Receiving SMS

new in v1.1

Capture all inbound SMS messages in ServiceNow, not just replies. Create workflows that respond to customer-initiated messages.

Inbound Messages Table

Any SMS received on your messaging provider will be stored in your ServiceNow instance as records on the Inbound Messages table. Many other SMS integrations to CRMs are restricted to only serve you replies, but in ServiceNow we see value in connecting your messaging for unsolicited inbound so you can have processes initiated by your customers or other stakeholders via SMS.

ServiceNow table of inbound SMS messages

Triggering Workflows

As with sending, this table is accessible via script or flows with the table ID x_1319575_messenge_inbound_messages allowing you to trigger actions upon receiving new messages such as adding a comment to the sender's open incident or searching the data for a more advanced use case like stakeholder sentiment analysis.

Triggering a workflow with a new inbound SMS

Use Cases

Examples of what you can build with inbound messaging:

  • Automatically create incidents when customers text a support keyword
  • Implement approval flows using SMS replies (e.g., ‘APPROVE’ or ‘REJECT’)
  • Update ticket status based on customer responses
  • Route urgent messages to on-call teams for immediate escalation
  • Perform sentiment analysis on customer feedback received via SMS

Related Documentation