Table of Contents
- Reasons for Broadcast Failure
- Investigating the Cause of Broadcast Failure
- Channel Limitations for Broadcasts
- Resending Failed Broadcast Messages
Dealing with Failed Broadcasts
Updated
by Susan Swier
- Reasons for Broadcast Failure
- Investigating the Cause of Broadcast Failure
- Channel Limitations for Broadcasts
- Resending Failed Broadcast Messages
Reasons for Broadcast Failure
There are two main reasons broadcast messages may fail to be sent or delivered:
- The broadcast has exceeded your respond.io broadcast message limits.
- The broadcast has exceeded or violated the Channel limitations.
Investigating the Cause of Broadcast Failure
If you suspect a broadcast has failed, there are two methods to investigate it:
- Check the calendar in the Broadcasts Module.
- Check the Failed Messages Log in Reports.
Check the Calendar in the Broadcasts Module
In the calendar view, there will be a red triangle next to broadcasts that failed to send. Click on the triangle to see the error message.
This error means that the entire broadcast was not sent because it exceeded the broadcast message limits for your subscription plan.
Check the Failed Messages Log in Reports
To find out whether messages failed to be delivered due to channel limitations, go to Reports > Messages > Failed Message Log.
The report contains the Date & Time, Sender, Contact Name, Channel, Type, Sub-type, Content, and Error.
Filter messages to identify those that were part of the broadcast
Filter by date > select the date the broadcast was sent > filter by channel > select the channel the broadcast was sent on.
View the errors
Scroll all the way to the right to see the errors. In this example, the majority of errors were caused by a Contact blocking the business on the channel.
If you find errors in the Failed Messages Log, check the limitations of the channel the broadcast was sent on.
Channel Limitations for Broadcasts
To avoid broadcast failure, take note of the limitations for each channel. See the following for specific channel limitations and policies on broadcasts:
Resending Failed Broadcast Messages
Often, when broadcasts fail due to channel limitations, they are partially sent.
Example: A business in WhatsApp’s standard tier can only send out 1,000 messages in a 24-hour period. If it sends a 1,500-message broadcast, 1,000 will go out and 500 will fail.
In a case like this, you may want to identify those who did not receive it and resend it to them.
There are two methods to resend failed broadcast messages:
- Download Failed Messages using Data Export, reimport to add tags in bulk and resend (recommended).
- View the Failed Messages Log from the Reports Module, manually add tags and resend.
Download Failed Messages using Data Export, reimport to add tags in bulk and resend
Step 1: Navigate to Data Export
Go to Settings > Data Export > Select Failed Messages from the dropdown > Set the date range for the date when the broadcast was sent > Export the data and download the CSV.
The CSV provides the following information: Date & Time, Sender ID, Sender Type, Contact ID, Message ID, Content Type, Content, Channel ID, Type, Sub-type and Error.
Filter the CSV by Channel ID to show only the failed messages from the Channel the broadcast was sent on.
How to find your Channel ID
Step 2: Add tags and reimport to Contacts Module
Go to Import Contacts > add the CSV file > select Update existing contacts only > select Contact ID for the identifier.
Add a tag, e.g., failed broadcast 110122 to identify these as the Contacts that did not receive the broadcast and import.
Step 3: Resend the broadcast
Resend the broadcast to these Contacts using the tag.
View the Failed Messages Log from the Reports Module, manually add tags and resend
Step 1: View the Failed Messages Log from the Reports Module
Follow the steps to check the Failed Messages Log and identify the Contacts who did not receive the broadcast.
Step 2: Go to the Contacts’ profiles and add tags
Go to each contact’s profile on the list who did not receive the broadcast because of the channel limitation and add a tag, e.g., failed broadcast 110122.
Step 3: Resend the broadcast
Resend the broadcast to contacts with the new tag.
