SMS Notifications

SMS Notifications allow you to send SMS messages to keep your customers informed about the invoice and payments. This is one of the fastest ways to update them.

Enable SMS Notifications

You can enable SMS notifications for your organisation by one of the following methods:

• Use the free SMS messages option
• Buy SMS credits from Zoho Invoice (Recommended)
• Integrate with Twilio, a third party SMS service provider

To enable SMS Notifications for your organisation:

• Go to Settings > SMS Notifications.
• Click Use Free SMS to get three free SMS messages and test the feature.
  OR
  Click Buy Credits to purchase SMS credits from Zoho Invoice. Each credit costs ₹75 and you will be able to send 300 messages for one credit. When you purchase, you’ll have to purchase a minimum of 5 credits.
  OR
  Click Configure in the Twilio band under External Service Providers and integrate with Twilio.

SMS notifications for your organisation will be enabled as soon as you perform any one of the actions mentioned above. Next, you can configure the SMS notifications that can be sent from your organisation.

DLT Registration and SMS Template Configuration

Distributed Ledger Technology, also known as DLT, is a block-chain based registration system. According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), it is mandatory for businesses to register with DLT to send SMS to customers in order to avoid spam.

• Register with a DLT operator
• Configure DLT details in Zoho Invoice
• Register SMS Template in DLT
• Configure SMS Template in Zoho Invoice

Register With a DLT Operator

You will first have to register yourself as an enterprise with any of the following DLT operators: Vodafone Idea Ltd, Videocon, BSNL, Jio, Airtel or Tata Teleservices to send SMS notifications to your customers. Here’s how:

• Log in to the preferred DLT operator’s website.
• Select Enterprise.
• Choose No if you have not registered with any other DLT operators.
• Enter the necessary details.
• Upload the documents requested by your DLT operator in the portal.
• Click Submit and you will receive an acknowledgement that the details have been entered correctly.
• You will receive an email with the approval status.

On successful registration, you’ll receive your DLT Registration Number and Sender ID in your email.

Configure DLT details in Zoho Invoice

Once you have successfully registered with a DLT operator, you’ll have to configure the DLT details in Zoho Invoice. Here’s how:

• Log in to your Zoho Invoice organisation.
• Go to Settings > SMS Notifications.
• In the Overview tab, click Configure DLT Registration from the banner.
• Enter the DLT Registration Number and the Sender ID in the following pop-up.
• Click Save.

The details entered here will be cross verified with the details provided by you in the DLT platform. The status of the application will be Pending until it is verified. You’ll receive an email informing if the configuration has been approved or rejected.

Status	Description
Pending	The configuration is yet to be verified.
Approved	The details have been successfully verified with the details in the DLT platform.
Rejected	The configuration has been rejected due to invalid or missing details.

If you want to edit or make any changes to the DLT registration details after approval, you can do it by clicking the Edit DLT Configuration option from the top right corner in the SMS Notifications page.

Register SMS Template in DLT

To send SMS to your customers, you’ll have to register the SMS templates with DLT. If the SMS sent to your customers does not match with the template registered in the DLT platform, the SMS will be barred. Here’s how you can register your SMS template in DLT:

• Log in to the DLT website where you had registered for your Entity ID and Sender ID.
• Go to Templates and click Add New Template.
• Enter the necessary details.

• Enter or paste the message content.

If you want to use a template from Zoho Invoice, you can do so by copying the content from the Message text box in the Configure Template pop-up.

To send dynamic content, add variables.

• Click Submit.

On successful registration, you will receive the Template ID and the SMS Template via email.

Configure SMS Template in Zoho Invoice

Once the DLT registration is configured and the status is approved, you’ll have to configure the registered template in Zoho Invoice. Here’s how:

• Log in to your Zoho Invoice organisation.
• Go to Settings > SMS Notifications
• In the Overview tab, click Configure Templates from the banner.

• Enter the Template ID and SMS Template that was approved in the DLT platform.

If you have not registered the template in DLT, you can do it now and continue configuring the details in Zoho Invoice.

• Click Save

Configure SMS Notifications

In Zoho Invoice, you can configure various types of SMS notifications for your customers. You can send them to your customers manually or automatically based on your settings.

SMS Notification	When can you send them?
Payment Link Details	You can send it to customers when you create a payment link for them.
Customer Balance	You can inform customers about their outstanding balance by clicking the Notify via SMS option in a customer’s overview page.
Estimate Details	You can send it when you’ve created an estimate by clicking the Notify via SMS option under More.
Invoice Details	You can send it when you create an invoice and want to notify via SMS. Based on your preferences, Invoice Creation SMSes are sent automatically for recurring invoices.
Payment Reminder	A Payment Reminder SMS will be sent automatically based on your preferences in Settings > Reminders > Automated Reminders - Invoices.
Payment Thank You	You can send them when you record payment for an invoice. Based on your preferences, a Payment Thank You SMS will be sent automatically when you receive online payments.

You can enable each SMS notification to send them to your customers. Here’s how:

• Go to Settings > SMS Notifications > SMS Templates.
• Click the Toggle button at the right end to enable or disable the corresponding notification.
• Click Change Template to change your SMS template. You can choose from ‘Brief’, ‘Short’ and ‘Detailed’.

By default, SMS notifications will be enabled for all your customers’ primary contact.

Enable SMS Notifications for Contact Persons

SMS notifications are not enabled by default for contact persons of a customer. You have to enable them manually. Here’s how:

• Go to the Contacts module in the left sidebar.
• Select the customer with the contact person, for whom you want to enable the SMS notification.
• Click the Gear icon next to the contact person’s name in the Overview tab.
• Select Enable SMS Notifications.

If you want disable it, you can do so by repeating the above steps.

Disable SMS Notifications for a Contact

You can disable the SMS notification for individual customers if you don’t want to notify them via SMS. This will prevent you from sending an SMS to the primary contact or any of the contact persons associated with that customer.

To disable SMS notifications:

• Go to the Contacts module in the left sidebar.
• Select the contact for whom you want to disable the SMS notification.
• Click More > Disable SMS Notification.

If you want to enable it, you can do it by repeating the above steps.

Disable SMS Notifications for Primary Contact

If you want to disable SMS notifications only for the primary contact, follow the steps below:

• Navigate to Contacts module in the left sidebar.
• Select the customer whose primary contact’s SMS notification you want to disable.
• Click Disable SMS Notification below the primary contact name under the Overview tab.

---

Send SMS Notifications

Based on the SMS notifications you’ve enabled and the contact preferences, SMS will be sent automatically to the respective customers and contact persons in the following cases:

• When you’ve configured the ‘Create and Send Invoice’ or ‘Create, Charge and Send Invoices’ preferences for recurring invoices, Invoice Creation SMS will be sent.
• When you receive online payments from your customers, a Payment Thank You SMS will be sent.

SMS will not be sent if you have not recorded any phone number for the customer or contact persons.

Apart from SMS notifications being sent automatically, you can send them manually. Here’s how:

• Go to the Invoices module in the left sidebar.
• Select the invoice for which you want to send an SMS.
• Click the More option in the top-right corner and select Notify via SMS. You’ll find this option, only if you’ve enabled the invoice creation notification and have not disabled SMS Notification at contact level.

• Check the phone numbers to which the SMS is sent and preview the SMS message.

Note: If your SMS contains special characters, then each SMS notification will be considered as two messages.

• Click Send SMS.

The SMS notification will be sent immediately and the status of the SMS will be updated in the transaction history and contact activities.

Also, you can send the Payment Thank You SMS manually, if you’ve collected the payment offline and are recording it manually. Here’s how:

• Go to the Invoices module in the left sidebar.
• Select the invoice for which you want to record the payment.
• Click the Record Payment button in the top bar.
• Check the option Notify via SMS to thank the customer via SMS for the payment.
• Click Record Payment and the SMS will be sent.

---