Sending Messages with a Flow

In the example below, we've asked an initial question, received a response, and created a new Send Message action that will send automatically when a contact reaches that node in the flow:



We'd then go on to create Send Message actions for each of the possible responses from the contacts.

Attach Media

Click on the 'Attachments' tab at the top of the Send Message action to see attachment options:





Note the following:

Outgoing media is displayed in-app for Facebook Messenger, Telegram and Twilio channels, but converted to a link for others.


Twilio only supports MMS in the US and Canada, and will convert a picture message into an SMS with linked media when sending to MMS-incompatible numbers. Please check before purchase that your Twilio phone number allows for MMS as not all options offer this feature.


Twilio will also automatically resize the images you send to meet your contacts' carriers' requirements.


Image attachments are limited to 500KB while video attachments are limited to 20MB.


Android channels do not allow for image attachments.

Using Quick Replies

Quick replies is a feature that enables you to provide contacts on IP messaging channels such as Facebook Messenger, Viber, and Telegram with a predefined set of responses.





Learn how to use this feature here. 

Send to All Numbers for Each Contact

Check the "All Destinations" setting to include each address for contacts who have multiple addresses attached to their profile.

SMS Character Limit

If a Send Message action exceeds 160 characters, it'll be split by carriers and sent as two messages. There's a character-counter beneath the dialogue box that shows how many characters remain until you've entered 160 characters. In the example below, the message contains 21 characters.



Note that it's possible to split messages that exceed more than 160 characters by adding an additional node containing any characters that remain after the 160 character limit has been reached. Also note that each SMS channel handles lengthy messages differently, so whereas a single long message might work best for Twilio channels, it may not for others. As always, we encourage you to test and see

UNICODE

Note that certain content will trigger your messages to be sent as Unicode instead of standard GSM7. SMS messages by default are 160 characters, but only if they contain the standard GSM7 alphabet. If you use characters outside this (e.g., emojis or Chinese characters), the message gets sent as Unicode, which changes the limit to 70 characters.

Updated on: 15/04/2024