SMS and WhatsApp for your online store: order updates that build trust, campaigns that don't annoy

In Bangladesh the phone number is the customer. Email is for the receipt nobody reads; the SMS is what they see, and WhatsApp is where they ask questions. A store that uses both well feels trustworthy before the parcel arrives. A store that uses them badly — three promotional messages a week to people who bought once — gets blocked and reported.

This guide separates the two kinds of message that every store sends, gives you templates for each, and lays out the rules of the road. Where charges and regulations are involved, we point you to the current source rather than quoting figures that will drift.

Two kinds of message, two sets of rules

Transactional messages are about a specific order the customer placed: confirmation, shipped, delivered, returned. The customer expects them, they build trust, and they are the messages you should never skip.

Promotional messages are about your store: a sale, a new product, an Eid offer. Nobody asked for them, so they need consent, restraint and an easy way to stop.

Mixing the two is the most common mistake. A "your order has shipped" SMS with a discount code attached is neither — it dilutes the useful information and trains the customer to ignore your messages.

Transactional SMS: one message per stage

The sequence that a well-run store sends, and why each one matters:

Order confirmed. Sent the moment the order is placed or confirmed by you. It tells the customer the order went through, restates the amount and payment method, and gives them a way to correct a mistake before you ship. This message alone prevents a share of "I didn't order that" refusals.

"Hi {{customer_name}}, your order {{order_number}} for {{total}} is confirmed. Thanks for shopping with {{store_name}}!"

Bangla version, which many stores prefer:

"{{customer_name}}, আপনার অর্ডার {{order_number}} ({{total}}) কনফার্ম হয়েছে। ধন্যবাদ — {{store_name}}"

Shipped. Sent when the parcel goes to the courier, with the tracking line if the courier provides one. This is the message that stops "where is my order?" calls.

"Hi {{customer_name}}, your order {{order_number}} has shipped{{tracking_line}}."

Delivered. Closes the loop, and is the right moment to ask for a review or mention that exchanges are available.

"Hi {{customer_name}}, your order {{order_number}} has been delivered. Thank you for shopping with {{store_name}}!"

Cancelled / Returned. Short and factual. Customers who are told their return was recorded do not call to ask.

Keep transactional SMS short — one segment where possible, because SMS is charged per segment and Bangla characters use more of a segment than Latin ones. Put the store name in every message; the customer may have ordered from three stores that week.

WhatsApp: for the conversation, not the broadcast

WhatsApp is where the customer asks "size ta boro hobe?" and where a photo answers better than a paragraph. Set up WhatsApp Business (the free app, or the Cloud API for automation) with:

• A profile with your store name, logo, address, hours and website link.
• Quick replies for the ten questions you get most: delivery time, delivery charge, COD availability, exchange policy, bKash number.
• An away message for hours you do not answer, so customers are not left waiting.
• The store's WhatsApp number on the website, on the order confirmation and on the packaging.

Use WhatsApp for: answering pre-purchase questions, resolving a delivery issue, recovering an abandoned checkout, and following up a high-value order personally. Do not use it for mass promotional broadcasts to people who have not opted in — WhatsApp actively restricts accounts that do, and the customers who receive them block the number.

Promotional campaigns: fewer, better, with consent

A promotional SMS campaign works when three things are true: the recipient agreed to hear from you, the message is relevant to what they bought, and it is rare enough to be noticed.

Consent. A customer who bought from you is not automatically a subscriber to your offers. Ask — at checkout, on the delivered message, or on the packaging — and keep the list of people who said yes separate from your order list. Honour every "stop".

Segmentation. "20% off everything" to everyone performs worse than "the kurti you bought is back in a new colour" to the people who bought it. Segment by product, by last order date, by district. A message to customers who bought a product is far more likely to be welcome than one to the whole list.

Timing. Send during the day, never late at night. Avoid the days when every store in the country is sending — the last few days before Eid — unless your offer is genuinely strong. A Tuesday afternoon message about a restock gets read; a Chand Raat message about a sale is one of a hundred.

Frequency. One promotional message a month to a segment is reasonable. Weekly to the whole list is how you get blocked.

Content. Store name first, one offer, one link, one line. Do not shorten the store name to save characters — unrecognised sender plus link equals spam.

"{{store_name}}: আপনার কেনা [product] এখন নতুন রঙে। স্টক সীমিত: [link]। বন্ধ করতে STOP লিখুন।"

Sender ID, masking and the rules

In Bangladesh, bulk and transactional SMS go through an SMS gateway provider, and the regulatory framework — set by BTRC — governs sender IDs ("masking", where the SMS shows your brand name instead of a number), promotional-message hours and do-not-disturb requirements. The practical rules:

• Use a masked sender ID for transactional messages if you can. "MYSTORE" is trusted; a random number is not. Masking is applied for through your SMS provider and requires business documentation.
• Respect promotional hours and opt-outs. Your SMS provider will tell you the current requirements; follow them, not the workaround someone suggests in a group.
• Do not buy phone lists. Messaging people who never dealt with you is both against the rules and useless — those recipients block, report and never buy.

Charges per SMS, masking fees and the current regulatory requirements change; get them from your provider's current terms.

How this works on Eazifiy

On Eazifiy messaging lives under Messaging in the admin:

• SMS Templates — the transactional messages above (order confirmed, processing, shipped, delivered, cancelled, returned) with {{customer_name}}, {{order_number}}, {{total}}, {{tracking_line}} and {{store_name}} placeholders. Write them once, in English or Bangla; they go out automatically as the order moves through its stages.
• SMS Settings — connect your own SMS gateway account (Bulk SMS BD, SSL Wireless, or another provider) with your sender ID and API key. Messages are sent through your account at your provider's rates; Eazifiy does not resell SMS. Your remaining SMS balance shows on the dashboard.
• Send SMS (campaigns, on the Lite and Premium plans) — send to numbers you paste in, to a file you upload, or to the customers who bought a specific product, which is the segmentation described above built in.
• SMS History — every message sent, to whom, and when.
• WhatsApp — the abandoned-checkout recovery screen opens a pre-filled WhatsApp message per customer, and if you connect WhatsApp Business under Integrations it can send through the Cloud API automatically.

Owner notifications for new orders can also go to Telegram, so you know about an order the moment it is placed.

Frequently asked questions

Should transactional SMS be in Bangla or English? Whichever your customers read faster. Bangla is clearer for most; English fits more in one SMS segment. Many stores use Bangla with the order number and amount in digits.

Do I need a masked sender ID to start? No — you can send from your provider's default while masking is approved. Apply for masking early; it takes time and business documents.

Can I send promotional SMS to everyone who ever ordered? You can, and you should not. Ask for consent and send to the people who gave it, segmented by what they bought. The list will be smaller and it will actually convert.

Is WhatsApp Business free? The app is free. The Cloud API for automated sending has its own conversation-based pricing from Meta; check current rates. For most stores, the free app plus quick replies is enough to start.

Does Eazifiy charge for SMS? No. You connect your own gateway account and pay your provider directly. The SMS templates, automatic sending on order status changes and campaign tools are part of the plan — see pricing for which features are on which plan.