Integrate Zoho Commerce with Twilio

Twilio is a cloud communication platform that allows businesses to communicate via phone calls, SMS, and other communication function using its web service APIs. When you integrate Zoho Commerce with Twilio, you can send automated order status notifications to your customers via SMS.

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

Prerequisites:

An existing Twilio account, if you do not have one, create a new Twilio account.
Account SID (Security Identifier) and Auth Token from Twilio.
An active phone number that works with Twilio. If you do not have such phone number, you have to purchase a phone number from Twilio.

Connect with Twilio

To set up the integration:

Go to Settings.
Select SMS Notifications under Reminders & Notifications.
Click Configure near Twilio.
In the next page, click Connect near Twilio.
In the popup that appears, enter the Account SID, Auth Token and the Phone Number from your Twilio account.
Click Connect with Twilio.

Twilio is now integrated with your Zoho Commerce organization. You will be able to view the templates for SMS notifications by clicking Configure below the integration.

You will be redirected to the SMS Notifications page, where you can configure the SMS templates and also enable or disable the SMS notifications.

Enable or Disable SMS Notifications

As a store owner, you can choose to 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 enabling 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, make sure you include it in your store’s terms and conditions that your customers automatically 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 customers who 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

All the SMS notifications will be disabled by default. You can enable the required SMS notifications and send SMS to your customers. To enable SMS notifications:

Go to Settings.
Select SMS Notifications under Reminders & Notifications.
Click Configure near Twilio.
In the next page, click Configure below the integration.
Slide the toggle near the required notification to enable or disable the SMS notifications.

Similarly, you can slide the toggle to disable the SMS notifications.

Configure Templates

The SMS sent to your customers will be of a specified template. However, you can choose a required template to send SMS notifications and also configure the message included in the SMS template.

To configure the SMS templates:

Go to Settings.
Select SMS Notifications under Reminders & Notifications.
Click Configure near Twilio.
In the next page, click Configure below the integration.
Click Change Template near the required SMS Template.
In the pop up that appears, click Customize Template.
Select the required SMS template from the Choose Sample Template dropdown.
Select the required placeholder from the Insert Placeholders dropdown to add placeholders to the SMS template.
Click Save.

Enable SMS Notifications for Customers

To enable SMS notifications for a customer:

Go to Customers on the left sidebar.
Click the customer for whom you want to enable SMS Notifications.
In the Overview section, click Enable SMS Notification in the left pane.

The SMS Notifications will be enabled for the selected customer.

Enable SMS Notifications for Customers in Bulk

To enable SMS Notifications for all the customers:

Go to Settings.
Select SMS Notifications under Reminders & Notifications.
Click the Gear icon in the Twilio band, and select Update Communication Preference from the dropdown.
In the following pop up, select Only Primary Contacts.
Click Save.

The SMS Notifications will be enabled for all your customers.

Disable SMS Notifications for Customers

To disable SMS Notifications for a customer:

Go to Sales on the left sidebar and select Customers.
Click the customer for whom you want to disable SMS Notifications.
In the Overview section, click Disable SMS Notification in the left pane.

The SMS Notifications will be disabled for the selected primary contact.

Disable SMS Notifications for Customers in Bulk

To disable SMS Notifications for customers in bulk:

Go to Customers on the left sidebar.
Select the customers for whom you want to disable the SMS Notifications.
Click Configure Communication Preferences at the top of the page.
In the pop up that appears, select None from the Default Recipients dropdown.
Click Save.

View Sent SMS Notifications

Here’s how you can view SMS notifications sent from your organization:

Go to Reports on the left sidebar.
Go to Activity Reports and click SMS Notifications.

You will be able to view the details of the SMS notifications sent to your customers.