Summary
When you are managing a retail store, there will be numerous instances where you might have to notify the customers via SMS, such as while generating an invoice, payment confirmation, and payment reminders.
For example, a customer walks into your store and purchases several items. At the POS, the cashier starts billing them and issues a bill and awaits payment. Once the payment is done, they stamp a seal on the bill to mark it as paid. This is pretty simple. The customer has a copy of the bill and the confirmation that it is paid.
Now, what if the customer purchases an item online? How do they get the confirmation?
Here's where SMS notifications can be helpful. As soon as the order is placed, the invoice can be sent to the customer via SMS. They are now satisfied that the order has successfully reached the store.
Secondly, the status of delivery can be intimated by SMS. Finally, once delivered and the customer pays for the items, a payment confirmation SMS can be sent. So, the customer is aware of the complete status right from placing an order up to confirmation of payment.
The SMS notifications can be sent to the customers directly from Zoho POS with the inbuilt integration. You can also customize the message that will be sent. However, if you already have a Twilio account, you can simply integrate it with Zoho POS and start sending SMS.
Twilio
Twilio is cloud communicatiion software that is primarily used for customer engagement. It integrates with some of the major communication channels such as SMS, Facebook, and Whatsapp.
Integrating Twilio with Zoho POS lets you send SMS notifications for the following:
Order Placed
Order Confirmed
Order placed from Order Easy
Order Purchased
Order Packed
Order Shipped
Order Delivered
Notes
A Twilio account. If you don't have a Twilio account, click here to create one.
Account SID and Auth Token
An active phone number. Click here to purchase a phone number from twilio.
To integrate with Twilio
Go to Settings > Integrations > SMS Integrations.
Click Connect.
Enter the Account SID, Auth Token, Phone Number and click Connect with Twilio.
Configure SMS Notification
Various types of SMS notifications are available, which can be enabled or disabled based on your requirements.
To configure SMS Notification
Go to Settings > Integrations > SMS Integrations.
Click Configure in the Twilio section.
Enable the Notification Status toggle switch for the appropriate Notification Type.
Modify Account Settings
The Account SID, Auth Token, and Phone Number can be modified by clicking Change Account Settings in the Twilio section of the SMS Integrations page.
Delete Integration
Deleting the integration will no longer allow you to send SMS notifications via Twilio.
To delete the integration
Go to Settings > Integrations > SMS Integrations.
Click the Delete icon in the Twilio section.
Click Delete in the popup.