The basic idea
Most conversations in Octopods start when a customer writes to you first — they hit your website chat, send a WhatsApp, or reply to an SMS. A proactive message flips that direction: you reach out first.
Common use cases:
Order confirmations — “Your order #1234 is confirmed.”
Shipping notifications — “Your package is on the way, tracking #ABC123.”
Appointment reminders — “Reminder: your consultation is tomorrow at 10am.”
Promotional campaigns — “We just launched a new product — here’s 15% off.”
Re-engagement — “Hi Alex, it’s been a while! Here’s what’s new.”
You can send these one at a time from Intercom, from HubSpot, or from the Reach extension on Intercom, or programmatically from your own systems via the Octopods API.
Proactive messages vs. broadcasts
Both proactive messaging and broadcasts send outbound messages — the difference is scale and purpose:
Proactive messaging | Broadcasts | |
Audience | One recipient at a time | Many recipients at once |
Use case | Transactional, personalized, operational | Marketing campaigns, announcements |
Triggered by | An agent, a workflow, or an API call | A scheduled or on-demand campaign |
Personalization | Per-recipient, set inline or in code | Per-recipient, set via a contact list or template variables |
If you need to message a single user because of something they did, use proactive messaging. If you need to message hundreds or thousands of contacts in one go, use broadcasts.
Templates versus free-text
Different channels have different rules for what you can send proactively.
WhatsApp requires an approved template for any proactive (first or re-engagement) message. Templates are pre-written, pre-approved messages with optional placeholders like {{1}} that you fill in at send time. You cannot send arbitrary free-text as a first message on WhatsApp.
SMS allows free-text. You can type whatever you want in the body and send it. There is no template approval step.
VBM (Viber Business Messages) requires an approved template, just like WhatsApp. Templates must be approved on the channel before you can send them.
The 24-hour window on WhatsApp
WhatsApp enforces a 24-hour customer service window. It works like this:
The moment a customer replies to one of your messages, a 24-hour window opens.
Inside that window, you can send WhatsApp free-text replies — no template required.
Once the window expires (24 hours after the customer’s most recent message to you), only templates can be sent.
Every reply from the customer resets the window to another 24 hours.
This is a provider-level rule, not an Octopods rule — it applies no matter which tool you use to send the message.
What to reach for next
Decide how you want to send:
One at a time from your CRM or an agent tool → Choosing a Proactive Messaging Method
Programmatically from your own systems → API Overview and Authentication
To many recipients at once → see the Broadcasts section
What’s next