How to provide more options over a List Message

In this section, you will be acquainted with the tricks you can employ to provide more options for your users to choose from.

Do you have this problem?

So you have started sending list messages to your users, and it has been wonderful so far. But wait, now you have more options to provide but WhatsApp only allows 10 options in a list message.

On how to send a list message, view this guide.

How to provide more than 10 options?

Adding "others" as one of the first 10 options

Adding an option known as Others allows you to collect this as a response, and then sending another list of options (once again, up to 10).

Once you receive a response from your user, which will be "Others", send another list message with the other options that you have. Of course, you can choose not to name it others. We have seen other customers name it see more or see next page.

Sending a quick reply message on top of your list message

Alternatively, you can also make use of the quick reply messages to get your user's preferred menu or pages.

On how to send a quick reply message, view this guide.

Code used in this demo:

code sample for sending list message

curl --location 'https://apis.unifonic.com/v1/messages' \
--header 'PublicId: XXXXXX' \
--header 'Secret: XXXXXXX' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data '{
  "recipient": {
    "contact": "XXXXXXX",
    "channel": "whatsapp"
  },
  "content": {
    "type": "listMessage",
    "body": "How can we help you today. Click on the options to find out more",
    "header": {"type":"text","text":"HR Help Desk"},
    "button":"Available options",
    "sections":[
        {
            "title": "Self-Help Menu 1",
            "rows": [
                {
                    "id": "id",
                    "title": "Personal",
                    "description": "Personal Information"
                },
                {
                    "id": "id2",
                    "title": "Time-off/Vacations",
                    "description": "Request for time off"
                }
                ,
                {
                    "id": "id3",
                    "title": "Claims",
                    "description": "Submit a claim"
                }
                ,
                {
                    "id": "id4",
                    "title": "Documents",
                    "description": "Request for official letters"
                }
                ,
                {
                    "id": "id5",
                    "title": "Training",
                    "description": "See what trainings are available"
                }
                ,
                {
                    "id": "id6",
                    "title": "Benefits",
                    "description": "Check out your employee benefits"
                }
                ,
                {
                    "id": "id7",
                    "title": "Payslips",
                    "description": "Download your monthly payslips"
                },
                {
                    "id": "id8",
                    "title": "Assets",
                    "description": "Request for IT hardware"
                },
                {
                    "id": "id9",
                    "title": "Emergency",
                    "description": "Update your emergency contact details"
                },
                {
                    "id": "id10",
                    "title": "Others",
                    "description": "See more"
                }
            ]
        }
    ]
  }
}'

code sample for sending quick reply message

curl --location 'https://apis.unifonic.com/v1/messages' \
--header 'PublicId: XXXXXXXXXX' \
--header 'Secret: XXXXXXXXX' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data '{
  "recipient": {
    "contact": "XXXXXXXX",
    "channel": "whatsapp"
  },
  "content": {
    "type": "replyButton",
    "body": "Not what you'\''re looking for?",
    "header": {"type":"text","text":"See more"},
    "buttons":[
        {
            "title": "Return to main menu",
            "id": "id1"
        },
        {
            "title": "See more options",
            "id": "id2"
        },
        {
            "title": "Get Help",
            "id": "id3"
        }
    ]
  }
}'

📘

Tools that can help

You can show your user an array of options by smartly utilizing the different message types. Of course, you will require an orchestration based on the received message. To simplify your integrate work, consider using the Unifonic Chatbot or Flow Studio to do this for you.