How to get website form submissions as text messages

A text reaches any mobile phone without an app, an account or a data connection. That suits people who don't use WhatsApp or Slack for work, or who spend the day somewhere with poor signal, such as a loft or a plant room. A text is also harder to miss than one more email, which matters because how fast you reply to an enquiry often decides who gets the job.

The trade-off is cost and length. Texts are paid for one at a time, and a long enquiry has to be cut down or split, which each option below handles in its own way.

What are the ways to get form submissions by text?

There are five, and they differ in what each text costs, how much of the enquiry fits, and how much you have to set up.

Can you forward form emails to a text address?

Not for free in the UK. Some US mobile networks used to give every phone an email address that turned messages into texts, and they have been closing them: AT&T shut its service on 17 June 2025. At the time of writing, UK networks don't offer one to their customers [CHECK].

Business SMS providers sell the same idea. With Esendex's email to SMS, for example, an email you send is delivered as a text, and replies come back to your inbox. For a form, you add the provider's address to the form's notification email. Check how the provider recognises your account first, because a notification sent from your website's own address may not be accepted [CHECK]. This suits a business that already texts customers through such a provider, since the account and credit are already in place.

The catch is that this route inherits every email problem: if the notification is lost, so is the text. Our guide to SMTP for WordPress contact forms covers making the email itself reliable.

Can Zapier text you when a form is submitted?

Yes, with SMS by Zapier, within some firm limits. It only sends to confirmed UK and US numbers, up to 15 texts an hour, and cuts each message at 153 characters. It can't take replies, and Zapier lists T-Mobile numbers as unsupported, which only matters in the US.

Getting the form into Zapier is the harder part. Some form builders have a Zapier connection of their own. Others, including Contact Form 7, need a webhook, and at the time of writing Webhooks by Zapier isn't included on Zapier's Free plan [CHECK]. For enquiries longer than a sentence or two, use an SMS provider's action instead, such as Twilio's, which sends longer messages and charges per segment. Make works the same way.

Do form plugins have their own SMS add-ons?

Some WordPress form plugins do. Gravity Forms and WPForms both have add-ons that send through Twilio. The Gravity Forms Twilio Add-On comes with the Pro, Elite and Nonprofit licences and sends a text when a form is submitted. WPForms has a Twilio addon from its Plus licence upwards, which can send an SMS or a WhatsApp message. It can also text the person who filled in the form, using the number from its phone field, which is handy for confirming a booking.

Both need your own Twilio account, and the WPForms guide has you buy a Twilio number to send from. In the UK, Twilio also supports an alphanumeric sender ID, so texts can show a name instead of a number, though nobody can reply to them. Twilio charges for each message segment, at the rates on its UK SMS pricing page.

How much of an enquiry fits in a text?

A single text holds 160 characters of plain text. Longer messages are split into segments of 153 characters, joined back together on the phone, and each segment is charged as a text. A single emoji, or any character outside the standard set, switches the whole message to an encoding that fits 70 characters, or 67 per segment, so the same enquiry can cost twice as much.

It helps to text only the essentials, such as the name, phone number and the start of the message, with a link to the rest. A good alert service does this for you, and it keeps a chatty enquiry from running to five texts.

Which option suits a small business?

It mostly comes down to how many enquiries you get and how much you want to look after.

• A handful a week, one phone and Zapier already in use: SMS by Zapier is the cheapest way to try it. Bear in mind the 15-an-hour limit if a busy morning or a burst of spam could go past it.

• Gravity Forms or WPForms on a licence that includes the Twilio add-on: everything stays in WordPress and you choose the sender name. Someone has to look after the Twilio account and keep it topped up.

• An existing business SMS account: email-to-SMS is quick to try, as long as the form's email is reliable.

• No wish to run any accounts: a form alert service does the sending and shortening for you.

Whichever you pick, send yourself a long test enquiry with an apostrophe and an emoji in it, then count how many texts arrive and what was cut off.

How to get text alerts with Formcrier

Formcrier is a form alert service that texts each submission to a UK mobile within seconds, from "Formcrier", with no SMS account of your own. The texts can't be replied to, so you call or text the customer back from the details in the alert.

1. 1

   Add the number

   In Formcrier, go to Alert destinations → Add destination and choose Text message. Enter the UK mobile number.

2. 2

   Confirm it

   Press Text me a code, then type in the six-digit code that arrives. The code works for 24 hours.

3. 3

   Choose the forms

   A form's alert goes to every destination unless you choose otherwise. To send only some forms to this phone, open each form under Sites → Forms and use Send alerts to.

4. 4

   Send a test

   Press Send test alert on the destination, then fill in your form yourself. Test alerts don't count towards your plan.

Each text counts as one alert on your plan, and a long alert as two, because alerts are shortened to fit 2 texts. The Free plan includes 10 alerts a month. See text alerts and Where alerts go for the details.