Using Zapier to automate SMS
notifications for Shopify Order Submission
Zapier is a great “no code” product for integrating activities among multiple application platforms. Zapier has many Google, Microsoft, and Salesforce integrations, just to name a few of their bigger players. In fact Zapier has integration connections with over 5,200 tools and applications! In this article we will be focusing on connecting Shopify and RingCentral SMS. Using Zapier we can either send a message to a set number (for example, an alert to yourself to let you know there has been a new order) or to a number collected in the order form to confirm receipt.
If you haven’t used Zapier before, read this article for an introduction and steps to set up your Zapier account.
Setting up our SMS auto-reply integration
Now that you have a basic understanding of Zapier, it’s time to set up our integration which will automatically send an SMS reply when an order is placed on a Shopify store. So lets make a connection to the Shopify app to start the workflow creation process. In order to have Zapier interact with Shopify we have to authenticate an account within Zapier. To do that you can create a connection in the “My Apps” section of Zapier or you can authenticate the account at the same time you create your first Zap that will be using Shopify.
Step 1: create a connection
Click on the Zaps button in the main side menu then look for a button called
“+ Create Zap”. Once you click on this button you will be taken to a Zap design wizard area. The first screen you will see is shown in figure 1.
Initially you should name your Zap [1]. So in our case we will call it “Send SMS on new Shopify Order”. Double-click on the name area to enter the editing mode. Next, [2] we select the app that we want to interact with. You will be shown a list of applications that are popular and some that you may already be connected to. You can also search for new applications, remember there are over 5,200 available to you! In our case we want to locate and use Shopify. Note that Shopify is a Premium connection, so we can only go as far as building the Zap in the Free account, we will not be able to turn it on when we are done, but we can test it. So, if Shopify is not on the offered list, simply search for it. Once found, you should see an update to the screen, see figure 2, with Shopify selected, be sure to select the event as “New Order (Any Status)”.
You will then be asked to sign into your Shopify account to authenticate your access. Zapier will then connect to Shopify and try to locate some recent orders that it can select and offer to you for testing. Pick one of these, if some are offered to you, and carry on to the next stage. If no orders are found for testing you can skip the test step.
Step 2: select your action
As an action to the trigger of a Shopify order being placed we will connect to the RingCentral app and use it to generate an SMS message.
So select the RingCentral app as the application that we want to be part of the triggered action. As before, if it is not on the list you can search for it. If you are not already authenticated within Zapier you will have to take that detour here as well. Since I am already authenticated, I simply have to select an event once I have selected the app. The event will be “Send SMS” and you can find it on the drop-down list. Click continue. Select the account that you want to use and click continue again.
Take a look at figure 3. Following the choice of action and desired account, you need to select one of the valid phone numbers associated with the account to act as the outgoing SMS phone number.
Each account can use one or more actual phone numbers. Naturally, you also need to inform Zapier where you want the SMS message to go to, so you need to provide that information as well [1]. You can select a recently used number that Zapier has picked up from the selected RingCentral account or enter a custom number. The custom number can be manually entered or you can select it from the order data that is also available here. You could use the billing phone number from the order, for example. The actual text that you want to send out when there is a submitted order should be provided next [2]. It is important to note that Zapier can pick up a lot of data points on the Shopify order itself so a list of these data items are also offered to you when crafting the text of the SMS [3]. You can also combine your own text with this data. Click OK when you are ready. You can now test your newly crafted action with the sample data that Zapier found in the earlier step. If there is no sample data, then the test will have to be skipped.
If the test is able to be performed then the entered target phone number (phone number to) should get a text message that looks similar to figure 4.
Keep in mind that the free version of Zapier does not permit active use of the Shopify interface, so this will be as far as you can go without a premium Zapier account. Be sure to play with the many combos that could save you time and grief and put Zapier to work for you.
Please let us know what you think by leaving your questions and comments below. To learn about RingCentral features make sure to visit our developer site and if you’re ever stuck make sure to go to our developer forum.
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