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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Dec 22, 2020

5 mins

Improve Conversions with Multichannel 2FA

Multichannel two-factor authentication offers superior reliability and seamless customer experience, and guarantees high delivery rates across the globe.

2FA

Security is critical for all businesses. Strong authentication tools are the first line of defense against hackers and other bad actors.

Generally, passwords serve as the first authentication factor today. Every computer user is familiar with how passwords work. Security best practices call for long passwords, and if a string of letters and numbers is too long or complex to remember, users can employ a password management application to remember passwords for them. But passwords can be hacked, copied, or stolen, so passwords alone don’t provide adequate security — thus the need for a second factor.

Two-factor authentication choices — pros and cons

Many businesses use two-factor authentication (2FA) to secure access to enterprise resources and data. Organizations have many options for the second factor — biometrics, a hardware or software token, or a message sent over a separate communication channel from the one people log in on. Each has pros and cons.

Biometric authentication offers high security. Credentials are impossible to transfer to unauthorized individuals and difficult to spoof. But biometrics relies on special hardware, such as a fingerprint reader, which adds to the cost, and may deliver a false positive result, thus providing authorization wrongly.

Hardware tokens are difficult to spoof or tamper with and don’t require users to be connected to any network. However, they’re an extra item that organizations have to pay for and that users have to carry around and sometimes lose. Battery-operated tokens that work by generating a PIN code have limited lifetimes.

Software tokens that generate PIN codes can be a good alternative to hardware tokens. Users can generate them through applications on mobile devices, even if they’re not connected to a network. But users must download one of the token-generating apps that provide the numeric codes they exchange, and have to be trained on how to use them. And, like any software, apps can be hacked. Worse, if the mobile device is lost, the authentication credentials may be difficult or impossible to recover.

SMS messages may be the simplest and best choice for 2FA. For 2FA to work effectively, any authentication factor has to be easily accessible to users who need to authenticate. Just about everyone has a mobile device nowadays, and SMS comes native on all mobile devices — no additional app install required. And everyone knows how to read and reply to text messages, so no training is required. On the downside, it costs organizations money to send SMS messages, and in some cases it costs users to receive them. The technology relies on users being connected to a network. And SIM swapping attacks can attempt to compromise authentication.

The importance of a fallback authentication channel

Regardless of which approach an organization takes, it’s critical that the authentication method be reliable. You can’t improve security if your security enhancement keeps people from accessing the resources they need. That means your second factor needs a Plan B that’s just as secure as the original.

That’s a tall order for biometric and token-based authentication. If face recognition fails to authorize you or you lose your token, what’s your alternative authentication method? You may have to fall back on an emergency passcode — and that nullifies the advantage of a second authentication method, because passcodes are no more secure than passwords.

In this respect, SMS has an advantage over biometrics and tokens.

Though SMS is very reliable, it can be subject to delayed or dropped delivery, thanks to snags such as high network loads, unreliable carriers in some countries, and a host of other issues.

But when SMS authentication fails, organizations can easily implement a fallback channel for authentication — voice messages. Voice has the same advantages of ubiquity and intuitive use that SMS offers. Because voice calls sync immediately versus being stored or forwarded like SMS, voice calls are prioritized on the carrier network, and as a result, they’re more reliable than SMS. And the combination of SMS with voice fallback is the most reliable of all.

Voice as a fallback channel from SMS for 2FA

We’ve written a post on best practices for SMS and voice-based 2FA. It talks about how to ensure that 2FA messages arrive within the 10- to 15-second window that avoids disruption in the customer experience: The communications platform has to be able to identify invalid phone numbers, discover the fastest routes for optimal message delivery, and support high throughput for delivering high volumes of messages and in a timely manner.

Any company that intends to verify or authenticate users via SMS or voice calls needs superior reliability globally to ensure a seamless customer experience. Your SMS and voice API provider needs to offer a high-quality carrier network to guarantee high delivery rates across the globe.

Plivo customer Bigo, a Singapore-based provider of video-based products and services, uses SMS and voice to verify signups. It used PHLO, Plivo’s visual development tool, to quickly build a workflow that issues a one-time password (OTP) via SMS and then defaults to voice verification to improve conversions. Using PHLO makes building workflows simple; you can start with an existing template and easily adapt your verification and authentication requirements via drag-and-drop modules.

Reliability and security second to none

Plivo is all about reliability. Our platform supports more than a billion transactions every month while maintaining 99.99% API uptime. Our infrastructure is globally distributed and uses a network of eight data centers around the world to power global communications.

And when it comes to security, we eat our own dog food. Plivo’s CPaaS platform itself uses multifactor authentication, among other security features, to keep customer access and data secure.

Dec 14, 2020

5 mins

How to Send and Receive SMS Messages in Java Using Plivo’s SMS API

Get started with Plivo’s SMS API and Java to send and receive SMS text messages.

Java SDK

SMS API

How To

Your company has settled on Plivo to handle its voice and messaging communications, and now it’s your job to start integrating Plivo into your company’s applications. Don’t worry — Plivo has a Java SDK to help you out. You can use it write Java applications that send and receive SMS messages.

In this guide, we’ll explain how to send and receive SMS messages in Java. We'll walk you through the process of setting up your account, writing code snippets for sending messages and receiving responses through our SMS API. By the end, you'll be ready to leverage SMS communication for notifications, alerts, or even two-way interactions in Java.

Prerequisites

Before we walk you through the steps to send SMS in Java, you’ll need a few prerequisites in place:

A Plivo account— sign up with your work email address if you don’t have one already.
Install (or update) Java 1.8 or higher
Install IntelliJ IDEA
Install Spring and the Plivo Java SDK

To make sure you’re ready to go, refer to our guide Set up your Java Dev Environment for Messaging. This guide will go into more detail to help you set up a development environment to trigger API requests in Java. The entire process takes around five minutes.

Send an SMS in Java

Now you’re ready to start. Create a Java class in the project called SendSMS and paste into it this code.

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import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.Collections;
import com.plivo.api.Plivo;
import com.plivo.api.exceptions.PlivoRestException;
import com.plivo.api.models.message.Message;
import com.plivo.api.models.message.MessageCreateResponse;

class SendSMS
{
    public static void main(String [] args) throws IOException, PlivoRestException {
        Plivo.init("<auth_id>","<auth_token>");
        MessageCreateResponse response = Message.creator("<sender_id>",
                "<destination_number>",
                "Hello, from Java!")
                .create();
        System.out.println(response);
    }
}

Replace the auth placeholders with actual values from the Plivo console. Replace the phone number placeholders with actual phone numbers in E.164 format (for example, +12025551234). In countries other than the US and Canada you can use a sender ID for the message source. You must have a Plivo phone number to send messages to the US or Canada; you can rent a Plivo number from Phone Numbers > Buy Numbers on the Plivo console or via the Numbers API. Save the file and run it.

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.

Receive an SMS in Java

Of course sending messages is only half of the equation. Plivo supports receiving SMS text messages in many countries (see our SMS API coverage page and click on the countries you’re interested in). When someone sends an SMS message to a Plivo phone number, you can receive it on your server by using a Spark web app. Install Spark by editing pom.xml and adding dependencies for Spark and the Simple Logging Facade for Java (SLF4J), which you’ll also want.

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.sparkjava</groupId>
    <artifactId>spark-core</artifactId>
    <version>2.9.1</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
    <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
    <artifactId>slf4j-simple</artifactId>
    <version>1.7.21</version>
</dependency>

Then create a Java class in the project called ReceiveSMS and paste into it this code.

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import static spark.Spark.*;

public class ReceiveSms {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        get("/receive_sms", (request, response) -> {
            // Sender's phone number
            String from_number = request.queryParams("From");
            // Receiver's phone number - Plivo number
            String to_number = request.queryParams("To");
            // The text that was received
            String text = request.queryParams("Text");
            // Print the message
            System.out.println(from_number + " " + to_number + " " + text);
            return "Message Received";
        });
    }
}

When you run the project you should see your basic server app in action on http://localhost:4567/receive_sms.

That’s fine for testing, but it’s not much good if you can’t connect to the internet to receive incoming messages and handle callbacks. For that, we recommend using ngrok, which exposes local servers behind NATs and firewalls to the public internet over secure tunnels. Install it and run ngrok on the command line, specifying the port that hosts the application on which you want to receive messages:

./ngrok http [portnum]

Ngrok will display a forwarding link that you can use as a webhook to access your local server using the public network.

Now you can create an application to receive SMS messages (follow our Quickstart guide for details). You can also create a Java class to reply to incoming SMS messages.

Why you should use Java to send and receive SMS

Java’s platform independence, ease of use, and security make it a great programming language for sending and receiving SMS messages. Compared to other programming languages, Java is simple to use and easy to understand.

Java is also an object-oriented programming language, meaning developers can easily reuse objects in other programs. Because it’s platform independent (e.g., Write Once Run Anywhere, or WORA), Java SMS applications can run on various platforms (Windows, macOS, Linux, etc.) without modification.

Finally, Java provides robust security mechanisms to protect sensitive SMS data. SSL/TLS support for SMS transactions makes secure communication channels easy to establish.

Get started with Plivo to send SMS in Java

That’s all there is to sending and receiving SMS messages using Plivo’s Java SDK.

Don’t use Java? Don’t worry — we have SDKs for PHP, Python, Node.js, Ruby, .NET Core, .NET Framework, and Go.

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

Dec 8, 2020

5 mins

What is Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)?

Plivo’s two-factor authentication offering is a reliable, scalable phone number authentication solution in a single API.

2FA

Two-factor authentication (2FA) protects organizations from unauthorized access to data by requiring an additional level of authentication beyond usernames and passwords. Common 2FA types include one-time passwords (OTP) sent through a separate communication channel; biometric factors such as a fingerprint, retina scan, or facial or voice recognition; and an authenticator app or hardware token that provides a time-sensitive code.

Plivo’s two-factor authentication offering, which uses SMS- or voice-based OTP authentication, can secure accounts, prevent takeovers, and protect high-value transactions.

Why should I implement 2FA?

Security best practices call for organizations to use 2FA before granting users access to their digital assets. With account takeovers on the rise, passwords alone don’t provide the level of security organizations need. Having a separate, unconnected authentication channel makes it difficult for malicious actors to compromise secure systems.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted many customers and employees to remote, mobile, virtual, or distributed locations, which makes 2FA even more important.

Read the complete guide on How to implement 2FA ?

How does Plivo 2FA work?

When a user signs up or logs in to a customer’s application, the application calls the Plivo API.
The Plivo API sends a numeric code to the user’s mobile device via SMS message or voice call. Our APIs sync these codes with the customer’s application to authenticate the login, even when a device is offline.
The person with the mobile device enters the verification code they received into the application.
The application verifies that the code is the same as the one that was sent, and if it is, gives them full access.

Why should I choose Plivo as my 2FA provider?

Plivo enables users to access their accounts and files from multiple devices thanks to our ability to provide consistent high deliverability of time-sensitive 2FA SMS and voice calls.

To ensure timely delivery, Plivo leverages deliverability reports from a global network of test nodes and our Feedback API, enabling us to proactively route messages to the most effective carrier. We offer senders a direct route to end users, with a one-hop maximum, and without route dilution or blending. Users can make calls and send SMS messages to every country in the world, avoid delays, and avoid paying for repeated, undelivered messages.

By the way, we use 2FA ourselves to protect access to the Plivo console. Our documentation has more information on how to implement 2FA within your own applications.

Dec 6, 2020

5 mins

Announcing Secure Trunking on Outbound Trunks

Secure SIP trunking enables outbound trunks to use TLS to encrypt signaling and SRTP to encrypt media during the time a call is traveling through the public internet.

Zentrunk

SIP Trunking

Plivo now supports secure trunking for Zentrunk’s outbound trunks. SIP security has become a major priority for businesses — networks often hold classified information, and if a hacker gains access to it while it’s in use, the damage can be severe.

With this new functionality, Plivo customers can use Transport Layer Security (TLS) to encrypt signaling and Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP) to encrypt media during the time a call is traveling through the public internet.

How it works

Secure trunking operates almost entirely the same as any SIP trunk. The only difference is a short exchange at the beginning of a call to negotiate a security cipher suite and key to encrypt the call. Once the call is on the internal side of the Plivo network, encryption is no longer used.

Two types of data packets are involved in a successful SIP call over the internet — signaling and media. Encryption of signaling happens over the TLS protocol, and ensures authentication between two transport endpoints over an unsecured path for the SIP messages. Think of this as validating that the packets are from the correct source (either the customer or Plivo), and that they haven’t been altered during transmission. We support TLS versions 1.2 and 1.3. SRTP is used when securing RTP packets, which ensures that the media packets and actual contents of the call remain private and secure during the transmission. This kind of end-to-end encryption allows businesses with strict information security practices to reap the benefits of both SIP trunks and cloud communications.

To learn more about our implementation and how to configure your VoIP infrastructure with secure trunking, check out our documentation.

With a redundant infrastructure across multiple geographies and at least three local carrier connections across countries, Plivo offers a secure SIP trunking solution with robust authentication and encryption. You can rest assured that the communication lines in your company are safe from data attacks.

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

Nov 18, 2020

5 mins

Holiday Messaging: Don’t Let Covid Upend Your Success

How to ace Holiday Messaging in the midst of a Pandemic?

SMS API

As COVID-19 cases continue to rise, governments are implementing new travel restrictions, gathering sizes are limited, and many holiday traditions are sure to look different this year. The pandemic has impacted many areas of business planning, including holiday messaging campaigns. With in-person communications scaled back, it’s likely that your company is rethinking how to reach its customers. SMS and MMS messaging offer a way to cut through the clutter and directly reach customers with critical information.

Who might be pivoting more of their communications to SMS and MMS in the next few weeks? Here are some examples of businesses whose communications can’t fail at the peak of the holiday season:

Retailers sending updated promotions, store capacity limits, or reduced opening hours
Ecommerce vendors sending delivery notifications and updates for gifts
Grocery stores or restaurants arranging for curbside pickup or home delivery
Airlines notifying passengers of flight changes or updated health and safety guidelines
Ride-hailing platforms notifying of passenger pickup and mask requirements

Make sure your messages reach their intended audience this season. Here are a few tips to remember if you’re making a sudden switch of communication channels.

Don’t forget the visuals

Multimedia messages can help you stand out. If your store is closed or its hours have changed, but you still need to promote a Black Friday or Cyber Monday sale, use MMS messaging to send a variety of formats: pictures, audio, and video. With Plivo’s MMS API, you can send and receive MMS messages using any number type (long code, toll-free, short code) across the US and Canada.

Use the right number

Phone number validation minimizes delivery errors by determining whether a customer’s phone number is valid before including that number in your contact list. This validation process reduces errors and helps increase conversion rates by segregating landlines from mobile numbers. Make sure you’re messaging numbers that can actually receive them. Plivo’s Lookup API determines number format, type, country, and carrier for any phone number worldwide and in real time.

Short isn’t always sweet

Short codes offer a clean, fast, and legally compliant option for sending high-volume, one-way application-to-person (A2P) communications. But, compared to other SMS number types such as long codes and toll-free numbers, short codes are the most heavily regulated number type. Short codes take the longest to get approval for and have the most expensive rates. If you’re trying to make a sudden switch, a short code may not be the best option. Read about best practices for using short codes with an SMS API and get your timelines correct.

Be recognizable

If you’re sending messages outside the US and Canada, a sender ID can help identify your brand via a custom alphanumeric phrase like the company’s name or service, thereby increasing engagement with recipients. Some countries require you to register sender IDs. If you’re on a tight deadline, make sure to check our blog post on sender IDs for more information.

Turn up the volume

If you’re changing tactics and suddenly incorporating more messages than you originally planned, you’ll need a solution that automates the sending of potentially hundreds of thousands of messages. Plivo Powerpack automatically determines how many phone numbers you need to deliver those messages, and can also find the best phone numbers for reliable delivery. Powerpack can ensure that the “from” number is always a local phone number, increasing open and read rates. Powerpack is designed to meet large-scale SMS and MMS message throughput and volume requirements.

It’s easy to get started with Plivo messaging. It only takes minutes to set up an account and send your first message. If you’re suddenly facing a holiday crunch and need some guidance, let us help! Talk to an expert today.

Nov 18, 2020

5 mins

Introducing Plivo Browser SDK for Mobile Browsers

We now support the Plivo Browser SDK in mobile browsers: Safari on iOS, Chrome and Firefox on Android.

Browser SDK

The Plivo Browser SDK lets users make and receive calls using Plivo applications directly from a web browser. Using our SDK, you can create applications like click-to-call, conferencing bridges, and even web phones.

Developers have been using Browser SDK for several years to write applications for desktop browsers. We now support the Plivo Browser SDK in mobile browsers — namely Chrome and Firefox on Android and Safari on iOS. This means that customers can use the Browser SDK to build audio calling applications designed for the mobile web.

Use cases include:

Call center — Build a more efficient call center workflow by allowing your agents to make and receive calls via their browsers and control call flows in your app using our API.
Click to call — Whether you’re building a feature-rich call center or adding click-to-call to your CRM app, Plivo runs seamlessly in the background to allow your users to interact via audio communication.
Web-based help desk — Create great service experiences and workflows. Your sales and support agents can access customer info while making calls directly from their web browsers.
Web conferencing — Build rich conference experiences with Plivo’s out-of-the-box features, including unique call flows, recording calls, and branded conference greetings.

Mobile support enables developers to deliver engaging experiences for users who prefer using their mobile devices without downloading a native app. To leverage this functionality, you need to use the latest version of the SDK and update your application UI for the mobile form factor.

While our Browser SDK supports most of the standard functionality in the corresponding mobile browsers (Chrome, Firefox, and Safari), due to various browser engine limitations, support for features differs by browser and platform. We tested the Browser SDK on mobile browsers and documented the functional limitations below, along with some performance benchmarks.

Functional feature support

	Chrome	Firefox	Safari
Make and receive calls	Supported	Supported	Supported
Mute and unmute	Supported	Supported	Supported
Support for DTMF	Supported	Supported	Supported
Call quality metrics tracking	Supported	Supported	Not supported
Microphone and speaker toggling	Supported	Not supported	Not supported
Move browser to background during ongoing call	Call continues	Call continues	Call continues
Receive incoming call when browser is in background	Rings only when the browser is brought to the foreground; then the call can be answered as usual.	Rings only when the browser is brought to the foreground; then the call can be answered as usual.	Rings only when the browser is brought to the foreground; then the call can be answered as usual.
Incoming PSTN call during ongoing SDK call	Both calls happen in parallel.	SDK call will be overwritten by PSTN call (audio running in background and no audio heard from app), but when PSTN call is disconnected, SDK call continues.	Both calls happen in parallel.
Echo cancellation and noise reduction	Supported	Supported	Supported

Performance

	Chrome	Firefox	Safari
CPU usage on-call	Max 7%	The browser doesn’t provide this information at the JavaScript library (SDK) level.	0.116
CPU usage idle state	Max 1%	0.019
Memory consumption on-call	Max 5MB	Max 4.8MB
Memory consumption idle state	Max 3.1MB	Max 4.8MB
Network usage	Total requests: 23 Transferred over network: 645B Resources loaded by the page: 1MB Finish: 1.55 sec (async loading of objects)	Total requests: 7 Transferred over network: 1.26 KB Resources loaded by the page: 778.32 KB Finish: 19.88 sec (async loading of objects) DOMContentLoaded: 121 ms Load: 142 ms	Domains: 4 Resources: 6 Total loaded: 2.97KB Bytes transferred: 536B Time: 0
Jitter	4 ms	No jitter	No jitter
RTT	122 ms	105.91 ms, 100.12 ms	150.48 ms, 100.28 ms
Packet loss	No packet loss	0.03% (no packet loss)	No packet loss

Functional feature support

Get started today and build real-time communications into your apps in a few minutes with just a few lines of code. The Browser SDK seamlessly connects to Plivo’s global infrastructure, enabling you to create and deliver better customer experiences instantly. Haven’t tried Plivo yet? Signing up only takes five minutes! Try it today.

Nov 16, 2020

5 mins

Best Practices for SMS and Voice-Based Two-Factor Authentication

Best practices for SMS and voice-based two-factor authentication to ensure that every 2FA OTP message gets delivered quickly.

2FA

Security best practices call for organizations to use two-factor authentication (2FA) before permitting authorized users to access their digital assets — but for 2FA to work securely, businesses need a reliable second channel. For many organizations, 2FA involves the use of one-time passwords (OTP) as a secondary verification method, on top of usernames and passwords. Often, businesses generate and get confirmation of OTPs through messages sent through voice and SMS channels. The theory is that having a separate, unconnected authentication channel makes it difficult for malicious actors to compromise secure systems.

It’s critical that all 2FA voice and SMS OTP messages get delivered quickly. A lot goes on behind the scenes to ensure that those messages arrive within the 10- to 15-second window that avoids disruption is the customer experience. For that to happen, a communications platform has to be able to identify invalid phone numbers, discover the fastest routes for optimal message delivery, and support high throughput for delivering high volumes of messages and in a timely manner.

Let’s look at what that means for the components that make up the platform.

Phone number validation

Communications platforms need to look up and validate the phone numbers users provide for 2FA. They should offer an API that handles number validation and formatting, accesses carrier information, and retrieves the portability information associated with a phone number. The API should use multiple sources to return the most accurate response for a given lookup type: for number validation and formatting, for example, it can use international numbering plan data, and for carrier information it can use mobile number portability and numbering plan data from each country’s phone number regulator. The goal is to retrieve the most accurate and up-to-date data for each query.

Efficient, dynamic routing

Businesses can and should support multiple carriers for high availability. Having multiple carriers offers another benefit — it gives a communications platform routing options. The platform can offer dynamic routing to ensure that all messages are delivered over the best-performing carrier route to the destination mobile network. That’s especially critical with 2FA, because people expect to receive their authorization messages immediately, and any delay impedes their ability to accomplish their tasks. In an ideal world, the platform would be able to identify that, for example, carrier A has a conversion rate of 85% and carrier B 94%, and intelligently choose carrier B to ensure the lowest latency. How can a communications platform determine the most efficient carrier route?

One technique is to deploy global test nodes across all countries that have multiple carriers, using real phone numbers from carriers local to each region. The platform can then send messages to the test nodes and receive back results that confirm voice and SMS deliverability, report speed of deliverability, give confirmation of sender ID, and indicate correct message concatenation.

The platform should also use feedback from delivered messages. With this approach, developers can mark OTP messages as trackable. Then, when a user successfully authenticates their account using a verification code from the platform, data gets reported back. Especially in countries where carrier networks are generally unstable, this feedback can play an important role in choosing a carrier to ensure consistently high delivery rates for 2FA and OTP SMS messages.

Messaging at scale

As an organization grows, it can find itself sending large volumes of messages — hundreds of thousands or more at a time. Its communication platform must be able to automate the complex logic of making text and call distribution effective and reliable at scale. Often the organization grows not just vertically but horizontally, expanding into new markets, which may be served by different telecom carriers. Each region has different regulations, each carrier has different capabilities, and these different constraints often factor into the type of phone number (long code, toll-free, short code) that businesses use to send SMS or voice messages.

To support enterprise messaging demands, a communications platform can use a pool of phone numbers from multiple carriers, and automatically route messages to recipients using the phone number that’s most convenient for them, ensuring a high deliverability rate. The pool should be able to support various phone number types in different regions or area codes, and the platform should be able to prioritize phone numbers that match subscribers’ regions and area codes, while also taking into consideration carrier restrictions, for more efficient communications.

Ensuring efficient, reliable message delivery

Plivo addresses all of these factors with a robust API platform and global carrier network. Specifically:

Number validation— Plivo’s Lookup API provides real-time phone number validation to reduce fraud and improve conversion
Message routing — Plivo’s Conversion Feedback API sets up a customer feedback loop and brings message conversation data into the platform, while our global test nodes constantly test carrier networks and relay the results into our network automatically. Our dynamic routing algorithm uses this data to proactively route SMS and voice messages to the best carriers for optimal, timely delivery.
High-volume messaging — Powerpack ensures reliable SMS and MMS distribution at scale.

A solid communications platform is key to implementing 2FA using voice and SMS channels. Plivo’s Voice API and SMS APIs work in tandem with carrier and network infrastructure to ensure reliable deliverability. See for yourself how well it works — sign up now for a free trial.

Nov 11, 2020

5 mins

New Lookup API Provides Real-Time Phone Number Validation

Plivo’s Lookup API can determine number format, type, country, and carrier for any phone number worldwide.

Phone Numbers

Lookup API

Plivo’s new Lookup API can programmatically determine number format, type, country, and carrier for any phone number worldwide. With this detailed information about a phone number, you can assess risk, prevent fraud, block fake accounts, and increase acquisition — all without relying on customer input.

Lookup can provide several tiers of information depending on the level of detail you require: phone number country and format, phone number type, carrier, and network.

Pricing for Lookup starts at $0.004 per request. We also offer bundle packages, where customers can pay a monthly fee for a set number of API requests for a lower total cost than standalone requests:

	Basic	Pro	Enterprise
Price	$150 / month	$500 / month	$1,000 / month
API requests	50,000	250,000	1,000,000
Savings	25%	50%	75%

Once a customer has completed the allocated number of API requests per plan, they pay $0.004 for each additional request.

With Lookup, you can minimize delivery errors by determining whether a phone number is valid before including the consumer in your contact list, ensuring clean data and reduced errors. Lookup can also help increase conversion rates, as it helps businesses segregate landline from mobile numbers, so they can pick the right channel for their messages and calls to ensure the best conversion rates.

Here’s a breakdown of the information that Lookup can retrieve about a phone number:

Phone number country and format

Phone numbers can be written in many formats, depending on the country. Determining the country a number belongs to and its local format helps improve your overall experience with customers. With Lookup, Plivo properly formats phone numbers for a given region automatically, with proper prefixes, ensuring that the numbers you select look familiar to locals.

Phone number type

With Lookup, you can better identify which kinds of communications users can accept, based on their number type. Not all number types accept all kinds of communications. For example, most landline numbers and many VoIP numbers don’t accept SMS messages. Lookup recognizes when an alternative delivery method may be needed to successfully send voice or messaging communications.

Carrier and network

Lookup helps businesses identify the carrier behind the phone number to learn which users are likely to be legitimate. For fraud detection and risk management purposes, you may want to know whether a number is valid, is reachable, and whether the carrier location matches other location information you have for the user so you can use the answers within your risk scoring process during registration.

To get started with the Lookup API, check out our documentation. If you’re interested in any of our monthly bundle packages, reach out to your account representative.

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

Nov 3, 2020

5 mins

New Phone Number Regulatory Compliance Application in the Plivo Console

Phone number compliance in the Plivo console makes number provisioning in regulated countries easy.

Phone Numbers

We’ve made number provisioning easier, so that customers in regulated countries can provide compliance requirements directly in the Plivo console. Users can also track their compliance status within the console, and stay informed on the progress of the compliance application in real time, without needing to check in via email.

When anyone provisions regulated phone numbers, they must following local requirements that differ by country or territory and may vary for citizens, foreign individuals, and businesses. To prevent spam and fraud, and to generally protect phone numbers as resources, telecom regulators want to know who’s answering voice calls or receiving messages.

You must provide the necessary regulatory information and supporting documentation for your numbers in regulated geographies. If you rent numbers in multiple countries, you’ll likely need separate documentation for each country. For some countries, requirements also differ by phone number type — national, local, mobile, or toll-free. And some countries also have proof of address requirements. Making sure you meet all the requirements can get complicated.

We aim to make the process easier by handling compliance through the Plivo console, so that your phone numbers are not at risk of getting revoked.

How do I get started?

The compliance process is now part of provisioning a phone number.

1) In the Plivo console, navigate to Phone Numbers and click Buy Number, or search for a phone number you’re already renting. When you click on a number you already have, or one of a list of available numbers, look for a Regulatory Information popup that displays the compliance requirements for the phone number. If there is no Regulatory Information section, then the phone number has no regulatory requirements.

2) Review the regulatory information required, then create a Compliance Application. Existing Compliance Applications are available in the drop-down menu, or you can create a new Compliance Application by clicking on Add New.

3) After you create a Compliance Application, add the relevant documents to it (such as a utility bill for proof of address) and save it for possible reuse, for when you create a Compliance Application for a new region or country. You’ll then return to the phone number rental flow, where you can map the newly created Compliance Application to the phone number.

At this stage the phone number status on the Compliance Application console page appears as In Review. Plivo will review the application, which can take up to two business days. Our team will check to make sure the information and documents you provided satisfy local regulators’ compliance guidelines.

You can view the approval status of any phone number on the console under Phone Numbers > Pending.

We offer more information in our documentation.

Phone number provisioning made easier

Countries are taking important steps to protect their citizens from fraud, spam, and general communications annoyance, but in doing so they’re complicating the process of adding business phone numbers. Plivo can help you navigate regulatory requirements for all of the countries where you rent phone numbers and get your numbers into compliance. With phone numbers available in 65 countries, Plivo offers a broad global reach. Please contact our stellar support team for any issues with the process.

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