Before you start
You need:
The Octopods Intercom Inbox App installed and visible in the Intercom conversation sidebar.
At least one connected SMS or WhatsApp channel in Octopods.
A contact (user or lead) to send to — they can be the current person in the conversation, or any other user or lead in your workspace.
Note: Free-text messages require an open 24-hour session with the recipient on WhatsApp. If the session has expired, use a template message instead — see Sending WhatsApp Template Messages from Intercom.
Open the Octopods sidebar
Open any Intercom conversation.
Find the Octopods card in the right-hand sidebar.
Click Send a proactive message.
Choose who to send to
The next screen asks where the message should go:
Send to this user/lead — sends to whoever is currently in the Intercom conversation.
Search for another user/lead — opens a search panel so you can target someone else.
If you chose to search, the panel gives you three options. Use whichever you know:
Search users/leads by ID: paste an Intercom user or lead ID.
Search users/leads by email: paste an email address.
Search users/leads by phone number: paste a phone number in E.164 format (leading
+, country code, no spaces).
Include the country code in your phone search — the app does not infer it.
When the contact is found, the app confirms: Are you sure you want to send your message to this user/lead? Click Yes, use this user/lead! to continue.
If no contact matches your search, the app shows No contact found and offers to create one. Enter a name and click Continue.
Pick the channel
The next screen is headed Choose channel with the description Select a channel to send a message from. It lists every connected SMS and WhatsApp channel you can send from. Click the one you want.
Write the message
On the Write your message screen:
Type the body into the text area (placeholder: Your text message body…).
Keep it under 500 characters — the app will not send longer messages.
Review for typos and confirm the recipient’s phone number is correct.
A reminder appears below the text area: Consider keeping your message brief & informative, and make sure your customer’s phone number is valid.
Send
Two buttons finish the flow:
Send message — sends without changing the Intercom conversation.
Send message & open Intercom conversation — sends and starts (or updates) an Intercom conversation thread so replies from the recipient land back in Intercom.
After sending:
On success, you see Message sent! along with the channel and phone number.
On failure, you see Failed to send! with a Re-send your message button. Re-sending retries the same message without re-entering it.
What’s next