How to Get an SMS Text Message From Your WordPress Form

by Shahzad Saeed on Apr 20, 2017

Would you like to get notified through SMS when someone submits a form? To get SMS text messages, you can connect your WordPress forms to an SMS app like Twilio. In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to get an SMS text message from your WordPress form.

Whenever your form is submitted, creating an SMS alert helps you to get notified even if you’re offline.

If you’re running an online business, it helps you to expedite sales response for new inquiries, resulting in boosting conversions and closing deals faster.

Now that you know the importance of receiving SMS from your WordPress forms, let’s look at how to connect your forms to an SMS app, Twilio.

Creating a WordPress Form

The first thing you need to do is to install and activate the WPForms plugin. Here’s a step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Also, you’ll need to have a form created. See our tutorial on how to create a simple contact form as an example to get started.

Now that your form is created, we’ll need to connect this form to your Twilio account.

Connecting Your Form to Zapier

To create an SMS alert when someone submits your form, you’ll need to integrate WPForms with an SMS app like Twilio. To do this, you’ll need to install Zapier addon at first.

You’ll need to have a Pro license or higher to access the Zapier addon.

The Zapier addon lets you connect your forms to over 500 web apps including Twilio so that you get alerted when someone submits your form on your site. You can learn how to connect WPForms with Zapier here.

Now let’s connect your form to Twilio.

The first thing you need to do is to log in to your Zapier account. Then, begin to make a Zap with WPForms as your Trigger App. For a complete step-by-step guide to making a Zap, you can check out our tutorial on how to get started with Zapier.

When you get to the Edit Options screen, select the form you just created.

After this step, select Continue.  Now you can test your form’s connection to Zapier. Be sure to have at least one test entry on your form before fetching existing entries.

After a moment, you should see a success confirmation message.

Setting Up Your Twilio Integration

Now that you’ve connected Zapier to the WPForms plugin, the next step is to connect your form to Twilio.

You’ll need to choose Twilio as the action app.

Next, you’ll be prompted to select a Twilio action. As we’re looking to create an SMS alert when a form is being submitted on your site, you need to select Send SMS. Then, select Save + Continue.

Then, you’ll need to connect your Twilio account with Zapier. Click Connect a New Account. If you do not have an account created, you’ll need to create a free account and then, allow Zapier to access your Twilio account by entering its Account SID and Auth Token.

To find Account SID and Auth Token, log in to your Twilio Console and navigate to Account » Account Settings. Now scroll down your page until you find API Credentials. You can copy the required details into Zapier and click Yes, Continue.

After allowing access, select Save + Continue.

Now go back to your Twilio Console and click the # tab in the left panel. Then, click Active Numbers » Get Started.

Then, click Get your first Twilio phone number. Now you’ll be shown a Twilio phone number to choose. Click Choose this Number. Then, click Done.

Now go back to your Zapier account. You’ll need to specify

• From Number: This is the number you’ve just created in your Twilio account. You can choose it from the dropdown menu.
• To Number: You may enter your phone number where the SMS should be sent.
• Message: Here you can specify all the form fields and customize them the way you want. For example, you can look at the screenshot below.

You may leave the other optional fields blank and click Continue.

Now you can test Twilio by clicking Create & Continue. If everything is done right, you’ll now receive an SMS on your phone.

In the final step, you’ll need to name your Zap and turn it on, so you’ll be notified through SMS when someone submits your form.

We hope this guide helped you to get SMS text messages from your WordPress forms. You may also like our tutorial on creating multiple notifications in WordPress forms.

What are you waiting for? Get started with the most powerful WordPress forms plugin today.

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