1. In a nutshell 

You can automate sending text notifications and reminders for your appointments to both Bookings users and customers by integrating a SMS gateway in Zoho Bookings.

2. Feature availability

• Available for premium plan.
• Roles

• Super admins and admins can setup the integration
• Other users cannot setup the integration; they will receive the SMS notification if it is configured by the admin
  
  

3. Overview

Zoho Bookings allows you to connect with any one of the below SMS gateways to send SMS notification and reminders to both customer and user:

• Twilio 
• Clickatell 
• Hoiio 
• ClockworkSMS 
• ScreenMagic 
• Nexmo
  
• MessageMedia 
  

Key benefits of this integration

• Sends automated SMS messages to notify both customers and users 
• Notifies when an appointment is booked, rescheduled, canceled, completed, or marked as no-show
• Reminds customers of the upcoming appointment by sending reminder SMS.
• Sends more advanced alerts through the workflow feature. 

4. Steps to integrate SMS gateway

Prerequisite

• This integration requires that you have a suitable plan in the respective SMS gateway. 

4.1 Integrate SMS gateway

1. Click the Admin Center icon  in the top-right corner of Bookings. Select Most Popular under Integrations. 
   
   
2. Click SMS in the left pane and select the required SMS gateway, then click Connect. A pop-up will appear.
   
   
3. Enter the details in the pop-up shown. You can get those details when you login to your respective SMS gateways. 
   Note: Details will vary for the different SMS gateways.
   
   
4. Click Save, and your gateway will be configured.

4.2 Enable SMS notifications in event types

For event types that require to send text notifications, you need to enable SMS notification and set the required text message. 

1. Switch to the required workspace by clicking the workspace name under the Bookings icon  on top left.
2. Click Event Types on the left sidebar, then select the required event type. 
   
   
3. Click the Notification Preferences tab, then select SMS. Choose between To Customer or To user.
   
   
4. Enable the respective actions for SMS notifications and reminders. Learn more about configuring SMS messages
   
   
   
   

Perform the above step for all the required event types and your SMS integration will be all set. 

Ensure that the length of the SMS message is under the limits of your SMS gateway.

5. What to expect after integration

After the integration, SMS messages and reminders will be automatically sent to the customers and/or users based on the actions (Booked, Rescheduled, etc) you've configured and for the configured event types. For each event type, you can configure SMS notifications separately for different actions.

Furthermore, the SMS message can also be edited and personalized for each event types.

6. Disable integration 

You can disable the SMS integration, which retains the integration details but makes it inactive. Please note that the SMS settings under the event types notification preferences are also retained. 
To disable: 

1. Click the Admin Center icon  in the top-right corner of Bookings. Select SMS under Integrations. 
2. Click the required SMS gateway and click the Options icon  .
3. Select Disable.
   

7. Disconnect integration 

You can remove the SMS integration, which deletes all the integration settings. Please note that the SMS settings under the event types notification preferences are still retained. 
To disconnect: 

1. Click the Admin Center icon  in the top-right corner of Bookings. Select SMS under Integrations. 
2. Click the required SMS gateway and click the Options icon .
3. Select Disconnect. SMS alerts will not be sent once disconnected.
   
   
   

8. Points to note

• At any given point in time, only one of the listed SMS gateways can be enabled to send SMS notifications. 

9. Related links

• Email and SMS alerts
• Workflows