Yes a few teams are running SMS inside Clay, but Clay itself is only the automation layer. The real question is finding a 2-way SMS platform with a good inbox UI, since Twilio alone is too bare-bones (no native inbox, no conversation threading).
✅ Common setups people use:
1. Twilio + Clay + a 3rd-party inbox (highly recommended)
Clay → Twilio API → an SMS inbox like:
Textline (cleanest UI for teams)
Heymarket (great for shared inbox + CRM tags)
Salesmsg (popular with agencies)
Front + Twilio SMS (shared omni-inbox)
All of the above give you a real chat-style UI with two-way messaging, automations, tagging, etc.
2. SmartLead + SMS Add-ons (if you prefer unified campaigns)
SmartLead supports SMS sending, but the reply management is pretty limited compared to real SMS inbox tools.
3. n8n / Zapier → Clay → SMS tool
If you want reply triggers (e.g., “If they reply STOP → remove from table”), n8n is the easiest.
🔥 Best combo I’ve seen:
Clay (data + enrichment)
→ Twilio (delivery)
→ Textline (shared SMS inbox + API hooks into Clay)
It solves:
webhooks back into Clay for automation
If you want, I can share a flow that syncs:
New SMS → Clay row updates → Slack notification → agent assignment.
