WooCommerce Twilio SMS Notification
About WooCommerce Twilio SMS Notification Send SMS updates to customers when their order status is updated and receive an SMS message when a customer places a new order.
Why offer SMS Order Updates?
Simple – it’s the best way to give customers information about their order. According to Frost & Sullivan, SMS messages have a 95% open rate and most are read within 5 seconds. This is three times better than email and can be far more personalized. For example, you could customize the “Completed” status SMS message to include a coupon code for 10% off the next order. Get creative and watch your sales soar!
Keep your customers happy by offering automated SMS order updates via Twilio. Send SMS updates to customers when their order status is updated and receive an SMS message when a customer places a new order. You can also manually send SMS messages through the Edit Order screen.
Installation
- Download the extension from your WooCommerce dashboard.
- Go to Plugins > Add New > Upload and select the ZIP file you just downloaded.
- Click Install Now and then Activate.
- Click the Configure link and read the next section to learn how to setup the plugin.
Setup and Configuration
Finding your Twilio credentials
First, you’ll need your Twilio credentials to connect your store:
- Log into your Twilio console.
- Copy your Account SID and Auth Token to enter in your Connection Settings.
- Select the # to go to the Phone Numbers menu and copy the phone number that you will enter in your Connection Settings as your From number.
That’s it! You are now sending SMS updates! If you want to tweak settings and customize the SMS messages that are sent, continue reading.
Extension Settings
Now you can configure the plugin by going to WooCommerce > Settings > SMS.
General Settings
- Opt-in Checkbox Label – The text for the opt-in checkbox on the checkout page.
If you leave this field blank, the opt-in checkbox is disabled and ALL customers will receive SMS updates. Be very sure you want to do this. - Opt-in Checkbox Default – The default state for the opt-in checkbox on the checkout page; we recommended leaving this as un-checked.
- Concatenate Messages – Check to allow mobile carrier to divide long messages into multiple messages if the total character count exceeds the SMS characters limit. If disabled, long messages may be cut off with ellipsis (“…”) at the end of truncated messages.
- Shorten URLs – Automatically shorten all URLs in SMS messages.
- URL Shortener Service – Use the Firebase Dynamic Links API to short URLs.
- Firebase Web API Key – Enter your firebase project API key. Click here for instructions on generating the API key.
- Firebase Dynamic Links Domain – Enter your custom Firebase subdomain, without adding the http:// or https:// it.
Admin Notifications
- Enable new order SMS admin notifications – If enabled, SMS messages will be sent to the admin mobile number.
- Admin Mobile Number – Enter the number(s) to send new order notifications to. Include your country code if outside the US. Send notifications to multiple numbers by separating them with a comma.
- Admin SMS Message – Customize the message that is sent to admins for new orders. You can include message variables (as listed below) to include additional information in this message.
Customer Notifications
- Order statuses to send SMS notifications for – Add the statuses that you want to send SMS updates for. Note that SMS updates are sent when an order changes to these statuses. For example, an SMS update will be sent when an order changes from Processing to Completed status if you add “Completed” to this list.
- Default Customer SMS Message – The default message template used if there’s no customized template for a given status.
- SMS Messages – You can customize each status’s message template, including custom statuses created with Order Status Manager. For example, you could add a coupon code to the Completed message template for 10% off the next order to help drive additional sales.
Return SMS Message
- Enable return SMS message – Check to send customized return messages via Twilio when a customer replies to your automated SMS. See below for setup tips.
- Response Message – Enter the custom response message to be sent in return messages (under 160 characters). Leave blank to store response messages in your Twilio account but not respond.
Sender ID Settings
- Enable Sender ID – Check to use your company’s name as the sender ID for one-way messages. This is only supported for certain countries.
- Sender ID – Enter your alphanumeric sender ID for messages.
Connection Settings
Follow the instructions above to get your Twilio credentials for this section.
- Account SID – Credential available in your Twilio account console.
- Auth Token – Credential available in your Twilio account console.
- From Number – The number that Twilio will send your SMS messages from. You may enter any purchased number here (even a shortcode). Keep in mind that if you have not purchased Twilio Credit, you will only be able to send SMS messages to your verified sandbox number.
- Log Errors – Log any errors to the PHP error log. Remember that errors with sending SMS messages for customers are logged as Order Notes regardless of this setting. For best performance, please only enable this if you experience issues with the plugin.
Send Test SMS
Send a test message to confirm your connection by entering a Mobile Number and Message and clicking Send. If you’re using a trial Twilio account, the Mobile Number must already be verified in your account. Message variables will not be replaced in a test message since they have no data.
Firebase Dynamic Links
If you want to enable URL shortening, you’ll need to follow these steps to generate an API key from Firebase, which you can enter in the plugin settings. This will replace all links to your site with shortened URLs in SMS messages. To generate your key:
- Log into your Google account, then go to Firebase.
- Click Visit Console.
- Click Add project.
- Enter a name for your project, such as “Twilio URL Shortener” and click Continue.
- Proceed through any additional configuration steps and click Create project.
- Once your project is ready, click Continue to navigate to the project page.
- Click the Settings wheel icon and select Project settings.
Click here to download WooCommerce Twilio SMS Notification
