Tag: sms campaign

How to Send SMS Messages to Your WordPress Users
Recently, one of our readers asked if it was possible to send SMS messages to their subscribers along with email newsletters.

The answer is yes. You can easily send text messages to your website users by using one of the many SMS plugins and services for WordPress.

In this article, we will show you how to send SMS messages to your WordPress users.

Why Send SMS Messages to Your Users?

Sending SMS messages can be highly effective in bringing back customers to your WordPress website. For the best results, you can combine SMS messages with other marketing tools like an email newsletter, push notifications, and search traffic.

Text messages have a fantastic open rate. Some studies suggest that SMS open rates are as high as 98%.

Compare that with a typical open rate of just 20% for emails, and you can see why SMS messages are becoming a preferred marketing medium.

People also check text messages much more quickly than they check emails. It takes an average of 90 seconds for someone to respond to a text and 90 minutes to respond to an email.

Of course, you don’t want to overdo it. Even when they have opted in, most users won’t want daily texts from you. Even weekly might be too much.

Important: Make sure that you obey the law. Different countries have different legal requirements for text messages, particularly marketing messages.

You might also want to use SMS messages to send receipts or order updates from your WooCommerce store. We will cover how to do that later in this tutorial.

For the sake of this tutorial, we will be using the Brevo platform. However, you can also use other email marketing solutions like Omnisend, HubSpot, and more.

With that being said, let’s take a look at how to send SMS messages using Brevo.

Sending SMS Marketing Messages Using Brevo

Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) is an email marketing service that also allows you to send SMS messages to your subscribers.

To get started, you will need to set up an account with Brevo if you haven’t already got one. On the Brevo website, just click the ‘Sign Up Free’ button to start creating your account.

You can get started creating an account by typing in your email address and password. After that, you will need to click the ‘Create an account’ button.

Alternatively, you can use the buttons to sign up using your Google or Apple credentials.

This will bring you to a screen where you can complete your user profile. Simply fill in the form and then click the ‘Next’ button. There will be several pages to fill in.

During this process, an activation code will be sent to your phone in an SMS message to confirm the number is actually yours.

After that, you will be able to choose one of Brevo’s plans, including a free plan. The different plans include sending emails, starting at 300 emails per day. However, you will need to purchase credits to send SMS messages.

Once you have finished the account setup process, you will see your Brevo dashboard.

Before you can start sending messages, you will need to contact the support team. Go to the Brevo contact page and write a message that includes:
- A request to activate your account
- Your WordPress website’s URL
- A note that you will be sending marketing messages
Once your account has been approved, you will get an email from Brevo. Note that this can take up to 24 hours.

Buying SMS Credits for Your Brevo Account

While you are waiting for your account to be approved, you can continue setting up your Brevo account. The first thing you need to do is activate the SMS app in Brevo.

From the Campaigns dashboard, click the ‘Create a campaign’ button.

You will see the different types of campaigns you can create. Notice that email campaigns are active while the other types of campaigns are not.

You just need to click ‘Activate’ next to SMS.

After a few seconds, you will see a message that the app was enabled successfully, and there will be a tick mark next to ‘SMS’.

You can now close the popup by clicking the ‘X’ icon at the top right.

Now that the SMS app is active, you can purchase some SMS credits.

To do that, you need to click ‘Usage and plan’ at the top of the page. This will show you how many emails and SMS credits you have to use in your campaigns.

Your current SMS balance is 0, so you will need to click the ‘Get more credits’ link.

Brevo defaults to selling you 100 messages at a time. If you like, you can purchase more credits by typing a larger number under ‘Number of messages’.

Note: It costs 1 credit to send a text message in the US, but you will need to pay more than 1 credit per message in other countries.

Once you have selected the number of credits, go ahead and complete your purchase.

Once you have bought your credits, you may need to wait up to 48 hours for them to appear in your account. You might also get an email from Brevo asking you for more details about what type of SMS marketing you plan to do.

This is to help you stay in compliance with SMS laws.

You will need to reply to them with answers to their questions before your credits can be added to your account.

Creating Your SMS Marketing List

In order to send out SMS messages, you will need to import your contact list.

You can get started by clicking the ‘Contacts’ tab on the left. Or if you are still looking at the Campaigns Dashboard, then you can click the ‘>’ arrow next to ‘Total contacts’.

This will display a list of all your contacts. Right now, you will be the only contact on the list.

Now you can click the ‘Import contacts’ button at the top of the page.

This will take you to the ‘Import options’ page. You will be given two options for importing your contacts.

You can either upload a .csv file from your computer or you can copy and paste contacts line by line. Whichever option you choose, Brevo will offer examples to help you.

Important: Your users need to have opted in for SMS marketing messages. You can collect website visitors’ phone numbers and consent using a WordPress form plugin like WPForms or a marketing popup plugin like OptinMonster.

Sending Your First SMS Campaign

Once your credits show up, you can start sending messages.

It’s a good idea to send a test message first so that you know that everything is working correctly. The phone number you use for the test message needs to belong to a contact in your list.

You can use the number you added when you first signed up. Or, if you want to use a different phone number for your test, then you will need to add a test contact in Brevo.

Simply go to the Contacts section in your dashboard and click the ‘Create a contact’ button.

A panel will pop up on the right of the screen where you can create a contact.

You need to fill in your details, including your mobile phone number.

After that, you need to add your test contact to a list.

You can use an existing list or add a new one.

Once you have done that, you need to click the ‘Create’ button at the bottom of the page. You should see a message telling you that the subscriber has been successfully added.

Now you can try sending a test SMS.

First, go to the Campaigns Â» SMS tab in your Brevo dashboard. Next, click either the ‘Create an SMS campaign’ or ‘Create my first SMS campaign’ button.

You can enter whatever you want for your Campaign Name. This isn’t seen by the recipients but should make sense to you when you look at your campaigns in the future.

You should also enter an SMS Sender. This will display for users in certain countries.

If you will be sending SMS messages to customers in the United States, then you must enable the ‘Manage compliance for the United States’ toggle.

This is important because it will help you follow United States laws for text messages.

This will give you two more options to fill in: an organization prefix so that your customers will recognize who the message is from, and unsubscribe instructions.

If customers in the United States or Canada will be receiving this SMS message, then you will also need to click the ‘this form’ link in the orange box to register for a toll-free number and comply with regulations.

Next, enter your SMS message. Beneath the message box, you can see how many characters you have used and how many SMS messages will be sent.

If you use more than 160 characters, then the message will be counted as 2 SMS messages.

At the bottom of the screen, click the ‘Send a test’ button when you are ready.

This will pop up the ‘Send a test’ box.

There is just one field where you should enter your mobile number, which you included when you added yourself as a contact earlier. After that, you need to click the paper airplane button to send the SMS.

You should see a message telling you that your test message has been sent successfully.

Now, check your phone to see if the text has come through. Here’s ours:

If your text hasn’t arrived, wait a minute or two, and it should appear. If not, double-check that you are using the right mobile number.

Once you know that everything’s working, you can continue setting up your campaign. Click the ‘X’ button to close the ‘Send a test’ window, and then click the ‘Next Step’ button in the top right corner of the screen.

Now, you will need to choose the contact list you want the message to go to. If you like, you can select multiple lists.

Just check all the lists you want to use, then click the ‘Next Step’ button.

Your SMS campaign is now ready to send.

You can review the details and change them if you want to, using the ‘Return to this step’ links. Once you are happy, simply click ‘Schedule’ in the top right.

You can either schedule your campaign so that your texts are sent out at a specific time, or you can send the messages immediately.

Just make sure you avoid sending the campaign early in the morning or late at night. Be mindful of time zones, too. Not everyone will remember to turn on Do Not Disturb mode overnight.

Sending SMS Messages to Your WooCommerce Customers

What if you want to send your customers notifications about their orders?

If you have decided to start an online store, then you might want to send text updates as well as emails to your customers.

Sending WooCommerce SMS Notifications Using YITH WooCommerce SMS Notifications

The easiest way to do this is with a plugin like YITH WooCommerce SMS Notifications. This plugin lets you use an SMS gateway, such as Twilio, to send SMS messages to your customers. They receive these texts when their order status changes, such as when it’s dispatched.

You can set up YITH WooCommerce SMS Notifications so that it’s enabled for all customers, or you can let customers opt-in at the checkout.

Also, you can use it to get your own SMS notifications about new orders. This makes it easy to stay on top of things if you are away from your computer.

Sending WooCommerce SMS Notifications Using FunnelKit Automations

If you are looking for an alternative, then you can use FunnelKit Automations to send SMS messages to your WooCommerce customers.

FunnelKit Automations is one of the best marketing automation tools for WooCommerce sites. It allows you to easily set up automated SMS and email campaigns right from your WordPress dashboard.

It comes with pre-built automations for new customers, first orders, post-purchase sequences, shipment tracking notifications, abandoned cart reminders, anniversary coupons, and more. Or, you can create your own workflows using the visual automation builder.

Sending WooCommerce SMS Notifications Using Uncanny Automator

A third option is to use Uncanny Automator to send SMS messages to your WooCommerce customers, and we have written a step-by-step tutorial to show you how. You can learn more in our guide on how to send Twilio SMS notifications from WooCommerce.

We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to send SMS messages to your WordPress users. You may also want to see our guide on how to choose the best business VoIP provider and our expert picks for the best live chat software to grow your sales.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to ourÂ YouTube ChannelÂ for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us onÂ TwitterÂ and Facebook.

The post How to Send SMS Messages to Your WordPress Users first appeared on WPBeginner.
02.08.2023
How to Validate Customer Phone Numbers (2 Ways)
Are you looking for ways to validate your customer’s phone numbers?

Phone number verification helps filter invalid leads before they’re added to your database. This way, you’ll save time and cost by only removing fake or inactive numbers.

In this article, we will show you how to validate customer phone numbers using different ways.

Why Validate Customer Phone Numbers?

If you collect customer phone numbers as part of lead generation, then it is important to validate the contact information.

Sometimes, a user might make an error when entering the phone number, providing a fake number, or the number is no longer active. It’s important to verify this information and make sure that your efforts don’t go to waste.

That’s because you can use a valid phone number to provide customer support through a business phone service, deliver shipping details, order information, marketing and sales-related activities, and more.

Plus, you’ll also reduce costs by removing invalid contact information. This is really useful when you’re using marketing tools to send SMS messages, emails, and other messages, as you’ll save credits.

That said, let’s see how to validate customer phone numbers in WordPress. We’ll cover different methods, so you can click the links below to jump ahead to any section.
- Method 1: Validate Phone Numbers using WP Simple Pay
- Method 2: Validate Phone Numbers using Formidable Forms
Method 1: Validate Phone Numbers using WP Simple Pay

If you’re selling digital products online, then you can verify the customer’s phone number using WP Simple Pay. It is the best Stripe payment plugin for WordPress and allows you to accept online payments without setting up a shopping cart.

The plugin offers a phone number validation feature that confirms if a user has entered the phone number correctly. This way, you can reduce the likelihood of typos and errors.

For this tutorial, we will use the WP Simple Pay Pro plan because it includes the phone number validation feature. However, there is also a free version of WP Simple Pay available.

First, you’ll need to install and activate the WP Simple Pay plugin. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you’ll see the WP Simple Pay setup wizard. Simply click the ‘Let’s Get Started’ button to continue.

On the next screen, you’ll need to enter the license key. You can easily find the key in your WP Simple Pay account area.

After entering the license key, you can click the ‘Activate and Continue’ button.

Next, you must connect your Stripe account with WP Simply Pay.

Go ahead and click the ‘Connect with Stripe’ button to move forward.

You’ll now need to login to your Stripe account and follow the onscreen instructions to connect your account.

Do note that Stripe only works with sites with SSL encryption. Most WordPress hosting services provide free SSL certificates. However, you may also want to see our guide on how to move a website from HTTP to HTTPS.

Once you’ve connected your Stripe account, the setup wizard will ask you to configure the email settings. You can enable options to receive payment receipts, upcoming invoices, and payment notifications.

Go ahead and click the ‘Save and Continue’ button when you’re done.

Now, you’re ready to create a payment form in WP Simple Pay. Simply click the ‘Create a Payment Form’ button.

WP Simple Pay offers multiple form templates to choose from. You can simply add a payment button, donate button, or set up all types of payment forms.

For this tutorial, we will select the ‘Payment Form’ template. You can hover over the template and click the ‘Use Template’ button.

Next, you can edit your payment form.

In the General settings tab, you’ll see options to change the form title, description, form type, payment success page settings, and more.

After that, you can switch to the ‘Payment’ tab.

Here, you will see different settings to edit the pricing options.

You can scroll down to add prices for your products. Plus, there are also settings to choose the subscription type. For instance, you can make it a one-time payment or a recurring subscription.

WP Simple Pay also lets you add different payment methods. You can accept payments through credit/debit cards, ACH direct debit, Aplipay, Klarna, and more.

After that, you can switch to the Form Fields tab to add or remove different fields in your payment form.

By default, WP Simple Pay won’t add the phone number field.

To add the field, simply click the Form Fields dropdown menu and select the ‘Phone’ field. Once you’ve selected it, click the ‘Add Field’ button.

Next, you can expand the Phone field and further customize it, like editing its label and making it a required field.

For phone number verification, make sure that you enable the ‘Offer Smart Phone Number Validation’ option and select the default country.

Aside from that, you can edit other form fields and rearrange their order by simply dragging them up or down.

Once you’re done editing, go ahead and click the ‘Publish’ button.

Next, you can add the payment form on any page or post on your WordPress site.

Simply edit or add a new post or page. Once you’re in the content editor, click the ‘+’ icon and add the ‘WP Simple Pay’ block.

Now, click the dropdown menu in the block to select your payment form. Once that’s done, simply publish or update your page.

You can now visit your website to see the payment form with the phone number validation option.

When a user enters an invalid phone number, they will not be able to move ahead in the form.

Method 2: Validate Phone Numbers using Formidable Forms

Another way to verify your customer’s phone numbers is using Formidable Forms. It is one of the best contact form plugins for WordPress. It offers powerful features and helps you create complex forms, like mortgage calculators.

Formidable Forms lets you add a phone number field to your forms and helps validate the numbers. You can also select a format, so users enter the correct information without making any mistakes. This is really useful if you’re collecting leads or gathering user information on a WordPress blog.

For this tutorial, we will be using the Formidable Forms Pro version because it includes advanced settings for phone validation.

First, you’ll need to install and activate the Formidable Forms Lite plugin, which acts as a base for advanced premium features. For more details, please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you can head to the Formidable Â» Global Settings. Here, you will need to click the ‘Click to enter a license key manually’ link.

After that, simply enter the license key in the box and click the ‘Save License’ button.

You can find the license key in your Formidable Forms account area.

Now, you’re ready to create a new WordPress form.

Next, you can go to Formidable Â» Forms from the WordPress dashboard and click the ‘+ Add New’ button.

After that, Formidable Forms will ask you to select a form template. There are multiple templates to choose from.

For this tutorial, we will use the ‘Contact Us’ form template.

Next, you’ll see the drag-and-drop form builder, where you can edit your contact form.

From the panel on your left, simply drag the ‘Phone’ field and drop it onto the template.

You can now select the Phone form field and further customize it.

For instance, there are options to change its label, make it a required field, and enter CSS classes.

Next, you can open the ‘Advanced’ tab from the panel on your left.

Here, you can set the format for your phone number. This will help users to fill in the contact information correctly. Besides that, there are other options to add placeholder text, edit the field size, add max characters, and more.

Lastly, you’ll need to switch to the ‘Validation Messages’ tab from the left panel.

In this section, you can enter the message that customers will see when they enter an invalid format.

Other than that, Formidable Forms also offers different settings for your WordPress form.

You can switch to the ‘Setting’ tab from the top to view them. For instance, there are options to edit the actions and notifications for your form.

By default, Formidable Forms will send a confirmation message when a user submits a form. Plus, your website admin will also receive an email that a new form has been submitted.

After making changes to the form settings, you can embed in any page or post.

Simply click the ‘Embed’ button at the top. A new window will now open where you’ll need to select an existing page, create a new page, or manually insert the form on your website.

For this tutorial, we will select the ‘Create new page’ option.

Next, you’ll need to enter a name for the new page. Once that’s done, click the ‘Create page’ button.

You should now see a preview of your form in the WordPress block editor.

Go ahead and publish your page. You can visit your website to see the contact form with the phone number validation field.

Now, if someone enters the phone number with an invalid format, they won’t be able to submit the form and will see the validation message.

We hope this article helped you learn how to validate customer phone numbers. You may also want to see our guide on the best live chat software for small businesses and our ultimate guide to WordPress SEO.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to ourÂ YouTube ChannelÂ for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us onÂ TwitterÂ and Facebook.

The post How to Validate Customer Phone Numbers (2 Ways) first appeared on WPBeginner.
29.05.2023