To start building a live poll using Plivo SMS, Integromat, and Google Sheets, you need:

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Step 1: Set up Plivo

  • Log in to your Integromat account.
  • Click on Create a new scenario on the top right of the screen.
  • In the next screen, search for “Plivo.”

    Search For Plivo

  • Select the Plivo integration and Continue. You’ll be taken to a screen where you can create a scenario from scratch.
  • Click on the big “?” area to start adding modules to the scenario. You should see something like this:

    Scenario Creation

  • Click on Plivo module and you’ll see the possible triggers and actions:

    Trigger

  • Select SMS received INSTANT and you’ll see an interface to set up a webhook. Click on Add beside the drop-down:

    Webhook

  • Give the webhook a name. In this example, we called it “Poll.”
  • Select the Plivo connection you want to use. If this is your first time, or if you want to add a new connection, click Add.
  • In the next form, give the connection a name, enter your Plivo Auth ID and Auth Token, and Continue. You can find your Plivo authorization credentials on the overview page of the Plivo dashboard.

    Add Connection

  • Select the phone number you want to use for this scenario. Since this scenario will be triggered instantly using webhooks, any application that might be using this number for webhooks will break.
  • Give this application a name and select the number you want to use. Click Save.

    Save Trigger

  • You now have a trigger that will be auto-triggered whenever there‘s a new incoming message to the Plivo number you specified.

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Step 2: Set up Google Sheets

  • Open Google Drive. You may be asked to sign in. We’ll connect the Google account to Integromat in a moment.
  • Create a blank spreadsheet.
  • Give the sheet a name and add column headers. In this example, we named the sheet “Integromat Poll” and added “From Number” and “Choice Selected” as column headers.

    Save Trigger

  • Now add a Google Sheets connection to Integromat. Heading back to the Integromat scenario creation, click on the big “?” area, and search for Google Sheets.

    Google Sheets

  • Select Google Sheets to add the module to the scenario, then click on the added module to see the possible triggers and actions.

    Select Action

  • Select the Add a row action. You’ll be asked to select a connection. You can choose an existing connection or create a new one by clicking Add. Once you click Add you’ll be taken to a Google login page or directly to the permissions page for you to give permission to access your spreadsheets.

    Give Permissions

  • Once you log in and give the required permission, select the sheet you created earlier. Integromat will detect the column headers and give you an option to select which data needs to go to which column. Select the relevant data and click OK.

    Configure Fields

  • The scenario is now ready. Let’s test it.

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Step 3: Test the scenario

  • To test this scenario, click on Run once to put the scenario into listening mode.
  • Send a text message to the Plivo number you configured earlier. You can use your mobile phone to do this or use the Plivo Message API to send the message. We sent the text “Option A” to the Plivo number we configured.

    Running The Scenario

  • To check whether the scenario ran successfully, open the spreadsheet you created earlier. You should see a new row added, like this:

    Checking Google Sheets

  • It’s great that the scenario works, but it’s kind of boring to just see a huge table with results. We can add a nice chart.

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Step 4: Create a chart in Google Sheets

  • Select all of Column B, then go to Insert > Chart:

    Insert Chart

  • This should draw a chart that says “No Data.” Select “Use row 1 as headers” and “Aggregate column B.” You should then see a column chart:

    Edit Chart

  • You can make the first row bold so the table looks better.

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Step 5: Go live

  • To make the scenario live, click on the back button near “Integration Plivo, Google Sheets” on the top left. Save the scenario if you’re prompted to do so.
  • In the scenario summary screen, you can see the overview of the scenario you just created and the run history.

    Integration Summary

  • Use the toggle button on the top right to turn the scenario “ON” (also known as activating the scenario).
  • Select “Immediately” from the drop-down displayed and click on Activate.

    Activate Scenario

  • And that’s a wrap! Your poll application is now live. Whenever someone sends a text message to the Plivo number that you configured with this scenario, a new row should be added and the chart should be updated.

    After Activation

  • Send out a few text messages to see the magic. This is how it looks when people start sending their opinions in.

    Google Sheets Live

Congratulations — you just built a great application!