A Viber bot lets contacts find your business in Viber and message it, and reply with photos, videos, stickers and locations or by tapping buttons. Contacts who open a conversation with your bot can be greeted with a welcome message before they've subscribed to it.

Before you start

You'll need a Viber bot of your own. Since February 2024, Viber only offers new bots on commercial terms, which include a monthly fee for each bot and a charge for each message your bot starts. Viber explains how to apply for a bot and what it costs in its bot commercial model.

Once your bot is set up, you'll find its authentication token in its info in the Viber Admin Panel. Keep it private, as anyone who has it can send messages as your bot.

Adding the channel

Go to Settings > Channels and click New Channel. Viber is under Social & Chat, or you can type its name in the search box.

Enter your bot's token in the Authentication Token field and click Add Channel. There's nothing more to set up on Viber's side.

Greeting new contacts

To greet contacts when they open a conversation with your bot, open the channel, choose Edit from its menu and enter a Welcome Message. It's sent to contacts who haven't yet subscribed, and changes can take up to 30 seconds to apply.

Considerations

Contacts subscribe to your bot by sending it a message, and your bot can only message contacts who have subscribed. Each message a contact sends starts a 24-hour session, and messages within a session aren't charged. Messages your bot sends outside a session are charged by Viber, but the welcome message never is.

To learn more about channels in general, see Introduction to Channels.