Prerequisites

• A Premium Plan of Zoho Bookings - Pricing Page.
  

• A Twilio Subscription
  
• You need at least one number to send messages from. It can be a short code, your personal number, a local number, or anything else. Twilio charges monthly for phone numbers. Check out Twilio's pricing page for more details.
  

• Since Twilio uses a pay-as-you-go model, there are no monthly commitments (except the sender number). The minimum recharge value is $20, and you can use it until the credits expire - Learn more about Twilio's pricing model here.
  

Things to Know Before Using Twilio

• You can share your Twilio subscription amongst multiple admins (if required).
  

• Twilio is responsible for everything except configuring SMS text (You can configure this inside Zoho Bookings).
  

• Both single and dual way communication is possible with Twilio
  

• Using Twilio, you can send messages across borders.
  

• Case 1: When you send messages from a US number to an Indian number, sender IDs might change. It ensures the deliverability of messages.
  

• However, reply messages from those recipients will not be routed back to your Twilio Number. You can read more about it here.
  

• Case 2: SenderIDs don't change when the sender and the recipient numbers belong to the same country.
  

• Twilio charges for text messages on a segment basis. (1 segment = 160 Characters). For instance, if you send an SMS with 200 characters, you'll be charged for two SMS credits - Learn more about it here.
  

• To find the number of SMS you'll be able to send with your top-up, use this formula:
  

• Number of SMS that can be sent = (Top Up Value - Phone Number Price)/ Message Per SMS
  

• Let's assume you belong to the US and recharge for $20. You've also opted for a long code that costs $1.16 (with carrier fees), the equation would look like
  

• Number of SMS that can be sent* = ($20 - $1.16)/ ($0.0079) = 2200.
  

• You'll be able to send approximately 2200+ SMS with this. (If you don't buy additional phone numbers in the US)
  

• Note - The calculation is only an approximate estimation of the number of messages that you can send. This is because factors like carrier fees, and per-message rate change often and vary widely across different service providers.
  

• Twilio credits are one-off amounts that don't expire until you use them.
  

• Your Twilio account will get suspended once your account balance reaches zero. To avoid this, Twilio sends a notification to your email requesting you to refill your funds when the balance hits $5.
  

• Another way to prevent your account from hitting zero you can set up an auto-recharge trigger for a minimum of $10. When your balance hits $10, you can automatically set it up to top up your account. Check out this page for setting up automatic payment triggers.
   

A2P 10 DLC Registration (only if you wish to send messages to the US)

• If you send messages to the US, you should register for A2P 10 DLC. (Application to Person 10 Digit Long Code messaging protocol)
  

• A2P 10DLC is a secure way to communicate with businesses and ensures that the messages are relevant to the recipients. We highly advise you to register for A2P 10 DLC Protocol as numbers without it will incur higher fees and even service disruptions from June 1, 2023. This is to comply with US messaging regulations. You can learn more about it here.
  

• This registration will cost a one-time fee - Read more about it here.
  

• A2P 10 DLC registration is only possible with a Twilio premium subscription and not for trial accounts.
  

• To do this, navigate to Phone Numbers > Manage > Active Numbers > Click on a Number.
  

• Under Messaging Configuration, click on 'Go to 10DLC registration.'
  

• Depending on whether you have an EIN (Tax ID) or not, you can register for the corresponding option. Check out this page for more details.
  

Configuring Twilio with Zoho Bookings

• 'My first Twilio account' is the account name of your Twilio SMS account. If you have multiple Twilio SMS accounts you can navigate it from here
  

• The Phone numbers tab helps you to
  
• Manage all your Phone numbers
  
• Buy new Numbers
  
• Release a Phone number
  

• When you sign up for a Twilio account, you'll get $15.50. You can get a trial number using this to test their configurations before opting for a premium plan.
  

Editing Your Twilio Connection

Configuring SMS Notifications

• Booked
  
• Rescheduled
  
• Canceled
  
• Marked As Completed
  
• Marked As No Show
  

1. Make sure that the checkbox is enabled corresponding to the booked notification in the customer tab. It ensures that the customer receives an SMS notification when an appointment is booked.
   

SMS Customization Recommendations

• Since each message can accommodate only 160 characters, we recommend keeping your message crisp. Include vital info like appointment date, time, and business name.
  

• Avoid using emojis in your sms. As a single emoji consumes a lot of characters.
  

• We recommend you have your entire message length from 160 to 320 characters (i.e., 1 to 2 messages per message) to avoid consuming too many message credits for a single SMS.