How Do I Send SMS Notifications From WooCommerce?
You can send WooCommerce SMS notifications using Krom Automation’s free HTTP Request action connected to Twilio. When an order is created or completed, a workflow fires an API call to Twilio, which delivers the SMS within seconds.
No Pro upgrade is required for the core setup. If you want a scheduled daily low-stock digest or an incoming webhook from an external service, that does require Krom Automation Pro.
Most WooCommerce SMS plugins wrap a single gateway in a dedicated interface and charge a monthly fee on top of what you pay your SMS provider. Krom Automation takes a different approach: it treats SMS as one output among many, handled by the same visual workflow builder you use for email, Slack, and Google Sheets. You configure the Twilio call once, save it as a workflow, and every relevant order event triggers it automatically.
This guide covers the full setup, Twilio connection details, customer and admin notification patterns, low-stock alerts, message character limits, opt-out wording, and compliance requirements. Browse the full feature list to see what else the same plugin handles beyond SMS.
Quick Summary
| Goal | Plugin needed | SMS provider | Approximate cost per SMS (US) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer order confirmation | Krom Automation Free | Twilio | $0.0079 |
| Admin new-order alert | Krom Automation Free | Twilio | $0.0079 |
| Shipping update to customer | Krom Automation Free | Twilio | $0.0079 |
| Low-stock alert to owner | Krom Automation Free | Twilio | $0.0079 |
| Scheduled daily stock digest | Krom Automation Pro | Twilio | $0.0079 per recipient |
| Incoming webhook from 3PL | Krom Automation Pro | Twilio | $0.0079 |
Twilio pricing above is current as of mid-2026 for US long-code numbers. Prices vary by country and number type.
You pay Twilio directly. Krom Automation charges nothing per message at any tier.
What SMS Provider Should I Use With WooCommerce?
Three providers work well with Krom Automation’s HTTP Request action: Twilio, Vonage, and ClickSend. All three expose a REST API that accepts a POST request with your credentials, the recipient number, and the message body. The differences are pricing, reliability reputation, and how much documentation exists for each.
- Twilio charges approximately $0.0079 per outbound SMS in the US, with a $1/month number rental fee. It has the largest developer community, the most detailed API docs, and the best error logging. This is the provider we recommend for most setups.
- Vonage (formerly Nexmo) charges roughly $0.0065 to $0.009 per SMS depending on country. The API is similar to Twilio. The dashboard is less polished, but the pricing can be marginally cheaper at volume.
- ClickSend charges from approximately $0.0086 per SMS in the US and offers a more consumer-friendly dashboard. It suits store owners who prefer a UI over raw API calls.
For a store sending 500 order-confirmation SMS messages a month, the cost difference between Twilio and Vonage is under $2. Choose based on your team’s comfort with each provider’s documentation, not on marginal per-message savings.
How Do I Connect Twilio to WooCommerce With Krom Automation?
The connection runs through Krom Automation’s HTTP Request action, which supports POST calls with JSON bodies and custom headers. Full setup details are in the messaging integrations documentation for Twilio, but here is the shape of the workflow.
Before building the workflow, you need three values from your Twilio console: your Account SID, your Auth Token, and the Twilio phone number you purchased. Keep these ready before opening the workflow builder.
- Install Krom Automation from the WordPress.org plugin directory and activate it. See the installation guide if you need help with the first steps.
- Create a new workflow on the visual canvas. Select Order Created or Order Completed as your trigger, depending on whether you want the SMS at purchase or at fulfilment.
- Add an HTTP Request action. Set the method to POST. The Twilio Messages endpoint is
https://api.twilio.com/2010-04-01/Accounts/YOUR_SID/Messages.json. - Set authentication to Basic Auth, with your Account SID as the username and your Auth Token as the password.
- Build the message body using merge tags to inject the customer’s name, order number, and total. The merge tags documentation lists every variable available from WooCommerce order triggers.
- Set the To field to the merge tag that pulls the customer’s billing phone number from the order.
- Test with the workflow simulator before activating. The simulator runs a dry run with no side effects, so no real SMS is sent and no Twilio credit is used.
A dedicated SMS plugin locks you into one gateway. A workflow tool locks you into nothing. When you outgrow Twilio, you change one HTTP Request node and keep every other workflow untouched.
What Should Customer Order Confirmation SMS Messages Say?
An order confirmation SMS has one job: reassure the customer that their purchase went through and give them a reference number. Keep it under 160 characters so it sends as a single segment and you pay one message fee. Going over 160 characters splits the message into two segments and doubles the cost for that send.
A template that fits within 160 characters:
- Trigger: Order Created
- Message: “Hi [first name], your order #[order number] for $[total] is confirmed. We’ll text you when it ships. Reply STOP to opt out.”
- Character count: approximately 120 characters with typical values filled in
For a shipping update, use the Order Status Changed trigger with a condition branch that fires only when the new status equals “Completed” or a custom “Shipped” status. The conditions and branching documentation explains how to add a Yes/No path so the SMS fires only on the status you care about, not every status change.
How Do I Send Admin Alerts for New Orders, Low Stock, and Failed Payments?
Admin alerts are simpler than customer messages because you control the recipient number and never need merge tags for a phone field. The workflow trigger determines when you get the alert, and the HTTP Request action sends the text to your own number.
Three admin alert patterns worth setting up:
- New order alert: Trigger on Order Created, send a single SMS to the owner’s number with the order total and customer name. Useful for low-volume stores where every order matters. For high-volume stores, consider the Slack notification approach instead, which avoids SMS costs at scale.
- High-value order alert: Same trigger, but add a condition that fires only when the order total exceeds a threshold, for example $500. This avoids notification fatigue without missing the orders that actually need attention. See the high-value order notification guide for the exact condition setup.
- Low-stock alert: WooCommerce fires a stock update when inventory drops below your threshold. A Krom Automation workflow listening for that event can send an SMS to the owner or a purchasing manager within seconds of the stock level falling.
An SMS about a $2,000 order arriving while you’re away from your desk is worth far more than its $0.0079 cost. The question is not whether to set it up, but which threshold triggers it.
For failed payment recovery, the workflow triggers on a WooCommerce order status change to “Failed”, sends an SMS to the owner flagging the order, and optionally sends a recovery email to the customer. You can add a delay of 30 minutes before the customer email, giving the payment processor time to retry before you contact the buyer.
What Are the SMS Character Limits and Why Do They Matter to Your Bill?
Standard SMS encoding (GSM-7) allows 160 characters per segment. If your message uses any character outside the GSM-7 set, including curly quotes, emoji, or certain accented characters, the encoding switches to UCS-2, which reduces the limit to 70 characters per segment. A 160-character message with one emoji becomes three segments and costs three times as much.
Practical rules for keeping messages to one segment:
- Write in plain ASCII. Avoid smart quotes, em dashes, and special currency symbols other than $.
- Keep the body under 140 characters to leave room for opt-out text like “Reply STOP to opt out” without triggering a second segment.
- Test with a character-count tool before saving the workflow template. Twilio’s Messaging Helper in their console shows the segment count in real time.
- Use merge tags carefully. A customer whose name contains an accented character, for example “André”, may push you into UCS-2 unexpectedly if you do not sanitise the output.
SMS vs. Email vs. WhatsApp: Which Channel Should I Use for What?
Every competitor article assumes SMS is always the right choice. It is not. The channel should match the urgency, the audience, and what you can afford to maintain.
| Situation | Best channel | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Order confirmation at purchase | Email + optional SMS | Email is free per send; SMS adds reassurance for high-anxiety buyers |
| Shipping update with tracking link | SMS | Links in SMS have higher click rates than email for time-sensitive info |
| Admin alert for new order | SMS or Slack | SMS is faster; Slack is cheaper at volume and keeps the thread |
| Admin alert for high-value order | SMS | Phone interruption is warranted for a significant transaction |
| Abandoned cart reminder | Email first, SMS if unanswered | SMS feels intrusive as the first contact; email is expected |
| Low-stock alert to team | SMS or Slack | Depends on whether the purchasing team monitors Slack during business hours |
WhatsApp Business API is a third option, especially for stores with international customers in markets where WhatsApp adoption is high. The Krom Automation HTTP Request action can reach the WhatsApp Business API the same way it reaches Twilio. The compliance picture is different, though, and covered in the section below.
What Do I Need to Know About SMS Compliance and Opt-Out?
This is the section most SMS plugin guides skip. Sending promotional or transactional SMS without proper consent can result in fines that dwarf any revenue the messages generate. The rules differ by region but the principles are consistent.
In the United States (TCPA): You must have prior express written consent before sending any marketing SMS. Transactional messages (order confirmations, shipping updates) have a lower bar, but you still need a clear disclosure at the point of sale that the customer will receive texts. Every message must include opt-out instructions.
“Reply STOP to opt out” is the standard phrase. Twilio automatically processes STOP replies and blocks further messages to that number.
In the European Union (GDPR): SMS is personal data processing. You need a lawful basis, which for marketing means explicit consent. Transactional messages can rely on the legitimate interests basis if they are genuinely necessary to fulfil the contract.
A checkbox at checkout reading “Send me order updates by SMS” covers both requirements. Do not pre-tick it.
Three things every WooCommerce store sending SMS should have in place:
- A checkbox at checkout, clearly labelled, that is unchecked by default, giving explicit consent for SMS communication.
- Opt-out instructions in every message body, consuming roughly 25 characters of your 160-character budget.
- A record of when each customer consented, stored in user meta or your CRM. Krom Automation’s Update User Meta action can write a consent timestamp to the customer’s profile the moment they opt in.
How Does Krom Automation Handle Workflow Reliability for SMS?
Krom Automation runs all workflow executions through Action Scheduler, the same background processing library WooCommerce itself uses. This means SMS workflows run in the background and never slow down the customer’s checkout page. Execution logs capture every step, including the HTTP response code Twilio returns, so you know within seconds whether the message was accepted or rejected.
If the Twilio API returns an error, Krom Automation flags the execution as failed and sends a failure notification by email to the site administrator. Automatic retry with configurable backoff handles temporary Twilio outages without you needing to resend manually.
One honest constraint: Krom Automation uses WordPress Cron for scheduled delays. On very low-traffic sites where no visitor arrives for several hours, WP-Cron can fire late, which means a delayed SMS might arrive later than configured.
If precise timing matters, configure a real server-side cron job to replace WP-Cron. This affects only delayed steps, not immediate triggers like Order Created, which fire as soon as the event occurs.
For more on what the workflow engine can do beyond SMS, the full explanation of triggers, actions and workflows is worth reading before you build your first flow. Krom Automation also handles WooCommerce Subscriptions triggers, so recurring order SMS can follow the same pattern as one-time orders.
Execution logs that show a Twilio 400 error are more useful than a dedicated SMS plugin that silently drops the message and shows no record of why.
What Does This Actually Cost to Run?
Understanding the total cost requires separating the plugin cost from the provider cost. They are billed by different companies on different schedules.
| Cost item | Monthly cost at 200 orders | Monthly cost at 1,000 orders | Monthly cost at 5,000 orders |
|---|---|---|---|
| Krom Automation (free tier) | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Krom Automation Pro (Basic, 1 site) | $5.75/month (billed yearly at $69) | $5.75/month | $5.75/month |
| Twilio number rental (US) | $1 | $1 | $1 |
| Twilio SMS to customers (US, $0.0079) | $1.58 | $7.90 | $39.50 |
| Twilio SMS to admin (5/day, 150/month) | $1.19 | $1.19 | $1.19 |
| Total (free Krom) | $3.77 | $10.09 | $41.69 |
| Total (Pro Krom) | $9.52 | $15.84 | $47.44 |
Compare that to dedicated SMS plugins that charge $29 to $79 per month before any provider costs. At 1,000 orders a month, you would pay $37 to $87 total with a dedicated plugin versus $10 to $16 with Krom Automation. The difference compounds further at higher volumes.
What Else Can the Same Workflows Do?
Once you have the Twilio HTTP Request node working, you can reuse the same pattern for any other API-based notification. The same workflow builder that sends an SMS can simultaneously update a Google Sheet with the order details, tag the customer in FluentCRM, and send a Slack message to your fulfilment team.
Those are three separate actions on a single trigger, all running in parallel. See how the Google Sheets order sync works alongside the SMS pattern for an example of combining actions.
If your store uses subscription products, the WooCommerce Subscriptions integration adds renewal triggers so you can send an SMS reminder before a card is charged, reducing failed renewal payments before they happen.
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Our Verdict: Who Should Set This Up and Who Should Not
Set up WooCommerce SMS notifications with Krom Automation and Twilio if you run a store where order status matters to customers in real time, where admin alerts would catch problems before customers complain, or where you want SMS as one channel among several rather than the only automation tool on the site. The free plugin handles all the core scenarios. Pro is worth adding if you want scheduled digests, incoming webhooks from a third-party logistics provider, or the Pro integrations for email marketing and CRM tagging in the same workflow.
Do not use this approach if your store sends fewer than 50 orders a month and you have no appetite for connecting an external API. At that volume, a simple WooCommerce order confirmation email is cheaper, simpler, and meets most customers’ expectations. SMS adds real value at higher order volumes or when your customer base has demonstrated they prefer it.
Download the free plugin and build one workflow before committing to anything. The workflow simulator lets you test the Twilio call without spending any SMS credit.
If you are ready to see full plan details and decide whether free covers your store or Pro is worth it, compare the Krom Automation plans before your next order arrives.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the free version of Krom Automation support SMS notifications?
Yes. The free version includes the HTTP Request action, which is all you need to connect to Twilio, Vonage, or ClickSend.
You can send SMS notifications for order created, order completed, and order status changed events without any Pro upgrade. Pro is only required for features like the Schedule trigger or incoming webhooks.
Can I send different SMS messages for different order statuses?
Yes. Create one workflow per status, each using the Order Status Changed trigger with a condition that checks the new status value.
Alternatively, use a single workflow with conditional branches, one branch per status, each sending a different message. The conditions and branching documentation shows how to structure multi-path workflows.
What happens if the Twilio API call fails?
Krom Automation logs the failure with the HTTP response code Twilio returned, sends a failure notification email to the site administrator, and retries automatically with configurable backoff. The per-step audit trail in the execution log lets you see exactly which step failed and why, without guessing.
Do I need to collect customer phone numbers at checkout?
WooCommerce already collects a billing phone number at checkout by default. The merge tag for that field is available in Krom Automation’s WooCommerce order triggers.
You do not need to add a custom field. What you do need to add is an opt-in checkbox for SMS consent, which is a legal requirement in the US under TCPA and relevant under GDPR in the EU.
Can I send MMS or picture messages through this setup?
Twilio supports MMS for US and Canadian numbers. The HTTP Request action can send an MMS by adding a MediaUrl parameter to the POST body alongside the message text.
A low-stock alert with a product image attached is one practical use. Note that MMS costs more than SMS per message, typically $0.0200 per message for US MMS versus $0.0079 for SMS.
Is there a limit to how many SMS workflows I can create?
Krom Automation places no cap on the number of workflows at any tier. You can create separate workflows for order confirmation, shipping update, admin alert, low-stock warning, and any other event without hitting a ceiling. The only cost that scales is what you pay Twilio per message sent.