SMS Notifications

You can keep your customers informed of their order statuses using SMS notifications in Zoho Commerce. Once you set up the integration, all notifications will be sent automatically to the customers who have opted-in to receive SMS notifications.

Set Up SMS Notifications

Note: If you have integrated your Zoho Commerce organisation with Zoho Books or Zoho Inventory where you have already set up the SMS integration, you don’t have to go through the SMS integration process again. Navigate to SMS Integrations in your Zoho Commerce organisation and click Enable to send automated SMS notifications to your customers.

To set up SMS notifications for your organisation:

Go to Settings in the top right corner.
Click SMS Notifications under Reminders & Notifications.
In the Buy SMS Credits and Send SMS Notifications section, you can select any of the following options:
- Click Use Free SMS and get 3 SMS messages to learn how it works.
- Click Buy Credits to purchase SMS credits from Zoho Store. You should purchase a minimum of 5 credits. Each credit costs ₹75, and you can send up to 300 messages per credit.

SMS notifications for your organisation will be enabled as soon as you perform any one of the actions mentioned above. Next, you can configure SMS templates for the notifications.

Configure SMS Templates

You can configure the SMS templates in two ways:

Without DLT Registration
With DLT Registration

Without DLT Registration

Go to Settings in the top right corner.
Navigate to Reminders & Notifications and click SMS Notifications.
In the Overview tab, slide the toggle next to Send SMS without DLT configuration.
In the Configure SMS Notification section, click Configure to enable, disable, and configure your SMS notifications.

You can configure SMS notifications for the following:


Notification Type	Description
Order Placed	To notify the customer that their order has been placed.
Order Confirmed	To notify the customer that their order has been confirmed.
Order Shipped	To notify the customer that their order has been shipped.
Order Delivered	To notify the customer that their order has been delivered.
Order Cancel Request	To notify the customer that their order cancel request has been raised.
Cancel Request Approved	To notify the customer that their order cancel request has been approved.
Cancel Request Declined	To notify the customer that their order cancel request has been declined.
Order Return Request	To notify the customer that their order return request has been raised.
Return Request Approved	To notify the customer that their order return request has been approved.
Return Request Declined	To notify the customer that their order return request has been declined.
Order Refund Initiated	To notify the customer that their order refund has been initiated.
Pickup Order Placed	To notify the customer that their pickup order has been placed.
Pickup Order Confirmed	To notify the customer that their pickup order has been confirmed.
Order Ready for Pickup	To notify the customer that their order is ready for pickup.
Order Picked Up	To notify the customer that their customer has been picked up.

Here’s how you can configure the template of each SMS notification:

Navigate to the SMS Templates tab in the SMS Notifications page.
Slide the Notification Status toggle next to the notification types you want to enable.
Click Change Template next to SMS Template.
Select the preferred template for the enabled notifications.
Click Save.

With DLT Registration

Note: This is not applicable for users sending SMS using the Twilio integration.

Distributed Ledger Technology also known as DLT, is a block-chain based registration system. According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), it is mandatory for businesses to register with DLT to send SMS to customers in order to avoid spam.

Here’s how you can send SMS notifications to your customer:

Register with a DLT Operator.
Configure DLT in Zoho Commerce.
Register SMS Templates in DLT.
Configure SMS Templates in Zoho Commerce.

Register with a DLT Operator

You will have to first register yourself as an enterprise with any of the following DLT operators: Vodafone Idea Ltd, Videocon, BSNL, Jio, or Airtel to proceed further. Here’s how:

The steps below might vary based on the DLT operator you choose.

Log in to your preferred DLT operator’s website.
Select Enterprise.
Choose No if you have not registered with any other DLT operators.
Enter the necessary details.
Upload the documents requested by your DLT operator.
Click Submit, and you will receive an acknowledgement that the details have been correctly entered. You will also receive an email with the approval status.

Insight: If the registration is rejected, you will receive an email with the reason for rejection. You can make the necessary changes in the portal and re-register.

On successful registration, you’ll receive your DLT Registration Number and Sender ID in your email.

Configure DLT in Zoho Commerce

Once you have successfully registered with a DLT operator, you’ll have to configure the DLT details in Zoho Commerce. Here’s how:

Go to Settings in the top right corner.
Click SMS Notifications under Reminders & Notifications.
In the Overview tab, click Configure DLT Registration in the Update DLT registration details to send customised SMS section.
Enter the DLT Registration Number and Sender ID in the following pop-up.
Click Save.

The details provided here will be cross verified with the DLT operator. The status of the configuration will be Pending until it is verified. You’ll receive an email informing if the configuration has been approved or rejected.


Status	Description
Pending	The details are yet to be verified with the details present in the DLT platform.
Approved	The details have been successfully verified.
Rejected	The configuration has been rejected due to invalid or missing details.

Register SMS Templates in DLT

To send SMS to your customers, you’ll have to register the SMS templates with DLT. If the SMS sent to your customers does not match the template registered in the DLT platform, the SMS will be barred. Here’s how you can register your SMS template in DLT:

Note: The steps below might vary based on the DLT operator you choose.

Log in to the DLT website where you had registered for your DLT Registered Number and Sender ID.
Go to Templates and click Add New Template.
Enter the necessary details.

Insight: Choose whether the content type is Transactional, Promotional, Service Implicit or Service Explicit. Based on the content type, the list of approved headers will be auto-populated. You can select as many headers as necessary.

Enter or paste the message content.

If you want to use a template from Zoho Commerce, you can do so by copying the content from the Message text box in the Configure Template pop-up.

Click Submit.

On successful registration, you will receive the Template ID and the SMS Template via email.

Note: As per TRAI regulations, the URLs included in your SMS notifications must be whitelisted.

Configure SMS Templates in Zoho Commerce

Go to Settings in the top right corner.
Click SMS Notifications under Reminders & Notifications.
In the Overview tab, click Configure Templates in the Configure SMS Template section.
Slide the Notification Status toggle and click Configure Now under SMS Content.
Enter the Template ID and SMS Template that was approved in the DLT platform.
Click Save.

Enable and Disable SMS Notifications

As a store owner, you can send SMS notifications to your customers after receiving their consent. Using the notification consent preference, you can either let your customers opt-in manually during checkout or consent on their behalf by informing them that they automatically opt-in to receive mobile notifications by signing up for the customer portal. Your customers can change their preference anytime from the My Profile section in the customer portal.


Field	Description
Customers opt-in manually during checkout	Select this if you want to display the ‘Receive Mobile Notifications’ checkbox on the checkout page. Customers can opt-in to receive notifications by marking this checkbox. You will not be able to send WhatsApp notifications to the customers who opt-out from receiving notifications.
Customers opt-in automatically by signing up for the customer portal	Before you select this, include it in your store’s terms and conditions that your customers consent to receive mobile notifications by signing up for the customer portal. By choosing this preference, you will be able to send WhatsApp notifications to all the customers that sign up for the customer portal. However, customers can decide to stop receiving WhatsApp notifications based on their preference from the My Profile section in the customer portal.

Enable SMS Notifications

Here’s how to enable or disable SMS for your customers:

Go to Customers on the left sidebar.
Select the customer for whom you want to enable SMS notifications.
In the Overview tab, click Enable SMS Notification or Disable SMS Notification.

SMS notifications will be enabled or disabled for the customer.

Enable SMS Notifications in Bulk

Here’s how you can enable SMS notifications in bulk:

Go to Settings in the top right corner.
Click SMS Notifications under Reminders & Notifications.
Click the More icon in the Buy Credits and Send SMS Notifications section.
Select Update Communication Preference from the dropdown.
In the following pop up, select Only Primary Contacts.
Click Save.

View Sent SMS Notifications

You can view the SMS notifications sent to Zoho Commerce using the SMS Notifications report. Here’s how to view the report:

Go to Settings in the top right corner.
Click SMS Notifications under Reminders & Notifications.
Click the More icon in the Buy Credits and Send SMS Notifications section.
Click View SMS Notifications Report.

You will be redirected to the SMS notifications report.You can also view this report in the Activity section of the Reports module.

Disable SMS Notifications in Bulk

Here’s how to disable SMS notifications for customers in bulk:

Go to Customers on the left sidebar.
Select all the customers for whom you want to disable SMS notification.
Click Configure Communication Preferences at the top.
In the default recipients field for SMS channel type, select None.

When the default receipts for customers are selected as None, the SMS notifications will not be sent to any contact persons.