SMS notifications
Qué es SMS notifications?
Esta entrada está disponible actualmente solo en inglés.
SMS notifications are automated, event-triggered text messages a business sends to keep a customer informed about something that already happened — an order confirmation, an appointment reminder, a delivery update, a payment received, or an account alert. Unlike a marketing message sent to a whole list at once, each notification goes to one recipient at the moment a specific event fires, usually triggered by an API call or webhook from the business's own system.
More detail
The defining trait of SMS notifications is timing: they arrive at exactly the moment the event occurs, not in batch during a marketing window. That makes them transactional in nature — recipients generally expect them, which is why notification traffic typically earns higher open rates and looser consent requirements than promotional SMS in most jurisdictions.
A typical notification flow wires the trigger (an order placed, a booking confirmed, a payment posted) to an API call that sends the message, then uses delivery-recipient callbacks to track whether it landed. Common categories besides e-commerce and delivery alerts include appointment reminders, balance and payment notifications, and one-time passcodes.
On Orbit, SMS notifications fit the omnichannel messaging surface: a trigger API fires the send, a delivery-receipt webhook confirms or retries, and the same notification can fall back to WhatsApp or email when a message doesn't land — while quiet-hours and opt-out enforcement apply automatically.
Preguntas frecuentes
- How are SMS notifications different from SMS marketing?
- SMS notifications are event-triggered and one-to-one — each fires in direct response to something a specific customer did or that happened to their account, like an order or an appointment. SMS marketing is one-to-many batch sends sent to a list on a schedule, usually with a stronger prior-consent requirement than transactional notifications.
- What events typically trigger SMS notifications?
- Common triggers include order confirmations, shipping and delivery updates, appointment bookings and reminders, payment receipts, account sign-in alerts, and one-time passcodes — anything where the business wants to confirm that a specific event just happened for one customer, at the moment it happens.
- Do SMS notifications still need opt-in consent?
- Usually yes, but the consent bar is typically lower than for marketing. Transactional notifications tied to a customer's own action or request are generally treated as expected communications, though a business still needs to be able to show that the recipient provided their number and that category-specific rules (like quiet hours) apply.
See also
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