Zapier - Send SMS Based on Date from Google Sheets

Learn how to trigger SMS messages by specific dates in Google Sheets using Zapier.

What you'll need

You need a Zapier account. You can create a Zapier account if you don't have one already.

Introduction and steps

This guide shows you how to set up an integration to schedule SMS reminders or notifications based on dates stored in your Google Sheets.

So, let's get started.

1. Create a zap.
2. Look for Google Sheets app.
3. Select New or Updated Spreadsheet Row as the trigger event.

   

1. Sign in to your Google Sheets account to connect.
2. Call the spreadsheet, worksheet and the column for dates.

   

3. Test the trigger to retrieve dynamic data from the selected spreadsheet. This data is crucial as it will be mapped to the subsequent action steps
4. Add a new action. Look for Formatter by Zapier.
5. Select Date / Time as the action event.

   

6. Configure the action settings as below:
   
   Transform: Format
   
   Input: Map the date column from the spreadsheet
   
   To Format: Select format X (1137971045). You must select the Unix Timestamp format. The ClickSend API can only read 10 digit unix timestamp.
   
   From Format: Select the current format of your dates in the spreadsheet. Eg. DD/MM/YYY

   

7. Test the action to generate dynamic output by converting the date format into a Unix timestamp. This timestamp will need to be mapped to the next action, which is sending an SMS via ClickSend.
8. Add a second action to to the workflow. Look for ClickSend SMS app.
9. Select Send SMS as the action event.

   

10. Connect your ClickSend account and continue. You can find and copy your API credentials here.
11. Configure the Send SMS action settings:
    
    To: Only phone numbers are accepted, and we recommend using the international format. You can dynamically pull the phone number column from the selected spreadsheet.
    
    Message:The maximum SMS length is 1,224 characters, equivalent to 8 message parts. You can dynamically retrieve text from a column in the selected spreadsheet.
    
    Schedule: This allows us to send automated SMS messages based on dates from Google Sheets. We can retrieve the dynamic Unix timestamp from the date format output earlier and map it to the scheduled field.
    
    From: Leave it blank to use our free shared numbers, or select from a range of supported Sender ID options. More Info

    

12. Test your action and expect Send SMS will be scheduled. You can monitor scheduled messaged on your ClickSend Dashboard.

Troubleshooting

If you’re having problems, please check the following:

1. Check your Authentication. You should be using your ClickSend's username and API key not your ClickSend password.
2. Make sure you have credit in your account for sending. Check your account and top up here.
3. Change the local phone numbers to international format.
4. Fill in all required fields in the Send SMS action configuration. Required values are recipient number (To) and message.
5. Enable global sending on the country you are sending to. Please reach out to support for assistance. More info
6. If you are using as alpha tag as a Sender ID and it's not functioning as expected, please review the following:
   - Exceeded characters. Only 11 characters without any spaces is allowed for an alpha tag.
   - The country you are sending to do may not support alpha tags.