Tip #3 : Send SMS Reminders for your Subscription Business

Tip #3 : Send SMS Reminders for your Subscription Business

Hello everyone,

As you all know, we are coming up with a tip every week to address specific business scenarios. In continuation to the previous blog, this week we will be seeing how you can use SMS reminders for your Subscription Business.

Using SMS messages for your Subscription Business:

While managing your subscription business, more often than not, you need to keep your customers informed about upcoming renewals, payment reminders and cancellations. By keeping them informed in advance, you can get quicker payments and also retain the customers in the long run. As a business owner, you need to come up with ways to get your message/reminders to the customers in a more quick and efficient way.

Email notifications satisfy such requirements where you could just send out an email to your customers about the necessary upcoming reminders. However, with a contrasting ratio of four mobile devices to one computer, it is evident what our customers are using as their preferred mode of communication. Along with the growing number of smartphone users day by day, you should try to make your business more mobile-friendly. 

Now, wouldn't it be more efficient to keep your customers notified instantly via SMS about their upcoming reminders? Let us see how we can leverage SMS messages to effectively communicate with your customers.

How to set up a Custom SMS workflow for your business?

You can use our Custom Function workflow to integrate with one of the many third party SMS providers to send out your messages. You can choose your SMS provider based on your region or preference.

Since most of the reminders are events triggered, we are going to use event based workflow for this integration. You can choose the event according to your requirement. Few such examples would be new subscription, subscription renewal and subscription cancellation events. As soon as the event occurs, you will have to use the SMS provider's API to send an SMS to the customer with an appropriate message.

Below are few of the third party providers for which we have compiled the custom functions.

1)  Twilio


     Website                    - https://www.twilio.com/

     API Documentation -  https://www.twilio.com/docs/usage/api
     Custom Function      - GitHub Link

2) Text Local


    Website                    - https://www.textlocal.in/

    Custom Function     - GitHub Link


3) SMS Magic


   Website                     - https://www.sms-magic.com/

   Custom Function     - GitHub Link

For this particular blog, I will be explaining how to integrate with Twilio's API.

Obtain Twilio credentials for authentication:

In order to use Twilio's API, a Twilio account is needed. We will follow the simple token-based authentication using Custom variables. All requests to Twilio's REST API requires you to authenticate using the two important authentication parameters namely Account SID and Auth Token. 

Login to https://www.twilio.com/ and get the credentials after signing up. Obtain the Account SID and Auth Token.




Code Explanation:

As previously mentioned, you can refer the code for Twilio integration here. The code is written in Deluge script, which is easily understandable to non-programmers.

1) Initially, we need to paste the Account SID and Auth Token values in the corresponding variables.

2) This snippet of code will be executed after the event which you configure in your custom function. So, construct the SMS message with regards to that context.

3) Once that particular event is triggered, we will be hitting an API request to Twilio with the customer's mobile number and the message.

Getting started with the Custom Functions:  


1. Go to Settings -> Automation -> Custom Functions. 


2. Create a new Custom function. Provide a name for the function. 


3. Choose the module and event according to your need.


4. Copy the code which was given above. Do the necessary changes that are required.


5. Save the Custom function and you are good to go.

Found this useful? Try it out and let us know how it works! If you have questions, do not hesitate to ask!


Cheers,

Sasidaran K,
Zoho Subscriptions.

    • Sticky Posts

    • Tip #4 : Refer and Earn Workflow system for your Subscription Business

      Hello everyone, We've been coming up with a tip every week to address specific business scenarios which can be implemented for your business. In continuation to the previous post, this week we will be seeing about how you can implement the Refer and Earn Workflow system to acquire more customers. Why are Referrals important? Customer Acquisition is crucial for any business to sustain itself in a constantly evolving market. It involves persuading new consumers to purchase your products. Customers

    • Tip #2 - Cancellation of Offline Subscriptions based on the Expected Payment Date

      Hello everyone, As you all know, we are coming up with a custom function workflow every week to address specific business scenarios. In continuation of this previous blog, this week we will be seeing about Cancellation of Offline Subscriptions based on the Expected Payment Date. Business Scenario: In general, for any business, the customers make payments via online as well as offline. In case of subscription where the automatic collection of charge is enabled (aka online subscription), the customer's

    • Tip #3 : Send SMS Reminders for your Subscription Business

      Hello everyone, As you all know, we are coming up with a tip every week to address specific business scenarios. In continuation to the previous blog, this week we will be seeing how you can use SMS reminders for your Subscription Business. Using SMS messages for your Subscription Business: While managing your subscription business, more often than not, you need to keep your customers informed about upcoming renewals, payment reminders and cancellations. By keeping them informed in advance, you can

    • Tips And Tricks - Announcement

      Hello everyone, Every business is unique and each of them follows a specific workflow. While managing your customers' subscriptions with Zoho, you might have some needs unique to your business. Custom Functions helps you address such needs. This is a start to a series of posts, where we will be coming up with a custom function workflow every week that addresses specific business scenarios. Watch this space for further updates! Also, if you have any specific business scenario which needs to be addressed,

    • Tip #6 : Accessing external URLs from Zoho Subscriptions

      Hello everyone, We have been sharing a tip every week to address specific business scenarios which you can implement for your subscription business. Last week, we shared a tip about implementing the Approval Workflow system. This week, let's look at how you can access external URLs with the help of Custom Link. Business Scenario: Every business functions differently and has its unique requirements. At times, businesses might want to access other websites or applications by appending specific information

    • Recent Topics

    • 10/22 15時〜 オンラインもくもく会のお知らせ | Zoho ワークアウト

      ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。コミュニティグループの中野です。 10月22日（木）開催の「Zoho ワークアウト」をご案内します。 Zoho ワークアウトは、参加者それぞれが取り組みたいテーマを持ち寄り、ユーザー同士で交流しながら、 設定・検証・運用改善を進めるオンラインの「もくもく会」です。 「試してみたい設定があるけれど、なかなか時間を取れない」 「一人で進めていると、途中で手が止まってしまう」 「他のユーザーの活用方法や工夫を聞いてみたい」 そんな方は、Zoho ワークアウトで一緒に取り組んでみませんか？

    • Reporting tags associated to Project in Zoho books?

      Hi, I know you can add reporting tags to contact, articles and transactions. Is it possible to add reporting tags to Project. We Zoho reports I would be able to generate reports by tags. Sometimes tags for a contact is different for projects (ie Projects

    • Reporting Tags in Profit and Loss Reports Analysis

      Hello Community and Zoho Books Product Team, I would like to highlight a limitation I encountered with Reporting Tags in Zoho Books. Reporting Tags Not Applying to Automated Inventory Journal Postings from Product Invoices. For inventory product invoices,

    • Spam Quarantine: Manage suspicious emails in Zoho Mail

      When an email is quarantined by spam processing, it need not always be blocked right away. Some emails may be marked incorrectly, or may need to be reviewed before a final decision is made. The Spam Quarantine feature in the Zoho Mail Admin Console gives

    • What is the difference between "Reply" and "Public Comment" in a ticket?

      Hey, my company is thinking about switching to Zoho Desk but we do not understand the difference between the "Reply" and the "Public Comment" feature. When should we use which? And why? What is the difference between them? Thank you for your help! Kindest

    • Comments Vs. Replies

      I'm curious as to the difference between a "Reply" and a "Comment" on a ticket. It appears that "Replies" are what's used to determine response time SLA's and there are also used to automatically re-open tickets. I'm just trying to understand the key differences so I can educate both our clientele and our back-end users on which function/feature to use to better improve the ticket lifecycle. If anyone has any insight it would be appreciated. Thanks!

    • What's New in Zoho Inventory | July & August 2026

      Hello users, The July and August 2026 releases bring a range of new features and improvements across the product. From the Nigeria Edition and Super Admin enhancements to Sri Lanka IRD-compliant invoicing, Loyalty Program Management, and improvements

    • Forms data export bug

      The export csv with a password has changed for the worst. It is less secure by not allowing complex passwords. Just last week and the last year (at least) I was able to use a complex, secure password. Export CSV moreover doesn't even work if I use a simple

    • Fax and email questions

      Does Zoho offer faxing capability? If so, how to do it? And, why is has my email inbox stopped in 2019? There are no more emails since then. Also if I delete all of those emails, will they delete it from my gmail account (I'm linked to a gmail email address).

    • Create a single record from multiple images with ICR

      Hello all, Zia's Intelligent Character Recognition can now create a single record from multiple images based on the configured ICR rule. Users can upload up to three images at once, such as an ID, a passport, and a business card, and Zia will extract

    • How to present an Analytic on a CRM dashboard and filter it on loginuser id

      How to present an Analytic on a CRM dashboard and filter it on loginuser id? I want to display an Analytics pivot table (as a widget) on a CRM dashboard and have the pivot filtered on the loginuser. I want additional user-filters available, such as date,

    • CNIL - Suivi de Pixel

      Bonjour à tous, À la suite de la nouvelle recommandation de la CNIL sur les pixels de suivi dans les e-mails, savez-vous si Zoho Campaigns permet : de conditionner le suivi des ouvertures au consentement de chaque contact ; de proposer un lien permettant

    • Live connection to DS files in Zoho Creator / ChatGPT

      As an idea, we are using ChatGPT to build with Zoho Creator (outside of Zia), which is works brilliantly to assist write deluge, provide test suggesitons etc. Currently we are uploading the DS files which are very point in time, it would be great to have

    • Setting default From address when replying to request

      At the moment, if I want to reply to a request, the From field has three options, company@zohosupport.com, support@company.zohosupport.com, and support@company.com. The first two are really internal address that should never be seen by the customer and

    • Zoho Payroll: Product Updates - Q3, FY2026

      Over the past quarter, Zoho Payroll has added several updates to make payroll easier to process, configure, and manage. The most notable improvements cover bank integrations, reimbursement support, payslip enhancements, employee exit documentation, payroll

    • Convert OLM to PST on Mac and Windows Using Free Methods

      When your Outlook for Mac data is stored in an OLM file and you want to use it with Outlook for Windows, the simplest approach to transfer your emails and other mailbox information is to convert the OLM file to a PST file. OLM is primarily associated

    • Add Payment Information (like Bank details)

      I am using the Free plan of Zoho Books. I need to add the bank details/ UPI details on the invoice. How can I do that. I have added the details in the Bank Section.

    • Placeholders for Multi-Level Discount

      I am using custom templates for Invoices and all other modules. Since i have activated multi-level discount (an early-access feature from zoho) "discount at line-item and transaction level", I need placeholders for using them in my custom templates. With

    • Running Balance

      Please add automatically Running balance in ledger view. Taking lot of time, every time to add manually

    • Accounting on the Go Series-47: Effortless GSTIN Management- Auto Populate TaxPayer Details in Zoho Books Mobile App

      Hello everyone, Welcome back! Today, we're focusing on a feature specifically designed for our Indian users in the Zoho Books-Indian edition, particularly those who deal with GST compliance regularly. We understand the importance of accurate and efficient

    • URGENT: Stalled DC Migration >72 Hours - Records Locked [Ticket #: 167813877

      The DC migration was started on 1st October at 6 pm and we were informed migration period as 48 hours but even after more than 72 hours, the migration seems still in progress. We sent two emails to check the status but no responses. We need the migration

    • Zoho Webinar - Sharing System Audio (NOT AVAILABLE)

      Hi, We are having a serious problem with Zoho Webinar. In the webinars we run, we very often share the audio from a video we are streaming directly from YouTube or other applications. Until recently we were using Zoom, but as we use other Zoho applications

    • Cash Recipt

      You can not receive cash more than 10000 from one party in a day and two lakh in a year. In statement you can't differentiate cash or bank receipt. zoho does not support this

    • Need to set workflow or journey wait time (time delay) in minutes, not hours

      Minimum wait time for both Campaigns workflows and Marketing Automation journeys is one hour. I need one or the other to be set to several minutes (fraction of the hour). I tried to solve this by entering a fraction but the wait time data type is an integer

    • Concern Regarding Stock Validation in Inventory Management

      Hi Zoho Team, We would like to highlight a concern regarding stock validation in the inventory system. As per standard inventory management practices, if the stock level is zero, the system should not allow users to create a shipment, packing slip, or

    • Change from OST to PST on Windows 10/11 Using Free Method

      There is an advantage in converting OST files to PST format if you need to access your Outlook data on a different computer, want to keep a local copy, or are trying to recover items from an old Outlook profile. The good point is that users of Windows

    • Important: Whitelist new proxy outgoing IPs for IN, SA, and UAE data centers

      Hello everyone, We're expanding the pool of proxy outgoing IP addresses for our IN, SA, and UAE data centers by introducing new IPs alongside the existing ones. This helps ensure high availability, optimal load distribution, and redundancy for outgoing

    • Zoho Flow Custom Function Issue

      I have a use case where I will be needing to post data to a wordpress site. Specifically to a custom post type with a bunch of ACF fields. I have setup trigger event correctly for Tookan and can receive data from the webhook. In order to post the data

    • How to Open .mbox file in Gmail with Attachments?

      Gmail offer users to backup INBOX folder in .mbox file format via Google Takeout Feature. Howver there is no such option to Restore Gmail MBOX. Thus I would like to suggest you to choose an alternate approach i.e. MBOX to Gmail Wizard. This utility will open .mbox file in Gmail with attachments.  Steps to open MBOX file in Gmail are; Run MBOX to Gmail Wizard Click Add File and add .mbox file. Enter your Gmail login credentials. Click Convert button. Finished! This is how you can open MBOX file in

    • Custom Validation for On Duty

      Hi Team, We would like to have custom validation support for the On Duty form in the Attendance module. We need to apply some restrictions, such as: Limit the number of On Duty requests per month. Restrict On Duty requests on selected days. Allow employees

    • Integrating FaceBook Ads into MarketingHub

      I would like to track the clicks from a FB Ad campaign into my website via marketinghub.  I cannot currently add a MH form directly to my FB page, as I receive an error telling me I need at least 2000 subscribers on FB to be allows to do that (yikes!) What is the best way to set up MH so I can track which FB are converting well?  I know I can reach the FB reports directly, but these do not track conversions from the MH forms on my website. Best regards, Joe

    • Migration from GoDaddy to Zohomail

      Hi All, I am trying to migrate all the emails from Go Daddy to zohomail account using the migration tool. i tried with imap method, its not working. when i try it with pop method, then only the emails from the go daddy account inbox ( not other folders), is getting transferred, how can i transfer all the folders in the email account from go daddy to zoho. and also the emails which are coming from go daddy are like new unread emails ( is there any where i can differentiate from read and unread emails)

    • How do I migrate from Office 365 to Zoho Mail?

      Check out Advik Email Migration Wizard, this software is specially developed to move mailboxes from Office 365 to Zoho Webmail. In addition you can migrate from Gmail, Yahoo, Rediffmail and 80+ webmail servers to ZOHO MAIL. Isn't it amazing? This is an all in one email migration solution. Steps to export emails from Office 365 to Zoho Webmail are as follows; Run Advik Email Migration Tool in your system. Select Office 365 as source and enter its login credentials. Select mailbox folders and choose

    • How to Backup Zoho to PST?

      I'm looking for a simple way to backup Zoho Mail emails to PST format. I tried the IMAP method with Outlook, but it seems slow and complicated for large mailboxes. I need a solution that can: Export Zoho emails to PST Preserve attachments and folder hierarchy

    • Shopify connector – product cost ("Cost per item") not synced, so COGS/gross margin can't be calculated

      Hi Zoho Analytics team, I use the native Shopify connector in Zoho Analytics (cloud) to build reporting dashboards for Shopify stores. As far as I can tell, the connector does not sync product cost, so there's no way to calculate Cost of Goods Sold (COGS),

    • Zoho Sprints - Q3 Updates for 2026

      Another quarter, another set of productive features. This time our focus was mainly to simplify in-app navigations and control all your work related activities within Zoho Sprints. We delivered 7 major features and 9 enhancements, which include Zoho Sprints

    • The Social Wall: August 2024

      Hi everyone, We're thrilled to bring you the latest updates, features, and improvements to help you get the most out of Zoho Social. Let's see what was new for us at Social in August. Post documents on LinkedIn You can now reach a lot more people and

    • Free PST Password Recovery Tool

      Recoveryfix PST Password Recovery is a specialized standalone utility designed to instantly unlock encrypted Microsoft Outlook PST files . It provides an efficient way to recover, reset, or entirely remove passwords when access credentials are lost or

    • Cash Flow Statement : Direct Method

      I can not see how can I see the cash flow statement using direct method. AS 3 recommends two formats of cash flow statement. The indirect method is there on Zoho but there report in Direct method. How can I see that by Direct method.

    • ZeptoMail is now Zoho CPaaS!

      ZeptoMail has a new name and it’s expanding beyond email. With ZeptoMail, our focus was simple : help developers and businesses with reliable transactional emails. At the time, email handled a big part of those customer moments. But transactional communication

    • Next Page