As a merchant it is important for you to keep updating your customers about their order status, and the best way to do so is via SMS.
webShaper is giving you a new SMS service provider (Twilio) to make this process easier for you! Here are the steps to activate this service:

Step 1 : Sign up for a Twilio account

You need an active Twilio account before proceeding to webShaper SMS service setting, to do so you need to:
Go to https://www.twilio.com/

• Click on Sign Up.

Fill in the required fields then go to the next step and fill in your mobile number in order to receive the verification code via text message

• Type in your own mobile number and choose either Text me or Call me to get a verification code on your phone.

• Click on Get Twilio number.
• In Buy A Number page Twilio will auto-generate a number for you after you choose Area code and required number features (SMS Voice), but if you do not like it you can choose another number from a long list by clicking on Search for a different number and click Choose this number, no charges will be implemented for your trial account.

• Click on Configure your number.
• Click on Save to update phone number settings.

 

Step 2: Identify your Geographical Permissions

This step is vital because your number will not work unless you choose the country where you are planning to contact your clients ( here, it is Malaysia). Steps are:

• On the top right corner click on your user name and a drop down menu will show.
• Click on Account.
• Find Geogrephical Permissions and click on it.
• Click on Messaging..
• Look for the country’s name you want.
• Tick the box next to the country name, and it will be automatically saved.

 

Step 3: Account Upgrade (IMPORTANT)

Upgrading your Twilio account will allow you to connect to webShaper.

• Click on the top right corner and a drop down menu will appear.
• Click on Upgrade Now.
• In the new page, you need to fill in your banking account details.

Note that

the minimum fund is $20

• Click on Upgrade Account.

Why you should upgrade your account?

Twilio allows you to send or call any number you want through the trial account only after verifying that number. As a merchant it is not convenient for you to verify each and every customer’s number as it is time consuming. Upgrading your account will allow you to send as many SMSs you want with just a click.

 

Step 4: Obtain SID code (API)

In order to connect your Twilio account to webShaper SMS service you need to get the following:

• Click on VOICE,SMS & MMS on the top left corner
• Click on Show API Credentials.
• A drop down box will show, which contains Account SID and Auth Token
• Copy both codes to paste them later on in your webShaper account.

Step 5: Setting up SMS Gateways in webShaper

• Go to webShaper control panel
• Go to Customers.
• Click on SMS.

You will see two SMS services provided by webShaper. It is important for you to know that you can activate only one or deactivate both, but you can never activate both Twilio and GO!SMS

• Hover over to Actions in Twilio row and click on Edit Setup.

Now you need to fill in the required boxes of ACCOUNT SID, AUTH TOKEN, FROM (is the number you picked from Twilio) & MERCHANT’S MOBILE NUMBER

• Make sure you click on Yes to activate this gateway .
• As for Alert me via SMS when & Alert customer via SMS when.. section, it is up to you to choose Yes or No. As long as you fill in all the requirements before clicking on Save .

You will see the following message after saving :

Your have sucessfully updated your Twilio account.

• Click on ok.
• Then again, Click on the drop down menu next to Twilio logo and select Send SMS . To test the service

Note:

To test the service, you need to make sure that you type in the phone number correctly using the international format :

+<CountryCode> <AreaCode> <LocalNumber>

• Type your own phone number in the To: box and type any message in the body just to test it then click on send .
• You should see : The message to (your number) has been sent.
• You should receive the same text message you typed on your phone shortly after that.

• You can View log from the drop down menu next to Twilio logo in order to check sent messages details.

 

Step 6: Learning how to update order status via SMS

• Go to Orders.
• You can see a list of the orders that have been made through your store. From there next to any specific order you want, click on View.
• Go to Edit, click on Update order status from the drop down menu.
• You can tick the box where it says : Send order shipped e-mail/SMS.. in order to inform your client that his/her order has been shipped.
• Or, you can click on Cancel order if you want to cancel this specific order and it will automatically send a cancellation SMS to the client.