Send SMS Notification from Zoho CRM

Hello Everyone,

----------------------------------------Moderated on 4th April, 2023---------------------------------------------------

Moderation Update: The Notification SMS feature is now accessible to the public to Indian Customers who have Sender IDs registered with DLT to send transactional SMS to Indian phone numbers only. We will continue to provide updates on our progress toward extending this feature to other Countries.

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We're thrilled to introduce Notifications SMS! You can now send transactional SMS messages to your customers' handheld devices directly from your CRM. You can also set up automation for SMS notifications and much more.

Let’s have a quick look.

However, first, here are some points to be noted:

The Notification SMS feature will be facilitated with the help of Zoho SMS, Zoho's native solution to send SMS notifications from Zoho products.
We're launching Zoho SMS as an internal product with Zoho CRM, which, in time, will be supported in most Zoho products.
With the initial release only Indian customers who have Sender IDs registered with the DLT (distributed ledger technology) in India can configure the Notification SMS feature and send SMS notifications to Indian phone numbers only.
We have started working on providing support for transactional SMS messages for US following the US regulations - 10DLC regulations. This would be available to US users by the end of Jun 2023.
Following up we'll be extending the feature to Mexico, Colombia, and the EU.
Following that, we'll be supporting countries based on our user base.

Why send SMS notifications?

In any business scenario, communication with customers is a key element for success. Whether it's to notify customers of an upcoming event or provide them with details of a successful purchase, it's important to stay connected with them throughout the business process. While email notifications have long been the standard choice for such communication, they have some drawbacks in certain situations.

Sending quick reminders about upcoming events, sharing transaction details, or providing general service reminders can now be done with a simple SMS sent directly to the customer's mobile phone, saving time and effort while ensuring effective communication.

How to configure SMS notifications?

To enable the Notification SMS feature, customers will need to provide some basic company details, including the company name, brand name, city, country of registration, and others. Sender ID details are also required to use the SMS notification service, which varies depending on the rules and guidelines set up by the telecom provider authorities in different countries.

In India, for instance, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

(TRAI) has enforced Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) to ensure that only legitimate SMS messages are sent to customers. This means that SMS notifications must be sent via an Indian sender ID that has been registered with the DLT, and once DLT verifies the sender ID, customers can provide the required details to start sending SMS notifications immediately.

How will you be charged for SMS notifications?

To send SMS notifications, customers will need to have credits in their account, from which credits will be deducted as and when SMS's are sent. The pricing per SMS is currently 0.0020 credits (1 credit = $1 USD).

Upon enabling the Notification SMS feature with company info and sender ID info, customers will be redirected to the Credit Details tab. Here, they can view details of their credits, like the available balance and the credit usage analysis, as well as buy new credits, set up auto-recharge, or see credit purchase history.

How can you automate SMS notifications?

You can enable automatic notifications via SMS with the help of workflow rules as reminders for tasks, meetings, calls, and so on. You can configure rules and select SMS notifications as an instant action.

SMS notifications will be supported for Command Center, Blueprint, and logging in with an OTP in Portal in the future.

That's all for the enhancement. Read more in our help docs.

Thanks!

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