How the Connector Plugins Work: One Pattern Behind All of Them

Your customers keep their contacts in a spreadsheet, a CRM or a store, and they want messages to go out when something happens there. That is what the connector plugins do. There are several of them, but they all work the same way, so once you understand one you can support the rest.

All of them are included with the platform rather than sold as paid add ons, and you enable them per account like any other plugin. A customer who does not have the feature enabled sees a message telling them to contact their representative, not a broken setup screen.

The shape of every connector

1. The customer connects their own account. Most use OAuth, so the customer signs in to Google, Zoho, HubSpot, Salesforce or Airtable and grants access. Magento is the exception and uses a token the store owner generates themselves, which means no app review and no OAuth consent screen.

2. They pick what to watch. A sheet and tab, a CRM module or object, or a store. Only sources that can hold a phone number are offered, so for example Zoho shows modules that have a phone or mobile field.

3. They turn on automations per channel. SMS, WhatsApp template, voice call and RCS template, shown as cards with on and off switches. Which channels appear depends on what is enabled on that account, and you can also turn channels off for the whole install from system settings. Options hidden that way cannot be switched on from the connect or configure screens.

4. They write the message with placeholders. Any column or field from the source can be inserted as a placeholder from a dropdown. For SMS they can pick a saved template filtered by the chosen Sender ID, which auto fills the body and the DLT template ID. For WhatsApp they pick an approved template and map its header, body, media and button variables to fields or fixed values.

5. Results go back where the customer works. Depending on the connector that means a delivery status column, a Note on the CRM record, or a new row for incoming replies. Each channel gets its own status column or field so one does not overwrite another.

The two rules that prevent disasters

Turning on an automation only affects new records. When a customer enables an event, the cursor is seeded at the newest existing record at that moment. Their 40,000 existing rows or contacts are not messaged. This is the single most important thing to tell a nervous customer before they switch something on.

They must remove connections before disconnecting the account. Google Sheets and Zoho both require every connected sheet or module to be deleted first, so automations cannot keep firing after the account is disconnected. Zoho also revokes access on Zoho’s side, so your app disappears from their Connected Apps list rather than lingering.

What you see as the admin

The Integration screens list connections by user for Google Sheets, Zoho CRM and Magento, with the username, automation status pills showing On/Off and Active/Paused, and impersonation so you can open the customer’s own view when they report a problem.

Connection changes (added, edited, deleted) are recorded in the activity and audit logs, and deleting a connection also clears its delivery status history.

White label

Resellers can configure their own Zoho credentials under White Label, so their customers see the reseller’s branding on the Zoho sign in screen instead of yours. Worth knowing before a reseller asks why your name appears during their customer’s setup.

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