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Operator Templates

Last updated: 4 June 2021

To send messages via Viber, it is not necessary to register operator templates; you can use free templates, which do not require registration. However, if you have an operator template and a user template based on it, this can help you save money on sending messages if they are informational or service-related.

File IconCustom Templates File IconFree Templates

Registering Operator Templates​

An operator template is a text template for messages that includes text and the necessary auto-fill elements, which you must register with Viber.

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You cannot send broadcast messages using an operator template.

To send broadcast messages, follow these steps:

  1. Create and register an operator template.
  2. Create a user template based on it.
  3. Send broadcast messages using the user template.

To set up an operator template and send it during registration:

  1. On the Settings → Templates page, click Add template → Viber.

  2. In the Sender(s) field, select the sender’s name(s): this will be the name(s) that the clients will receive the messages from. The names reflected in this list are the names you specify for a Viber channel in the Name in English field. You can only select the sender name(s) of active channels.

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    The template is linked to the sender name — only the operator templates that you create and register for the sender name selected here will be available in the future for creating a custom template for the same sender.

    Example:​

    If you register operator template 1 for sender edna, but not for sender edna Marketing, then when creating a user template based on it, template 1 will also be available for selection only for sender edna, but not for edna Marketing.

  3. Ignore the Template ID field: this is a system field, it will fill in automatically upon saving the template.

  4. Set the template name. We recommend giving the template a name that reflects its meaning:

    Use 3_1_version_announcement instead of template_for_marketing_3_1

  5. Select the Operator radio button. After you gave at least one operator template, you can create custom ones based on it.

  6. Specify the template category and language in the Select a category and Select a language fields, respectively. These fields are mandatory.

  7. Select the template language. The selected language must match the language of the template text.

  8. Enter the template text for the message.

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    In Viber, only templates of the Text type can be created as operator templates and user templates dependent on them. Such messages do not contain buttons, images, or files. The maximum length of text in a template is 1000 characters.

    In addition to the fixed part of the template that the customer will receive, Viber allows you to use auto-fill elements. These are strings of characters of a specific format (regular expressions) that you can replace with variables in the message sent to the customer — for example, to address the customer by name, mention the service they use, or other expressions, including punctuation marks.

    File IconCreating and Assigning Variables

  9. To add a regular expression to a template, click the \ RegExp button and select the required element.

  10. In the Enter the text of the sample message box, enter the text of the message based on what you entered in the Enter message text and regexp box. If you used regular expressions there, make sure the sample text exactly matches the template that you entered.

  11. If necessary, click Validate template to validate the template text in the Enter message text and regexp box.

  12. Add a comment if necessary.

  13. In the message preview window, make sure that the message looks the way you want it to.

  14. If necessary, review the template status in the Status column on the Templates page. The template gets the Registration status first, then moves to the Active status once it’s registered with Viber. Once it has the Active status, you can start creating a custom template based on it or using it in your broadcasts.

Approval of Templates​

Messages that can be approved by Viber as operator templates​

  • Response messages:
    • welcome messages upon completion of registration;
    • confirmation of orders/purchases/registrations
  • Notifications:
    • Notification of changes to terms of service, including: changes to payment, increase in subscription cost;
    • Notification of changes to payment terms, address, or customer contact information;
    • Two-step authentication (sending codes);
    • Delivery/return/exchange status
  • Informational messages:
    • reminders about scheduled events as part of service provision (e.g., appointment scheduling);
    • service alerts/warnings (service unavailable, performance issues, etc.);
    • warnings about account logins/logouts/login attempts;
    • information about class schedules/timetables, current and final assessments, internal procedures, or homework assignments sent by educational institutions/leisure centers. These messages must not contradict the rules for classifying service templates;
    • reminders about outstanding debts (including contract/agreement details);
    • information about the terms and conditions for debt repayment;
    • information about the accumulation/spending/terms of use/purchase of coupons under loyalty programs;

Messages that are not suitable for approval in operator templates​

  • templates that clearly do not correspond to any of the service template types listed above;
  • service templates containing any additional advertising information (even if this information relates to the service provided);
  • triggers for offering to purchase a product/service;
  • triggers for increasing loyalty to the service (holiday greetings, offers to rate the service);
  • templates containing information from companies that do not provide the service (e.g., collection agencies);

Using Regular Expressions​

You can use auto-fill elements in Viber operator templates. This will make the template more flexible, and once it has been registered, you will be able to use it for more user templates.

Regular expressions are used as auto-fill elements in Viber operator templates. Below are the most popular regular expressions and examples of their use.

Matching Templates with Text​

In order to match a message template with the text written based on it, a mechanism for removing special characters from the message (so-called cleaning) is used by default. After removing special characters, all spaces (several spaces in a row, as well as line breaks) are converted to a single space. Please note that all special characters will be removed before attempting to match the template.

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Use these recommendations to ensure that the template is registered correctly the first time:

  1. Remove the following characters from the template for approval: ! № # % . , : ; ? / ( ) + – “ ” ― _ ‘ ” & ^ { } [ ] < > | @ $ ^ = ~ *
  2. Replace line breaks with spaces
  3. Replace consecutive spaces with a single space

To register with Viber, the template must not contain any special characters, but you can insert these characters into messages created based on this template.

If you create a custom template based on this registered template, you can add these special characters to it.

This means that the template must not contain any special characters (except for characters participating in the regular expression itself) or more than one consecutive space character.