How to use Recurring Notifications in Messenger? (Recurrent Notifications) – Blip | Blip Help

Index:

Recurring Notifications is a feature of the Messenger channel, which allows users to control opt-in and the frequency of receiving notifications, creating an opportunity for brands to approach their relationship with their customers, keeping them informed about updates.

In order to send Recurring Notifications, brands must first request consent from their users to receive messages on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Users can opt-in at any time after submitting the request.

After users accept, Recurring Notifications may be used to send promotional notifications, product alerts, events, appointment reminders or even weekly summaries.

How to request users to opt-in to receive Recurring Notifications

You may opt-in to receive Recurring Notifications only for users who have already interacted with your smart contact in the Messenger channel. So, the first step is to create, in the Builder, a “new block” of the “Dynamic Content” type in your smart contact flow:

In the dynamic content block settings, define the fields using the image below as a reference.

In the “Content Type” field, change the value to “application/json”;
In the “Content Value” field, use the following script:

{

"attachment": {

    "type": "template",

    "payload": {

   "template_type": "notification_messages", 

         "image_url": "<IMAGE_URL>",

         "title": "<TITLE_TEXT>",

         "payload": "<USER_DEFINED_PAYLOAD>",

         “notification_messages_frequency": "<DAILY|WEEKLY|MONTHLY>",

         "notification_messages_reoptin": "<ENABLED|DISABLED>"

   }

}

3.Click “Save”.

See below what each property of the script indicates:

image_url: the URL of the image that will be displayed in the template.
title: the title to be displayed in the template to the user. Use this information to make it clear to your user which topics you will be sending Recurring Notifications about. The title has a limit of 65 characters.
payload: is the subject of the scent content. This is internal information, which will be used later to create and manage distribution lists.
notification_messages_frequency: is the frequency with which Recurring Notifications will be sent. You can choose between daily, weekly, or monthly frequencies.
It's important to mention that user's opt-in expires in 30 days, 12 weeks or 1 year respectively.
notification_messages_reoptin: Option to resend a re-opt-in template to the user after consent to receive Recurring Notifications expires. You can choose between ENABLED to enable and DISABLED to disable.

In the example below, the script is used to request an opt-in to send newsletters that are sent daily. Thus, the title property was identified as ”Informative” and the notification_messages_frequency property as “DAILY”. The payload property was identified as “daily-informatives”:

With the dynamic content block created, let's create and manage the distribution list.

How to create and manage distribution lists for sending Recurring Notifications

Distribution lists for sending recurring notifications must follow the following nomenclature:

recurrent-notification-<Frequency>-<Payload>

In the previous example, where the daily frequency and payload “daily-informative” were defined, the distribution list must be created with the following nomenclature: “recurrent-notification-daily-informative”.

Since the user can opt-in at any time after the request is submitted, we'll use Builder's “global actions” to create the distribution list.

In Builder, click on “Settings”.

Then choose the option of “global actions” and click on “+ Add exit action”.

Choose the “Manage distribution list” option.

Click here to learn how to create and manage distribution lists.
If you prefer, you can also access the Blip Docs documentation.

Set the action to “add” and select the desired distribution list as described above.

Then define the conditions for adding the user to the list, after accepting the opt-in.

The “input.type” variable, which is a blip variable that returns the message type, must be equal to “application/vnd.iris.messenger.optin+json”.

This will be the type of message returned after the user has accepted the opt-in, as we can see from the Blip “Log” option:

If you choose to manage more than one distribution list for sending Recurring Notifications, we may add other conditions to differentiate between user groups.

The “input.content” variable, which is a Blip variable that returns the message content, contains the properties of the script used to request an opt-in.

So you can use "notification_messages_frequency":"<FREQUENCY>", to identify the frequency chosen by the user. And "payload":"<PAYLOAD>", to identify the subject of notifications.

In the example on Daily Newsletters, the two properties were used to identify users in this way:

Opt-in acceptance flow

After starting the conversation, the user will receive the opt-in request message as shown in the image below:

When the user clicks on the “Receive daily messages” button, the bot will receive the input.type variable with the value “application/vnd.iris.messenger.optin+json”, and then the user will be triggered to the distribution list.

Also consider creating a flow in case the user doesn't opt-in. To do so, in the block where the opt-in request is sent, create an exit condition that doesn't identify the receipt of the input.type variable as “application/vnd.iris.messenger.optin+json”. And send a message to the user stating that opt-in is required to receive Recurring Notifications.

How to send Recurring Notifications using the scheduler

After receiving users' consent and adding them to the distribution list, access the “Growth” menu to send Recurring Notifications.

Then, on the side, choose the option “Scheduler”. Then click on “Schedule message’

Follow the steps to create your campaign. First define the content to be sent to users:

Then define the audience by selecting the created distribution list.

In the last step, select the message type “Recurring Notification”. And choose between “Send Now” or “Schedule Shipping” for a future date.

Wait for the distribution list users to receive the notification.

For more information, visit the discussion on the subject in our community or the videos on our channel. 😃

How to create and manage distribution lists for sending Recurring Notifications

Related articles