Transactional Fallback

Dexatel's Transactional Messaging Fallback feature makes sure your transactional messages, such as order updates, account alerts, and delivery notifications, reach the customer even when the primary channel does not deliver them. You send one request with a primary channel and a fallback channel, and Dexatel takes care of the rest: if the message is not delivered on the primary channel, the same message is automatically sent again on the fallback channel. Viber to SMS is available today, with WhatsApp, Google RCS, and more channels coming soon.

Transactional Messaging Fallback is an API only feature. It is configured per message in the send request and is not available in the Dexatel dashboard.

Key Features

Viber to SMS Fallback: Send on Viber and reach the customer over SMS when Viber does not deliver. Additional channel combinations are coming soon.
Single Request: Configure the primary message and its fallback in one API call, with no need to track delivery yourself and send a second message.
Automatic Switching: Dexatel watches the delivery of the primary message and sends the fallback message on its own, without any further action from your side.
Time to Live: Decide how long a Viber message may stay undelivered before the fallback is sent, instead of waiting for the delivery report.
Configurable Fallback Window: Control how long the fallback stays available after the message is accepted.
Independent Content: Give the fallback message its own text or its own template, so the message always fits the channel that delivers it.

How It Works

Initial Setup: Send a Viber message and add the fallback configuration to it, naming the fallback channel, the sender used on that channel and the text or template of the fallback message.
Message Attempt: Dexatel sends the message on the primary channel and returns the message of the primary channel in the response.
Fallback Activation: When the primary message is not delivered, the fallback message is sent automatically on the fallback channel. A message is treated as not delivered when it fails, is rejected, expires, or is only accepted by the channel without ever being delivered or read.
No Fallback When It Is Not Needed: The fallback message is not sent when the primary message is delivered or read, and not when it is not processed at all, for example when the recipient is unsubscribed or the country is blocked.
Delivery Confirmation: Each message reports its own delivery status, so you receive one delivery event for the primary message and one for the fallback message.

Delivery, Billing, and Reporting

Separate messages: The fallback message is a new message with its own unique identifier. It starts with the enroute status and reports its own delivery status.
Separate reporting: Both messages are returned by the Messages API, each with its own channel, status, price, segment count, and encoding.
Separate billing: Each message is charged according to the price of its own channel and destination, so you only pay for the fallback message when it is actually sent.
Channel specific segmentation: The fallback message is segmented for the channel that delivers it, so an SMS fallback of a long Viber message can count as more than one segment.

Benefits

Higher Delivery Rates: Reach customers who did not receive the message on the primary channel, without building your own retry logic.
Reliability: Make sure transactional messages that customers are waiting for, such as order and account updates, are always delivered.
Cost Efficiency: Start with the channel that fits your use case best and pay for the fallback only when the first attempt does not reach the customer.
Faster Delivery: Use the time to live to move to the fallback channel quickly, instead of waiting for the primary channel to report a failure.
Better Customer Experience: Keep customers informed at the moment it matters, on the channel they actually use.

Example Use Cases

Order Updates: Send shipping and delivery updates over Viber and fall back to SMS when the customer does not receive them, so the order status is always known.
Account Alerts: Deliver time sensitive alerts, such as a password change or a suspicious login, over the fallback channel when the primary channel is silent.
Appointment Reminders: Make sure reminders arrive in time by moving to SMS as soon as the Viber message expires.
Payment and Billing Notifications: Reach customers with invoice, payment, and subscription notifications, even when the primary channel is unavailable on their device.
(Coming Soon) More Channel Combinations: WhatsApp, Google RCS, and other channels as fallback targets, for even broader reach.

Dexatel's Transactional Messaging Fallback feature makes sure that the messages your customers are waiting for are delivered, whichever channel it takes. For any questions or assistance with integrating Transactional Messaging Fallback into your application, please email us at [email protected]. Our team is ready to help you optimize your communication strategy and ensure reliable message delivery.