Business-Triggered Messages

Release date: 15 November 2023

Previously, the only way a workflow could be triggered in Chat Flow was when an end-user sent a keyword to the business WhatsApp number. If a business wanted to initiate a conversation with its end-users, it had to integrate with One API to trigger a WhatsApp template message, which is quite a technical and roundabout way to start a conversation.

With this release, we've introduced the concept of a “dynamic API flow” in Chat Flow. This workflow gets triggered by an incoming payload and lets a business initiate a conversation with their customers by sending a pre-approved WhatsApp template (using the Send Template node), prompting them to take action and trigger a standard workflow. This opens up many opportunities for new use cases, e.g., sending reminders, shipping updates, marketing messages, and promotions via WhatsApp message templates without having to wait for customers to contact the business first.

Clickatell creates these dynamic API flows on your behalf during onboarding. In the flow list on the left of the canvas, a new yellow icon is used to differentiate the dynamic API workflows from the standard ones. Dynamic API flows are read-only and not visible to end-users.

In combination with the new Send Template node, it is now easier than ever for businesses to send WhatsApp message templates to their customers!

A yellow icon differentiates it from a standard flow.