Plivo Blog | News, Industry Trends and Analysis, and Best Practices by the Plivo Team

But what if you could send rich, interactive messages with branded content, images, buttons, and carousels straight to your customers’ native messaging apps?

Rich communication services (RCS) makes that possible.

If you’re ready to explore how RCS marketing can transform your engagement strategy, this guide will walk you through everything you need to know. Let’s get started.

What is RCS marketing?

RCS marketing uses rich communication services to send interactive, branded messages through a customer’s default messaging app. It’s a modern upgrade to SMS that lets businesses share images, buttons, carousels, and more — all without needing third-party apps.

A user on Reddit summed up this perfectly:

Screenshot of a Reddit comment explaining what RCS is — *RCS explained by a Reddit user*

RCS lets you send messages that are visually branded with logos and colors while remaining interactive. This turns static updates into an app-like experience inside a message.

This shift is part of a broader industry move, led by Google and backed by major mobile carriers, to upgrade messaging infrastructure and make RCS the default standard on Android devices.

As support continues to grow, businesses are adopting RCS as part of their customer engagement strategy. Platforms like Plivo make that adoption easier with a reliable, enterprise-grade gateway to deliver rich, reliable RCS campaigns at scale.

RCS vs. SMS marketing: A quick comparison

Marketers today are looking for ways to deliver more interactive and visual communication, and RCS is clearly leading the way.

While SMS still works well for simple alerts, it lacks the creativity and engagement that RCS marketing offers.

Let’s take a quick look at RCS vs. SMS marketing.

Key feature	SMS marketing	RCS marketing
Message length	Limited to 160 characters; with longer messages split	Up to 8,000 characters in a single message
Multimedia	Supports only plain text and links; needs MMS for multimedia	Natively supports high-resolution photos, videos, audio, and GIFs
Security and verification	No built-in sender verification	Includes verified sender profiles with business name, logo, and custom colors
Read receipts	No standardized way to know if a message was delivered or read	Provides delivery and read receipts for real-time engagement tracking
Typing indicators	Doesn't show when the other party is typing	Displays typing indicators, creating a more conversational feel
Interactive buttons	Not supported; calls to action (CTAs) are limited to plain text links	Allows interactive buttons with predefined replies and actions
User experience	Static, text-heavy, and transactional	Dynamic, visually rich, and conversational — feels more like a mobile app
Analytics and reporting	Basic delivery tracking (if supported by carrier)	Advanced analytics: opens, clicks, conversions, and user behavior tracking

4 key benefits of RCS marketing

RCS marketing makes messaging feel more natural for both you and your customers. And since you can see what’s working and what’s not, it’s easier to pivot your strategy and get better results.

Here are its four key benefits.

1. Improved user interaction

One of the biggest advantages of RCS marketing is how seamless it makes the experience for your customers. Instead of typing out replies or clicking a link to open a website, users can just tap a button right inside the message.

Want them to book a demo, check order status, or browse products? It’s all possible with just a tap.

Fewer steps mean less effort, and that leads to more people following through. In fact, individuals spend up to 37 seconds engaging with RCS messages, which is a lot longer than most other types of mobile messaging.

Image showing the engagement results of RCS messaging — *People engage more with RCS than any other platform*

That extra time and interaction can make all the difference when you’re trying to convert interest into action.

2. Consistent brand experience

RCS marketing doesn’t just tell people who you are — it shows them.

Verified business profiles help people know they’re getting messages from the real brand. Every message shows your brand’s logo, name, colors, and a checkmark. These small details make it clear that the message is coming from a genuine source.

Image showing that MAYI - HOMES sends a verified RCS message with branding — *Verified RCS message from MAYI - HOMES*

This consistency matters because 88% of people are more likely to buy from a brand they trust.

3. In-depth analytics

With RCS marketing, you can track open rates, button clicks, and how people interact with each part of your message.

You get clear visibility into what’s working and where users are dropping off.

This makes it much easier to measure the return on investment (ROI) and fine-tune your campaigns. The more you understand how people engage, the better you can shape your messaging for results.

4. Higher conversion potential

RCS marketing makes it easier for customers to take action — whether that’s browsing products, booking a service, or making a purchase — all within the message itself.

With fewer clicks and no need to switch apps, the path to conversion feels effortless. And when it’s that easy, more people follow through.

For example, EaseMyTrip used RCS to run a post-COVID travel survey. They added quick-tap answer options and followed up with a thank-you coupon. The campaign saw a 4x higher click-through rate than email, 10x more survey completions, and a 2.7% increase in conversion rate.

5 major use cases of RCS marketing

Here are five major use cases showing how brands are using RCS marketing effectively.

1. Product promotions

RCS makes product promotions feel more like browsing a store than reading a message. Brands can send image carousels that customers can swipe through to explore new arrivals, check product details, and see what’s available without leaving their messaging app.

Verified RCS message highlights a 25% off promotion on all items — Verified RCS message from Daily-donuts

Example: A fashion retailer promoting its spring collection could send an RCS message featuring a carousel of outfits with styled images, prices, and buttons like “View Lookbook” or “Shop Now.”

Tapping a button could open a mini product page inside the chat, letting customers browse and buy without switching apps.

2. Abandoned cart reminders

The average cart abandonment rate is over 70%, which means most shoppers never make it to the finish line. RCS marketing can help bring them back by making the reminder more engaging and easier to act on.

You can send a message that shows exactly what they left behind, along with a clear button to complete the purchase. It’s visual, straightforward, and the entire experience stays within their messaging app.

Example: A home electronics store could follow up with customers who left a pair of wireless earbuds in their cart. The RCS message might include a product photo, the price, and a “Buy Now” button that takes them straight to checkout.

3. Appointment confirmations and reminders

A PhD thesis from Manchester Metropolitan University found that forgetfulness is the most common reason people skip their appointments.

RCS makes it easier for both businesses and customers to stay on the same page. You can send a message that shows the appointment details along with a simple calendar view. Add buttons to confirm, reschedule, or cancel — all within the chat.

Image depicting an interactive RCS booking confirmation message — Booking confirmation via RCS with quick action buttons

Example: A dental clinic could use RCS to remind patients of upcoming cleanings. The message might show the date, time, and location of the appointment, plus a “Confirm” button and options to “Reschedule” or “Cancel.”

Patients can respond instantly, helping the clinic manage its schedule more efficiently.

4. Customer surveys and feedback

Getting feedback is important, but most customers lack the time or patience to complete lengthy forms. RCS marketing makes it easier by allowing brands to ask short, targeted questions and receive quick responses.

Plus, the rich features of RCS let you include images, ratings, or multiple-choice options, making feedback feel more like a conversation.

Example: A restaurant could send an RCS message after a meal asking customers to rate their experience with simple buttons like “Excellent,” “Good,” or “Needs Improvement.”

The message might also include a photo of the dish they ordered and a quick question like, “What did you like most?” This quick interaction makes it easy for customers to respond and gives the restaurant valuable insights.

5. Customer support follow-ups

After a support request is resolved, following up shows customers you care and helps close the loop on their experience. But if the follow-up message gets buried in an email inbox or goes unnoticed, that opportunity to connect is lost.

With RCS marketing, you can send a quick message to check if everything’s working fine. You can include helpful buttons like “Change Password,” “Manage Account,” or “Talk to Support.”

Support bot provides instant replies and follow-ups for customer queries — AI-powered support for account management

RCS marketing myths and realities

Despite RCS marketing’s growing adoption and proven results, some common misconceptions still hold businesses back from trying it. Let’s look at a few of the biggest myths and what’s actually true.

Myth 1: RCS marketing is too expensive

At first glance, RCS business messaging can seem like a pricey upgrade. Rich visuals, tap-to-action buttons, and branded layouts look premium, so it’s easy to assume they come with a hefty cost.

But cost alone doesn’t tell the full story.

What you get in return matters more. RCS drives significantly stronger engagement with higher click-through rates, increased interactions, and better overall outcomes.

Take Club Comex, the loyalty program of North American paint brand Comex. They sent two rich and interactive RCS campaigns to their members and saw a 10x higher click-through rate, which helped increase revenue by 115%.

That’s the value side of the equation. Better targeting and richer content mean more people click, engage, and convert.

Myth 2: RCS marketing doesn’t reach enough users to be worth it

This concern made sense in the early days of RCS, when adoption was still catching up. But the landscape looks very different now.

In June 2024, the 12-month growth of RCS users reached 36.3%, showing faster uptake than other messaging channels. More Android devices support RCS by default, and it’s being rolled out across more networks globally. Even Apple has announced support, which means RCS is on track to reach a massive number of smartphone users worldwide.

With that kind of growth and widespread support, the hesitation around RCS is starting to fade. Brands can confidently invest in RCS marketing knowing it will connect with more customers than ever before.

Myth 3: RCS gets treated like spam and ends up ignored just like emails

Unlike email, RCS messages appear directly in the user’s primary messaging app alongside personal conversations. They include rich media and interactive elements, making them more engaging and less likely to be ignored.

This creates a more natural, conversational experience that drives higher open and response rates than traditional marketing channels.

Why choose Plivo for your RCS marketing needs

With RCS, you can turn simple messages into rich, branded conversations that feel more like chatting than broadcasting.

Plivo gives you the tools to make that shift without the hassle. From verified messaging to smart automation, everything works together to help you connect better and respond faster.

When combined with AI Agents and a unified customer data platform, RCS becomes more than just messaging. You can deliver personalized experiences at scale, automate everyday interactions, and keep conversations flowing without lifting a finger.

Here’s what you get with Plivo’s RCS API:

Real-time personalization: AI Agents tailor conversations using customer profiles and behavior triggers to improve engagement and conversions.
Multi-channel fallback: If RCS isn’t supported, messages automatically switch to SMS to ensure delivery and maintain consistent communication.
Conversational automation: AI Agents handle FAQs, process orders, schedule deliveries, and route complex queries within RCS.
All-in-one messaging platform: Manage RCS, SMS, WhatsApp, Voice, and more from a single dashboard.
Reliable performance: 99.99% uptime and global infrastructure keep your campaigns running smoothly.

With Plivo’s no-code tools, you can quickly launch AI-powered RCS messaging across channels and deliver a consistent customer experience from day one.

See how you can launch your first RCS marketing campaign with Plivo by requesting a demo today!

‍

Jun 19, 2025

5 mins

WhatsApp Agent Setup: How to Launch AI-Powered Conversations at Scale

Learn how WhatsApp agent setup works using Plivo to launch AI-powered, no-code agents that handle support, sales, and engagement at scale.

Your customers are on WhatsApp but are your agents?

If you’re still relying on manual replies, scripted chatbots, or email follow-ups, you’re leaving response time and revenue on the table.

The smarter path? AI-powered WhatsApp agents. They’re full-service, no-code agents that can resolve issues, qualify leads, and send personalized offers 24/7.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through WhatsApp agent setup using Plivo and understand how these agents help you automate conversations that convert.

What is a WhatsApp AI agent?

A WhatsApp AI agent is an automation designed to operate over the WhatsApp Business API. Unlike scripted bots, agents are built to understand intent, pull in context from your internal systems, and complete business tasks like answering account-specific questions or initiating transactions.

Plivo’s WhatsApp AI agents can be trained to use your brand voice, integrated with your CRM or helpdesk, and customized to handle specific use cases, such as subscription renewals, cart recovery, refund processing, or customer onboarding.

They are accessible through a no-code interface and support a multilingual, omnichannel customer experience across WhatsApp, SMS, RCS, and voice.

What you need before setting up your agent

To go live with a WhatsApp agent, you need:

A verified Meta Business Account
An active WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) tied to a phone number
Pre-approved message templates for outbound communication
WhatsApp Business API access through a business solution provider (BSP) (Plivo offers this natively)
A platform to design, train, and manage agents (Plivo Agent Studio)

Also read: How to Create WhatsApp Message Templates: A Complete Guide

Optional but recommended integrations:

CRM (like Salesforce, HubSpot, or Zoho)
Helpdesk (like Zendesk or Freshdesk)
E-commerce or billing tools (Shopify, Stripe, etc.)

Pro tip: If you want to fast-track API access and template approval, using a BSP like Plivo saves weeks of back and forth with Meta.

Step-by-step: How to set up a WhatsApp agent with Plivo

Follow this step-by-step guide for a smooth WhatsApp agent setup with Plivo.

Step #1: Choose your primary use case and define agent scope

Don’t build a generic bot. Start with why you’re automating. This could be handling support queries, sending order updates, re-engaging inactive customers, or managing subscription renewals.

Image showing users how to build their own lead qualification agent in Plivo — *Build a WhatsApp AI agent in Plivo*

Plivo provides a library of prebuilt AI agents for common use cases like cart recovery, lead qualification, appointment reminders, and product recommendations. You can choose to use one as-is or customize it to fit your business process. Each agent is compatible with WhatsApp and designed to operate across channels as needed.

Your online pet supply business sells dog food with a typical reorder cycle of 30 days. You want to automate reminders for repeat customers, so they never run out.

The goal is to build a WhatsApp AI agent that:

Identifies past purchase dates
Sends a timely reminder before the next reorder window
Offers a one-click reorder option with a discount
Escalates to a live agent if the customer has special dietary questions

Pro tip: If you're unsure where to begin, look at existing interactions on WhatsApp that are repetitive, time-sensitive, or frequently escalated — these are ideal starting points for automation.

Step #2: Build the agent using Plivo’s no-code platform

Since your API access is already set up, you can begin building your agent in Plivo’s Agent Studio. This is a visual, drag-and-drop builder where you create conversation flows using blocks that represent actions, responses, conditions, and triggers.

Image showing WhatsApp AI agent setup in Plivo without code — *No-code campaign automation in Plivo’s AI Studio*

You can structure your flow to respond to specific keywords, match customer intent, route inquiries to different departments, or escalate to a live agent when needed. Each step in the journey can include media-rich responses like buttons, product carousels, quick replies, and file attachments.

Beyond logic design, you can also configure fallback rules for when the agent is unsure, and add human handoff conditions to ensure escalations happen smoothly with full context transferred to the live agent.

Image demonstrating smart handoff from AI agents to human agents in Plivo — *Human handoff conditions in Plivo*

Example: In Agent Studio, you set up a trigger to activate the agent 25 days after a customer’s last dog food purchase.

The agent starts with: “Hi Alex! It’s almost time to restock Luna’s Chicken & Brown Rice dog food. Want us to ship it today with 10% off?”

Depending on the customer’s reply:

“Yes” triggers a checkout link
“No” prompts a snooze option or opt-out
“I have a question” escalates to a human agent with the full order history

This step allows you to fully customize the agent’s tone, workflow, and logic to reflect how your brand communicates.4

Example: In Agent Studio, you set up a trigger to activate the agent 25 days after a customer’s last dog food purchase.

The agent starts with:
“Hi Alex! It’s almost time to restock Luna’s Chicken & Brown Rice dog food. Want us to ship it today with 10% off?”

Depending on the customer’s reply:

“Yes” triggers a checkout link
“No” prompts a snooze option or opt-out
“I have a question” escalates to a human agent with the full order history

Step #3: Train your agent with AI

Plivo supports integration with internal systems like your CRM, order management platform, inventory tools, or helpdesk. This means your agent can access real-time customer data, past orders, preferences, and policies to deliver personalized responses.

You can also connect your knowledge base, including FAQs, SOPs, product documentation, or policy articles. These resources train the agent to respond accurately and contextually, without needing scripted answers.

Dashboard image of Plivo’s AI Studio prompting users to import from a file or sync from a website — *Import external knowledge from various sources into Plivo*

For natural language understanding, Plivo gives you the flexibility to choose the AI model that powers your agent.

Image depicting LLM options for your WhatsApp AI agent in Plivo — *Select the LLM that fits your business best*

You integrate your Shopify store to pull order dates and product SKUs. You also sync your product FAQ sheet so the agent can answer:

“Is this food grain-free?”
“What’s the shelf life?”
“Can I switch to lamb instead of chicken?”

You power the agent using OpenAI to ensure a natural, friendly tone and multilingual support for your Spanish-speaking customers.

Step #4: Test, launch, and monitor your agent

Once your flow is built and trained, run controlled tests:

Check for flow accuracy and intent matching
Review how it handles incomplete or unclear inputs
Test human handoff and see if the agent transfers the full context

Image showcasing WhatsApp AI agent engagement analytics in Plivo — *Monitor agent performance and engagement with Plivo*

Plivo’s real-time dashboard lets you:

Monitor delivery, engagement, and satisfaction metrics
Track where users drop off in conversations
Identify areas to improve agent logic or content
Compare campaign and agent performance across channels

After launch, your agent keeps learning. As more customers interact, you’ll gather insight to improve how it responds or what paths it offers.

You run a test with 50 loyal customers. The data shows that:

72% clicked the reorder button within three hours
18% asked about switching flavors
10% requested a pause or cancel

You adjust the flow by adding a flavor selection block and a “remind me next week” option. The analytics also show high engagement around 8 p.m., so you shift reminder timings accordingly.

Plivo is purpose-built for WhatsApp AI agent deployment

Plivo’s platform is designed to help you move from idea to live AI-powered engagement without requiring engineering support or external consultants. When you use Plivo for WhatsApp agent setup, you get:

Access to prebuilt agents for sales, support, and engagement
Intuitive no-code builder (Agent Studio) that puts you in control
Deep integration with your business systems for real-time, contextual replies
Support for the best LLMs on the market, so your agent is trained with intelligence
Built-in compliance with WhatsApp’s policies and global data laws
Unified interface to manage messaging across WhatsApp, SMS, RCS, and Voice
Enterprise-grade infrastructure with 99.99% uptime and expert onboarding support

Automate outcomes with WhatsApp agent setup in Plivo

Smart WhatsApp automation starts with smart setup. With Plivo's no-code platform, you can automate customer conversations, boost sales, and scale support — all without a development team.

Plivo offers the tools to build agents that reflect your brand, the infrastructure to scale securely, and the intelligence to adapt with your customer needs.

Whether you're trying to cut support wait times, recover abandoned carts, or drive upsells through personalized outreach, a well-built WhatsApp agent can make it happen, and Plivo makes it achievable.

Ready to get started? Request a free trial today!

‍

Jun 19, 2025

5 mins

The Definitive Guide to Automating WhatsApp for Business

Learn how WhatsApp automation can simplify customer communication and scale operations. Know about its key benefits and use cases. Get started today.

Remember when WhatsApp was just a simple messaging app? Launched in 2009, it was a tool for friends and family to stay in touch.

Fast-forward to today, and WhatsApp has become a global powerhouse with over 3 billion monthly active users. Businesses worldwide leverage WhatsApp to connect with customers, share updates, and provide support.

Many businesses struggle to keep up with the growing volume of customer messages on WhatsApp. Manually handling inquiries, sending updates, or following up on leads can quickly become overwhelming and inefficient.

This is where WhatsApp automation steps in.

By automating repetitive messaging tasks, businesses can reduce manual workload, respond faster, and deliver more personalized, timely communication.

In this article, we'll explore what WhatsApp automation is, why it's essential for modern businesses, and how you can implement it to improve customer engagement and operational workflows.

What is WhatsApp automation?

WhatsApp automation is the use of technology to automatically send and manage messages on the platform, especially for business and customer engagement purposes.

It doesn’t require human intervention for every interaction. As a result, businesses can handle customer inquiries, deliver updates, and engage with prospects efficiently.

Image showing WhatsApp with a conversation, highlighting conversational commerce. — A customer engaging with a brand through WhatsApp for shopping -Source

With WhatsApp business automation, you can:

Auto-respond to FAQs and reduce ticket volume.
Reduce customer support load with proactive messaging.
Route complex support queries to live agents only when needed.
Send order confirmations and delivery updates automatically.
Share return instructions based on customer actions.
Run re-engagement campaigns with smart timing.
Integrate with Shopify, Magento, and more for real-time updates.
Trigger workflows from CRMs or e-commerce platforms.
Keep messaging compliant with auto opt-outs and logs.

Here’s a breakdown of the three main types of automated messaging on WhatsApp:

Message Type	Description	Example
Transactional	Messages are triggered by specific customer actions or events.	"Your order has been shipped!"
Promotional	Messages that promote products, services, or special offers.	"Get 20% off your next purchase – limited time only!"
Conversational	Automated responses that simulate a two-way conversation.	"How can I assist you today?"

Key benefits of WhatsApp automation

By automating routine tasks, WhatsApp can help your business stay responsive and consistent across customer touchpoints. Here’s how it can benefit your business:

Reduce manual workloads and response times

When you automate WhatsApp interactions, every department, from marketing to customer service, runs more smoothly.

By automating routine tasks like order updates, FAQs, and customer inquiries, businesses can significantly reduce the manual effort required.

This means your team spends less time on repetitive tasks and more time focusing on high-priority interactions.

Result: Faster response times and more efficient workflows.

Increases the scalability of customer interactions

As your business grows, the number of customer interactions increases. Automation allows you to scale communication efforts without hiring additional staff or losing the personal touch.

Whether you're dealing with 50 or 5,000 customers, automated responses ensure that each inquiry is handled swiftly and consistently.

Enhances customer experience through personalization

Automated WhatsApp messages can be personalized based on customer data, creating a more relevant and tailored experience.

From addressing customers by name to offering product recommendations based on past purchases, personalization makes customers feel valued. This leads to higher engagement rates and improved loyalty.

End result: Higher customer satisfaction and increased loyalty.

Cost-effectiveness compared to manual processes

WhatsApp automation eliminates the need for large customer support teams and reduces the time spent on repetitive tasks.

This saves on operational costs and also leads to a more efficient allocation of resources.

Pro tip: Monitor your automation metrics regularly to find areas where you can cut costs further without affecting quality.

5 popular use cases of WhatsApp automation across industries

Businesses everywhere are finding new ways to use WhatsApp automation. Here are five popular examples:

1. Customer support

Automating common FAQs and routine inquiries on WhatsApp helps customers get instant answers anytime. This reduces the number of tickets support teams have to handle, letting them focus on more complex problems.

Example messages:

“Hi! How can I help you today? Here are some quick answers: For billing info, reply 1; For plan details, reply 2.”

“We’ve received your request and will get back to you within 24 hours.”

2. E-commerce operations

Order confirmations, shipping updates, and delivery notifications keep customers informed every step of the way. Automating returns and collecting feedback via WhatsApp speeds up these processes and improves customer satisfaction.

Example messages:

“Thank you for your order #12345! It is being processed and will ship soon.”

“Good news! Your package is out for delivery and should arrive by 5 PM today.”

“Need to return an item? Reply ‘Return’ and we’ll guide you through the process.”

3.Marketing and lead nurturing

Automated lead follow-ups ensure timely, consistent engagement with prospects, boosting conversion chances. Also, you can use personalized re-engagement campaigns to help bring back inactive customers with offers or updates tailored to their interests.

Example messages:

“Hi [Name], thanks for your interest! Ready to take the next step? Book a free demo here: [link]”

“We miss you! Enjoy 15% off your next purchase with code WELCOME15.”

“Exclusive offer just for you, [Name]! Check out our new arrivals: [link]”

4.Event management and invitations

Automated WhatsApp invites, updates, and follow-ups keep your audience informed and engaged, boosting the attendance rate. This helps you stay connected and make every event a success.

5.Appointment scheduling and reminders

Timely reminders help customers remember appointments, reducing cancellations and improving the overall experience. Automation makes scheduling easier and more efficient for both businesses and customers.

Example messages:

“Your appointment with Dr. Smith is confirmed for June 20 at 2 PM. Reply ‘Cancel’ to reschedule.”

“Hi! Just a friendly reminder about your hair salon appointment tomorrow at 11 AM.”

“Need to book an appointment? Reply ‘Book’ and we’ll help you find the perfect time.”

Step-by-step guide to implement WhatsApp automation for your business

To successfully implement WhatsApp automation, follow these key steps that cover planning, setup, and optimization.

Step 1: Define your use cases and goals

Start by identifying which business functions, such as order updates, customer support, or lead follow-ups, will benefit most from automation.

Set clear, measurable goals like:

Reducing response times
Lowering manual workload
Boosting customer engagement

This will guide your automation strategy and help you track success.

Also, ensure compliance from the start. WhatsApp requires businesses to obtain explicit customer opt-in before sending messages. To stay compliant:

Use clear, transparent language when requesting consent.
Collect opt-ins through channels like website forms, checkout flows, or click-to-chat ads.
Log and manage consent within your systems for audit readiness.

Data privacy and compliance are essential for building trust and maintaining long-term customer relationships.

Step 2: Choose the right WhatsApp business API provider

Select a platform that fits your specific needs. Look for features like:

Robust CRM integrations
Audience segmentation
Flexible automation workflows

These capabilities simplify your communication and scale your efforts efficiently.

Make segmentation a priority, use tagging and grouping strategies to target the right customers with the right messages.

With smart tagging and grouping, you can:

Deliver personalized messages
Engage the right people at the right time
Improve conversion and retention

Example: Send exclusive offers to loyal buyers and welcome discounts to new customers. Good segmentation enhances your automation and drives better outcomes.

Step 3: Set up your WhatsApp business account

You must set up a verified WhatsApp Business account to use WhatsApp for automated messaging. This includes:

Registering your business name and details.
Verifying a dedicated phone number.
Getting approval from Meta to use the WhatsApp Business API.

This ensures that your business is recognized as a legitimate sender.

Your WhatsApp API provider will typically assist with onboarding, including submitting documentation and setting up the technical aspects.

Some platforms also offer pre-built tools to help you manage mobile number registration, display name approval, and message template submissions.

Pro tip: To avoid disruptions, choose a phone number that’s not already tied to a personal WhatsApp account.

Step 4: Create and submit message templates

Start by designing message templates for everyday customer interactions, such as:

Promotional messages (e.g., limited-time offers)
Transactional updates (e.g., order confirmations, delivery alerts)
Support messages (e.g., ticket updates or issue resolution)

Each template must follow WhatsApp’s formatting and content policies.

Once your templates are ready, submit them through your WhatsApp API provider for Meta’s approval. Only approved templates can be used for proactive messaging.

Step 5: Build automation workflows

Now that your account and templates are ready, it’s time to connect WhatsApp with the rest of your tech stack. Integrate with:

CRM systems (to access customer data)
Support tools (for query management)
E-commerce platforms (to track orders and actions)

Use event-based triggers, like a new order, a cart abandonment, or a support ticket, to automatically send relevant messages.

Additionally, plan for human fallback. Automation can’t handle everything. Build intelligent workflows that escalate to a human agent when:

A customer requests help
The query is too complex
Sentiment detection flags a negative experience

This keeps your support experience smooth, responsive, and frustration-free.

Step 6: Test, launch, and optimize

Start with a pilot campaign to ensure everything runs smoothly.

Track key metrics:

Response time
Open rate
Conversion rate

Use these insights to refine your workflows, improve message content, and adjust targeting.

Best practices for WhatsApp automation

Following some proven best practices is essential to get the most out of WhatsApp automation. Here’s what you need to know:

Tips for optimizing messaging frequency and timing

To keep your audience interested, it's vital to message thoughtfully and strategically. Here are some quick tips:

Avoid over-messaging to prevent unsubscribes.
Use analytics to identify when your audience is most active and receptive.
Space out messages to keep it natural.
Monitor response rates and adjust based on customer behavior and feedback.

Leverage data analytics for campaign performance

By tracking metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and response times, you gain valuable insights into what works and what doesn’t. Use this data to refine your messaging, target relevant audience segments, and optimize timing.

Regularly reviewing analytics helps you make informed decisions that boost engagement and drive better results over time.

Compliance and customer privacy protection

To protect your customers and stay compliant, focus on these key areas:

Compliance	What it means	Best practise
GDPR	Protects the personal data of EU customers	Obtain consent, allow easy opt-out, and secure data
SOC 2	Ensures security and confidentiality standards	Implement strong data controls and audits
Customer privacy	Respect and protect user information	Be transparent, limit data use, and maintain trust

Enhance customer communication with Plivo’s AI WhatsApp automation

The growing demand for instant, tailored communication on WhatsApp puts pressure on businesses to respond quickly. Customers expect fast, personalized replies around the clock, and doing this manually often leads to delays, inconsistent service, and missed opportunities.

Finding a way to scale these conversations efficiently is critical for businesses looking to stay competitive.

That’s where Plivo comes in, an industry-leading omnichannel platform that automates and personalizes WhatsApp conversations, delivering timely responses at scale.

By leveraging Plivo’s WhatsApp AI agents, businesses can manage a wide range of customer communication tasks, from pre-sales inquiries to post-purchase support, without increasing their team size.

Here’s how Plivo can enhance your customer communication:

Brand-aligned AI agents: You can customize the AI agents to reflect your brand’s voice, tone, and style. This makes all customer interactions align with your brand’s identity and deliver a personalized experience.
AI customer service agent: Plivo’s AI agents work around the clock, ensuring your customers receive timely responses, regardless of the time zone. These agents process orders, resolve support issues, and answer questions.

AI customer service agent managing chats and orders. — Plivo’s AI agents provide 24/7 support, processing orders and answering customer questions promptly.

Natural, human-like conversations: With AI agents, you can engage in context-aware conversations, mimicking human interactions. They remember customer preferences and history to provide relevant responses like a human agent would.
Simple, volume-based pricing: Plivo charges a flat fee per conversation rather than per message, making costs predictable and scalable. Volume discounts are available to lower your total spend as your messaging needs grow.

Image showing Plivo’s flat-fee per conversation pricing with volume discounts. — Plivo charges a flat fee per conversation with volume discounts.

Built-in compliance: Plivo ensures compliance with GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS, ISO 27001, and SOC 2 standards.
Guaranteed message delivery with fallback options: The platform delivers billions of messages annually and uses SMS and voice fallback channels to ensure your customers always receive important communications.
24/7 availability: Plivo's AI agents provide instant, 24/7 assistance, answering questions, processing orders, and resolving customer issues.
Multilingual support: With support for 70+ languages, Plivo’s AI agents can engage with customers globally and offer a multilingual customer service experience.
E-commerce platform integrations: Integrate seamlessly with popular e-commerce platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and Magento to deliver a unified customer experience across all touchpoints.

With Plivo’s vast carrier network spanning over 220 countries, businesses can significantly cut SMS costs by up to 70% while achieving threefold returns on investment.

Many companies using Plivo CX have experienced remarkable results, earning an outstanding $71 for every dollar invested in their SMS marketing efforts.

Book a free demo today and see how Plivo’s AI WhatsApp agents can change your customer communication strategy.

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Jun 28, 2022

5 mins

Practical Benefits of SIP Trunking

SIP trunk benefits you didn’t know about. Get detailed information on advantages of SIP trunking at Plivo.

SIP Trunking

Despite the fact that everyone nowadays carries a personal cellphone, business phones aren’t going away — but they are changing. Like many services, business telephony is moving to the cloud, thanks to technology like SIP trunking, which offers businesses advantages such as quick provisioning, low costs, and no equipment to procure or maintain.

It’s a big change from the way business telephony used to run. In the good old days before the internet was everywhere — say, 1990 — telephone calls ran over copper wires from customer premises to analog switches in carrier central offices. If you ran a business and wanted to give your employees individual phones, you installed equipment called a private branch exchange (PBX). The phone company would run a line from their network to a punchdown block in a wiring closet at your location, and your technical team would run internal wiring to employees’ cubicles and drop fancy phones on top of their desks. Together the phones and the PBX supported advanced features like call hold and call forwarding. At least they were advanced compared to what people could do with their home phones.

The World Wide Web was invented in 1993, and within a few years it was clear that the internet was going to be a global network that could connect everyone and everything — including phones. Voice and video traffic could cross the network by using networking protocols like Internet Protocol (IP). The advent of voice over IP (VoIP) led to the development of the IP PBX, a hardware box (either a purpose-built device or a general-purpose server running software such as Asterisk, the first open source IP PBX) that translated between circuit-switching telephone calls and packet-switching networks.

What is SIP trunking?

Let’s start with the first part of this phrase: SIP.

For network devices to communicate, they have to agree on common data and transmission formats, or protocols. The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) was developed to provide a common way for devices and applications to initiate, maintain, and terminate real-time multimedia sessions involving voice and video. Simply put, SIP enables communication over the internet. It sets up, modifies, and terminates communication sessions.

The second part of the phrase, trunking, refers to the consolidation of multiple communication channels into a single, logical connection. Historically, a trunk line is the cable that brings phone service to a building. Today, trunks are virtual, running over the same network as a company’s data.

SIP trunking is a modern, cost-effective, and flexible way to handle business communications. It's a key component of many VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) systems.

6 benefits of SIP trunking

SIP trunking delivers a range of business benefits. Here are just a few to keep in mind as you explore this solution for your company.

Flexibility

With SIP trunking, businesses can add numbers easily whenever they need them, and each number can make and receive unlimited local and long-distance calls. Compared to traditional Primary Rate Interface (PRI) solutions, which use 23 voice channels, SIP trunking can use just one channel. As a result, you will only pay for what you use, and can increase or decrease your bandwidth easily with SIP.

Scalability

You can add as many numbers as you need and drop them when the need goes away. Businesses that need to scale to meet seasonal demand or that plan to scale their infrastructure as they grow can benefit from not having to invest in new hardware or software.

Mobility

Employees can make or receive calls from wherever they work, whether in-office, remotely, or a hybrid of the two. An SIP endpoint can move to almost any device, so employees can be reached in the office or working from a coffee shop.

Manageability

No more waiting on hold to reach a representative. SIP trunking and VoIP phones typically offer self-service options and on-site support, with instructions to help adjust call routing, change extensions, or add new lines. Ultimately, managing SIP trunks is much easier and less time-consuming.

Cost savings

SIP trunking is cost-effective, especially with Plivo. Businesses pay a small monthly fee and less than a penny a minute (in the US; pricing varies by country) for outgoing voice calls. That’s less than the cost of a call on a number leased from a phone company.

SIP trunking offers another cost advantage—no hardware is necessary. Any network device with a microphone and speakers can act as a softphone. That saves companies the cost of procuring and maintaining telephones, though if you prefer to have a separate device for phone calls, you can buy SIP handsets.

Virtual local presence

You can use SIP phone numbers with any area code and exchange that your provider offers. You can appear to be a local caller to your customers, boosting trust and increasing familiarity with your brand. Even if you’re far away, it’s possible to connect through a virtual local presence.

SIP advantages go beyond the ones on this list. You can create SIP endpoints that let you invoke custom functionality when you make or receive calls. Any Plivo application can implement the logic needed to control a registered SIP phone. Read our documentation to get a feel for how that works.

Drawbacks to SIP trunking

Ready to jump into SIP trunking with both feet? Just be aware of a couple of potential drawbacks.

With SIP trunking, if your network goes down, so does your phone system. You can use an old-school PRI (Primary Rate Interface) as a backup option, but weigh the costs and benefits. If your network is 99.9% stable during business hours, you might not want to pay for phone lines you never use.

Another disadvantage is that SIP traffic is network traffic, and if your network is already congested, you may worsen your problems. However, bandwidth is cheap nowadays, so you can solve that problem by simply increasing your bandwidth at an affordable rate.

Use cases: SIP trunking in different industries

SIP trunking is used by financial institutions, healthcare providers, retailers and other businesses to facilitate communication and stick to a budget. Here’s a few use cases to demonstrate how real-world businesses utilize SIP trunking.

Retail

Retailers use SIP trunking to support omnichannel customer experiences. By enabling seamless communication across different channels, retailers can improve customer service and boost customer satisfaction through improved call handling, efficient order processing, and streamlined support interactions. Likewise, features like call routing, voicemail-to-email, and CRM integration contribute to increased productivity and sales.

Healthcare

SIP trunking allows healthcare providers to offer better patient care. Medical staff can communicate seamlessly to share medical records, schedule appointments, and host remote consultations. Healthcare organizations can consolidate voice and data services to reduce expenses, directing more resources toward patient outcomes. Plus, features like unified communications empower medical professionals to collaborate effectively, improving overall productivity.

Financial institutions

Banks, lenders, and other financial institutions can use SIP trunking to deliver secure, reliable communication. Financial firms can achieve substantial cost savings by eliminating the need for multiple phone lines and associated hardware. Furthermore, unified communication tools enhance team collaboration, accelerate decision-making, and improve overall efficiency.

Get Plivo’s solution for SIP trunking

Zentrunk, Plivo’s SIP trunking service, is a popular option for businesses of all sizes. Zentrunk ’s cloud-based, so acquiring or managing any hardware on-prem is unnecessary. Zentrunk offers guaranteed call quality, high uptime, and unlimited concurrent calls. You can purchase and instantly provision SIP numbers for inbound calls in dozens of countries on every continent (except Antarctica), and make calls from your SIP numbers to virtually everywhere on Earth.

Ready to try Zentrunk? Dive into our Quickstart guide, sign up for a Plivo account, and start connecting with the world.

Jun 22, 2022

5 mins

Zapier Integration — Send MMS Messages Using Plivo and Zapier

Zapier Integration Learn how to send MMS messages using Plivo and Zapier via a Google Forms example.

Integrations

MMS API

Zapier, an online automation tool that connects applications, lets you integrate Plivo with other applications to send SMS text messages after a specified event. Until recently Plivo could only send SMS messages through Zapier, but we’ve added MMS functionality, so you can now trigger messages that send audio, image, or video along with some text.

Let’s see how to use Plivo with Zapier integration to send MMS messages. For our example we’ll send an MMS message upon successful registration for an event in a Google Form.

Step 1: Create a Google Form

Create a Google Form that lets people register for an event. The form can have several fields — name, email address, phone number, and company name. Also specify the name of a Google Sheet to hold the information that’s captured when someone submits the form.

Step 2: Specify a trigger

Open Zapier and click Create Zap. Specify Google Forms as the trigger application. Choose “New Response in Spreadsheet” as the trigger event, then click Continue.

If you haven’t done so already, connect your Google account with Zapier, then specify the spreadsheet and worksheet that holds your form information. Click Continue, then test the trigger.

Step 3: Specify an action

Once you’ve successfully specified the trigger, Zapier takes you back to the Zap setup screen, where you can specify the action to take when the trigger fires. Click on or specify Plivo, then choose Send MMS as the event and click Continue. If you haven’t done so already, connect your Plivo account with Zapier by copying your Auth ID and Auth Token from the console and pasting them into the authentication popup. Click Continue.

Next, set up the action by specifying values for source and destination numbers, the text to be sent in the message, and URLs for the media you want to send. The source or from number must be a US or Canada number, because the Plivo SMS API supports sending MMS messages only from those countries. Choose an MMS-enabled number from the numbers you have registered on the console. Fetch the destination number from the Phone Number field of your Google Form, or rather that column in the Google Sheet that holds the data. Finally, click Continue.

Ta-da!🎉 You’ve created a Zap to send an MMS message whenever someone registers through your form. Test it out to make sure it works the way you want it to.

You can use a similar process to send MMS messages for other events, such as birthday reminders, employee anniversaries, successful sales deals, and product debuts. You can also set triggers from any application Zapier integration supports, such as Google Calendar, an email marketing application, or a social media platform.

Haven’t tried Plivo yet? Getting started is easy and only takes minutes. Sign up today.

Jun 17, 2022

5 mins

How To Increase Revenue By Improving Agent Satisfaction

Agent satisfaction is often overlooked by modern businesses when it comes to increasing their revenue. Learn how agent satisfaction can impact a business.

Customer Experience

Customer Satisfaction

Businesses are so often focused on satisfying the customer that they chip away agent satisfaction in the process. It’s no secret that customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction are very much connected, but what does this actually mean?

Glassdoor’s 2020 Economic Research report revealed that companies with highly satisfied employees are more likely to have high customer satisfaction scores, a stat that holds especially true in industries with higher levels of customer contact.

Taking the necessary steps to improve your contact center agents’ satisfaction levels within your company will increase their loyalty to the team, leading to more dedicated and successful agents and customers.

What is agent satisfaction?

Agent satisfaction is the measure of how satisfied or dissatisfied employees in an organization are. Businesses that actively measure employee job satisfaction are able to track employee motivation, productivity, and loyalty to their organization.

So why is agent satisfaction so important to understand, and what does this mean for modern B2C teams?

Importance of agent satisfaction in modern business

It’s often said that the customer is king, and rightfully so—prioritizing the needs of your customers is a surefire strategy to increase revenue. Which is exactly why agent satisfaction is important.

Agents that are not satisfied with their employer contribute to high agent absenteeism and turnover, and are unlikely to provide the same quality support to customers that a satisfied agent would.

Businesses that emphasize agent satisfaction by prioritizing the needs of their employees can drive positive improvements in customer satisfaction, while reducing agent turnover and agent absenteeism.

Taking into consideration the correlation between customer satisfaction and contact center agent job satisfaction, you can begin to see why agent satisfaction is important and how it can grow revenue for your business.

How to measure agent satisfaction

There are several ways to measure your team’s happiness in their work, but the easiest method is to use the Employee Satisfaction Index (ESI). This index is determined by assigning a numerical value (1-10) to three simple survey questions:

How satisfied are you with your current workplace?
How well does your current workplace meet your expectations?
How close is your current workplace to the ideal?

Once you have the answers to these questions, you can calculate your ESI with the following formula:

ESI= [((question mean value ÷ 3) – 1) ÷9]*100

The higher the number, the more satisfied your agents are in the workplace.

Surveying employees allows you to understand how your agents really feel about their job, and gives you the opportunity to meet them where they are.

Agent satisfaction isn’t a static metric, and is sure to change over time—it’s important that your organization keeps a consistent pulse on employee engagement and takes active measures to improve upon this engagement, as this will inevitably grow revenue.

Impact of agent satisfaction on revenue and profitability

Let’s take a look at a few statistics showing the impact of agent satisfaction on revenue, and how highly-satisfied agents can contribute to your business’ profitability:

A happy agent is a dedicated agent—business units made up of highly engaged employees are more present and provide a better experience to the customer. 94% of consumers who have a good support experience are “very likely” to repurchase from a company.
As we mentioned earlier, happy agents make for happy customers, and increasing customer retention rates by 5% canincrease profitability by up to 95%.
Prioritizing your contact center employee’s job satisfaction will reduce agent absenteeism and agent turnover. In 2020, the cost of replacing an agent (screening, recruiting, interviewing, and training) exceeded $12,000.
In 2019, Harvard Business Review calculated that a one-star improvement in Glassdoor employer ratings yielded anywhere between a 7-18% increase in long-term market valuation.

How to improve agent satisfaction

With the understanding of why agent satisfaction is important and how happier agents result in increased revenue, we next need to look at how your business can measure and improve upon your agent’s satisfaction.

Here we’ve outlined a few of the methods you can use to measure and improve your contact center team’s happiness:

A place to hang your hat (Agent retention)
Making an agent feel welcome isn’t something that should only be reserved for their first day on the job. Creating a continuous program to build a team that feels like a family will build agent loyalty and increase agent retention.
How can we help you? (Agent surveys)
Surveys aren’t only meant for customers! Surveying your agents on an annual or semi-annual basis can build an open and recurring feedback loop with management and identify friction points before they become a problem.
Walk before you run (Comprehensive training)
Another key driver in keeping contact center agents satisfied is the number of training and coaching hours that they receive. Equip your agents with all of the necessary tools to excel, and you’ll see a marked improvement in morale.
Reap the rewards of great service (Reward your agents for excellent performance)
Communicating with customers isn’t always easy—be sure to reward your agents that go above and beyond in customer communications with prizes, an extra vacation day, promotions, or some other incentive for a job well done.
Make yourself at home (Let your agents work from home)
Many working professionals have grown accustomed to working from home since COVID-19 reshaped the way businesses operated back in 2020, and contact center agents are no exception. A Pipkins research report showed that agents who work from home have a retention rate that is 55% higher than those working from an office.

Improve agent satisfaction and increase revenue with PlivoCX

PlivoCX is cloud contact center software for B2C teams built with agent satisfaction in mind. With Contacto, agent teams are supported by helpful automations, a unified desktop, and an omnichannel experience to exceed consumer needs and create happy customers and agents alike.

If you’re looking to keep up with the demands of the new era of support operations, we’re here to help.

Book a demo with our sales team, and we’ll help you find the right solution for your team’s needs.

Jun 14, 2022

5 mins

How to Handle SMS and Voice Communications Using Go

Send and receive SMS text messages and make and receive voice calls with Go, the Plivo Go SDK, and Plivo APIs.

Go SDK

Voice API

SMS API

How To

Jun 13, 2022

5 mins

How to Handle SMS and Voice Communications Using Java

Send and receive SMS text messages and make and receive voice calls with Java, the Plivo Java SDK, and Plivo APIs.

Java SDK

Voice API

SMS API

How To

Jun 10, 2022

5 mins

CNAM Mapping Made Simple

CNAM Support: Learn how to specify a caller ID name for your business using the Plivo console.

Phone Numbers

Consumers like to know who’s calling them before they decide whether to answer a ringing phone. Calls from unfamiliar sources could be time-wasters — the verbal equivalent of spam email. Carriers help customers identify callers by providing caller ID, a published standard for identifying call origins.

Originating carriers include caller ID information when calls are initiated. It’s up to receiving carriers to associate a caller ID with a caller ID name, or CNAM. In the US, carriers can do this by querying a line information database (LIDB) — a public repository that associates phone numbers with names.

Plivo makes CNAM mapping easy

Plivo lets you specify a CNAM record for any and all of your phone numbers and publishes it for you to the LIDB, so all carriers can report your company name along with caller ID number information.

To map a CNAM for your organization to one or all of your Plivo phone numbers, go to the Phone Numbers page of the Plivo console. Tick the phone numbers you’re interested in providing a name for, then click on the Choose Action dropdown and choose Add CNAM. Enter a name (up to 15 characters) and click Submit CNAM. The numbers’ CNAM status on the console will change to “In Progress” while we submit the information to an LIDB. Within a short time the numbers’ status will change to show whether your submission was a success, partial success, or a failure.

Plivo makes the CNAM mapping process as quick and easy as possible; the less time you spend mapping, the more time you can spend bringing value to your customers.

Credibility through CNAM

Call recipients are more likely to answer a name they recognize. The CNAM you provide should fairly represent your organization and give credibility to the call. You can use your business or brand name, but CNAM can be no more than 15 characters long, including spaces, and special characters are not supported.

CNAM builds trust with the carriers as well. When you register your name you make sure it’s accurate, and carriers will be less likely to filter your calls as spam.

CNAM isn’t the only tool available for making sure people know who’s calling them. Within the last year the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has directed US carriers to implement STIR/SHAKEN, a framework that represents how confident a service provider is in that the number’s owner is truly the one placing the call. That means call recipients should receive caller IDs along with the word “verified” directly below it when calls from the numbers they purport to be. Unverified calls might have their caller IDs spoofed, meaning the caller is pretending to be someone they aren’t, usually for no good purpose.

Between CNAM registration and STIR/SHAKEN attestation, your call recipients can be confident that calls from your organization are really from you, and should be more willing to engage with your business.

Don’t wait

Head over to the console and start mapping your CNAM to your numbers now.

Jun 9, 2022

5 mins

How to Handle SMS and Voice Communications Using PHP

Send and receive SMS text messages and make and receive voice calls with PHP, the Plivo PHP SDK, and Plivo APIs.

PHP SDK

SMS API

Voice API

How To

Jun 8, 2022

5 mins

How to Handle SMS and Voice Communications Using Python

Send and receive SMS text messages and make and receive voice calls with Python, the Plivo Python SDK, and Plivo APIs.

Python SDK

Voice API

SMS API

How To

Plivo has a lot of great capabilities built into its cloud communications platform. If you’re a Python developer, this post is for you: Learn how easy it is to send and receive SMS text messages and make and receive voice calls with Python, the Plivo Python SDK, and Plivo APIs.

How to send and receive SMS messages

If you’re interested in messaging applications, Plivo’s cloud communications platform makes things easy for you. Sending an SMS message requires just eight lines of code; receiving messages takes just 16, or you can create an application with Express to receive and respond to SMS messages.

How to send and receive MMS messages

Sending MMS messages is equally simple, and we’ve written a guide to receiving and responding to MMS messages with Python.

How to get set up and make and receive phone calls

Start by reading how to make a phone call from a Python application using Plivo’s Voice API. That post covers how to install Plivo’s Python SDK, which makes it easier to build applications that use Plivo. The SDK provides objects, functions, and methods to handle common tasks associated with building voice and messaging applications.

Once you have that in place, you can use PHLO, Plivo’s visual workflow design studio, to set up the workflow of the call, then trigger the PHLO with a few lines of Python code.

That blog post also talks about how to receive phone calls using PHLO, but if you’re not a fan of visual design tools that make coding tasks easier, you can create a simple Flask application to handle incoming calls on a Plivo number.

Once you know how to use Python with Plivo to make and receive calls, you can move into specific use cases, such as call forwarding and interactive voice response systems.

More resources

From there, the sky’s the limit. We support you all the way with our Python SDK, Quickstart guides, and more than a dozen use case guides, and if those aren’t enough, you can contact our support team for white glove support.

A journey of a thousand miles Plivo use cases begins with a single step: sign up for a free trial account today.

Jun 7, 2022

5 mins

How to Receive and Respond to Incoming MMS Messages in Go with Martini and Plivo

How to receive and respond to incoming MMS messages using Plivo's SMS API, Go, and the Martini framework.

Go SDK

SMS API

MMS API

How To

Overview

This guide shows how to receive and automatically respond to incoming MMS messages on a Plivo number, as you might want to do for someone who’s out of the office or who leaves the company.

Here’s how to use Plivo’s SMS APIs to build this use case.

Prerequisites

To get started, you need a Plivo account — sign up with your work email address if you don’t have one already. To receive incoming messages, you must have a Plivo phone number that supports SMS; you can rent numbers from the Numbers page of the Plivo console or by using the Numbers API. If this is your first time using Plivo APIs, follow our instructions to set up a Go development environment.

Create the autoresponder application

Create a file called autoresponder.go and paste into it this code.

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package main

import (
	"encoding/json"
	"fmt"
	"net/http"
	"strings"

	"github.com/go-martini/martini"
	"github.com/plivo/plivo-go/v7"
)

func main() {
	m := martini.Classic()

	m.Post("/autoresponder/", func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) string {
		w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/xml")
		from_number := r.FormValue("From")
		to_number := r.FormValue("To")
		text := r.FormValue("Text")
		var body string
		var media string
		if strings.ToLower(text) == "hi" {
			body = "Hello!"
			media = "https://media.giphy.com/media/888R35MJTmDxQfRzfS/giphy.gif"
		} else if strings.ToLower(text) == "bye" {
			body = "Bye and have a nice day!"
			media = "https://media.giphy.com/media/QM5lHSyFjz1XW/giphy.gif"
		} else {
			body = "I'm glad that we connected"
			media = "https://media.giphy.com/media/888R35MJTmDxQfRzfS/giphy.gif"
		}
	
		client, err := plivo.NewClient("<auth_id>", "<auth_token>",
			&plivo.ClientOptions{})
		if err != nil {
			panic(err)
		}
		response, err := client.Messages.Create(plivo.MessageCreateParams{
			Src:       to_number,
			Dst:       from_number,
			Text:      body,
			Type:      "mms",
			MediaUrls: []string{media},
		})
		if err != nil {
			panic(err)
		}
		res, err := json.Marshal(response)
		if err != nil {
			fmt.Println("error:", err)
		}
		fmt.Printf("Response: %#v\n", res)
		return string(res)
	})
	m.Run()
}

Save the file and run it.

go run autoresponder.go

You should see your basic server application in action at http://localhost:3000/autoresponder/.

Set up ngrok to expose your local server to the internet.

Create a Plivo application for the autoresponder

Associate the controller you created with Plivo by creating a Plivo application. Visiting Messaging > Applications and click Add New Application. You can also use Plivo’s Application API.

Give your application a name — we called ours Autoresponder. Enter the server URL you want to use (for example https://<yourdomain>.com/autoresponder/) in the Message URL field and set the method to POST. Click Create Application to save your application.

Note: If you’re using a Plivo Trial account, you can send messages only to phone numbers that have been verified with Plivo. You can verify (sandbox) a number by going to the console’s Phone Numbers > Sandbox Numbers page.

Navigate to the Numbers page and select the phone number you want to use for this application.

From the Application Type drop-down, select XML Application.

From the Plivo Application drop-down, select Autoresponder (the name we gave the application).

Click Update Number to save.

Test

Send a text message to the Plivo number you specified using any phone.

Haven’t tried Plivo yet? Getting started is easy and only takes minutes. Sign up today.

It’s easy to get started. Sign up for free.

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AI Voice Agents - The Complete Guide to Voice Chat (2025)

What is an AI voice agent?

Types of AI voice agents

Rule-based AI voice agent

AI-assisted voice agent

Conversational AI voice agent

Voice-activated voice agent

How does an AI voice agent improve customer engagement?

Use case: Get a quick update on order status, 24/7

Benefits:

Use case: Improve language learning for students

Benefits:

Use case: Improve patient outcomes in healthcare

Benefits:

Use case: Streamline routine financial services

Benefits:

Use case: Get personal shopping assistance

Benefits:

Features of an AI voice agent

Natural language understanding (NLU)

Personalization capabilities

Multi-language support

Integration with other platforms and services

Benefits of voice agents

Enhanced user experience

Better cost efficiency

Accessibility for users with disabilities

Data collection and analysis for improved services

24/7 availability

Future of AI voice technology

Key upcoming trends:

Launch an AI voice agent with Plivo

RCS Marketing 101: Your Complete Guide

What is RCS marketing?

RCS vs. SMS marketing: A quick comparison

4 key benefits of RCS marketing

1. Improved user interaction

2. Consistent brand experience

3. In-depth analytics

4. Higher conversion potential

5 major use cases of RCS marketing

1. Product promotions

2. Abandoned cart reminders

3. Appointment confirmations and reminders

4. Customer surveys and feedback

5. Customer support follow-ups

RCS marketing myths and realities

Myth 1: RCS marketing is too expensive

Myth 2: RCS marketing doesn’t reach enough users to be worth it

Myth 3: RCS gets treated like spam and ends up ignored just like emails

Why choose Plivo for your RCS marketing needs

WhatsApp Agent Setup: How to Launch AI-Powered Conversations at Scale

What is a WhatsApp AI agent?

What you need before setting up your agent

Step-by-step: How to set up a WhatsApp agent with Plivo

Step #1: Choose your primary use case and define agent scope

Step #2: Build the agent using Plivo’s no-code platform

Step #3: Train your agent with AI

Step #4: Test, launch, and monitor your agent

Plivo is purpose-built for WhatsApp AI agent deployment

Automate outcomes with WhatsApp agent setup in Plivo

The Definitive Guide to Automating WhatsApp for Business

What is WhatsApp automation?

Key benefits of WhatsApp automation

Reduce manual workloads and response times

Increases the scalability of customer interactions

Enhances customer experience through personalization

Cost-effectiveness compared to manual processes

5 popular use cases of WhatsApp automation across industries

1. Customer support

2. E-commerce operations

3.Marketing and lead nurturing

4.Event management and invitations

5.Appointment scheduling and reminders

Step-by-step guide to implement WhatsApp automation for your business

Step 1: Define your use cases and goals

Step 2: Choose the right WhatsApp business API provider

Step 3: Set up your WhatsApp business account

Step 4: Create and submit message templates

Step 5: Build automation workflows

It’s easy to get started. Sign up for free.