Creating a bot in Viber Public Bot
Instruction for creating a bot in Viber Public Bot.
I. If you already have a bot that was created before February 5, 2024 (before the introduction of the new application procedure):
1. Open the Viber Admin Panel website in your browser (partners.viber.com).
2. Log in using the phone number linked to your Viber account.
3. Confirm the login by entering the code that will be sent to the Viber app on your smartphone.
4. After logging into the Viber Admin Panel, select the bot you created. Information about the bot account will appear on the right, including the token at the bottom.
5. Copy the token and send it to the technical support group for further connection.
II. If you have not previously created a public bot in Viber and do not yet have a bot account.
Starting from February 5, 2024, the creation of public chat bots in Rakuten Viber is possible only by prior application through the Viber team or official partners. Once your application is reviewed and approved, you will be able to sign an agreement and accept the terms of use.
There are two ways to submit an application:
1. Direct request to the Viber team
You can directly submit an application to the Rakuten Viber team. To do this, you need to fill out the appropriate form here:
⏳ Note: In this case, the application review may take longer than when applying through a partner.
2. Contacting an official Viber partner:
You need to submit an application to create a public chat bot through an official Viber partner.
To do this:
🧭 Steps:
Go to the link: 👉 https://www.forbusiness.viber.com/en/messaging-partners/
On the page, you will see a list of verified Viber business partners who have official status and experience in creating and launching bots.
Review the descriptions of the partners, their capabilities, and their operating regions.
Choose the partner that suits you (for example, by country or type of services) and click "Contact Partner" or "Contact".
Fill out the short form or send an email stating that you want to create a Viber Public Bot.
⚠️ Note: Important payment information
Before creating a Viber Public Bot, be sure to review the commercial model terms, as each bot has a monthly service fee.
💶 Payment terms:
The monthly service fee is €100 for each active bot (per calendar month).
This amount includes an unlimited number of incoming messages during a session (session messages).
📤 Additional costs:
A separate fee is charged for each message initiated by the bot (i.e., a message sent to the user not as a reply, but as the first message).
Rates depend on the country and type of messages.
📚 More information and detailed rates are available at the following link: 👉 Official page: Bot Commercial Model
🔍 It is strongly recommended to review this information before submitting an application to avoid unexpected expenses.
If you have any questions about rates or terms, contact an official partner or a Viber representative.
Useful information
Messages exchanged in a chatbot fall into three categories:
Welcome message: chatbots can send one welcome message to a user as soon as they open the conversation before the user subscribes. Welcome messages are not billed. Use it to introduce the chatbot, familiarize the user with your chatbot's UI and features, give information, and encourage the user to subscribe to the chatbot.
Chatbot session message: message exchanged between the chatbot and its subscribers during a conversational session. Session messages are unlimited.
Chatbot-initiated message: a paid outbound message sent by the chatbot owner to its subscriber. NOTE: the welcome message type is not counted as a chatbot-initiated message.
A Session is a 24-hour time window activated when the chatbot subscriber sends a message to the chatbot. A session is also activated when the chatbot subscriber responds to a chatbot-initiated message. After 24 hours, the session terminates automatically. The next session will be activated as soon as the chatbot subscriber sends a new message.
Rakuten Viber does not bill chatbot owners for messages exchanged between the chatbot and its subscribers during a session.
A message sent by a chatbot to its subscriber is categorized as a Chatbot-initiated message when there is no active session between the chatbot and its subscriber. Chatbot-initiated messages are a paid feature that helps chatbots engage their subscribers proactively. Note that if the subscriber responds to a chatbot-initiated message, it will activate a session, and subsequently, all messages exchanged during that session (24 hours) will not be billed.
To initiate a conversation with its subscribers, a chatbot can send a full range of message types and formats: text, pictures, videos, files, carousels, stickers, call-to-action buttons, location, and contact cards.
To send chatbot-initiated messages, chatbot owners must agree to Rakuten Viber's Chatbot Commercial Terms.
Every calendar* month, chatbot owners will be charged on a cost-per-delivered basis for every chatbot-initiated message delivered (in accordance with the rates below), excluding the welcome message.
*A calendar month is measured according to UTC (GMT+0) timezone.
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