Table of contents
Session Messages
Important note
You should always send the very first message in a conversation with your customer.
When a customer sends you a message on your Viber Business account, an in-session conversation starts.
A session expires after:
24-hours have passed from its start
OR
The operator has sent 60 session messages (promotional template messages are not included)
If your customer replies after the end of a session, a new session will start, and you'll be able to send session messages once again.
Session expiry
After the session expires, you can send templates, but cannot use the composer (the Intercom message input box) to send session messages.
If you send 5 consecutive messages in a row without an end user message in between, this will lock the composer as well. Your customer's reply will unlock the composer.
Octopods Message Templates for VBM
When a session expires, you can no longer send regular session messages — you can only send message templates.
Octopods customers can create templates on the channel dashboard on Octopods.
How Do I Send a Message Using a Template?
In your Intercom Inbox, ensure that you have the Octopods Inbox app enabled.
Click on any VBM conversation, and notice that the Octopods Inbox app displays a few options:
Clicking on Send a message template will list the pre-approved message templates that you have on your VBM account, as shown below:
Selecting any of the templates will allow you to fill in the required variables, and then send this message to your Viber customer.
Local Regulations
If you want to send messages to Russia, Ukraine, or Belarus.
Any transactional (informative) messages that you send to customers must use templates that are approved by Viber. Templates can only be written in Russian and Ukrainian languages. If you're interested in sending transactional messages to these countries, please contact us for more information.