Branch

Branch is a feature of the The Enterprise Communications API that allows you to choose what channels to try to deliver a message through, and what preference order to try them. Branch will let you create the most effective communication strategies easy, whether your channel preferences are to reduce costs or maximise engagement.

Branch works by trying channels in a priority order for each message sent trying to send to the highest priority channel. If a customer isn't registered on a channel, such as Facebook, then the channel will be skipped and the next channel tried.

Here’s an example…

Try to send the message to a user who has my app first , if they are not an app user send the message to Facebook Messenger, if I can’t reach them through those channels send an SMS as my user/customer must get the message.

Branch supports any messaging channel that is currently available through the Enterprise Communications API, the most commonly used channels today are SMS, Facebook Messenger and App messaging (into your own app). As new messaging channels become available we will add them to our messaging “bench”

Each channel in a Branch rule set may require a different addressing field in order to identify the customer on that channel, such as a Facebook Messenger Id, so when sending pass as much addressing data as you have in order to help Branch use the selected channels, otherwise Branch will have to skip the channel.

Setting up Branch rules

To setup or modify a Branch rulesl go to the Portal and open the Hub -> Branch section shown below:

You will see any existing Branch rule sets shown as individual sections, which you can choose to edit or remove. To create a new Branch rule set simply create on the Create new rule button, and the following pop-up will be shown:

Now name your rule set something which will describe what the rules purpose is by filling in the Branch Name field.

Next choose the channels you want to use by choosing from the channel drop down and clicking Add new channel to add another channel to the Branch rule . Ensure that the order of the selected channels is in priority order, with the highest priority being the top most item.

Click Save and the following summary of rule sets will be displayed; note down the id for the rule set for use with the Enterprise Communications API when sending messages highlighted in green below:

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Get Started with Branch

See our Branch technical documentation to get started with sending using Branch