WhatsApp is growing fast globally, and keeping on top of messages can quickly become a lot to manage. You're not always going to be available round the clock, and even when you are, handling every conversation can get overwhelming. This guide covers how to use the "WhatsApp Interactive Messages" action to send rich, engaging, interactive messages directly to your customers.
To get started, head to the Workflows tab in the Automation section and open one of your workflows.
Pre-requisites
This action works with any trigger, but you'll need to add the "WhatsApp: Customer Service Window Check" action first. This checks whether the WhatsApp 24-hour Customer Service Window is open, as you can't send freeform messages to customers outside that window.
Setting Up Your Action
Click the plus sign icon underneath the Open branch to add your action.
Select the WhatsApp Interactive Messages action from the right side menu.
Select your interactive message type. You have four available options:
- Quick Reply Buttons: Lets users choose from predefined options (up to 3) during a conversation, making responses quick and straightforward.
- List: Presents a scrollable list of options for users to select, useful for offering multiple choices in a structured way.
- Visit Website Button: Replaces long, messy URLs in message bodies with clean, tappable buttons.
- Contact: Shares contact information, such as a phone number or email, often used to save or share contact details.
- Location: Sends or requests a user's geographical location via a map, helping with location-based services.
"Quick Reply Buttons" Type Settings
To use it, set your button total from the dropdown menu.
Select a header type, then enter the text or URL (for an image or video) you want on your header.
Craft your message in the body and footer fields.
Set your timeout for the customer to respond before the automation triggers the next step.
Enter the button text for each option. Once entered, the text will be added to the branches.
Click "Save Action" once the branches are updated and you can see the button text added.
"List" Type Settings
Since this option allows for a list of options, first select the number of sections that will contain the options. You can add up to ten sections.
As with the Button option, enter your header, body, and footer.
If needed, enter a list button text.
Set your timeout for the customer to respond before the automation triggers the next step.
Enter a title for your section. This helps customers understand what options to expect in it.
Use the "Row count for section" to define how many options will sit under the section; you can add up to 10 options per section.
Add your row title and description, repeating this step for each row you've added.
Once you've configured your rows, repeat the process for any other sections, then head to the branches section. Each branch (except for undelivered or timeout messages) will be named after the section it belongs to, a space, and the row title. If everything looks correct, save your action.
"Visit Website Button" Type Settings
WhatsApp users may be hesitant to tap long or complex URLs in plain text messages, so this lets you replace them with a clean, tappable button. To start, select a header type, then enter the text or URL (for an image or video) you want on your header.
Craft your message in the body and footer fields.
Enter the URL (1) you want to redirect customers to and the text (2) you want to put in the CTA.
Set your timeout for the customer to respond before the automation triggers the next step.
Click "Save Action" once the branches are updated and you can see the button text added.
"Contact" Type Settings
This helps customers easily save a contact's information, for example a specific sales representative's details. Enter the contact's information in the respective fields, then click Save Action.
"Location" Type Settings
Enter the location's name (1), address (2), latitude (3), and longitude (4), then click Save Action (5).
Once finished, the action will be added to your workflow, along with any branches it contains.
Configure any added options as needed and save your workflow.
That's it. You now know how to use this action to create guided, engaging customer experiences while staying compliant with WhatsApp's conversation rules. We hope it helps you build richer message formats and make the most of the branching capabilities to automate your customer care.