SMS notifications are indispensable in any e-commerce store as it not only ensures a seamless and hassle-free shopping experience for customers but cuts down the cost of customer service for store owners. With a high open-rate of more than 98%, SMS would be the most effective communication medium for every type of business.
So how can you use SMS notifications on your Magento 2 store? Is that difficult? Are there any problems?
The answer is no. The following article will show you a detailed guide on how to integrate SMS notifications into Magento 2 stores.
Are you ready to start?
Enormous benefits of SMS notifications to e-commerce stores
Table of Contents
Immediate delivery without the Internet
All notification means for e-commerce are dependent on the Internet connection, except for SMS. Even with the dramatic development in Internet penetration, customers might not always be connected to the Internet.
If there is no Internet connection, all other communication methods become useless. Meanwhile, you can use text messages anytime to inform customers about special deals or shipping status. Hence, your marketing campaigns would not suffer from any delay.
Open more marketing opportunities
The primary aim of multi-channel notifications for online stores is to offer quick, timely, and precise notifications to customers, building trust for your brand. Shoppers are more likely to come back to your store if they receive quality services with good products and pricing.
When you send OTP, order confirmation, shipping status, and delivery information via text messages, your shoppers’ adaptability towards SMS increases. This expands future marketing opportunities when you can send appealing promotional deals and loyalty coupons with an inserted URL link to your site.
Nevertheless, you should make sure that your customers agree with getting promotional messages. Therefore, you can ensure your time and money are invested in the right audience who have some interest in your goods and services.
Save time and money
Online businesses can save a huge amount of money and time, thanks to the invention of SMS. Among various mediums of communication, SMS is the cheapest and most efficient means of communication.
If you decide to use SMS service in bulk, you may need 0.11 $ per message. In the meantime, if you integrate an SMS notification extension for Magento 2, you only need less than a second to send SMS notifications to your customers without paying any fee.
Reinforce customer loyalty
Using SMS notifications is a smart way to engage and grow loyal customers. Shoppers will feel happy and content when receiving informative and valuable messages. For example, customers would love to get an SMS about their order’s status.
Offering timely SMS notifications to customers at each stage of an order can contribute to an excellent customer experience and reduce inbound questions for online businesses. The more professional service shoppers can get from your brand, the more chance they will revisit your store.
How to integrate SMS notifications into Magento 2 stores?
The important role of SMS notifications in the e-commerce industry is undeniable. More and more people have been using mobile devices because it’s more portable and convenient than desktops.
So do you want to integrate SMS notifications into your Magento 2 store? If yes, let’s install an SMS Notification module now. And Magento 2 SMS Notification from Mageplaza would be the perfect solution for your store.
Buy this extension here:
The extension helps you send significant SMS notifications to store owners and customers. Customers can be informed about their order/ sales documents creation and other activities like sharing or subscription. Store admins can get SMS alerts about store activities and common issues.
The extension is well compatible with Magento 2.3.0 – Magento 2.3.x. In addition, Mageplaza offers a 60-day money-back & 365-day free support.
Notable features of the SMS notification extension:
- Send automatic SMS notifications to customers and stores
- Ensure immediate and frequent text messages
- Send SMS about account registration
- Send SMS about new orders & billing documents
- Increase sales with stock and price update
- Care for shoppers’ subscribing and sharing
- Send immediate SMS alerts about site errors
- Customizable SMS content
- Send frequent SMS reports to admins
- Phone number verification with the OTP code
- Connect to the most popular SMS service providers like Twilio and Amazon SNS
How to configure the SMS notifications for Magento 2?
General configuration
Log in to the Admin panel, navigate to Stores > Configuration > Mageplaza > SMS Configuration > General
- Choose Enable = Yes to activate the module
- Phone Codes: Show the country prefix number
- SMS Delivery: Select the third party for SMS integration (Twilio or Amazon SNS)
- Twilio Account: Enter the account SID to be integrated into the SMS gateway. If the field is left blank, Twilio will not be applied.
- Twilio Account Token: Enter the account token to be integrated into the SMS gateway. If the field is left blank, Twilio will not be applied.
- Access Key ID: Enter the access key ID to be integrated into the SMS gateway. If the field is left blank, Amazon SNS will not be applied.
- Secret Access Key: Fill in the secret access key to be integrated into the SMS gateway. If the field is left blank, Amazon SNS will not be applied.
- OTP Format: Pick the format for the OTP code. This field will only appear when Verify Phone Number = Yes
- Alphabetical: The OTP code segment will include letters only.
- Number: The OTP code segment will include numbers only
- Alphanumeric: The OTP code segment will include both letters and numbers.
- Recipient Phone Number: Insert the phone number of the receiver to inform the admin and this is also the phone number to Send Test SMS.
- Send Test SMS: Click on the button to check whether the test SMS has been delivered
OTP
- Choose Verify Phone Number = Yes: Customers verify their phone number with an OTP
Notice: All of the fields below only appear when the Verify Phone Number = Yes.
- OTP Format: Select the format for the OTP
- OTP Length: Fill in the length of the OTP. This field only appears when Verify Phone Number = Yes.
- OTP Resend Times: The number of times the OTP is sent to the shopper. The system will alert when the number of OTP sent surpasses the limit.
- Resend after over-limit in: The time amount (in hours) the OTP will be resent.
Customer Notification
Order Subscription
- Enable: Choose the option to enable sending SMS to the customer
- Check by Default: If you choose Yes, after a new account is generated, the subscription is auto-checked at the My Account section.
- Order Created Subscription: Select Yes to send SMS to customers when they complete their order successfully.
- Order Created Message appears when Order Created Subscription = Yes. Then enter the message content
- For instance:
- Supporting variables: {{order_number}}
- Invoice Created Subscription: Select Yes to send SMS to shoppers when admins generate invoices successfully
- Invoice Created Message appears when Invoice Created Subscription = Yes. Then enter the message content
- For instance:
- Order Created: Write content for the SMS sent to customers when the order is done
- For instance:
- Invoice Created: Write content for the SMS delivered to customers when the order is placed successfully
- For instance:
- Supporting variables:
- {{invoice_number}}
- {{order_number}}
- Shipment Created Subscription: Select Yes to send the SMS to customers when admins generate the shipment successfully
- Shipment Created Message appears when Shipment Created Subscription = Yes. Then enter the message content
- For instance:
- Supporting variables:
- {{shipment_number}}
- {{order_number}}
- Credit memo created subscription: Select Yes to send the SMS to customers when the admin generates the credit memo successfully
- For instance:
- Supporting variables:
- {{creditmemo_number}}
- {{order_number}}
Behavior Subscription
- Enable: Select Yes to activate the SMS for the behavior subscription section
- Check by Default: If you choose Yes, after a new account is generated, the subscription is auto-checked at the My Account section
- Sign Up Confirmation: Select Yes to send the SMS to customers when the system sends the Sign-in verification
- Sign Up Confirmation Message only appears when Sign Up Confirmation = Yes. Then enter the message content
- For instance:
- Supporting variables:
- {{confirmation_link}}
- {{store_name}}
- {{firstname}}
- {{middlename}}
- {{lastname}}
- Sign Up Success: Select Yes to send SMS to customers when they register for an account successfully
- Sign Up Success Message only appears when Sign Up Success = Yes. Then enter the message content
- For instance:
- Supporting variables: {{store_name}}
- Contact Delivered Subscription: Select Yes to send the SMS to customers when their contact is delivered
- Contact Delivered Message only appears when Contact Delivered Subscription = Yes. Then enter the message content
- For instance:
- Supporting variables:
- {{name}}
- {{telephone}}
- {{email}}
- {{comment}}
- {{store_email}}
- {{store_phone}}
- Share Product Link Subscription: Select Yes to send the SMS to shoppers when they share product links
- Share Product Link Message only appears when Share Product Link Subscription = Yes. Then enter the message content.
- Supporting variables:
- {{firstname}}
- {{middlename}}
- {{lastname}}
- {{store_email}}
- {{store_phone}}
- {{email}}
- Share Wishlist Subscription: Select Yes to send the SMS to shoppers when they share the wishlist
- Share Wishlist Message only appears when Share Wishlist Subscription = Yes. Then enter the message content.
- Supporting variables:
- {{firstname}}
- {{middlename}}
- {{lastname}}
- {{store_email}}
- {{store_phone}}
- {{email}}
- {{sharing_code}}
- Subscribe Subscription: Select Yes to send the SMS to shoppers when they subscribe successfully
- Subscribe Message only appears when Subscribe Subscription = Yes. Then enter the message content.
- Supporting variables:
- {{firstname}}
- {{middlename}}
- {{lastname}}
- {{email}}
- Unsubscribe Subscription: Select Yes to send the SMS to shoppers when they subscribe successfully
- Unsubscribe Message only appears when Subscribe Subscription = Yes. Then enter the message content.
- Product Price Change Subscription: Select Yes to send the SMS to shoppers when admins edit the product price
- Product Price Change Message only appears when Product Price Change = Yes. Then enter the message content.
- Supporting variables:
- {{first_name}}
- {{product_name}}
- Product Back to Stock Subscription: Select Yes to send the SMS to shoppers when the product is restocked
- Product Back to Stock Message only appears when Product Back to Stock Subscription = Yes. Then enter the message content.
- Supporting variables:
- {{first_name}}
- {{product_name}}
Admin Notification
- Enable SMS For: Select an option to send SMS
- Sending Frequency: Select the frequency to send SMS
- Total New Accounts: Enter content for the SMS sent to admins, showing the number of newly generated accounts
- For instance:
- Supporting variables: {{number_new_customers}}
- Total New Orders: Create content for the SMS sent to admins, showing the number of newly placed orders
- Supporting variables: {{number_new_order}}
- Total New Invoices: Create content for the SMS sent to admins, displaying the number of newly generated invoices
- Supporting variables: {{number_new_invoice}}
- Total New Shipments: Create content for the SMS sent to admins, displaying the number of newly generated shipments
- Supporting variables: {{number_new_shipment}}
- Total New Credit Memos: Generate content for the SMS sent to admins, displaying the number of lately created credit memos
- Supporting variables: {{number_new_memo}}
- Total New Inquiries: Generate content for the SMS sent to admins, showing the number of lately created inquiries
- Supporting variables: {{number_new_contact}}
- Currency Update Warnings: Write content for the SMS sent to admins when there is an error alert
- Cron Error Warning: Write content for the SMS sent to admins when there is a cron error alert
- Sitemap Generation Warning: Write content for the SMS sent to admins when there appears a sitemap generation error warning
In addition, store admins can help customers to register to get notifications by entering the customers’ phone numbers at the backend.
The bottom line
With the boom in mobile phones’ worldwide usage, SMS has become one of the most robust communication mediums used by an extensive range of audience segments. SMS allows online stores to connect to a wider audience group and improve conversion rates effectively.
Besides, SMS grants you a greater ability to keep customers notified in a personal way and helps you interact with them during the order process. This not only results in increased satisfaction but increased sales as well. That’s why integrating SMS notifications into your store is essential.
