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Configure content in Business Messages

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  • Updated

Table of Contents:

  1. Markdowns
  2. Quick reply
  3. Carousel
  4. Images

 

Google’s tools and products are used all around the world by many people. According the company, 75% of the consumers rather do business via message channels than traditional channels. One of its most recent products, Google Business Messages, appears as a mobile conversation channel that has contact points in several Google services, such as Google Search and Google Maps.

 

Find out how to configure your smart contact in Business Messages. Google established a series of good practices to build and configure chatbots for Google Business Messages, which must be observed for a better user experience, and you can read them here!

 

If you are here, you are probably wondering how to implement dynamic contents in the smart contact you intend to publish in Google Business Messages. But do not worry! We wrote this material to help you configure them in one Blip!

Firstly, have in mind that the chatbot must be good to the client, not the brand. To understand how to choose the ideal smart contact, read this material.

According to Google’s documentation, Business Messages still does not allow you to send and receive documents (.pdf for example) and audio and/or video files. In this article, you will learn how to configure markdowns, quick replies, images, and carousels.

 

Markdowns

Format Necessary characters How to write it How it will be displayed in the channel
Bold <b></b> <b>Click here</b> Click here
Italic <i></i> <i>Click here</i> Click here
Hyperlink [ ]( ) [Click here](https://www.example.com) Click here
Line break \n Click here 1 \nClick here 2

Click here 1

Click here 2

 

The formatting must follow some additional rules:

  • All links must start with https:// or http://
  • You cannot overlap formatting styles. They must be aligned
  • The line breaks with \n are allowed anywhere in the message, but line breaks positioned at the end of the message will not be displayed, that is, you cannot use the keyboard shortcuts to create a line break. You will need to add \n between the texts you wish to separate
  • To display any of the reserved characters (*, \, [, or ]) in the usual way, you will need to add a backslash (\) before them
  • For hyperlinks, there cannot be any space between [ ]( )

Messages with invalid information are not sent and they display an error message related to the invalid markdown. The table below presents additional valid and invalid examples, based on the aforementioned rules:

Plain text Validity How it will be displayed in the channel
[Click here](www.example.com) Invalid, because the link does not start with http:// or https:// Not displayed
[<b>Click here</b>](https://www.example.com) Valid, because the alignment is permitted Click here
<b>Click [here</b> valid](https://www.example.com) Invalid, because formatting overlapping is not allowed Not displayed
<b> Click here </b> Invalid, because no blank space to the right is allowed in ** Not displayed
Quote below\* Valid, because, to individually display the reserved characters (*, \, [, or ]), you need to add \

Quote below*

 

Quick reply

Here is an example that shows you how to use Blip’s quick reply feature to create suggestions in the GBM.

The first step is to create the Quick Reply feature through a block in the Builder:

 

mceclip0.png

 

Edit your quick reply as you like:

 

mceclip1.png

Done! That is how your message will be seen while using the GBM:

mceclip2.png

 

Carousel

Here is an example that shows you how to use Blip’s carousel feature to create carousel rich cards in the GBM.

 

The first step is to create the Carousel feature through a block in the Builder:

 

mceclip3.png

Edit your carousel as you like. You can do it using:

  • Text only
  • Text + image
  • Text + image + buttons
  • Text + image + action buttons (redirect to external links)
  • Text + buttons
  • Text + action buttons (redirect to external links)

You already probably noticed that text is the only mandatory element in every way to use carousels. Have in mind that the image formats supported by Business Messages are .jpeg, .jpg, and .png. You can also create your carousel using only one card.

 

mceclip4.png

After configuring your carousel’s cards, that is how your message will be seen in Business Messages:

 

mceclip5.png

 

Images

Currently, you still cannot natively implement images via Blip, as you do in Blip Chat for example. Therefore, to add images in the conversational flow, you can use a single-card carousel, as explained above. Since text is a mandatory element in carousels, you can use the text + image option, using the product’s name for the text and the description to add its features or price for example. You can also use the text + image + action button option to add a link of the product in your website and redirect the user to buy it.

See how it will be displayed in the channel:

 

 

mceclip6.png

See how simple it is to implement these contents in the smart contact you intend to publish in Business Messages? Now you can use these elements in your conversational flow.

 

For more information, access the discussion about this topic in our community or watch our channel’s videos. 😃

 

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