The WP SMS plugin works seamlessly with the Twilio Gateway, allowing you to send SMS messages to any location worldwide!
How to configure the Twilio gateway?
To access Twilio’s services, you must provide your Account SID and Auth Token as authentication. You can find these credentials in your Twilio account console.
Follow the below steps and fill out the fields:
- Go to your gateway Twilio Console
- Copy your Account SID and Auth Token
- Go to the WP SMS Plugin in the WordPress dashboard
- Navigate to the Settings tab
- Select SMS Gateway
- Paste those credentials to Account SID and Auth Token
- Click Save Changes
- Verify that the Gateway Status is now Activated
How to configure the Twilio gateway for bulk SMS?
Create a New Notify Service ID
When sending SMS through Twilio, the API request typically requires a Twilio phone number as the sender. However, using Twilio Notify is different in that it does not require you to specify a specific Twilio phone number. Instead, it automatically selects the appropriate number based on the notification channel being used.
We will guide you on how to accomplish this task.
1. Purchase a phone number
To deliver the message, you need a Twilio phone number. If you haven’t already, log into your Twilio console and go to Phone Numbers → Manage → Buy a number.
2. Attach the phone number to Messaging Service
After purchasing the phone number, it needs to be linked to a Messaging Service. These services are used to group together senders (phone numbers) with a set of predefined features and responses.
They are ideal if you have a single endpoint that needs to provide the same response but in different regions. With a Messaging Service, a single API response can reach all of your subscribers in different countries, with different numbers.
In the console, go to Messaging → Services. If you don’t have an existing Messaging Service, create one by clicking on the blue Create Messaging Service button.
When the form appears, enter “Send Bulk SMS” as the Messaging Service Name. Once you have filled it out, click on the blue Create button.
After creating the service, you will be directed to the Sender Pool. This feature enables you to add your phone number as a sender. To do so, click on the Add Senders button and follow the instructions.
3. Assign the Messaging Service to a Notify Service
The next step is to associate the Messaging service with a Notify Service. Twilio Notify is a feature that enables you to reach a single customer or many customers through their preferred channel with a single API call. The advantage of this feature in this situation is that it increases the chance of completing the task within 30 seconds.
Notify Services also allow you to divide your data based on specific use cases. It is possible to separate your Messaging Services based on environment (dev, staging, prod) by allocating them to different Notify Services.
From your Twilio console, go to Explore Products and click on Notify.
After that, navigate to Notify → Services from the Twilio Console and click the plus sign to create a new Notify Service.
Let’s name it “Bulk Notification.” Click on the red Create button to move on.
Once redirected to the configuration page, assign the Messaging Service SID via the dropdown and click Save.
After you have defined the Notify Service, a SID will be generated for you.
Then, enter that in the WP SMS Plugin → Settings → Gateway → Notify SID
Troubleshooting
Here are some solutions to resolve issues you faced with Twilio & WP SMS:
- Ensure you are not using a trial Twilio account
- Confirm that the number appears in your verified numbers list in the Twilio console. If not, verify it from that page first.
- Test sending SMS with or without the mobile country code (You can empty the country code on the Setting → General as well)
- Double-check that the destination numbers are correct
- Verify that the sender-id is correct and that you have sufficient credit in your account balance.
If you are still having problems sending SMS, contact us.