Two-Way Texting

Two way texting is the exchange of SMS messages between two parties, with a business representative on one side and a lead, customer, or employee on the other. Unlike one-way broadcast SMS, every message can be replied to in real time, which turns texting from a notification channel into an actual conversation tool. This is what makes it useful for re-engaging lost leads, driving more reviews, handling support questions, and offering targeted upgrades to existing customers.

Sakari's two way texting platform handles inbound and outbound messages through a shared inbox that any team member with access can use. When a customer replies to your message, their response is routed to the appropriate, corresponding Inbox Group and marked with a "new message" indicator for quick visibility. The same conversation history is visible whether you're working from the desktop dashboard or the Sakari mobile app, so reps can pick up a thread from wherever they're working.

Sakari supports two way texting across local phone numbers, toll-free numbers, landline numbers, and short codes. Local numbers work well for businesses that want a recognizable area code, toll-free numbers fit national or multi-region operations, landline numbers let you text-enable an existing business line without porting, and short codes support high-volume use cases like marketing campaigns and two-factor authentication.

Each number type has different rules around volume, registration, and use case fit. Local 10DLC numbers are the most common starting point for small and mid-sized businesses, while short codes are typically reserved for enterprises sending millions of messages per month. The Sakari team can help you select the right number type based on your messaging volume, geographic reach, and the kind of conversations you're planning to run.

Yes. Sakari supports MMS for two way texting in the United States and Canada, which lets you send images alongside your text content for things like product photos, promotional graphics, instructional visuals, or visual confirmations. Customers can reply with text or media of their own, and everything flows into the same shared inbox alongside standard SMS conversations.

There are three ways to send multimedia content: as a Sakari attachment uploaded directly in the platform, through a connected integration like HubSpot or Salesforce, or as part of an SMS campaign or custom workflow that includes media in the message template. For international audiences in countries where MMS isn't natively supported, Universal MMS converts your visual content into clickable links recipients can open in their mobile browser.

Sakari's shared inbox is the core of team-based two way texting. Full customer history is visible alongside every conversation so whoever picks up a thread has the context they need.

User roles and permissions let you give front-line staff different access than admins, and phone number groups let you organize multiple users around a single business line. Everything works the same way on the mobile app, which means reps in the field can handle conversations the same as desk-based team members.

Sakari connects directly with HubSpot, Pipedrive, ActiveCampaign, and Slack through native integrations, plus 1,300+ additional apps via Zapier. Once connected, two way text conversations sync with your CRM contact records, so sales reps see SMS activity alongside email and call history without leaving their main workflow.

This matters because two way texting works best when it's not isolated from the rest of your customer data. A rep replying to an inbound text in HubSpot can see the contact's deal stage, past interactions, and notes in one view, which makes responses more relevant and faster to write. For teams that prefer to handle texting through the email client, email-to-text routes inbound SMS to your inbox so you can reply from Gmail, Outlook, or the HubSpot email composer and have the message send back to the customer as a text.