How to connect Twilio to Track-POD through Zapier and send text messages (SMS)

This guide will help you to link Track-POD to Twilio and send text messages to your clients using Zapier. Berfore you start you might want to have a look at the general information on using Zapier in the dedicated article.

Please be informed that you can sign up for Twilio free of charge and run some tests before purchasing.

How to send text messages with Live Tracking at Route Start

First step is to connect Zapier to Track-POD and set up the Order Status Updated event. 

Please note that to trigger the event you have to change the order status (for example start a route from the driver's app).

Lets make sure Zap is triggered only when orders go to In Progress status (driver presses the Start button). Please create filter step and only continue if Status Description matches In Progress.

1. Add a filtering step

2. 

3.

Next please connect Zapier to Twilio and choose Send SMS event

1.

2.

In the Set up action step please put your active phone number from Twilio (Twilio Develop tab -> Phone numbers -> Manage -> Active numbers).

The "To Number" field should be mapped to Contact Phone Track-POD field. Feel free to add any text and Track-POD fields to the Message field. At the very least you might want to have Number and Tracking Link fields.

That is it. Now you can test the action and see if it works. If you are happy with the outcome publish this Zap and text your customers when the route is started. 

How to send text messages with Order Status at Departure

First step is to connect Zapier to Track-POD and set up the Order Status Updated event. Please note that to trigger the event you have to change the order status (for example deliver it from the driver's app).

Lets exclude case when order is updated to In Progress status (all orders in route go to In Progress status once a driver starts the route but we want only completed orders to trigger). Please create filter step and only continue if Status Description does not contain In Progress.

1.

2.

Next please connect Zapier to Twilio and choose Send SMS event.

In the Set up action step please put your active phone number from Twilio (Twilio Develop tab -> Phone numbers -> Manage -> Active numbers).

The "To Number" field should be mapped to Contact Phone Track-POD field. Feel free to add any text and Track-POD fields to the Message field. At the very least you might want to have Number and Status Description fields.

That is it. Now you can test the action and see if it works. If you are satisfied with the test message go ahead and puclish the Zap.

How to send Advance Text Notification

The Advance notification is usually sent the day prior to delivery or in the morning. First we want to get the route number that should be notified. You can get it from any app you want. Slack is used in the example below. Then we get order numbers from the route in second step. Next we create a loop through the order numbers (step 3) and send texts (step 4) with the data from orders.

First let's create our trigger to get a route number. Slack is used here to illustrate the general principle. It's a good idea to create a separate (public) channel where route numbers will be posted.

Creating Track-POD <-> Slack zap to get the route number

1.

2. Setting the event to Order Created in Track-POD

3. Find Slack and select the Action in Slack (Send Channel Message or Send Direct Message)

4. Select the recipient and put Route Numbber in the Message Text.

5. Get the message with the Route number.

Next let's get order numbers from the route. Please create Code by Zapier step and select Run Javascript event.

Put RouteNumber to the Input Data field and map it to the route number value from the step 1. No worries, you don't have to do code development here. Just put the code below to the Code field and paste your X-API-KEY. It is available in the Track-POD Settings -> Web API.

var route;
const url = "https://api.track-pod.com/Route/Code/"+inputData.RouteNumber;
await fetch(url, {
method: "GET",
withCredentials: true,
headers: {
"X-API-KEY": "PUT YOUR KEY HERE FROM SETTINGS->Web API",
"Content-Type": "application/json"
}
})
.then(resp => resp.json())
.then(function(data) {
route = data;
})
.catch(function(error) {
console.log(error);
})

var orderNumbers = [];
for (var i=0;i<route.Orders.length;i++){
orderNumbers.push(route.Orders[i].Number);
}
output = {id: 1, numbers: orderNumbers};

Now let's loop through the order numbers. Please select Looping by Zapier step and Create Loop From Text event.

Next step is to Find an Order by Number in Track-POD.

Finally, we can send a text message from Twilio. Please select Twilio Send SMS action. From number and Alphanumeric Sender ID should be filled in with your Twilio information.

Feel free to add any text and Track-POD fields to the Message field. At the very least you might want to have Number and Estimated Time Arrival fields.

We perfectly understand that setting up SMS messaging via Zapier is not an easy task. May you have any questions do not hesitate to get in touch with our support team at [email protected].