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Channels 101
One primer per channel: its history, how it works, where it is used, what it costs, the rules, its limits and when to choose it, with every claim sourced.
- 1Which channel for what: matching sixteen channels to your need, place and audienceAll sixteen channels side by side: who can start a conversation, what the person needs, how rich each is, how it is priced and what must be approved first, then guidance by need, by region and by audience, and when not to use each one.
- Ask first who may start the conversation. SMS, RCS, voice, email and approved WhatsApp templates can; Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, Apple Messages and web chat wait for the customer.
- Reach comes before richness: phone numbers still reach the most people, apps reach only their users, and your own app reaches only your customers.
- Most businesses need a small mix: one channel that reaches everyone, the chat app their customers already use, their own surfaces, and rich channels for specific moments.
- 2SMS 101: the text message every phone can receiveWhat SMS is, how a business text travels to a phone, what it costs, the registration and consent rules by region, and when plain text is still the right choice.
- SMS reaches almost any mobile phone with no app, which makes it the default for codes, reminders and alerts, and the fallback when richer channels fail.
- You pay per segment, not per message: one character outside the basic alphabet, such as an Arabic letter or an emoji, cuts a segment from 160 characters to 70.
- Most markets now require business senders to register before sending, and marketing needs consent; plan registration time for every country.
- 3RCS 101: the phone's own messaging app, with a brand name and buttonsWhat RCS business messaging is, how a rich message reaches a phone and falls back to SMS when it cannot, what it costs, the approval and consent rules, and when the upgrade is worth it.
- RCS upgrades SMS inside the phone's default messaging app: a verified brand name and logo, images, carousels and reply buttons, addressed to the same phone number.
- Reach depends on three gates: the handset, the operator and business messaging being live with your brand approved. Everyone else gets your SMS fallback.
- Write the SMS version first, check capability at send time, and measure rich and plain separately; RCS pays where a message replaces an interaction.
- 4Voice 101: business phone calls, numbers and caller-ID trustHow a business phone call travels between the phone network and the internet, what numbers, SIP and IVR are, what calls cost, and the caller-ID and robocall rules that decide whether anyone answers.
- A phone call is still the channel people reach for when something is urgent, complicated or emotional, and it needs nothing but a phone number.
- Whether people answer depends on trust: regulators now require operators to authenticate caller ID, block spoofed numbers and police automated and AI-voiced calls.
- Calls are priced per minute by direction, destination and number type, plus a monthly fee per number; check number rules and portability in every country before you buy.
- 5WhatsApp 101: the Business app, the Business Platform and the rules between themWhat WhatsApp offers businesses in October 2026: the free Business app for one team on one phone, the Business Platform for systems and scale, how the 24-hour window and templates work, what Meta charges since the October 2026 changes, and where the channel fits.
- There are two WhatsApps for business: a free app for a small team answering by hand, and the Business Platform for systems, bots and volume, billed per message.
- On the Platform, a business may write freely for 24 hours after the customer's last message; outside that window only an approved template goes through.
- Since 1 October 2026 replies inside the window are charged too, after 1,000 free service messages per number each month, so check Meta's rate card before you budget.
- 6Messenger 101: conversations that start on FacebookHow businesses use Messenger in October 2026: conversations with a Facebook Page, the 24-hour standard messaging window, what may be sent after it now that most message tags are retired, what it costs and where it fits.
- Messenger is a channel where the customer writes first, to your Facebook Page, often from an ad or a post; the business may then reply freely for 24 hours.
- Since 27 April 2026 three of the four message tags are refused; after the window, a person may still reply for seven days, and other messages need utility templates or opted-in marketing messages.
- Meta publishes no per-message rate card for Messenger as it does for WhatsApp; the costs are ads that start conversations, provider tools and, increasingly, Meta's paid features.
- 7Instagram 101: direct messages for businesses people discover by sightHow businesses use Instagram direct messages in October 2026: professional accounts, the two ways to connect through Meta's API, the 24-hour window and the seven-day human agent rule, what it costs and when it is the right channel.
- Instagram messaging is customer-first: people write after seeing a post, a story or an ad, and the business replies freely for 24 hours.
- After the window, only a person may reply, for up to seven days, using the human agent tag; bots and promotions must stop.
- A professional account is required, and Meta publishes no per-message price: the costs are ads, tools and the people who answer.
- 8Telegram 101: bots, channels and codes people opt intoHow businesses use Telegram's bots, channels, Telegram Business and the Gateway verification service, what each costs, and where Telegram is worth adding.
- A Telegram bot cannot message anyone first: the person must press Start, so every bot conversation is opt-in by design.
- Ordinary bot messages carry no platform fee; paid broadcasts above the free limit and Gateway codes (US$0.01 per delivered code) do.
- Telegram reports over 1 billion monthly users but little about where they are, so measure your own audience before relying on it.
- 9Viber 101: branded messages where Viber is the everyday appHow Viber Business Messages, chatbots and business accounts work, how Rakuten Viber prices them, and which markets make Viber worth adding.
- Viber's strength is concentrated: Rakuten describes it as the leading messenger in Ukraine and the Philippines, and it is secondary in many other countries.
- Business Messages are priced per message by country and type, and senders headquartered abroad pay international rates.
- Viber's partner rules require a recorded opt-in naming your business and Viber before you send.
- 10LINE 101: official accounts people add as friendsHow LINE Official Accounts, the Messaging API, LINE notification messages and MINI Apps work, how LY Corporation prices them in Japan, Thailand and Taiwan, and when LINE is worth adding.
- LINE's reach is concentrated: LY Corporation reports about 100 million monthly users in Japan, 54 million in Thailand and 22 million in Taiwan.
- You pay a monthly plan with a message allowance per country; replies to a person's message are not counted, pushes and broadcasts are.
- People must add your official account as a friend; notification messages to a phone number exist only in Japan, Thailand and Taiwan, with consent on first receipt.
- 11WeChat 101: official accounts, mini programs and WeComHow businesses use WeChat's Official Accounts, Mini Programs and WeCom, what verification costs, the messaging limits and Chinese data rules that come with them, and when WeChat is worth adding.
- Weixin (mainland China numbers) and WeChat (international) are one app run under separate terms, with data stored separately; 1,439 million monthly users combined in mid-2026.
- Proactive messaging is tightly limited: four mass messages a month on a service account, one a day on a subscription account, and replies within 48 hours.
- Costs sit around the account: paid verification (RMB 300 a year in the mainland, US$99 per application from abroad), building work, and China's filing and data rules.
- 12Email 101: the open channel people keepEmail is the one business channel nobody owns: it runs on open standards, reaches more than four billion people and holds the records customers keep. Whether a message lands in the inbox depends on proving who sent it, keeping complaints low and respecting consent rules that differ by country.
- Publish SPF, DKIM and DMARC for your own domain before you send at scale; Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook.com now require them from bulk senders.
- Keep transactional and marketing email in separate streams, and give marketing a one-click unsubscribe that works within two days.
- Marketing email needs prior consent in most of the world; the United States is the main exception, and it still demands a working opt-out.
- 13Push notifications 101: alerts people allowedPush notifications are short alerts from your own app or website, carried by the platforms' notification services (Apple's APNs, Google's FCM, Huawei's Push Kit and the browsers' push services). Sending is free or nearly free; the real price is permission, which people can refuse or withdraw at any time.
- Push reaches only people who installed your app or allowed your site and then said yes to notifications; on Android 13 and later they start switched off.
- Delivery is best effort: the platforms may hold, group or drop a notification, so anything that must arrive needs a fallback channel.
- The platform services are free or included; what you pay for is the tooling around them, usually by monthly active user, device or volume.
- 14In-app chat 101: conversations inside your own productIn-app chat puts messaging inside your own mobile or web app through an SDK: support chat between customers and your team, and chat between your users in marketplaces and communities. You keep the context, the design and the data, and you also take on what platforms usually carry for you: moderation, safety and data rules.
- In-app chat reaches only people who use your app; pair it with push notifications and a fallback channel for anything that must arrive.
- Chat between users counts as user-generated content: Apple and Google require reporting and blocking, and the EU, UK and Australia add online-safety duties.
- Providers usually charge per monthly active user; the larger costs are moderation, support staff and deciding how long transcripts are kept.
- 15Web chat & booking page 101: help where visitors decideWeb chat is a conversation window on your own website, answered by people, a bot, an AI agent or a mix; a booking page lets visitors pick a time without a phone call. Both meet people at the moment they decide, and both come with duties: telling people when a bot answers, accessibility, cookie consent and keeping transcripts no longer than needed.
- Say clearly when a bot or AI agent is answering, and keep an easy route to a person; the EU AI Act has required the first since August 2026.
- The conversation ends when the tab closes unless you ask permission to continue by email or a chat app.
- Live chat is usually priced per agent seat and AI agents per conversation or resolution; read how a provider defines a resolution before you compare prices.
- 16Video 101: calls and meetings as a business channelHow live video reaches customers through a link or inside your own site and app, where businesses use it from support to telehealth and video identity checks, what it costs, and the rules for recording.
- Most business video now opens from a link in the browser, on the open WebRTC standard, with no account or download for the customer.
- It is priced per participant-minute, with recording, storage and transcription on top; every extra person and minute adds cost.
- Recording is where the rules bite: tell people before you record, and check the health, banking and identity rules where you operate.
- 17Apple Messages for Business 101: service chats inside the Messages appHow people on Apple devices message a business from the Messages app, what list pickers, time pickers and Apple Pay add, why a provider and Apple's review are required, and how it differs from RCS on the iPhone.
- The customer always starts, from a button on your site or app, a map listing, a search, a QR code or a Wallet pass. It is a service channel, not a broadcast channel.
- Apple provides the service free; you pay an Apple-approved Messaging Service Provider, and each brand passes Apple's review before launch.
- RCS on the iPhone is a different thing: operator messaging tied to a phone number, which a business can start, with its own registration and per-message prices.