We have a ton of announcements and new releases this month, but first things first: G2 has awarded respond.io with the Leader badge in customer communication management, an honor given only to top-rated software! To give you an idea of how we earned that distinction, check out updates ranging from the new Respond AI to our mobile app improvements, as well as respond.io’s green CSR campaign with Tree-nation. 🥳 Let’s dive in.

Upgrade Your Messaging Game with Respond AI

The promise of artificial intelligence continues to shape all industries, including the way businesses engage with customers. We’ve developed Respond AI to provide you with the best customer experiences possible over conversations.

Improve Your Messages with Respond AI Prompts

AI Prompts help agents communicate with customers clearly and effectively. After composing a message in the Messages Module, click the magic wand button in the navigation below the message composer.

By default, four prompt options will appear:

• Make Response Clearer: Ensure your messages are easy to read and coherent.
• Adjust Response Tone: Modify the tone of your messages based on customer mood and type of inquiry. For example, if a customer is facing issues, change your message to have an empathetic tone.
• Remove Writing Errors: Ensure professional communication by eliminating spelling and grammatical mistakes.
• Translate Response: Overcome language barriers by instantly translating your messages to languages such as Arabic and Spanish.

Select your desired prompt and Respond AI will revise and improve the message in the Messages Composer accordingly.

Add and Prioritize Custom Prompts

You’re not limited to the default prompt options. Create and add unique prompts that fit your needs using the Respond AI Setting. To add prompts, click + Add Custom Prompt, name your prompt and specify what you want it to do.

Keep in mind that while you can delete any added prompts, you can’t delete the default ones. However, you can toggle them off to prioritize your custom prompts.

Respond AI Credits

Respond AI operates with an Organization-wide credit system. What does this mean? Each Organization has a fixed number of monthly Respond AI Credits shared among all its Workspaces. The number of credits depends on your respond.io plan.

We’re continuously improving Respond AI, with more releases due in the coming weeks. Keep an eye out for updates.

New Workflow Improvements

Change the way you work with additions we’ve made to our web platform. Using respond.io has never been easier or more powerful.

Test Your Workflow Before Publishing

You can now test new Workflows to ensure they work as intended before publishing them. 🥳 When a Workflow is ready, click the Test button and follow the instructions that appear in the dialog box.

You’ll be able to experience the automation as customers would. If your Workflow includes trigger variables, these can be tested too to ensure values are stored and used as intended. Once you’re done testing the Workflow, click the End Testing button in the dialog box.

New Branch Category: Last Outgoing Message & Last Outgoing Message Source

The Last Outgoing Message Branch category scans your most recent outbound message for specific keywords or content. If the last outbound message contains keywords that match the values set in the Branch condition, the Contact will go down a specified Workflow journey.

A possible use case is incorporating this into a Workflow to follow up on broadcasts. This Branch category lets you determine if the conversation was initiated in response to a particular broadcast, enabling you to design a tailored Workflow journey for this Contact.

The Last Outgoing Message Source can identify if the source of your most recent outbound message was a User, Workflow, Broadcast, bot, or other source. This is useful for creating an automated response Workflow for all replies to broadcasts.

Access respond.io Resources at a Click

The new Resource Center button is your central hub for information. The button, or question mark widget, can be found on the bottom right of the web app. Accessing respond.io's resources, like the Help Center, Business Academy and customer support has never been more convenient.

If you find the Resource Center button distracting or annoying, you can disable it by clicking on the Help menu button in the side navigation bar and toggling off the Resource Center button.

Ensure Only Relevant Events Open Conversations

We’ve revamped and standardized the behavior of events that open conversations for all channels. This update ensures that only supported conversational messages and ad events will open a conversation. Supported events include:

• Facebook Chat menu button clicks
• Adding a friend on Line, WeChat, and Viber
• Get Started actions on Facebook, Telegram, and Webchat.

As a result, unsupported messages, story reactions, non-ad referral events and postback events will no longer open conversations, saving your agents’ time.

Legacy Channel Behavior

To ensure minimal disruptions to your existing Workflows and operations, we have included a toggle in Settings to enable legacy channel behavior in this update.

For existing Workspaces, the toggle is switched on by default to maintain the current channel behavior in your existing Workflows automation. However, note that this legacy behavior will be deprecated in the near future.

Turn off the toggle if you want to experience the new standardized behavior and allow only supported conversational messages and ad events to open a conversation.

Welcome Your Customers on Messenger

We have introduced a new toggle in your Facebook Messenger configuration. When toggled on, your customers will see a welcome screen when they land on your business's Facebook Messenger chat.

The welcome screen includes the name and responsiveness of your business, the profile picture and cover photo from your Facebook Page, an optional greeting message, and the Get Started button for customers to start chatting with you easily.

Improved Conversations on the Respond.io — Inbox App

We’ve added several new updates to respond.io - Inbox app for an improved user experience on mobile. Check out the highlights below.

Send Multiple Files Simultaneously

Previously, you were limited to selecting only one media file per message. That meant if you had five files, you would have to upload and send five separate messages to customers.

With the new update, you can select multiple media files and preview them before sending them to your customer, all in the same message.

WhatsApp Template Filters

When selecting a WhatsApp Message Template, you no longer have to scroll through or manually search for a particular template within the list.

Now, you can categorize and filter templates by Categories, Languages and Labels. You can also readily view your most recently used templates, so templates you use frequently are easily accessible.

Improved Email Channel Composer

Previously, you couldn’t reply to specific emails in the message composer. Now, the email message subject line is now always visible and displayed upfront with the email body, providing better visibility on which email you’re responding to for context.

To do this, just press Reply on the message you want to respond to. Compose your email and hit send. It’s as easy as that. You can also start a new email thread by editing the Subject line.

Other Noteworthy Improvements

To create a more consistent messaging experience between the respond.io platform and mobile app, mentions in the comment section and dynamic variables in the messaging console will now be highlighted when typed.

Furthermore, a notification badge will appear on your Respond.io - Inbox app icon when you receive a new mobile notification. This alerts you to unread messages, comment mentions or other notifications you might have missed.

Respond.io’s Plant to Stop Poverty CSR Campaign

To celebrate the launch of the Respond.io Business Academy, we have collaborated with tree-nation to make a difference in the world. For every person who signs up on the Respond.io Business Academy before 12 October 2023, one tree will be planted in their name in Tanzania.

Our program focuses on:

• Planting trees in rural and nature reserve areas.
• Preserving endangered species and preventing deforestation.
• Restoring topsoil, preventing erosion, and safeguarding water sources.
• Boosting local income and food sources through fruits, buts and fodder products.

Sign up for the Respond.io Business Academy today and leave your green legacy while you learn.