SMS Notifications
Email is good for detailed notifications. Push notifications work well for in-app alerts. But for time-sensitive messages that need to reach someone regardless of whether they're in front of a computer — SMS is the right channel.
SMS notifications are now available as a workflow action in Swifty.
When SMS Makes Sense
Urgent approvals. A purchase order needs sign-off from a manager who's traveling. An SMS gets through where an email might wait hours.
Field team coordination. A technician's next appointment details sent directly to their phone. No need to check an app or open email.
Customer-facing alerts. Order status updates, appointment reminders, delivery confirmations — sent to the customer's phone number stored in your records.
Deadline alerts. When a record's due date is approaching and the record is still in an early status, send a text to the responsible person.
How It Works
SMS is a workflow action like email or status change. Define the trigger (record status changes, a date field is reached, a manual action is taken), define the recipient (a field value from the record, a fixed number, or a related record's contact), and compose the message.
Message content uses the same template system as email — field values, related record data, and calculated expressions can all be included in the message text.
Template Variables
The same field interpolation that works in email templates works in SMS. The recipient's name, the record's status, a key date, a reference number — all available to compose a message that's specific to the record rather than generic.
Short messages with the right specifics — "Your order #INV-2025-047 has shipped. Expected delivery: Nov 3." — are more useful than long generic notifications.
Part of the Notification Ecosystem
SMS works alongside email and in-app notifications, not instead of them. For each notification scenario, you choose the right channel — or use multiple channels for high-priority events that need to reach someone regardless of how they're working.
The right message, on the right channel, at the right moment.