Bringing SMS, Rich Media & Templated Texting Into Salesforce Marketing Cloud
Salesforce Marketing Cloud's Journey Builder is built around email as the default channel. We built and continue to host a native connector that lets marketers add SMS, rich media, and templated texting into the same automated journeys, without leaving Marketing Cloud or maintaining a separate messaging tool.
At a Glance
About the Client & Domain
The client was looking for a business SMS and omnichannel messaging platform, used by sales, support, and marketing teams to run shared-inbox text conversations at scale. Their customers increasingly run Salesforce Marketing Cloud as the system of record for orchestrated, multi-step customer journeys.
Marketing Cloud's Journey Builder ships with strong email tooling out of the box, but SMS is not a native channel with the same first-class support for templating and rich media. That gap is what this connector was built to close.
Omnichannel
Business Messaging
ISV
AgentExchange App
Escaping the Salesforce Limitation
Marketing teams wanted to add SMS as a real step inside a Journey Builder flow, not manage it in a separate app and stitch the two together manually.
- Trigger a real SMS send, with a templated message, as a step inside an existing Journey Builder flow.
- Support rich media and images in that SMS step, not just plain text.
- Keep message content consistent by letting marketers reuse approved templates rather than writing SMS copy per journey.
- Do all of this without requiring a separate messaging tool disconnected from Marketing Cloud.
Custom Journey Builder
We built a custom Journey Builder activity backed by an independently hosted service, so SMS behaves like a native step in the journey while the actual message delivery is handled by Heymarket's messaging infrastructure.
Journey Builder's Canvas
Built a custom activity that plugs into Journey Builder's canvas alongside native email and wait steps.
Integration
Integrated with the Heymarket.com API so the activity can trigger real SMS delivery, using Heymarket's existing messaging infrastructure and phone number management.
Configuration
Added support for texting templates, so marketers configure a journey once and reuse approved message content across sends.
Rich Media
Added rich media and image attachment support within the same SMS activity.
Backend System
Built the backend in Node.js and deployed it on AWS as an independently hosted service that Marketing Cloud calls into, rather than running logic inside Salesforce itself.
AppExchange Lisiting
Took the connector through Salesforce's AppExchange listing and security review process, and have kept it listed and live since July 2021.
Key Highlights
The decisions that make our solution hold up in production.
Native to Journey Builder
SMS is a real activity in the canvas, not a bolt-on tool.
Templated Messaging
Approved copy reused across journeys instead of drafted per-send.
Rich Media Support
Images and rich content supported, not just plain text SMS.
Independently Hosted
Node.js on AWS, decoupled from Salesforce's own runtime limits.
AppExchange Listed
Live and security-reviewed on AppExchange since July 2021.
Vendor Integration
Delivery is handled through the Heymarket.com API, not built from scratch.
System Architecture
Native Journey Builder Activity
Custom activity registered directly inside Salesforce Marketing Cloud.
AWS & Node.js Infrastructure
Backend service built in Node.js and independently hosted on AWS.
Heymarket API Delivery
Outbound SMS delivery handled smoothly through the Heymarket.com API.
Templates & Rich Media
Template and image handling built directly into the activity configuration layer.
AppExchange Verified
Officially listed and security-reviewed on Salesforce AppExchange.