July 2023 Updates: New Message Search, WhatsApp BSP Improvements, Make Integration and More

July 2023 was packed with a plethora of new updates and enhancements across our platform, from highly-requested search capabilities to improvements across the platform, all while working on getting our ISO 27001:2022 certification. 🥳

Let's dive in and explore the exciting changes we have in store for you!

Improved Search Capabilities in the Messages Module

By popular demand, we’ve enhanced the Messages Module with three new features and a minor improvement that will help customer-facing agents work more efficiently. Let’s take a closer look at these updates.

Search Messages and Comments in Your Contact List

This highly requested feature, search for messages and comments, is here! With our new intuitive filters, agents can effortlessly find relevant messages and comments from the Messages Module.

By just remembering one or a few keywords mentioned during a conversation with a Contact, agents can search for and locate them easily.

Search Messages in a Conversation

Previously, agents had to scroll through the entire conversation history with a customer to find past messages.

To simplify this process, we've added a search bar to the Conversation Actions menu, making it faster and easier for agents to locate specific messages.

New Inbox Filter: All Status

Up until now, Conversations in the respond.io inbox could only be filtered by Open, Closed or Snoozed statuses. This made it difficult for agents to efficiently search for messages, comments or contacts as they had to search for a message within each status individually.

To provide more flexibility, we've introduced an All Status filter. This filter allows you to view all conversations in your Contact List, regardless of Conversation status. This handy filter is now set as the default option for your convenience.

Collapsible View of Contact Events

Conversation Events provide respond.io Users with information about the activities that are happening in a Conversation with a Contact. However, an influx of Conversation Events can sometimes clutter the chat interface.

To address this, we've implemented a collapsible toggle list to group seven or more events triggered in sequence. This ensures a cleaner view while retaining essential information.

WhatsApp BSP Improvements

Since becoming a WhatsApp Business Solution Provider (BSP), we’ve been releasing new features that add value to respond.io WhatsApp Business API. Our recent updates focus on refining WhatsApp Message Template functionalities, with a few extra surprises thrown in.

Location-based Message Template

The new Location-based Message Template is here! With this, businesses can now share location information with customers via a Message Template easily. For example, healthcare companies can use it to direct a customer to the nearest center, while shipping companies can use it to confirm a delivery location.

Note that this feature is supported for the following WhatsApp BSPs: Respond.io and Vonage, as well as WhatsApp Cloud API.

Message Template Labels and Label Search Filter

Previously, you could not label your Message Templates to categorize them for your convenience. Now, you have the ability to add one or more labels to both new and existing Message Templates.

This new update allows you to easily filter and search for templates based on specific labels.

Message Template Status Auto Sync

Previously, you couldn’t view the updated status of your Message Template in real time. For instance, when you submitted a Message Template to Meta for approval, you had to manually click on the Sync Templates button to get the latest approval status.

This action was overlooked at times, resulting in users having outdated information about their Message Template status.

This will no longer be an issue for respond.io WhatsApp Business API users as their Message Templates are now automatically synced and the latest status will be reflected on the platform.

Edit and Delete Message Templates

Previously, Users couldn’t edit and delete Message Templates directly on respond.io. If they wanted to edit an existing template, they had to delete the template from Meta Business Manager (now known as the Meta Business Portfolio) and create a new one from scratch.

For convenience, you can now edit the content of approved, rejected or paused Message Templates directly on respond.io. Once edited, they can be resubmitted to Meta for approval. Additionally, you can also delete Message Templates easily on the platform.

Note that these features are only available for respond.io WhatsApp Business API and WhatsApp Cloud API users.

View Message Template Quality

While in the past businesses needed to visit Meta Business Manager to check their Message Template quality, it is now possible to view it in respond.io’s Message Template manager. This way, you can view the quality rating of each Message Template and improve Message Templates of medium or low quality.

Quick Access to Recently Used Message Templates

To streamline your messaging experience and save you time, we have introduced a list of recently utilized Message Templates within the Messages Modules.

Click on the Send Message Template button in the Message Composer to view the last 10 templates used. This enhancement simplifies your search process and ensures quick access to frequently used templates.

New WABA Profile Field: About

Respond.io WhatsApp Business API and Cloud API users can now update the About section of their WhatsApp Business Account profile on respond.io. This section should be a clear and concise description of your business. Customers will see the About section under your profile image, phone number and contact buttons.

Auto Sync WABA Phone Number and Name

We have added an improvement to ensure that your Contacts see your most up-to-date WhatsApp phone number and name. Once you update these items in Meta WhatsApp Manager and they are approved, they will automatically sync with respond.io.

New Make Integration

The new native Make (formerly Integromat) integration is now available on respond.io! 🥳 

Here’s your ticket to building more comprehensive automation with over 1,300 apps on Make and any other app with an open API. Check out the changes below.

New Triggers

Previously, the Make integration with respond.io did not support any triggers. These are the respond.io triggers you can now use:

• 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

These triggers allow for a variety of use cases. For example, New contact is added can be used to upload new respond.io contacts to a CRM. Similarly, you could automatically transfer comments from respond.io to your sales CRM with the trigger New Comment is added for a Contact.

New Actions

The previous Make integration also had a limited number of actions that could be performed. The new integration supports a host of new actions to choose from, including:

• Find a contact

• Update assignee

• Delete a contact

• Add a comment

• Open or close conversation

• Get all the closing notes

And many more! To explore all the available triggers and actions, check out the respond.io and Make integration page.

New Templates

To help you get started with popular applications such as HubSpot, Shopify, WooCommerce and Pipedrive, we have created a list of readymade Make and respond.io templates. Here are some examples:

• Send a customer a message via respond.io for new Shopify orders

• Add a tag to a contact if they are added to a specified list in HubSpot

• Add a note to the contact in Pipedrive when their respond.io conversation is closed

These are just a few of the things you can now do. Explore the Make integration to experience the full benefits of this update.

Minor Feature Improvements

Now that we’ve explored all the major improvements, let's look at some minor updates that will take your experience on our platform to new heights.

New Workflow Question Type: Location

Now, businesses can request a customer’s location with the Ask a Question Workflow Step, enabling customers to effortlessly share their location in a few clicks.

If you have channels like email and SMS that do not support the sending of location messages, customers will need to provide their location in longitude and latitude format.

Clone Button for Branch Conditions in Workflows

To streamline your Workflow creation, you can now use the new Clone button for Branch conditions.

This allows you to create Workflows even faster by duplicating existing Branch conditions, saving you time and effort.

Visual Error Display When Deleting a Branch Containing Jump Step

When you need to delete a Branch that contains a Jump Step, a blinking indicator will precisely point out the Jump Step that is preventing the deletion.

With this visual indicator, you can quickly identify any conflict when building your Workflow and take appropriate action to resolve it.

Broadcast Details Drawer and Webhook Payload Improvements

To enhance transparency and provide valuable insights into your broadcasts, we've made improvements to the Broadcast Details Drawer.

Now, you can easily access information about your broadcasts through helpful tooltips. Simply hover over the tooltips to gain information on the type of contacts targeted, broadcast recipients and the total number of broadcast messages.

Furthermore, we've also introduced the "eventType" field in our Webhooks payloads to provide better classification and organization of Webhook data. Learn more about this update here.

Mobile App Improvements

Since the release of our new mobile app a few months ago, we've received positive responses and couldn't be more grateful for your support. Building on that success, we've made improvements to enhance your mobile app experience further.

Enhanced Accessibility with Keyboard Shortcuts

Previously, agents had to manually tap on the Snippets, Dynamic Variables and Mentions icons to initiate their respective actions. We’ve now introduced intuitive keyboard shortcuts to make accessing them more convenient.

You can use the same shortcuts you would use on the platform. Once you input the shortcut symbols, a list of Snippets, Dynamic Variables and Users will be shown directly above the Message Composer. This allows you to effortlessly access and use them while engaging with customers.

Send Location-based WhatsApp Message Template to Customers

Following the WhatsApp BSP improvements we mentioned earlier, you can now share location information with customers using the Location-based Message Template on the respond.io mobile app.

Simply select the Location Template from the list of approved Message Templates and enter your location details, including coordinates. It’s as easy as that! Note that you have to first create a Message Template with a location header and get it approved on the respond.io desktop app or browser.

Simplified Technical Issue Reporting

To make reporting bugs easier and more efficient, we've introduced a Report a Bug button to our web app. This button can be easily accessed from the Help Center located on the side navigation menu of our web application.

Whenever you encounter any issues while using respond.io, click on the button and provide essential details about the bug. Then, our system will automatically capture pertinent information to expedite the resolution process.