Connect Twilio to SiteOps
Email gets filed; a text gets read. SMS and WhatsApp are the channels people actually open — which is exactly why they deserve more care, not less. Twilio is the developer-grade way to send both: one account, one API, delivery to almost every country.
Connecting Twilio to SiteOps lights two new message channels. Sequence steps can send a day-1 WhatsApp nudge; scheduled sends can go out as SMS. Every send rides the same queue as everything else — behind the trust dial you set for each channel, nothing leaving without the approval level you chose.
Two honest warnings before you start: these channels are paid per message, and they are regulated. Recipients must have opted in, and WhatsApp marketing messages go out on Meta-approved templates. SiteOps keeps you on the right side of both by only sending what you approved.
Set it up, step by step
0 of 6 done
- Console
- Phone Numbers
- Buy a number
- Messaging
- Regulatory Compliance
- A2P 10DLC
The SID and token travel together — into SiteOps and nowhere else - Settings
- Connections
- Twilio
Let an agent do it
An agent holding your Account SID and auth token can do the console plumbing through Twilio's API — the Messaging Service, opt-out handling, the WhatsApp templates — while the account, the number and the approvals stay yours.
Set up my Twilio account for lifecycle sends, using the Twilio API or CLI with these credentials: Account SID <starts with AC>, auth token <from the console home page>.
1. Create a Messaging Service named "SiteOps sends" and attach my phone number <+…> to its sender pool.
2. Confirm opt-out handling is on for the service — STOP must unsubscribe and HELP must answer, with the default keyword replies kept.
3. If a WhatsApp sender is registered on the account, create three Content templates and submit them for WhatsApp approval: a plain product update, a gentle reminder, and an offer. Neutral wording, one variable for the recipient's first name, no all-caps, no exclamation-mark runs.
4. I plan to message these countries: <list of countries>. Check Twilio's per-country SMS guidelines for each and tell me which need sender-ID registration or local paperwork before delivery will work.
5. Report everything you created — the Messaging Service SID, each template and its review status — and anything that still needs my action.You still create the account, add billing, buy the number and register the WhatsApp sender — those need your identity and your card. Meta's approvals take their own days, and the Account SID and auth token go into SiteOps settings by your hand.
If something does not work
- Sends fail with error 21608 on a trial account
- Trial accounts can only message numbers you have verified in the console. Upgrade the account (add billing) to message real recipients — that single step clears it.
- WhatsApp messages fail but SMS works
- Almost always the template: WhatsApp business-initiated messages must use a Meta-approved template unless the recipient wrote to you in the last 24 hours. Check the template's approval status under Messaging → Content templates.
- SMS to some countries never arrives
- Many countries require sender registration (alphanumeric sender IDs, local paperwork). Check Twilio's per-country guidelines for your destinations — delivery problems are usually regulatory, not technical.
- How do opt-ins and opt-outs work?
- Only message people who agreed to hear from you — that is the law in most countries, not just good manners. Twilio handles STOP/HELP keywords on SMS automatically; honor them and keep your own consent records.
- I want to disconnect — what happens?
- Disconnect in SiteOps settings, or rotate the auth token in the Twilio console. Either way sending stops immediately: pending SMS/WhatsApp items hold as drafts with a plain reconnect note, and nothing in your Twilio account changes.