Quick Replies in Apple Messages for Business

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Feature Release

This is the announcement for an upcoming ASAPP feature. Your ASAPP account team will provide a target release date and can direct you to more detailed information as needed.

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Overview

ASAPP’s automated flows will now support quick replies for customers that use the Apple Messages for Business channel. Quick replies display response options directly in the messaging interface, allowing customers to make an inline choice with a single tap during an ongoing conversation.

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Use and Impact

As in ASAPP’s customer channels for web and mobile apps, quick replies are used to give customers a defined set of response options, each of which leads to a corresponding branch in an automated flow. Key use cases for quick replies in automated flows include the following:

1. Discovery questions to better specify a customer issue or account detail
2. Ensuring the customer’s issue has been addressed by an automated flow

Using quick replies in Apple Messages for Business is expected to reduce friction that can cause customer drop-off and frustration before fully completing a flow or reaching an agent to better assist with an issue.

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How It Works

Quick reply support in Apple Messages for Business is expected to function similarly to quick replies in ASAPP SDKs for web and mobile apps, with the following differences:

Number of Quick Replies
Apple Messages for Business supports a minimum of two quick replies and a maximum of five per node.

Push Notification and Selection Confirmation
When quick reply options are sent, users receive a push notification if Messages is not open; the title of the message will be ‘Choose an option’. Once the user selects a response option, Apple displays a checkmark beside text ‘Choose an option’ in the Messages UI. This is a default behavior and is not configurable.

Length of Quick Replies
All quick replies will render as a single line of text with a maximum of 24 characters; if the text exceeds 24 characters, it will be truncated with ellipses after the first 21 characters.

OS Version Support
Quick replies are supported in iOS 15.1 and macOS 12.0 or higher; prior operating systems will use the list picker interface.

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FAQs

1. Is there any work required to adapt existing automated flows to support quick replies in Apple Messages for Business?
   Once your ASAPP account team completes a small configuration change, all flows configured with quick replies today will automatically use them in Apple Messages for Business for supported iOS and macOS versions.

   Flows with nodes that have more than five quick reply options will need to be edited to use five or fewer quick replies - any quick replies in excess of the first five will not be visible in this channel. Flows with quick reply text that exceeds 24 characters will need to be shortened or will be shown with ellipses after the first 21 characters in this channel.

2. Can the list picker experience be selected in AI-Console for designated automated flows or are quick replies the only option?
   Currently, if quick replies are enabled, they will be the only supported option across automated flows. The list picker experience will be used for older versions of iOS and macOS.

Visit the Apple Messages for Business integration guide for more information about this channel.