Enable Automatic SMS

Use Automatic SMS to send scheduled SMS sequence actions without requiring an agent to manually approve each message.

Guided Selling v13 and later

What is Automatic SMS?

Guided Selling supports Automatic SMS as a sequence action type. SMS steps in a sequence can fire automatically on schedule, just as automatic email steps already do. SMS templates support merge fields for personalization at scale.

The primary risk: Phone data quality

The single most significant risk factor when enabling Automatic SMS is phone data quality. Most Salesforce orgs do not reliably distinguish mobile numbers from landlines. Numbers stored in the Mobile field may still be landlines—particularly if they were imported from lists, collected manually, or entered by agents.

Revenue.io does not automatically distinguish a mobile number from a landline. This is a data quality problem that must be addressed before enabling Automatic SMS broadly. You are responsible for your account’s SMS deliverability.

Why this matters

• Every SMS sent to a landline or invalid number counts as an undeliverable failure against your account.
• In sequences with multiple SMS steps, each bad number generates multiple failures—compounding your failure rate quickly.
• Many accounts are unaware of how much of their phone data is actually undeliverable until failures begin to appear.
• We recommend maintaining your account’s daily SMS undeliverable rate under 5 percent.

Account flags are difficult to recover from

If your account is flagged by Twilio for high undeliverable rates, you have a very short window to identify and correct the issue. In practice, this is difficult to execute:

• Accounts that are flagged frequently result in suspension.
• The process to reinstate a suspended account can take weeks—during which you cannot send any SMS through the platform.
• This creates significant operational disruption and is challenging to recover from.

Warning: Before any broad rollout, confirm that the phone numbers in the contact list are mobile numbers. If you cannot confirm this, validate the numbers before sending Automatic SMS.

Note: Automatic SMS first references the Mobile phone field on the corresponding lead or contact record. If no mobile number is populated, it uses the Phone field. We recommend storing validated mobile numbers in the Mobile field and maintaining a record of these data hygiene efforts over time.

Recommended starting point: Inbound leads

The safest initial use case is inbound leads from web forms where a mobile number was explicitly provided by the prospect.

Why inbound leads are lower risk:

• Consent is established—the lead opted into contact by submitting the form.
• Data quality is high—the number was provided directly by the individual, not imported from a list.
• Carrier filtering risk is lowest—when recipients have opted in and expect contact.

Recommendation: Start Automatic SMS exclusively with inbound lead sequences where the number was captured through form submission. This use case provides the strongest combination of consent, data quality, and lower carrier compliance risk.

Expanding beyond inbound leads

Before using Automatic SMS on contact lists beyond inbound form submissions, validate that the phone numbers in your Salesforce org are mobile numbers. If you are confident in the data quality, the steps below cover how to convert Manual SMS actions in existing sequences to Automatic SMS actions.

Converting existing sequences: Manual SMS to Automatic SMS

If you have sequences with manual SMS steps that you want to convert to Automatic SMS, use this approach to preserve continuity for contacts already in the sequence.

1. Start with one sequence. Do not attempt to convert multiple sequences simultaneously.
2. Review all SMS templates in the sequence to confirm they are ready for automated sending.
3. Clone each manual SMS action and change the clone to Automatic SMS. Drag and drop the cloned step immediately before the original manual step.
4. Delete the original manual step after confirming the sequence is behaving as expected.

Warning: Avoid placing the Automatic SMS step after the manual step. Doing so causes participants to receive an automatic SMS after agents send the manual SMS that comes immediately before it.

Available controls

Revenue.io provides a layered set of controls for Automatic SMS. Here is what is available and who manages each:

Recommended rollout steps

Follow these steps to safely enable and pilot Automatic SMS:

1. Submit a support request to Revenue.io to enable Automatic SMS for your account.
2. Work with your Admin to determine which Sequence Admins will have access. Start narrow—one or two trusted admins during the pilot.
3. Configure deliverability reporting with Revenue.io Support to set up a monitoring job and alert recipient list before any sequences go live.
4. Pilot with inbound lead sequences only. Monitor deliverability data for 1–2 weeks before expanding.
5. Run phone number validation if expanding to contact lists beyond inbound form submissions.

Message content best practices

Carrier filtering is triggered by both volume patterns and message content. Follow these recommendations to reduce the risk of carrier blocking:

Personalize every message

Carriers flag traffic where identical or near-identical messages are sent at high volume from a single number.

• Use merge fields to personalize each message with recipient-specific information (name, company, context).
• Avoid boilerplate templates with zero personalization, especially at high volume.
• In sequences with multiple SMS steps, vary the structure and content across steps—not just the merge field values.

Use branded URLs only

Link content is one of the most common triggers for carrier filtering.

• Avoid public URL shorteners (bit.ly, tinyurl, goo.gl). These domains are flagged because other senders have abused them—even legitimate messages sharing the same domain can be penalized.
• Use branded, company-controlled URLs. If the domain is identifiable as belonging to your business, carriers cannot penalize it based on another sender’s behavior.
• Do not use obfuscated or redirect-chained URLs. These are associated with phishing and will be filtered automatically.

Format messages carefully

Spam-like formatting increases filtering risk even when content is legitimate.

• Avoid excessive capitalization and unnecessary special characters.
• Minimize or avoid emoji in automated messages—heavy emoji use is a spam pattern.
• Maintain correct grammar and spelling.
• Messages should clearly identify the company or individual sending them, especially in the first message in a sequence. (This is also a TCPA requirement for commercial messaging.)

Template review checklist

Walk through SMS templates against this checklist before activating any Automatic SMS sequence:

• ✅ Message identifies the sender (name, company)
• ✅ Merge fields used to personalize—not a single identical body for all recipients
• ✅ No public URL shorteners (bit.ly, tinyurl, etc.)
• ✅ URLs resolve to company-controlled domains
• ✅ No obfuscated or redirect-chained links
• ✅ No excessive all-caps or unusual special characters
• ✅ Minimal or no emoji in automated messages
• ✅ Grammar and spelling are correct
• ✅ Multi-step sequences vary content and structure across SMS steps

Next steps

Ready to get started?

1. Contact Revenue.io Support to enable Automatic SMS for your account.
2. Review your phone data quality and determine whether validation is needed for your use case.
3. Start with inbound lead sequences and monitor deliverability closely during the pilot phase.
4. Set up deliverability reporting with Revenue.io Support before going live with any sequences.