Support for Media Templates

Release date: 13 April 2023

Before, Chat Desk only supported plain text message templates via WhatsApp. After this release, the following WhatsApp message templates are also now supported by Chat Desk:​​​​​​​

• Media Message Templates: Videos, images, documents

• Interactive Message Templates: Quick-reply buttons, call-to-action buttons

Header and footer text are also now supported in WhatsApp message templates in Chat Desk.

Also see:

• Setting up message templates in the Clickatell Portal.

• Send WhatsApp message templates from within Chat Desk.

WhatsApp media templates are now supported. Select from your existing message templates as set up via the Clickatell User Portal. Start typing to find a specific template. If no template exists, all the buttons and fields will be greyed out. Contact number will be pre-populated if available.

Media Message Templates

• Video: Agents can now add mp4 files (up to 30 MB) to a message template. A video preview will be displayed so that the agent knows which video they've uploaded.

• Image: Agents can upload .jpg or .png images (up to 30 MB) to an image message template.

• Document media message templates: Currently, only PDF files are supported in media templates.

Example of a video file uploaded to a template. Preview on the right.

Interactive Message Templates

There are two types of predefined buttons:

• Quick Reply: Allows your end-user to return a simple text message.

• Call-to-Action: Allows your end-user to call a phone number (like the 'Call us' button) and visit a website (like the 'Visit Clickatell Website' button).

Preview of a message template containing an image and two call-to-action buttons (left) and three quick-reply buttons (right)

Additional functionality supported in message templates

• Header text: You can add a header to a message template. The header is displayed in bold and can have one variable that the agent adds.

• Footer text: You can add a footer to a message template (e.g., 'offer applicable while stocks last' or 'terms and conditions apply').

Message template preview

Chat Desk also added a preview section for message templates to give agents clear visibility of the message before sending it. This will prevent accidentally sending the incorrect message template.

A preview on the right shows how the message template will display to the end-user. This is an example of a PDF document attached to the message template.

Once a message template is sent, it will form part of the chat history so that agents and supervisors can easily refer back to it.

Below is an example of what a message template containing an image looks like to the agent in Chat Desk after they've sent it to the end-user. There is a clear indication that this message was a template. The media file can be downloaded from the view.

An example of what a message template containing an image looks like to the agent in Chat Desk after they've sent it to the end-user.