox field on the SMS object.
To learn how to set SMS by the administrator please see the admin training page.
Last updated: Fastcall v8.2.8, 2023-09-06