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Table of Contents

Channels Overview

JQ Lee Updated by JQ Lee

Supported Channels

Respond.io supports the following channels and the platform will continue to support more channels in the future.

Channels supported on respond.io

Channels Summary

The table below summarizes the connection difficulty level, the time needed, applicable cost and requirements for each channel.

Channels

Icon

Difficulty

Time Needed

Applicable

Cost

Requirements

WhatsApp

WhatsApp Logo

Advanced

3 to 5 working days*

✅

WhatsApp Business API

Facebook Messenger

FB logo

Easy

15 mins

-

Facebook Page

Instagram

IG Logo

Easy

15 mins

-

Instagram Business Account (1,000 to 100,000 followers)

Website Chat

Webchat Logo

Moderate

15 mins

-

Live Website

Telegram

Telegram Logo

Moderate

15 mins

-

Telegram Bot

LINE

LINE Logo

Moderate

30 mins

✅

LINE Official Account

Viber

Viber Logo

Moderate

15 mins

✅

Viber Bot

WeChat

WeChat Logo

Advanced

3 to 5 working days

✅

WeChat Official Account

Twitter

twitter logo

Advanced

1 to 2 working days

-

Twitter App

Google Business Messages

Moderate

15 minutes

-

Google Business Profile with verified location

SMS

SMS Logo

Moderate

1 to 2 working days

✅

Phone number provisioned by our partners.

Gmail

Gmail Logo

Moderate

15 mins

-

Gmail or Gmail for Business account.

Other Email

Other email logo

Moderate

15 min

-

Email login credentials. Access to Email Inbox Settings.

Custom Channel

Custom Channel

Advanced

1 to 2 working days

-

Custom Integration Server to handle the incoming and outgoing message between respond.io and Messaging Service Provider.

*Time needed includes account creation and verification by WhatsApp provider. Account creation varies from minutes to days depending on provider processing speed.

If there is a need to connect to channels that require approval such as WhatsApp, Twitter and WeChat, we will suggest proceeding with the application first. Once the account is approved, you may proceed to connect it to respond.io.
If there is a channel you don't see on the list and you would like the platform to support, please do not hesitate to add a request or upvote an existing one on our Feature Requests page.

Channel Capabilities

The table below will give you a quick comparison between channels.

Quick Replies

Chat Link & QR Code

Broadcasts Support^

Contacts Import

Messaging Windowª

Unique Features˘

Channel Feesº

WhatsApp

✅*

✅

✅

✅

24 hrs

-

✅

Facebook Messenger

✅

✅

✅

-

7 days

✅

-

Instagram

✅

✅

-

-

7 days

-

-

Website Chat

✅

✅

-

-

-

-

-

Telegram

✅

✅

✅

-

-

-

-

LINE

✅

✅

✅

-

-

-

✅

Viber

✅

✅

✅

-

24 hrs

-

✅

WeChat

✅*

✅

-

-

48 hrs

-

-

Twitter

✅

✅

✅

-

-

-

-

Google Business Messages

✅

✅

-

-

30 days

-

-

SMS

-

✅

✅

✅

-

-

✅

Gmail

✅

✅

-

✅

-

-

-

Other Email

✅

✅

-

✅

-

✅

-

Custom Channel (ID type = Phone Number)

✅

-

✅

✅

-

-

º

Custom Channel (ID type = Custom ID)

✅

-

✅

-

-

-

º

* Channel does not support rich UI quick replies, uses numeric system instead.

^ Not all channel partners allow broadcasts.

ª Some channels have a messaging window, replies can only be sent within the messaging window.

˘ Some channels have channel-specific features, you can find out more on the channel page.

º Some channels have additional fees imposed by the channel providers. This might apply to your custom channels.

Message Status Availability

For some channels, we are able to find out the message status whether has it been sent, delivered, read or failed. Refer to the following table on which channel offers message status availability:

Messaging Channel

Sent

Delivered

Read

Failed

WhatsApp Business API (respond.io WhatsApp BSP)

✅

✅

✅

✅

WhatsApp Cloud API

✅

✅

✅

✅

WhatsApp 360dialog

✅

✅

✅

✅

WhatsApp Twilio

✅

✅

✅

✅

WhatsApp MessageBird

✅

✅

✅

✅

WhatsApp Vonage

✅

✅

✅

✅

Facebook Messenger

✅

✅

✅

✅

Instagram

✅

✅

✅

✅

Website Chat

✅

✅

✅

✅

Telegram

✅

-

-

-

LINE

✅

-

-

-

Viber

✅

✅

✅

✅

WeChat

✅

-

-

-

Twitter

✅

-

-

-

Google Business Messages

✅

✅

✅

✅

SMS Twilio

✅

✅

-

✅

SMS MessageBird

✅

✅

-

✅

SMS Vonage

✅

✅

-

✅

Gmail

✅

✅

✅

✅

Other Email

✅

✅

-

✅

Custom Channel

✅

✅

✅

✅

Messaging Window

Some messaging channels have a limited messaging window for the contact to receive a response. The messaging window refreshes every time a message is received from a contact. Refer to the following channel and their respective messaging window:

Channel

Messaging Window

WhatsApp

24 Hours

Facebook Messenger

7 Days

Instagram

7 Days

WeChat

48 Hours

Viber

24 Hours

Google Business Messages

30 Days

Facebook Messenger's Messaging Window is now extended to 7 days because respond.io platform has been selected to participate in Facebook HUMAN_AGENT tag Closed Beta program.

For WeChat and Instagram, messages can still be sent outside the messaging window but it will not be delivered. There will be a red exclamation mark indicating the message is not delivered along with an error message.

Failed Message Delivery

For Viber, messages sent by the bot outside the messaging window will be considered Chatbot-initiated Messages. You'll get an error message with a red exclamation mark on the platform once you've exceeded the monthly free limit.

Viber Max Free Messages From Bot Limit Error on respond.io platform
Learn more about Viber Chatbot-initiated Message here.

For Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, they have a feature that allows users to send a message to the contacts beyond the messaging window.

Facebook Tagged Message
WhatsApp Message Templates
To send a message to Facebook contacts after the messaging window, you can use Facebook Messenger Message Tag to do so. Learn more about Facebook Messenger Message Tag here.
To send a message to WhatsApp contacts after the messaging window, you can use WhatsApp Message Templates to do so. Learn more about WhatsApp Message Templates here.

Broadcast

In respond.io, you may broadcast content to your contacts if the channel is supported. However, there may be a few limitations that need to be considered when broadcasting with a supported channel.

Bear in mind that every channel has its own rate limit of how many requests/messages can be processed in a time interval. This may affect the deliverability of the broadcast content to your contact.
WhatsApp API Channels

If you wish to broadcast to contacts from WhatsApp API Channels, you will need to specify a WhatsApp Message Template as the broadcast content.

Before broadcasting to these contacts, please make sure your WhatsApp Message Template is submitted and approved by WhatsApp.

Facebook Messenger

As for Facebook Messenger, you can specify the content in the broadcast dialog but a Facebook Tag is needed to send the broadcast content.

When using Facebook Tag for broadcast, please make sure you comply with Facebook's Messaging Policy to prevent your Facebook page being banned from sending messages.
Another option to send broadcast messages from Facebook is with Messenger Platform's Recurring Notifications feature, which allows daily, weekly or monthly promotional messages and other updates to opted-in Contacts. Read how to configure these messages here.

Rate Limits

A rate limit is the number of API calls an app or user can make within a given time period defined by the channel. For example, a rate limit of 30 requests per second means that in one second, any request that comes after the 30th request will be throttled and fail.

The rate limit for a Custom Channel is set at 20 requests per second.
In the context of respond.io, a request is when a message is sent to a contact.

More information on the rate limits for each messaging Channels below:

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