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How to Send Twilio SMS Notifications from WooCommerce (Step by Step)

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Do you want to send Twilio SMS notifications from WooCommerce?

With SMS notifications, you can stay in touch with your customers, notify them of order updates, send coupon codes, and more.

In this article, we will show you how you can add Twilio SMS notifications from your WooCommerce online store.

How to send Twilio SMS notifications from WooCommerce

Why Add SMS Notifications to WooCommerce?

SMS notifications are the best way to give your customers information about their orders. Text messages are highly personal, and they are usually seen and opened within seconds of arriving on the person’s phone.

You can use SMS notifications to give your customers updates about their orders, such as order confirmation and shipping messages.

SMS notifications are also a creative way to encourage your audience to visit your store and buy more products. For example, you might use SMS messages to send coupon codes or alert your customers that their favorite products are back in stock.

You can also use FOMO to increase conversions. For example, you might send shoppers an SMS notification about a flash sale.

With that being said, let’s see how you can send Twilio SMS notifications from your WooCommerce store. You can use these quick links to navigate through the steps:

Step 1: Set up Your Twilio SMS Account

The first thing you’ll need is a Twilio account.

Twilio is an online service that offers phone, voice messaging, and SMS services that you can use with applications like WordPress and WooCommerce.

Twilio has a free trial, so you can set up your account and try the service for free. To start, head over to the Twilio website and click on ‘Start for free.’

Twilio website sign up

On the signup page, you’ll be asked to enter your personal information.

Then, you’ll need to verify your email address and phone number.

Verify Twilio account

Next, select the product you want to use, what you plan to do with it, and what organization you will use it for.

This tutorial will cover SMS, Alerts & Notifications, and Sole proprietor / Self-employed.

Twilio sign up information

Once you enter your information, scroll down and select ‘With no code at all.’

Then, click ‘Get Started with Twilio.’

Click Get started with Twilio

After you sign up for an account, you’ll be taken to the Twilio dashboard.

To get a phone number for your account, you’ll need to click the ‘Get phone number’ button.

Twilio phone number

Now, scroll down to the Account Info section.

Your Account SID, Auth token, and new Twilio number will be listed here. You’ll need this information later, so keep this tab open.

Twilio account info section

Step 2: Install and Activate Uncanny Automator

To send SMS messages from WooCommerce, we are going to use an automation plugin.

Uncanny Automator is the best WordPress automation plugin on the market. It lets you create powerful workflows to save time and reduce errors without writing any code.

Uncanny Automator website

Uncanny Automator seamlessly integrates with all the must-have WordPress plugins and third-party tools. 

Think of it like Zapier but for WordPress websites.

For this tutorial, you will need the Pro Uncanny Automator plugin, as it lets you connect with WooCommerce. While the free Uncanny Automator plugin allows Twilio integration, you cannot connect it with WooCommerce.

If you need help with the plugin installation, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

For more details, see our guide on how to create automated workflows in WordPress with Uncanny Automator.

Step 3: Create an SMS Notification With Uncanny Automator

After activating Uncanny Automator, you are ready to send Twilio notifications from your WooCommerce store.

First, you’ll need to connect your Twilio account to the Uncanny Automator plugin. To do that, go to Automator » App integrations. In the left-hand menu, select ‘Twilio.’

You can now type in your Account SID, Auth Token, and Twilio phone number.

After that, click on the ‘Connect Twilio account’ button.

Connecting Twilio to Uncanny Automator

Now, you’re ready to set up a notification so customers will get an SMS message every time they place an order.

To do this, go to Automator » Add new. Here, you’ll be asked to choose ‘Logged-in users’ or ‘Everyone’. We are going to select ‘Everyone’ so all shoppers will get an SMS notification, even if they checkout with a guest account.

After choosing a recipe type, click on ‘Confirm.’

Select recipe type on Uncanny Automator

Next, you can give your recipe a name by typing into the ‘Title’ field. This is just for your reference, so you can use anything you want.

After that, click on ‘WooCommerce’ in the ‘Select an integration’ area.

Select the WooCommerce Trigger

Now, you can choose your trigger, which is anything that kickstarts the recipe.

In the dropdown menu, select the following option: ‘A guest completes, pays for, lands on a thank you page….’

Add a WooCommerce trigger

Next, open the ‘Trigger condition’ dropdown and select ‘completes,’ so the workflow will run every time a customer completes a purchase.

After that, click on ‘Save.’

Completes order trigger

Next, you can link this recipe to a specific product.

We want to run the recipe when a customer buys any product, so select ‘Any product’ from the dropdown and then click ‘Save.’

All products trigger

Uncanny Automator will now save your trigger, and you can move on to the ‘Actions’ section.

Here, click the ‘Add action’ button to get started.

Click the Add action button

You will now see all of Uncanny Automator’s integrations, such as ActiveCampaign and Instagram.

In this section, click on ‘Automator.’

Choosing Automator integration on Uncanny Automator

Next, you’ll need to select an action from the dropdown.

You can go ahead and choose the ‘Call a custom function/method’ option.

Select Call a custom function

To start, type in a name for the custom function that you want to create.

It can be something like ‘sms_notification.’

Completing the Automator integration in Uncanny Automator

Then, click on ‘Add a variable.’ You can now specify all the data that you want to use in your recipe by clicking on the asterisk ‘*’ sign next to the empty field.

In the search bar, type in ‘Billing first name’ and select it when it appears. This allows us to use the customer’s first name in our recipe.

Selecting variables for Automator integration in Uncanny Automator

Once you’ve done that, click on ‘Save.’

Now, click on the ‘Add action’ button again and select the ‘Twilio’ integration.

Select Twilio integration

From the dropdown menu, select ‘Send an SMS message to a number’.

This will bring up a new box where you can add the ‘To’ address and the ‘Body’ of your SMS.

In the ‘To’ field, click the asterisk ‘*’ button and select ‘Billing phone’ from the dropdown list.

You can now create the text message that will be sent to customers within the ‘Body’ section. Feel free to add data from the asterisk ‘*’ button to insert the shopper’s order information, such as the total price and delivery date.

Creating an SMS notification message using the Twilio Uncanny Automator integration

When you are happy with your message, click on ‘Save’.

Now, navigate to the ‘Recipe’ box and click the ‘Draft’ switch so that it shows ‘Live’ instead.

Activating the Uncanny Automator recipe

Your recipe is now live, and Uncanny Automator will automatically send SMS notifications to your customers using Twilio every time they make a purchase.

Bonus Tip: Use SMS Marketing to Build Customer Relationships

Sending Twilio SMS notifications from your WooCommerce store is just the beginning of SMS marketing. To take things further, we recommend using an SMS marketing plugin.

SMS marketing is more than just order notifications. It can grow your customer relationships by informing buyers about upcoming discounts and sending out feedback surveys to improve their shopping experience.

To implement SMS marketing on your WooCommerce store, you can check out our list of the best SMS marketing plugins on the market.

We hope this article helped you learn how to send Twilio SMS notifications from WooCommerce. You may also want to see our guide on how to create an email newsletter and our expert list of the best WooCommerce plugins for your store.

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Editorial Staff

Editorial Staff at WPBeginner is a team of WordPress experts led by Syed Balkhi with over 16 years of experience in WordPress, Web Hosting, eCommerce, SEO, and Marketing. Started in 2009, WPBeginner is now the largest free WordPress resource site in the industry and is often referred to as the Wikipedia for WordPress.

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Reader Interactions

2 CommentsLeave a Reply

  1. Syed Balkhi says

    Hey WPBeginner readers,
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  2. Mrteesurez says

    I am impressed with this post, Majority ecommerce platforms are not using SMS, they only depend on mails which can sometimes go the spam box or not even check by some users. Using SMS is more matured and shows the site is professional.
    Thanks for sharing.

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