The following article outlines how to send a text message (SMS) to course registrants either as a pre-course reminder or a follow-up message.
- To create and use these Zaps you will need to have a Zapier starter plan or above and access multi-step Zaps.
- You'll also need to sign up for ClickSend SMS service. They offer £1 credit when you join so you can test the messaging service.
If a registrant cancels their place you will need to manually cancel the SMS in ClickSend, as this application does not support updates via Zapier.
- In your Zapier Dashboard select Create Zap.
- Search for and select Arlo from the app selector.
- Choose the required registration trigger (New Basic, New Multi-Session, or New Elearning registration) as the Trigger Event and press Continue.
- Choose your account and press Continue.
- Add the following extra information:
- Event Information
- Contact Information
- On the find data step, press Test trigger and Continue.
If Zapier says it cannot find any registrations to display try creating a new registration in your platform, waiting a couple of minutes, and clicking test again.
- Choose Formatter as the new action.
The Formatter allows you to add or remove time to a date and change the way it is structured. Using this you can subtract 7 days and output it in a format CickSend can read to schedule the SMS.
- Select Date/Time for the Choose Action Event.
- Select Add/Subtract Time for the Transformation.
- For the Value select the Event Start DateTime from Arlo's registration information.
- Set the Expression to -7 days.
- The To Format (what it will output the date as) needs to be set to X (at the bottom of the list).
- The From Format (the date format Arlo provides) needs to be set to YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ssZ.
- Click Continue to test the formatter.
- The test should return a result that looks like this.
It's important the date is in this Unix format that just looks like a string of numbers, this is a universal second counter that was started 1 Jan 1970 and is how ClickSend knows when to send the SMS.
- Search for and select ClickSend as the new Action.
- For Choose Action Event select Send SMS and press Continue.
- Select the ClickSend account you'd like to connect to the Zap.
You will need to connect to your ClickSend account if this is the first time you've used it for a Zap.
- For the To field choose the registrant's phone number.
You will need to have set a mobile number as a mandatory field in the checkout so it's available here, you can see how to do this here
When choosing what Arlo information to use Zapier shows you the available fields and allows you to search and select them.
- Create your text message.
A text message is limited to 160 characters per message. You can use more but you will be charged for two messages.
- Use the date you created from the formatter in the previous step to set the schedule for when the text will be sent.
- You can customise further information for the text.
- Set a custom From name.
- Give the text a string so you can filter it easily when reporting.
- Use the Arlo contact ID so you can keep track of what and how many texts a contact has received.
- Once you've entered all the relevant information and a message to the registrant, press Continue
If you want to test the text message, make sure you have either selected a registration who knows they'll get a test text or manually enter your own number instead of using the Arlo registrant's contact field!
- If you tested the text and successfully received it you can move on.
- The Zap is now created and ready to go, all that's left is to give it a name and turn it on.
- In your Zapier Dashboard select Create Zap.
- Search for and select Arlo from the app selector.
- Choose the required registration trigger (Updated Basic, Updated Multi-Session, or Updated Elearning registration) as the Trigger Event and press Continue.
- Choose your account and press Continue.
- Add the following extra information:
- Event Information
- Contact Information
- On the find data step, press Test trigger and Continue.
If Zapier says it cannot find any registrations to display try updating a registration in your platform, waiting a couple of minutes, and clicking test again.
- Choose Filter by Zapier as the next step.
The filter can be set up to trigger only when certain conditions are met, you'll set it to only proceed if a registrants status is Completed (the status for customers who have finished a course).
- Set the rules as below.
- Click Continue.
The filter may not trigger with your sample registration due to Zapier only pulling active or completed registrants in as samples but it will trigger for any actual registration that is completed when the Zap is live.
- Choose Formatter as the next action.
The Formatter allows you to add or remove time to a date and change the way it is structured. Using this you can add 7 days and output it in a format CickSend can read to schedule the SMS.
- Select Date/Time for the Choose Action Event.
- Select Add/Subtract Time for the Transformation.
- For the Value select the Event Finish DateTime from Arlo's registration information.
- Set the Expression to +7 days (or whatever period after the course you would like the SMS to be sent).
- The To Format (what it will output the date as) needs to be set to X (at the bottom of the list).
- The From Format (the date format Arlo provides) needs to be set to YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ssZ.
- Click Continue to test the formatter.
- The test should return a result that looks like this.
It's important the date is in this Unix format that just looks like a string of numbers. This is a universal second counter that was started 1 Jan 1970 and is how ClickSend knows when to send the SMS.
- Search for and select ClickSend as the new Action.
- For Choose Action Event select Send SMS and press Continue.
- Select the ClickSend account you'd like to connect to the Zap.
You will need to connect to your ClickSend account if this is the first time you've used it for a Zap.
- For the To field choose the registrants phone number.
You will need to have set a mobile number as a mandatory field in the checkout so it's available here, you can see how to do this here.
When choosing what Arlo information to use Zapier shows you the available fields and allows you to search and select them.
- Create your text message.
A text message is limited to 160 characters per message. You can use more but you will be charged for two messages.
- Use the date you created from the formatter in the previous step to set the schedule for when the text will be sent.
- You can customise further information for the text.
- Set a custom From name.
- Give the text a string so you can filter it easily when reporting.
- Use the Arlo contact ID so you can keep track of what and how many texts a contact has received.
- Once you've entered all the relevant information and a message to the registrant, press Continue.
If you want to test the text message make sure you have either selected a registration who knows they'll get a test text or manually enter your own number instead of using the Arlo registrant's contact field!
- If you tested the text and successfully received it you can move on.
- The Zap is now created and ready to go, all that's left is to give it a name and turn it on.
