Twilio SMS Notifications

Twilio SMS Notifications

The Twilio SMS add-on lets you send instant text message notifications about ticket purchases directly to your customers and your team. Whether you want to keep admins informed of new orders or automatically message ticket buyers and attendees, this add-on helps you stay connected in real time.

To use it, you’ll need an active Twilio account. Once logged in, your Account SID and Auth Token should be right at the beginning of your account dashboard.

You’ll also need a Twilio phone number, which you can purchase directly from your Twilio dashboard.

When you have those credentials ready, navigate to Tickera -> Settings -> Twilio SMS, and you’ll see several configuration sections that control how your SMS notifications work.

Twilio Account

This section connects your Tickera installation to your Twilio account.

• Account SID – Paste your Account SID from Twilio here.
• Auth Token – Enter your Auth Token (keep it secure and private).
• From Phone Number – Enter the Twilio phone number that will send the messages.

Admin SMS Notification

This allows you to receive SMS alerts whenever someone successfully purchases a ticket.

• Admin Purchase Notification – Enable this to send a text message to the admin after each successful order.
• Admin Phone Number – Enter the mobile phone number (including country code, e.g., +12025550123) that should receive admin alerts.
• Message Content – Customize the message sent to the admin. You can use placeholders such as:
  • ORDER_ID – Displays the order ID.
  • ORDER_TOTAL – Displays the total amount of the order.
  • ORDER_ADMIN_URL – Provides a link to the order details page in your admin panel.

Collect Mobile Numbers

Since SMS messages need a recipient number, you can collect phone numbers directly during checkout.

For Ticket Buyers

• Enable to add a phone number field for buyers.
• Set a custom field title and description to match your tone or local language.

For Ticket Owners

• Enable to add a phone number field for each ticket owner (useful when one buyer purchases multiple tickets).
• You can customize the title and description for this field as well.

Buyer SMS Notification

Use this section to send an SMS confirmation to the ticket buyer after a successful purchase.

• Buyer Purchase Notification – Turn this on to send the message.
• Message Content – Write your custom message using placeholders such as:
  • ORDER_ID - shows order ID
  • ORDER_TOTAL - shows order total
  • ORDER_URL - displays order URL where they can download their purchased tickets

Ticket Owner SMS Notification

This works the same as the Buyer notification but targets the individual ticket owners (for example, when one person buys tickets for a group).

• Ticket Owner Purchase Notification – Enable to send SMS messages to ticket owners after purchase.
• Message Content – Customize the message content with the placeholders similar to what is available for Buyer SMS notifications with the addition of TICKET_URL that shows the direct download URL of the ticket

Client Consent

To stay compliant with messaging laws and avoid unwanted texts, you can display a checkbox at checkout asking customers for explicit SMS consent.

• Show Client Consent on Frontend – Enable to show a consent checkbox.
• Consent Description – Edit the text that appears next to the checkbox (e.g., “Yes, I want to receive SMS regarding my tickets”).

Shorten URL

Some messages may include long URLs that eat up valuable characters in your SMS. The Shorten URL section lets you use Bitly to automatically shorten links.

• Use Bitly – Turn this on to enable URL shortening.
• Bitly Access Token – Paste your Bitly API token here. You can create one on Bitly
  if you don’t have it already.

Saving your settings

Once everything is set up, click Save SMS Settings to apply your configuration. From this point, your customers and staff will receive real-time notifications according to the rules you defined.

Why use Twilio SMS Notifications?

SMS is one of the fastest and most reliable ways to communicate order updates. Many event organizers use this add-on to:

• Instantly alert admins when new orders come in.
• Send buyers quick confirmations once they purchase their tickets
• Notify attendees with personalized messages and allow them to download the ticket right from the URL delivered in the SMS

Pro tips

• Keep it short and focused: SMS is not an email. Messages should be concise, direct, and easily readable at a glance.
• Text-only content: SMS supports alphanumeric characters only, so you can’t include QR codes, images, or attachments.
• Mind your Bitly plan: The free Bitly plan allows only five shortened links per month. If you plan to send more messages, consider upgrading – check Bitly’s pricing plans.