Gorgias and Twilio integrate to add SMS as a support channel inside Gorgias so ecommerce support teams can handle customer text messages alongside email, live chat, and social messages in a single unified helpdesk. This integration is particularly valuable for Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce merchants who use Gorgias for their support operations and want to let customers text in order questions, return requests, and shipping inquiries without routing them to a separate SMS platform. The connection uses a Twilio inbound webhook to capture customer SMS, the Gorgias API to create tickets and match customers, and Gorgias HTTP integrations to fire outbound Twilio SMS when agents reply or automated rules trigger.
What You Need Before You Start
Generate a Gorgias API token from the Gorgias admin panel under Settings, then REST API, by creating a new API key and granting it read and write permissions for tickets, customers, and conversations. Your Gorgias REST API base URL is https://{domain}.gorgias.com/api/ where domain is your Gorgias store subdomain, and all requests require Basic authentication with your Gorgias email as the username and the API key as the password. From Twilio, collect your Account SID, Auth Token, and an SMS-capable phone number, and set that number's Messaging webhook URL in the Twilio Console to your middleware inbound handler that will translate Twilio events into Gorgias API calls. Check whether your ecommerce platform is connected to Gorgias under Integrations, as the Shopify or BigCommerce integration enriches customer profiles with order data, which your middleware can leverage by matching the customer phone number to their Gorgias customer record enriched with order history.
Step-by-Step Integration Guide
When a Twilio inbound SMS arrives at your middleware, parse From, To, Body, and MessageSid from the payload, then search Gorgias for a customer with that phone by calling GET https://{domain}.gorgias.com/api/customers?phone={E164number} with Basic authentication and checking the data array in the response for a matching customer ID. If no customer is found, create one by calling POST https://{domain}.gorgias.com/api/customers with a body containing channels as an array with one object containing type set to phone and address set to the E.164 From number, storing the returned id. Create a Gorgias ticket by calling POST https://{domain}.gorgias.com/api/tickets with a body containing channel set to api, via.channel set to sms, subject set to SMS from {From number}, customer.id set to the customer ID, and messages as an array with one object containing body_text set to the SMS content, from_agent set to false, and source.type set to customer. Set up Gorgias to fire outbound Twilio SMS when an agent replies by creating a Gorgias HTTP Integration under Settings, then Integrations, then HTTP, configuring it to fire on ticket message created events where from_agent is true, and in your middleware receive the Gorgias webhook payload, extract the customer phone from the ticket channel address, and call POST https://api.twilio.com/2010-04-01/Accounts/{AccountSid}/Messages.json to deliver the reply.
Common Issues and How to Fix Them
Gorgias creates duplicate customer profiles when the same phone number is stored in different formats across existing customer records imported from Shopify versus those created by your SMS integration middleware. Normalize all phone numbers to E.164 before storing them in Gorgias, and run a one-time deduplication job that queries all Gorgias customers with a phone attribute, normalizes each number, and merges duplicate profiles using the Gorgias customer merge API at PUT https://{domain}.gorgias.com/api/customers/{id}/merge. The Gorgias HTTP Integration webhook fires for all ticket messages including internal notes added by agents, which would cause your middleware to send a customer-facing SMS for every private note. Filter the Gorgias webhook payload in your middleware by checking the is_private field on the message object and skipping SMS dispatch when is_private is true, processing only public agent replies for SMS delivery. Gorgias API rate limits inbound requests at 40 per second and 2,000 per minute, and high-volume SMS periods can approach this limit when your middleware creates a ticket for every inbound message without batching or caching. Add a 30-second open ticket lookup cache per phone number in your middleware so that rapid successive messages from the same customer are added to the existing open ticket rather than triggering repeated Gorgias search and create API calls.
How to Get More from This Integration
Enrich Gorgias customer profiles with Shopify order data by having your middleware call the Shopify Admin API at GET https://{shop}.myshopify.com/admin/api/2024-01/customers/search.json?query=phone:{phone} after finding or creating the Gorgias customer, reading the most recent order number and fulfillment status, and including that context in the Gorgias ticket subject line so agents immediately see the customer's order situation without clicking into Shopify. Build automated SMS replies for common order status questions by adding a Gorgias Rule that fires when a new SMS ticket arrives with body text containing keywords like order, shipping, or tracking, and triggers a macro that responds with a Gorgias reply template including the customer's last order number fetched from Shopify via the integration, reducing handle time on the most frequent SMS inquiry type. Implement an SMS opt-out handler by detecting the keyword STOP in inbound SMS bodies before creating the Gorgias ticket, updating the customer record in Gorgias with a custom attribute sms_opted_out set to true, tagging the customer in Shopify or your own database, and blocking future outbound SMS to that number without creating a ticket. Add post-resolution SMS CSAT surveys by triggering an outbound Twilio SMS survey when a Gorgias ticket is closed using the Gorgias HTTP Integration on the ticket closed event, asking customers to reply with a score from 1 to 5, and routing the inbound score reply to a separate middleware handler that updates a Gorgias ticket custom field with the survey result for CSAT reporting.
Conclusion
Gorgias and Twilio together give your ecommerce support team a complete SMS channel inside the helpdesk they already use, with every customer text tied to their order history and every agent reply delivered via a reliable carrier network. Contact Telphi Consulting to build and deploy this integration for your Gorgias store.
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