Twilio SMS for Zoho Books

Two-Way SMS Inside Zoho Books

Send a text to a customer straight from their contact or account in Zoho Books, using a Twilio account you already own. One message or a whole list, and each answer is saved to the record in SMS History.

What makes it different

Nothing phones home
Two way, not one way
Your Twilio, your rates
Personalized at any volume
All the numbers on file
History follows the record

In detail

What each part will do

The same extension the Zoho CRM and Zoho Desk versions run, built for invoices and customers. It is written in Deluge and runs inside your own Zoho Books, with no dashboard of ours in between. Invoices go out and then somebody has to chase them. Texting from the record that holds the invoice keeps the chase attached to the money it is about.

Sending from the record

Open a customer record, choose a number and send. The message goes from the record your team is already working, rather than from a separate app they have to keep open.

Sending to many at once

Select the records you want, by hand or from a filtered view, and send once. Every recipient gets their own history entry, so the result can be reviewed person by person rather than as one batch.

Templates and dynamic fields

Reusable messages live in their own module and can carry placeholders. Each placeholder is replaced with that record’s value when the message is prepared, so a saved message still reads as specific to the person receiving it.

On a bulk send the placeholders are resolved separately for each recipient.

Scheduling

A message can be held for a date, time and timezone you choose. It is written to history as pending, then sent when it is due and marked as sent, with failures recorded rather than swallowed.

Replies that land on the record

When someone texts back, the reply is logged automatically and linked to the matching record in your Zoho Books, so the thread stays with the customer rather than sitting in a separate inbox.

Numbers and history

The extension reads the phone fields the record actually holds instead of assuming one, and lets the sender pick. Sent, received, scheduled and failed messages all sit in your own Zoho account under your own permissions.

Your Twilio account, your credentials. You bring your own Twilio account and numbers, so Twilio bills you directly at their rates and no messaging is resold through us. This extension is not on the Marketplace yet. The Zoho CRM and Zoho Desk versions are.

What you get

What the Zoho Books SMS extension includes

You get all 22 of these in the extension itself, running in your own Zoho account.

Automation

  • Built in Deluge only
  • No phone home architecture

Data and records

  • Full history on the record
  • Automatic phone field detection

Setup

  • History stays on the account
  • Runs inside your Zoho account
  • Your Twilio account and numbers

Messaging

  • Two way conversations
  • Search and send one to one
  • Bulk send to selected records
  • Send to a specific list
  • Dynamic text from Books fields
  • Reusable message templates
  • Choose the number you send from
  • Scheduled message delivery
  • Inbound replies logged automatically

What sets it apart

  • Nothing phones home
  • Two way, not one way
  • Your Twilio, your rates
  • Personalized at any volume
  • All the numbers on file
  • History follows the record

Waiting on Twilio SMS for Zoho Books?

Talk to us and we will let you know when it is ready to install.

Talk to usSee the comparisons

Texting inside Zoho Books compared with a third party SMS platform

Nearly every SMS add-on for Zoho Books can send a text. The real difference is where your customer list ends up along the way, and for an accounting system that outweighs any feature list.

What to compareHow it works here
Data stays in Zoho vs data leaves ZohoYour contacts stay in Zoho Books. The usual alternative syncs them out to the vendor first, so a second copy of your customer list lives on infrastructure you cannot audit.
Your Twilio account vs resold messagingTwilio bills you directly and the numbers stay in your name. Resold plans hide the carrier cost inside one per-message price, and leaving tends to cost you the numbers.
Flat org price vs per user seatsThe price is set for the organization. Seat-based plans charge for every bookkeeper you add, so the bill climbs with headcount even when message volume does not.
Replies on the record vs a separate inboxEach reply sits on the customer record in Zoho Books. With a separate inbox, someone has to keep two systems in step, and the accounting record is missing half the conversation.
No vendor access vs vendor holds your dataWe never receive your messages, so we have no way to read them.
Native Deluge vs an embedded web appEverything is written in Deluge and runs on the Zoho platform itself. No third party screen is embedded and no outside web app handles your data.

Cost

How it will be priced

This one is not on the Zoho Marketplace yet. Here is how the pricing works across the family, so there are no surprises when it lands.

The extension

Priced for the organization rather than per user, and bought through the Zoho Marketplace. Adding another person who needs to text does not change it.

The messages

Twilio bills you directly at their own rates, on your own account. We never resell messaging, so there is no margin added between you and the carrier.

Right now

Talk to us and we will tell you when it is listed, with the price at launch. Nothing to pay and nothing to install yet.

The Twilio SMS extensions for Zoho CRM and Zoho Desk are already listed if you need one of those today.

Bookkeepers waiting on unpaid invoices

Reminder emails get filed and forgotten. A text on the phone is much harder to ignore.

Bookkeepers chasing receipts and missing paperwork

When a third follow-up email goes unread, a brief text often gets the receipt sent. Start from a template, let dynamic fields fill in the record details, and schedule it for the morning a payment is due.

Firms accountable for how client records are held

Auditors ask the hardest questions about financial records. Here no outside system holds them: the extension runs inside your Zoho Books account and messages leave through Twilio credentials in your own name.

1. Install from the Zoho Marketplace

Add the extension to your organization from the Zoho Marketplace, as you would any other. A ten day free trial gives you time to test it on live work before you decide.

2. Connect your own Twilio account

Put your Twilio credentials into the setup screen and select the sending numbers. Twilio bills you at its own rates, and delivery records stay in your console because the account is yours.

3. Text a record and watch the reply land

Go to a contact or account, select a number and send. Common messages can start from a saved template, and dynamic fields pull the specifics from the record.
Ask us

Answers to common Zoho Books SMS questions

Considering another SMS add-on for Zoho Books? The comparisons walk through the main ones.
What is this Zoho Books SMS integration?
It is an extension that lets Zoho Books send texts to your contacts and accounts through your Twilio account. Search for one customer and send them a message, or pick several records and send to all of them. Replies are saved in the SMS History module against the right record, so the conversation stays readable inside Zoho Books.
The built-in reminders push documents out, and a customer who responds has nowhere for that response to go. This extension saves the reply on the record and lets you message a whole group at once instead of one reminder at a time, so a text can start a real exchange with the customer.
Yes. Messages use your Twilio account and numbers, so Twilio bills the carrier charges to you at its rates and nothing is marked up by us. Message records stay in your Twilio console under your name, and you can switch numbers or providers whenever you choose.
Contacts and accounts. The text goes to the person on the record, not to an invoice or estimate, so the thread follows the customer and stays readable as documents come and go.
Yes. Pick the records, write the text once, and everyone selected receives it, with each send logged on the record it went to. Sending to a saved list or view works too, which is handy for a group you message every month.
In the SMS History module, as a new entry tied to the record that answered. Nothing needs copying and there is no second inbox, and anyone who later works the account sees the full exchange on the record.
No. The extension does not phone home. It runs in your Zoho environment and never sends records, phone numbers or message text to us. We store no copy and run no background dashboard, which is the main way it differs from most alternatives.
Inside Zoho, written in Deluge. No third party screen is embedded, no outside web application is involved, and no extra service sits in the data path. Because everything happens within your own Zoho Books, the data boundary is easy to explain to an auditor.
Yes. Dynamic text takes values from Zoho Books and places them in the message at send time, such as the customer name, invoice number, amount or due date. A reminder to two hundred accounts still reads like a personal note to each one.
Yes. Keep your common messages as templates and select one rather than typing it again. Dynamic fields still apply, so every recipient sees their own details, and payment reminders and statement follow-ups stop needing retyping.
Every phone field on the record is detected, not only the default one. If a contact has ten numbers, you see all ten and choose where to send, which matters when the mobile number is stored in a custom field.
Yes. Write the text now and choose when it should send. It goes out at that time, whether or not you are at your desk, which helps across time zones, within business hours, and on dates that matter, like the morning a payment falls due.
Through the Zoho Marketplace, as with other Zoho extensions. Install it into your organization, add your Twilio credentials on the setup screen, and send the first text from a record right away. There is no hosting and nothing to install outside Zoho.
Yes. The listing on the Zoho Marketplace comes with a ten day free trial, so you can install, connect Twilio and send real texts before you commit. The trial cannot be extended, so gather your Twilio credentials before starting it.

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