Channels & message content
Every messaging pipeline sends your survey invitation over a single channel. The channel decides what the message looks like and which details you fill in. This page walks through the three channels and the content each one carries.
Choosing a channel
When you create a pipeline you pick one of three channels — email, SMS or Viber. A pipeline stays tied to the channel you chose, so if you later want to reach people a different way, you create a new pipeline for that channel instead. A survey isn't limited to one pipeline per channel — it can have several email, SMS or Viber pipelines, for example with different content for different audiences.
The content you write always matches the channel. Switch your attention from one channel to another and the fields change to fit.
Email gives you the most room to design. You set:
- A subject line that recipients see in their inbox.
- A rich message body that you build in a visual editor — adding text, images, buttons and styling without touching any code.
Email is the right choice when your invitation benefits from branding, imagery or a prominent call-to-action button.
SMS
SMS is a single, plain-text message. There's no subject line and no formatting — just the words you want to send. Because it lands directly on someone's phone, keep it short and to the point, and remember that special characters and long messages can affect how the text is delivered and counted by your provider.
SMS is ideal when you want a short, immediate nudge that doesn't depend on someone opening an email.
Viber
Viber sends a message body much like SMS, but with one extra safeguard: an SMS fallback. If a recipient can't receive the Viber message — for example, they don't use Viber — your fallback message is sent by SMS instead, so your invitation still reaches them. You write both the Viber body and the fallback text.
One channel per pipeline
A pipeline is locked to its channel from the moment you create it. To send over a different channel, create a separate pipeline for it.
Writing your message
Every pipeline has a default message — the version most recipients receive. What that includes depends on the channel:
A subject line and a rich HTML body.
SMS
A plain-text message body.
Viber
A message body plus an SMS fallback body.
Fields that don't apply to a channel simply don't appear — SMS has no subject and no fallback, Viber has no subject. Only the body is required to make sense of a message; an email with an empty subject, for instance, will still send.
Links in your message
Two placeholders turn into links when a message is sent. Type them into your message exactly as shown, and each recipient gets their own personal link.
| Placeholder | What it becomes |
|---|---|
%{collection_url} | The link to the survey. On SMS and Viber it's automatically shortened; on email it's the full link. |
%{unsubscribe_url} | A link the recipient can use to stop receiving your messages. On SMS and Viber it's automatically shortened. |
Always include the survey link
The %{collection_url} placeholder must be in your message — it's the only way recipients can open and answer the survey. It isn't checked when you save, so a message written without it still sends, but nobody who receives it can respond. If you leave the body completely empty, the channel's default message is used instead, and that already includes the survey link. On Viber, the survey link is also used for the message's button.
The unsubscribe link
Offering an easy way to opt out keeps you compliant and protects your sender reputation. How the unsubscribe link is handled depends on the channel:
- Email — if your message doesn't include
%{unsubscribe_url}, a small Unsubscribe link is added to the bottom of the email automatically. Add the placeholder yourself when you'd rather choose where the link appears and how it's worded. Type it exactly as%{unsubscribe_url}, otherwise the automatic link is added as well and the email shows two. - SMS and Viber — no unsubscribe link is added for you. Include
%{unsubscribe_url}in the message if you want recipients to be able to opt out.
When someone unsubscribes, they're added to your blocked responders and won't be messaged again at that level.
Personalize with variables
The survey and unsubscribe links are two of many variables. Others fill in the recipient's name, your workspace's name, the transaction's reference or any metadata field sent with the queue item — in the subject, the body and the SMS fallback alike. Message variables lists every one and what it becomes.
Adding languages
On top of the default message you can add per-language versions so people read your invitation in their own language. Each version carries the same fields as the default for that channel. This is covered in detail in Languages & locale.
Add a tracking id
You can give a pipeline an optional tracking id — an external reference that some messaging providers pass along to their own systems. It lets you match your sends against reports in your analytics tools. It's entirely optional; leave it blank if you don't need it.
Who actually sends the message
The pipeline decides what to send and over which channel. The sending accounts — your email server, your SMS or Viber provider, and the sender name or number recipients see — are set up once by an administrator under messaging providers in the Admin Panel.
That separation keeps things simple: an admin configures each connection a single time and from then on you just choose a channel and write your message. The same provider settings also govern delivery details that live outside the message itself — for example, whether a Viber provider falls back to SMS, or how special characters are handled on SMS — so if delivery behaves unexpectedly, that's the place to check.
Once messages go out, you can follow each one — sent, opened, failed or held back — in the dispatch queue.
Keep an eye on your allowance
Sends count against your plan's message allowance. If it runs out, items are held rather than sent. You can review usage under Subscription & usage.