An overview of the advanced settings in the SMS for Zoho CRM extension - more information about what each setting does, how it works and how to use it.
Settings page
To find the settings page:
- Log in to Zoho CRM.
- From the left-side navigation, click on the Marketplace icon.
- Under Marketplace, click on the Installed tab.
- Locate Sinch SMS for Zoho and click on Configure.
Messaging
Inbound Notifications
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Always send inbound reply notifications to the record owner?
By default, inbound SMS notifications can be sent to a user other than the record owner. If you'd prefer that the Lead or Contact owner is always notified, you can enable this setting.
While turned on, the record owner will receive inbound SMS notifications even if they weren't the last person to send an outbound message.
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Send Notifications to Zoho Cliq
This setting lets you receive inbound SMS notifications in Zoho Cliq. If you've set up full integration you can also reply directly from Zoho Cliq.
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Add recipients for email notifications
Enter the email addresses of recipients who wish to receive email notifications.
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Send an hourly email summary of inbound messages
Enable this setting to receive an hourly email summary of your inbound messages. The email includes:
- A preview of each message
- The Zoho CRM record name
- A link to open the record in Zoho CRM
The summary only shows conversations you own and doesn't include other users' messages.
The email will always come from the super admin's email address.
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Send email notifications for inbound SMS
Enable this setting if you want to be notified of inbound SMS messages by email. When turned on:
- The conversation owner will receive an email whenever an inbound message arrives.
- The subject line will look like: SMS conversation with Contact Name (Module Name).
- The email body will include the SMS content and instructions for using the Email to SMS feature.
To notify any additional users, add their email addresses under Additional email addresses.
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Create tasks for inbound messages
Enable this setting if you'd like to get notified of inbound messages through tasks. When turned on:
- Each inbound message creates a task assigned to the conversation owner, with a Not Started status.
- Once you reply, the task is automatically marked complete.
This makes it easy to see which contacts still need a response.
From Numbers
You can assign a default "From" number for all users or assign specific "From" numbers to certain users in Zoho CRM.
- Allow everyone to use the same number: Enable this setting if you want all users to share one phone number. Make sure to pin a number as the default.
Send Times
Set a suitable timeframe to send your messages. You can choose the sending days as well as select a start and end time.
When attempting to send an SMS outside of our specified hours, a warning will pop up. Automated SMS outside of these hours will be rescheduled for the next available time e.g., if sent at 7pm on Friday, during business hours until 6pm, it'll be rescheduled for 8am the following Monday.
Integration/Sync
Contact Sync
Contact syncing automatically copies contact information one way from Zoho CRM to Sinch MessageMedia. After setting up the SMS for Zoho CRM integration, the Sinch MessageMedia platform retrieves your Zoho contact names and phone numbers and saves them in your Sinch MessageMedia platform contact list with a 'Zoho' metadata label to distinguish them from other Sinch MessageMedia contacts.
Account Manager
Account Manager shows the gateways that are connected to your account. You can easily edit (pencil icon) or delete (trashcan icon) gateways.
Permissions
Permissions
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Bulk SMS permission
You can give Bulk SMS access to users who don't have the Administrator profile by enabling the Bulk SMS permission in the SMS extension settings.
Turning on this setting also gives the user access to additional filters in the Sinch Inbox. Without it, they can only see their own conversations. Admins can always use the All Users filter to view all messages across the team.
You don't need to select admin profiles as they're already supported by default.
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Allow users to see each others messages
This advanced setting lets you choose whether users can only see their own messages or view all messages in a conversation with the Sinch Inbox and Sinch SMS for Zoho widget.
Turning on this setting also gives users access to additional filters in the Sinch Inbox. Without it, they'll only see their own conversations. With it enabled, they can use the All Users filter to view all messages across the team.
Teams
You can add or edit teams here. You can create a new team and enter a Team Name, select the Team Members and select the From Numbers.
Advanced Settings
Fields Settings
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Default country code
Your default country code will be used to format phone numbers to E.164 format for sending SMS messages.
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Extra fields to use for phone numbers
If you use a custom field to store phone numbers, you can make it available as a To field when sending outbound messages. This is useful when integrating SMS with custom modules.
Currently, only Phone and Single Line fields are supported.
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Default To field (API Name)
The contacts, leads or deals modules may have multiple phone fields, but you can choose which one to use by default when starting a conversation.
The Sinch SMS for Zoho extension will always remember the field you lats used in the conversation history. However, for new conversations, you can configure a default field e.g. Other Phone.
To do this:
- Scroll down to the Default To field (API Name) setting. Enter the API name of the phone field you want to set as the default.
- To find the API name, click on Setup (from the left-side navigation) > API and then API Names.
- Click on the 'Choose which phone field to use by default' link to view more information on multiple field support and related settings.
- Click on the Save button.
Decision Maker Connect
When enabled, Decision Maker Connect makes all SMS messages to contacts linked with a deal visible in the deal record. This helps you keep track of every conversation between key decision-makers and your team members.
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Retrieve messages for linked records (uses extra API calls)
Enable this if you have deals with multiple contacts involved and want to be able to see the messages for all the linked contacts in one place. This will use extra API calls.
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Auto fetch data for contact roles (in Deals)
If you're using Contact Roles in the Deals module, you need to make sure to enable this setting.
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Link messages sent to Deals to associated contact automatically
- This advanced setting lets you automatically link outbound messages sent to a deal with the associated contact. When enabled, you'll see a unified view of all messages in the Sinch SMS Contact view.
- Don't enable this setting if you'd prefer to keep messages sent to deals separate from contacts.
Custom Modules
If you user a custom module to store contact information, you can enable SMS for that module by adding its API name. This allows the SMS extension to recognize the correct field.
This is only one of the required steps to enable the SMS capabilities for custom modules.
Inbound Content
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Create leads/contacts when an inbound message is received from an unknown number
If you expect to receive SMS from numbers not already saved in Zoho CRM, you can enable this setting so the extension automatically creates a new record. This ensures inbound messages are assigned correctly. You can choose to create a Lead or a Contact. The new record will include:
- First name: Unknown
- Last name: Created from Inbound Sinch Message from (phone number)
- Phone number: Added to the Phone and Mobile fields
You can only send SMS to existing CRM records (Lead, Contact, Deal or custom module records).
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Link inbound messages to all possible contacts
If a phone number appears in more than one Lead, Contact or Deal, you can enable this setting to sync inbound messages across all matching records.
In most cases, you'll want to leave this disabled so that conversations stay separate for each record e.g. to keep communication history tied to a specific deal.