Templates are reusable messages that you can send to your customers on various occasions. We talk more about templates in our guide: Introduction to Message Templates
WhatsApp has 3 template types: text-based, media-based, and interactive templates. In this article we will talk about complex (media-based and interactive) templates and how to use them with Octopods.
Table of contents
Template structure
Interactive message templates can have the following elements:
Header - With text, image, video, or documents
Body
Footer
Interactive buttons
There are two types of predefined buttons offered by WhatsApp:
Call-to-Action — Allows your customer to call a phone number or visit a website
Quick Reply — Allows your customer to return a simple text message
Here's how a template with all of the allowed elements will look like:
Sending complex templates from Octopods
Sending templates through Octopods Inbox App
Click on any WhatsApp conversation, and notice that the Octopods Inbox app displays a few options:
Clicking on Send a Template Message will list the pre-approved message templates that you have on your WhatsApp Business API account.
Selecting the template named need_more_help_4 allows me to fill in the required variables:
After uploading your image of choice and filling in the variables you can send this template by pressing "Send message template".
Sending interactive templates from our Chrome Extension
The Octopods Chrome browser extension allows you to send message templates directly from the user profile, as shown below:
How sent complex templates are displayed to your customers and your team on Intercom
Here's what your customers will see in their WhatsApp:
In your Intercom inbox your team will see this:
If your customer presses one of the buttons you'll receive their response in this format:
How to apply for a new Complex Template
You need to create complex templates through your 360dialog, Twilio, or MessageBird dashboard, and we will automatically import and sync them to Octopods.
Please note: All of the media in the header (images, videos, or documents) are added to every template right before sending it to a customer. Upon submitting for approval, you only have to choose media type (images, videos, or documents).
What elements and media formats in complex templates are supported by 360dialog, Twilio, or MessageBird
All of our WhatsApp providers allow you to apply for structured WhatsApp templates, but there are some differences you need to be aware of:
360dialog supports all of the elements in complex templates (footers, headers with text, images, documents, videos, and all kinds of buttons).
MessageBird allow for text-based body, headers (image or a document) and interactive buttons (can be quick reply or call-to-action buttons).
Twilio only allow for text-based body and interactive buttons (can be quick reply or call-to-action buttons).
WhatsApp Business API supports the following media formats:
