With reply-to-buy journeys, you can build journeys that send offers to subscribers that let them buy additional products by replying with a keyword. You can add any product in your Shopify store to a reply-to-buy message, and can even set custom pricing for reply-to-buy items.
Reply-to-buy journeys are a ReCharge transactional journey based on the Upcoming Charge prebuilt journey. Currently, you can only add reply-to-buy messages in Upcoming Charge journeys.
On this page
Before you get started
- Check out What are transactional journeys?
- Keep in mind that all transactional messages must be approved by your CSM before they can be launched.
- Because reply-to-buy messages pull product information from your Shopify or Shopify Plus store, your site must be built using Shopify.
How reply-to-buy journeys work
Reply-to-buy journeys work the same way that ReCharge Upcoming Charge journeys work: when a customer does something that triggers a new charge, like renewing their subscription, they enter a transactional message journey and are sent a message informing them of the upcoming charge.
If you branch an upcoming charge journey for subscribers opted in to promotional messages, you can add an Upsell product by text step to the branch.
This step sends subscribers a new text message with a customizable product description and price:
Subscribers can reply to the message with the keyword “Buy” to instantly order the product. Once the subscriber sends the keyword, the customer is charged to the same payment method used for their subscription, and the shipping information is the same as their subscription, too.
Note that adding the upsell product by text also adds another branch to your journey. If the customer is charged and the order completed, they're sent an Upcoming Charge transactional message; if something goes wrong, they're sent a Charge Failed transactional message instead.
Create a reply-to-buy journey
To build a reply-to-buy journey, first build an Upcoming Charge journey:
- Sign in to Attentive, and go to Journeys.
- Click the Create journey button …
And then click the Upcoming Charge prebuilt journey.
An Upcoming Charge journey opens. - Drag and drop a Branch step below the Send text message step.
- In the Branch condition menu, select Subscriber is opted into promotional and transactional texts, and then click Save.
The journey now branches between subscribers who've opted-in to both transactional and promotional texts, and subscribers who opted-in to only transactional messages. - Drag and drop an Upsell product by text step in the Promotional and transactional texts path.
The Send text message to upsell product step panel opens. - Click Add product to upsell.
Upsell product with a keyword opens.
- Click Select …
And then find the product you want to upsell or search for it. Once you find the product, click Continue ...
And then click Select on the variant you want to include. - Click Continue.
- Optionally, enter a different name or price for the product you want to upsell. Once you’re done, click Continue.
- Set a reply time window. Subscribers won’t receive any other promotional campaign or journey message during the reply time window. Then click Add upsell.
- Optionally, add more copy to your upsell message. Check out Transactional message copy best practices for suggestions. When you’re done, click Save.
Your Upcoming Charge journey now includes a reply-to-buy branch. - Optionally, you can add additional steps to your journey, or click on the new Send text message steps if you want to edit the copy. Once you’re ready, click Submit for approval in the top right corner of the screen.
- Once approved and activated, you can see your journey from the Journeys tab. For more, see View a journey’s performance.