Channel Overview

Supported Channels

IS-Messenger supports the following channels and the platform will continue to support more channels in the future.

Channels Summary

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

Channels

Difficulty

Time Needed

Applicable

Cost

Requirements

Easy

15 mins

-

Facebook Page

Easy

15 mins

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

Advanced

7 to 10 working days

WhatsApp Business API

Moderate

15 mins

-

Live Website

Moderate

30 mins

LINE Official Account

Moderate

15 mins

-

Telegram Bot

Moderate

15 mins

Viber Bot

Moderate

15 mins

Google Business Profile with verified location

Moderate

1 to 2 working days

Phone number provisioned by our partners

Advanced

1 to 2 working days

-

Twitter App

Advanced

3 to 5 working days

WeChat Official Account

Easy

15 mins

-

Gmail or Gmail for Business account

1 to 2 working days

-

Custom Integration Server to handle the incoming and outgoing message between IS-Messenger and Messaging Service Provider

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 ISMessenger.

If there is a channel you don't see 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

If you are missing a channel you would like to see on the platform, please add or upvote it on our Feature Requests page.

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

Quick Replies

Chat Link & QR Code

Broadcasts Support^

Messaging Windowª

Unique Features˘

Channel Feesº

7 days

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

✅*

24 hrs

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

✅*

-

48 hrs

-

-

-

-

-

-

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 put in place by the channel provider.

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

Facebook

Instagram

WhatsApp - Twilio

WhatsApp - MessageBird

WhatsApp - Vonage

WhatsApp - Chat API

-

WhatsApp - 360Dialog

Website Chat

LINE

-

-

-

Telegram

-

-

-

Viber

SMS - Twilio

-

SMS - MessageBird

-

SMS - Vonage

-

Twitter

-

-

-

WeChat

-

-

-

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

WeChat

48 Hours

Messenger

7 days

WhatsApp

24 Hours

Instagram

7 days

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

The 24-hour messaging window is only applicable to WhatsApp Partner API channels; Twilio, Vonage, MessageBird & 360Dialog. WhatsApp Chat API does not have this limitation as it is not a WhatsApp Partner.

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.

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

To send a message to Facebook contacts after the messaging window, you can use Facebook Messenger Message Tag to do so. For more information on, look at Facebook Messenger Message Tag.

To send a message to WhatsApp contacts after the messaging window, you can use WhatsApp Message Templates to do so. For more information on, look at WhatsApp Message Templates.

Broadcast

In IS Messanger, 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 (Twilio, MessageBird, Vonage, 360dialog), 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.

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.

In the context of IS-Messenger, a request is when a message is being sent to a contact

Messaging ChannelApplicable Rate Limit

Facebook

200 requests per hour

WhatsApp - Twilio

20 requests per second

WhatsApp - MessageBird

200 requests per second

WhatsApp - Vonage

20 requests per second

WhatsApp - Chat API

1 request per second with a limit of 6000 requests per day

WhatsApp - 360Dialog

10 requests per second

LINE

60 requests per hour

Telegram

30 requests per second

Viber

500 requests per 10 seconds

SMS - Twilio

Varies depending on the location of the recipient. Refer here for more information.

SMS - MessageBird

-

SMS - Vonage

30 requests per second

Custom Channel

20 requests per second

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