Sending SMS Messages with Twilio and Zapier

Sending SMS Messages with Twilio and Zapier

Zapier is a no-code automation platform that connects thousands of apps together, allowing you to create automated workflows. By integrating Twilio with Zapier, you can automatically send SMS notifications when specific events occur in your favorite apps, whether that's a new form submission, a payment received, or a task completed.

In this post, you'll learn how to integrate Twilio with Zapier to send SMS messages without writing a single line of code. With Twilio Programmable Messaging you can automate text messaging across your entire workflow.

Prerequisites

To follow along with this tutorial, you'll need:

• A free Twilio account
• A free Zapier account
• A Twilio phone number with SMS capabilities
• Your Twilio Account SID and Auth Token

Setting up your Twilio account

Before connecting to Zapier, you'll need to gather your Twilio credentials and ensure you have a phone number ready to send messages.

Finding your Twilio credentials

Log in to your Twilio Console. On your dashboard, scroll down to the Account Info section. Here you'll find two important pieces of information:

• Account SID: A unique identifier for your Twilio account
• Auth Token: Your authentication credential (click Show to reveal it)

Keep these credentials handy as you'll need them when connecting Twilio to Zapier.

Getting a Twilio phone number

When you sign up for a free Twilio trial, you'll receive trial credit to get started. You'll use this credit to get your first phone number:

• In the Twilio Console, navigate to Phone Numbers in the left sidebar
• Click Buy a number
• Select your country and check the SMS capability box
• Click Search to see available numbers
• Choose a number and click Buy

Your Twilio number can send SMS messages to dozens of countries around the world, making it perfect for global communications.

Connecting Twilio to Zapier

Now that your Twilio account is ready, you can connect it to Zapier and send your first SMS message.

Creating a new Zap

Log in to your Zapier account and click the Create Zap button in the top navigation. This opens the Zap editor where you'll configure your automation.

A Zap consists of two main parts: a trigger (the event that starts your automation) and an action (what happens after the trigger). For now, you'll focus on setting up the Twilio action to send an SMS.

Choosing a trigger

Zapier offers thousands of trigger options from different apps. Here are some popular triggers you might use with Twilio SMS:

• New email in Gmail or Outlook
• New form submission in Google Forms or Typeform
• New row in Google Sheets or Airtable
• New lead in Salesforce or HubSpot
• Scheduled time using Zapier's built-in Schedule trigger
• Webhook for custom integrations

For this tutorial, select any trigger that makes sense for your use case. If you're just testing, try using Schedule by Zapier with the Every Day event to send yourself a daily SMS reminder.

Configure your chosen trigger and click Continue.

Adding the Twilio action

After setting up your trigger, you'll add Twilio as the action:

• In the action section, search for and select Twilio
• Choose Send SMS as the action event
• Click Continue

Connecting your Twilio account

When prompted to connect your Twilio account:

• Select Sign in to Twilio
• Enter your Account SID from the Twilio Console
• Enter your Auth Token
• Click Yes, Continue to Twilio

Zapier will verify your credentials and establish the connection.

Configuring the SMS message

Now you'll customize what message gets sent and who receives it:

• From Number: Select your Twilio phone number from the dropdown
• To Number: Enter the phone number that should receive the SMS (use E.164 format: +15551234567)
• Body: Write your message text

You can create dynamic messages by clicking the + icon and inserting data from your trigger. For example, if you're using a form submission trigger, you might write: New form submission from {{Name}}: {{Email}}

Click Continue when you're done configuring your message.

Testing your Zap

Before turning on your automation, test it to make sure everything works:

• Click Test action
• Zapier will send a real SMS message using your configuration
• Check your phone to verify you received the message

If the message arrives successfully, your Zap is working correctly.

Activating your Zap

Once testing is complete:

• Give your Zap a descriptive name
• Toggle the Zap to On

Your automation is now live and will run whenever your trigger fires.

Popular Twilio and Zapier automation ideas

Now that you know how to connect Twilio and Zapier, here are some practical automation ideas to inspire your next workflow:

Customer notifications

Send SMS alerts when important customer events occur, such as new purchases, support ticket updates, or appointment confirmations.

Team alerts

Notify your team via text when critical events happen, like missed calls forwarded from Twilio Voice, new leads in your CRM, or server downtime alerts.

Form responses

Forward important form submissions to your phone instantly, perfect for time-sensitive inquiries or lead notifications.

Deployment notifications

Send SMS alerts when your CI/CD pipeline completes, whether from GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, or other deployment tools. Get notified immediately when builds fail or succeed.

Be sure to explore Zapier's template library which includes a vast selection of pre-built workflows that work with Twilio.

Troubleshooting

Phone number format errors

Twilio expects phone numbers to be in E.164 format, beginning with '+'. If you receive errors about invalid phone numbers, check that your numbers follow this format:

• Correct: +15551234567
• Incorrect: (555) 123-4567

The E.164 format includes the country code (1 for US/Canada) followed by the area code and number with no spaces or special characters.

SMS delivery issues

If your messages aren't being delivered:

• Verify the recipient phone number is correct and in E.164 format
• Check your Twilio account balance
• Trial accounts can only send messages to verified numbers
• Review Twilio's SMS delivery documentation for detailed delivery status information

Next steps

You've successfully connected Twilio and Zapier to send SMS messages. From here, you can:

• Learn about Twilio's other messaging channels, including WhatsApp and MMS
• Create multi-step Zaps that combine multiple actions
• Review Zapier's automation best practices to optimize your workflows

Wrapping up

You've learned how to integrate Twilio with Zapier to send SMS messages without writing code! You connected your Twilio account to Zapier, configured an SMS action, and learned about popular automation scenarios. This no-code approach makes SMS automation accessible to anyone, enabling you to build powerful messaging workflows in minutes. For more advanced use cases, check out the Twilio Programmable Messaging documentation and explore Zapier's template library.

Dylan Frankcom is a Python Software Engineer on Twilio's Developer Voices team. He's passionate about building tools that help developers learn, create, and ship faster. You can reach him at dfrankcom [at] twilio.com, find him on LinkedIn, or follow him on Github.