I’ve been selling on my own website for a little while now. As much as I love those “You have a new order” emails, nothing’s quite like hearing that unexpected “cha-ching” on your phone.
Here’s how you can make your phone cha-ching no matter what platform you’re selling on… TPT? Check. WooCommerce? Check. Ecwid or Shopify? Yep. Digital courses? That too.
This method requires you to use Gmail and have a Zapier account. The free version of Zapier is all you need, but be aware that it only runs every 15 minutes, so you won’t be getting instant alerts. (15 mintues is better than nothing though, and it’s not worth it IMO to pay for faster notifications.)
Here’s how to make your phone cha-ching on every sale…
Start with your email.
First, head into your Gmail and find a “you sold something”email. Add a filter that labels these messages with whatever label you want to use. I called mine “sales” and I filtered by subject line to include the exact subject of my new sale emails.
I also checked the “skip the inbox” option so that my sale emails drop into their own folder instead of clogging up my inbox.
(FYI – you can create multiple rules for different platforms you sell on, so this will work across all your platforms!)
Then make a Zap.
If you’ve used Zapier, you probably know where this is headed. If not, don’t worry. It’s super easy!
Click the black plus sign to create a new Zap. Search for Gmail, and choose New Labeled Email as the trigger event.
Sign into your Gmail account, and choose the label that you created for your sales emails. Click Test & Continue to make sure Zapier finds the right emails.
Your trigger event is set up, so now you’re ready to tell Zapier what to do when the event occurs…
Choose SMS by Zapier and send SMS. You’ll need to give them your phone number.
Under Customize SMS, choose a phone number (don’t leave it on random). Then enter the message you’d like sent. Use the plus sign in the right corner to add fields from the email. I have mine sending the subject line.
Click continue, but stop before you test this step, and grab your phone.
Add the from number that you chose to your contacts. Save it as anything you want… I went with 🎉Woohoo! Give that contact a custom ringtone, head to the iTunes store & choose a cha-ching that you like.
Back to Zapier… click Test & Continue and wait for the magic to happen! Once you’ve tested, be sure to give your Zap a name and switch the toggle to On.
Alternative to using Text Messages…
If you don’t want them coming through as text messages, there is an alternative. Personally, I didn’t like that my watch will often buzz with texts instead of my phone cha-chinging. And I didn’t want a ton (think positive!) of texts to delete.
This method isn’t free, but it’s a one-time $5 charge, so it’s not too expensive. Download the Pushover app (for Apple or Android) and create an account. Tap the three dots (…) on the top right and scroll down to Default sound. Choose the cash register sound.
Back on Zapier, follow the same directions for part 1, but in part 2 of your Zap, choose Pushover and then Push Notification.
Connect Pushover using the User Key in your Pushover account. (Zapier will give you the link for where to find your key.)
Customize your push notification the same way we did for SMS. Be sure to add a title or it’ll just say Zapier, and that’s no fun.
Click continue, then test it to make sure it works. Give your Zap a name and switch the toggle to On.
If you’re an Apple Watch wearer, you might want to pop into your watch app and turn off notifications there for Pushover. That way you’ll be sure to hear the cha-chings on your phone instead of your watch.
