Personalize text messages through templates

Personalize the text messages (SMS) by inserting placeholders in your template for the specific information that is different for each recipient. The placeholders then dynamically populate values such as customer name, appointment time, location, or any other unique data.

Example

For example, you have a template that says:

Hi {{ContactFirstName1}},
Happy to connect with you on a phone call at {{UserUTCConversionTimeZoneCode}} regarding 3D printer.
Best regards,
{{UserFirstName}}

You can use this template to send personalized messages to each of your customers by dynamically filling the placeholders, such as {{ContactFirstName1}} and {{UserFirstName}}, with appropriate information for each recipient.

To create a message template

  1. Sign in to your sales app, and in the lower-left corner of the page, go to Change area > Personal settings > Text message templates.

  2. From the tool bar, select New.

  3. On the Create a text message template dialog box, enter the following information:

    • Template name: Enter a name for the template.

    • Category: Select a category (entity) from which you want to use the placeholders that are used in the template. The entities that are supported are Account, Contact, Lead, and Opportunity. When you select an entity, its corresponding related entities are also displayed while adding the placeholders.

    • Language: Display installed language packs. Language also helps to categorize your templates.

  4. Select Create.

    The template editor opens.

  5. On the Text message template page, in the Message section, enter the message including placeholders for dynamic content. For more information on dynamic content, see Insert dynamic content.

  6. Save and close.

    The template is created and added to the list of text message templates.

Insert dynamic content

Dynamic text replaces a placeholder entity with the value of the entity when you send the email. For example, your email template might contain "Dear {!User:First Name;}" but your customer sees “Dear Kenny.”

  1. In the Message section from the Text message template page, select the Personalization icon.

    Brackets are inserted as placeholders and the Personalization dialog box opens to choose the field to insert.

  2. Select Choose an attribute and then select the required field from the entity.

  3. (Optional) In the Display name field, enter a display name for the placeholder. By default, the name is displayed as entity type field name. For example, when you select the Account Name field from the Account entity, the display name is AccountAccountName.

  4. (Optional) In the Default value field, enter a default value. When there's no value available for the placeholder field, the default value is added to the message.

  5. Select Save.

To add more placeholders for dynamic content, repeat steps 1 to 5.

See also

Send a text message
Send an automated text message
Send a text message to customers
Manage text message communications