Improve Customer Engagement with the Ability to Receive Stickers
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We’re excited to introduce stickers on respond.io! Stickers are a popular medium of expression among customers. The inability to receive them prevents businesses from acknowledging customers who start a conversation with a sticker or understanding customers’ emotions during chats.
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To help you engage with leads and build strong customer relationships, respond.io now supports the receiving of
static and animated stickers
from the following popular channels:
  • Viber
  • WhatsApp Cloud API
  • WhatsApp 360dialog
  • WhatsApp MessageBird
  • WhatsApp Twilio
  • LINE
  • Facebook Messenger
  • Telegram
For
Business
plan users and above, we have also updated our
Incoming Webhook Events
to include
Stickers
Received
as a new incoming message type so you can be notified when customers send you stickers.
Additionally, we have enabled the use of stickers as an incoming message trigger in
Zapier
.
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We hope that these new features enhance your respond.io experience and help you better connect with your contacts. If you have any questions, please contact our support team.
Improved Targeting and Greater Flexibility with the New Broadcasts Module
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Respond.io’s Broadcast Module gets a comprehensive revamp! Check out the host of improvements and new features that will make sending broadcasts even easier and elevate your messaging strategy.
Target Contacts More Effectively
Segment Contacts Based on Contact Fields, Tags or Conditions
The standout feature of the revamped Broadcast Module is Contact Segment, which allows you to create segments based on Contact Fields, Tags or conditions. This new capability lets you easily and precisely define a target audience for each broadcast.
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Defining conditions for each Segment also means Contacts will automatically enter or exit a segment depending on their condition fulfillment! Refer to this guide to create a segment in the Contacts Module now.
Improve Reach by Broadcasting to Contacts’ Last Interacted Channel
Don’t limit broadcasts to channels your Contacts may not be as active on or risk spamming them by sending duplicate messages across channels to gain their attention.
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Instead, broadcast messages to the last channel a Contact interacted with. This increases the visibility and potential engagement rates of your broadcasts.
You can also send unique content for each channel according to its supported capabilities — such as images, emojis, Facebook Message tags or WhatsApp template messages — and exclude specific channels from the broadcast if you like.
More Flexibility in Creating and Sending Broadcasts
Save Broadcasts as Drafts
Need to tweak your broadcast or audience targeting? Instead of deleting a broadcast and rebuilding it from scratch with the right content and settings, you can now simply edit it.
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With the new release, broadcasts are created in draft status by default and will remain there until you schedule or send them. This allows you to make changes or reschedule broadcasts up until the last minute.
View All Details about a Broadcast at a Glance in the New Broadcast Builder
The all-new broadcast builder lets you configure a broadcast across multiple channels simultaneously, preview each message and send test broadcasts.
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In the Target Audience section of the builder, you can also view the estimated number of messages that will be sent across channels and the number of recipients who will receive the broadcast.
It will even detail the number of target audiences who fulfill the Segment criteria but are excluded as they are not present on the selected channels to aid decision-making about channel choices.
Customize Broadcast Send Rate
Perhaps you want to control your broadcast send rate so your bulk messages are delivered faster or slower than usual.
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Now, you can customize the send rate to broadcast messages at the rate that works best for your business.
Note that this is an add-on feature, so please contact our sales team to learn more.
New Workflow Templates, WhatsApp Message Template Improvements and more
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We are excited to announce the latest updates to our platform! Check out what's new below:
Streamline Your Workflows with New Templates 🤖
We had expanded our Workflow Templates library. The new Workflow Templates are designed to help you streamline your customer service process and get more insights into your customers' needs. Here are some of the new templates and their use cases:
  • Create Chat Menus:
    Use this template to create a menu that customers can use to quickly navigate to the right support resource.
  • Get Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) and Store Results:
    Use this template to automate customer satisfaction surveys and store the results in Google Sheets or your data warehouse for easy analysis.
  • Escalate Issues:
    Use this template to automatically escalate issues to the right team or agent when they can't be resolved in a timely manner.
  • Transfer Shifts Automatically:
    Use this template to automate the transfer of conversations from one agent to another when a shift change occurs.
New workflow templates
Check out all the new templates now to see how they can improve your customer service process.
Improved WhatsApp Template Manager
Finding the right WhatsApp template just got easier! We have added filters for languages and categories to the WhatsApp Template Manager, and you can now preview templates including headers and footers, not just their content.
WA template management
Sending WhatsApp Template Messages, Improved
Say goodbye to endless scrolling! You can now quickly find the right WhatsApp template with our new search bar and filters. Plus, you can preview the content of each template before selecting it.
Send WA template
Trigger Shortcuts for Closed Conversations ⚡️
The Shortcut button has been moved to the top of the screen, making it easier to trigger shortcuts even when the message composer is blocked.
Shortcut trigger to the top
Retain your Last Used Filters in Reports
No more starting from scratch! Filters applied in reports will now be retained, so you can continue with your preferred filter configuration.
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Stay Up to Date with the New Webhooks Events
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We're excited to announce the release of our new webhooks events 🎉. Want to stay updated on critical events happening in respond.io? You can now receive notifications about these events or automatically provide information to other platforms when events occur in respond.io.
The list of supported events includes:
  • New incoming or outgoing message
  • Conversation opened or closed
  • New Contact is added
  • Existing Contact is updated
  • Contact tag is updated
  • Contact assignee is updated
  • New comment is added for a Contact
To get started, go to
Settings > Integration > Webhooks
and configure your webhooks. You'll be able to specify which events you'd like to receive notifications for and provide the URL (endpoint) where you'd like to receive these notifications.
webhook_event
For instance, you can sync all messages on respond.io with an internal database by setting up webhooks to send all incoming and outgoing messages on respond.io to the desired endpoint.
To learn more about webhooks and how to use them, check out our documentation here.
The new Webhook feature is only available for
Business Plan
users and above.
We hope you enjoy this new feature! If you have any questions, please contact our support team.
Google Business Messages is Here! 🎉
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Google Business Messages is now a supported messaging channel on respond.io. 🥳 This allows customers to reach you through multiple entry points, including Google Search, Google Ads and Google Maps.
Customers who land at these touchpoints can message you directly from the same page to make reservations, inquire about product availability, check opening hours during holidays and more.
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To get started, create a Google Business Profile. Then, connect your Google Business Profile to respond.io to start receiving and responding to messages in your respond.io inbox.
You can even add Google Business Messages as a standalone widget or as a channel in the multichannel widget on your website.
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Other supported functionalities for Google Business Messages include Workflows automation, Dialogflow, Zapier 2.0 and API 2.0.
Feel free to contact our support team if you have any questions about connecting Google Business Messages to respond.io.
Trigger Workflows with Incoming Webhooks
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Respond.io’s Workflows receives a powerful upgrade: The ability to trigger Workflows externally via webhooks.
Previously, Workflows could only be triggered by events within the respond.io platform, such as new conversations or Contact Tag updates. Now, two-way integration allows Workflows to be triggered by events in external applications like CRMs or Shopify through incoming webhooks (HTTP POST requests).
In short, Workflows can be triggered internally or externally to sync information between platforms, prompt actions on respond.io or send messages about events on third-party platforms. For instance, updating a contact’s information on Hubspot could trigger a Workflow to update their profile on respond.io.
Let’s check out the new feature.
New Workflow Trigger: Incoming Webhook
Design Workflows that can be triggered by external events with the new Incoming Webhook Trigger. Follow the below steps to set and configure this Trigger.
  1. Create a new Workflow. Select Incoming Webhook as the Trigger in the dropdown menu.
  2. Copy the automatically generated URL and paste it in the external application or platform to enable HTTP POST requests to respond.io.
  3. Configure the contact identifier to determine which respond.io Contact(s) will go through the Workflow. This ensures the contact in the external application and the contact on respond.io are the same person. Identifiers include email, phone number or respond.io Contact ID.
  4. Build your desired Workflow.
New Webhook Trigger
Save Information Passed in the Workflow as Variables
You can also store payload data items in the incoming webhook as variables to be used in the Workflow.
For example, create an order confirmation Workflow that saves order numbers on Shopify as variables. When customers make a purchase, the Workflow will send them a confirmation message with the order number.
New Webhook Variable
The Incoming Webhook Trigger is only available for
Business Plan
users and above.
More Automation Enabled with Zapier 2.0
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The new and improved Zapier integration is now available! 🥳 Here’s your ticket to building more comprehensive automation with over 5,000 applications. Updates include more triggers and a host of actions on the application or respond.io for more intuitive use.
To get the new version of the Zapier integration, go to
Settings > Integration > Zapier.
Generate an API key that will authenticate your Zapier account with respond.io.
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Previously, the Zapier integration only supported two triggers: New contact created and New or Updated Custom Field. The range of new triggers makes a variety of use cases possible:
  • New incoming or outgoing message
  • Conversation opened or closed
  • New contact is added
  • Existing contact is updated
  • Contact tag is updated
  • Contact assignee is updated
  • New comment is added for a Contact
New actions
In a similar fashion, the legacy Zapier integration did not allow for any actions to be performed. The new integration supports a host of actions to choose from, including:
  • Create or update a contact
  • Find a contact
  • Delete a contact
  • Send a message
  • Add a comment
  • Add or remove a tag
  • Update assignee
  • Update conversation status
And many more!
Check out the Zapier application page here to explore all the available triggers and actions. Keep an eye out for the respond.io Zapier templates coming soon to help you get started with popular applications such as Hubspot, Shopify, Magento, Salesforce and Pipedrive among others.
Respond.io’s legacy Zapier integration will be deprecated on 22nd of March.
Fret not, existing users — Zaps that currently use the legacy Zapier integration will continue to run until the deprecation date. To ensure no disruption to your workflows, we encourage you to update all existing Zaps to access the new triggers and actions.
Enhanced Protection From Viruses!
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Secured  (1) (1)
We are pleased to announce that the respond.io platform now has a virus-scanning feature.
All files uploaded to and received on the platform will be automatically scanned for viruses. If a virus is detected, the file will be inaccessible immediately. Users who attempt to click on or open the affected file will see an “Access Denied” error screen to avoid any engagement with the virus.
This ensures a more secure user experience for all respond.io users. The feature has already been implemented and requires no input or actions on your part.
Grow Your Leads with Website Widgets
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To help you grow your customer base, we’ve built a dedicated module that will convert website visitors into contacts on respond.io.
If you use web chat, you know the struggle: Visitors can chat with you anonymously, the chat ends as soon as they leave the site and there’s no conversation history saved. Even if you have a contact form on your web chat, they might fill in false contact details. With the new
Growth Widgets Module
, you’ll never lose a lead again.
New Module - Growth Widgets
Screenshot 2022-12-07 at 8
The
Growth Widgets Module
can be found under
Settings > Workspace Settings
. It allows you to create and manage messaging widgets on your website so visitors can connect with you on their favorite messaging apps. Not only is this convenient for them, but it also makes sure their contact details and conversation history are saved on respond.io.
Let’s explore some of the cool widgets.
Multichannel Widget
Widgets - Multichannel
Display all your messaging channels! This widget allows you to add connected messaging channels on respond.io into the chat button so website visitors can select their preferred channel.
To add new channels, make sure they’re first connected to respond.io. You can then select them from the list of available channels under
Growth Widgets > Multichannel Widget
.
Select Multichannel 2
Single Channel Widget
If you want site visitors to chat with you on a particular channel (e.g. WhatsApp), create a single channel widget. We support widely popular messaging channels like WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, Viber, LINE and more!
Single Channel Widget 3
QR Code Generator
The QR code generator has been upgraded and relocated! It’s been moved from the
Channels Module
to the
Growth Widgets Module
for more intuitive access. As part of the upgrade, QR codes for all connected channels can be generated quickly by just selecting the channels from a dropdown list instead of having to reconfigure the ID for each channel.
Generate QR 3
Website Chat Widget Improvement
Lastly, the Website Chat Widget has also been improved. Previously, all the channel icons on the website chat header were in white. This limited their visibility if your website chat's theme color was white or a similar shade, as the icons would blend into the header.
Now, you can make these icons more recognizable and visible by changing them to their standard colors. Just go to Channels > Web Chat > Customize > Header Elements> Channel Icons Color. Click on the dropdown to switch them from White to Colored.
Change Channel Icon color
Screenshot 2022-12-09 at 8
Multiple languages now available on respond.io! 🎉
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สวัสดี, 你好, bonjour, привет, and more! 👋
We’re excited to announce that the respond.io platform is now available in these new languages:
  • Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ) 🇲🇲
  • Thai (ภาษาไทย) 🇹🇭
  • Simplified Chinese (简体中文) 🇨🇳
  • Traditional Chinese (繁體中文) 🇹🇼
  • Italian (Italiano) 🇮🇹
  • German (Deutsch) 🇩🇪
  • Russian (Русский) 🇷🇺
  • French (Français) 🇫🇷
  • Japanese (日本語) 🇯🇵
  • Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia) 🇮🇩
  • Turkish (Türkçe) 🇹🇷
  • Korean (한국어) 🇰🇷
  • Vietnamese (Tiếng Việt) 🇻🇳
  • Hebrew (עברית) 🇮🇱
You can easily switch your platform language to any of these languages by going to
Settings > Personal Settings > Profile > Language.
New users can select their preferred language on the sign-up page before creating a respond.io account.
Multi-language profile change
Similar to our Arabic language release earlier this year, choosing Hebrew as your platform language will switch all platform interfaces to a Right-to-Left (RTL) view. This provides a more personalized and familiar view for Hebrew-speaking users.
Hebrew screenshot
For this release, the language change is limited to platform use and won’t apply to emails and video subtitles yet. If you want to see these added soon, post a feature request here.
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