Connect Customer.io to WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and AI Chat
Customers and users message you on WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, TikTok, Telegram, web chat or email, but your audience lives in Customer.io. AeroChat answers those conversations and works with Customer.io as it goes. It checks a person’s attributes and subscription preferences, and it adds or updates them with their consent, records their interests and unsubscribes them when they ask. It connects through Customer.io’s public API. You describe the workflow in your own words, and AeroChat builds it.
What you can do with Customer.io and AeroChat
- Add chat contacts to your audience with consent. When someone agrees in chat to hear from you, AeroChat adds or updates them in Customer.io with a record of how and when they agreed. Nobody is added without a yes.
- Answer subscription questions and unsubscribe on request. AeroChat checks the person in Customer.io, tells them what they are signed up for, and unsubscribes them or narrows what they get when they ask.
- Recognise returning people. AeroChat looks up the person and uses what Customer.io already knows, such as their attributes and the segments they belong to.
- Update attributes from the conversation. When someone tells you their plan, their interest or their company size, AeroChat sets the matching attribute, so your segments pick them up.
- Record what happened in chat as an event. AeroChat sends an event such as chat_enquiry (example) to the person, which can trigger a campaign you built in Customer.io.
Works on every chat channel
Your customers and users message you wherever they already are. The same Customer.io connection and the same workflows run on every channel AeroChat supports, and Customer.io stays the record whichever one they use.
| Channel | What your customers and users can do |
|---|---|
| Message your WhatsApp Business number to sign up for your updates, ask what they are subscribed to, change which topics they hear about or stop your messages. Voice notes are transcribed, so a spoken request works too. | |
| Send the same requests by direct message. A comment on your post can get an automatic reply that moves the conversation to a DM. | |
| Facebook Messenger | Send the same requests to your Facebook Page. Comments on your Page posts can get an automatic reply too. |
| TikTok | Send the same requests by TikTok direct message or TikTok Shop buyer chat. Both arrive in the same TikTok inbox. |
| Telegram | Send the same requests to your business on Telegram. |
| Web chat | Do the same from the chat on your website, without leaving the page. |
| Write to your Gmail or Office 365 address and get the same answer the chat gives. |
How the connection works
AeroChat connects through Customer.io’s public APIs. It adds and updates people and their attributes, sends events, and sets a person’s unsubscribed status and topic preferences. It reads a person’s attributes, segments and subscription preferences. Each workflow uses only what its recipe asks for. AeroChat subscribes someone to marketing only after they agree in the conversation.
To connect, an admin opens the API Credentials page in Customer.io’s settings and creates the keys AeroChat needs: a key for sending people and events, and an App API key for looking people up. Customer.io’s API documentation explains both. Paste them into the AeroChat dashboard when AeroChat asks.
You describe the workflow in your own words. AeroChat builds it as a draft, works out which Customer.io calls it needs, and asks you to connect. Keys and credentials are entered in the AeroChat dashboard and never pass through the conversation.
Workflows to copy
Copy this into AeroChat
When someone in chat says they want product updates or offers, ask for their email and confirm they agree to receive marketing messages from us. Only if they say yes, add or update the person in Customer.io with their email and first name, set unsubscribed to false, and set the attribute signup_source to chat (example). If they say no, carry on helping and change nothing.
Copy this into AeroChat
When a customer tells us something about their account in chat, such as their plan, their team size or what they want to use us for, find the person in Customer.io by email. Set the matching attributes, such as plan_interest and team_size (example). Send an event called chat_enquiry (example) with a one-line summary of what they asked. Do not change their subscription status. Reply in the customer’s language.
Who uses it
Software companies, apps, subscription businesses and online services that message their users from Customer.io can use it to collect consent and preferences in chat and to answer subscription questions without a login.
For more chat workflows, see the WhatsApp workflows library and every system AeroChat connects to on the integrations page.
What stays in Customer.io
Customer.io stays your record. Your people, attributes, segments, campaigns, broadcasts, subscription center and reporting live there, and your team still builds the campaigns and sends the broadcasts.
AeroChat handles the conversation. It reads and updates the people records your recipe asks for and leaves the rest to Customer.io and your team.
Questions
Does AeroChat work with Customer.io?
Yes. AeroChat connects through Customer.io’s public APIs with keys you create on the API Credentials page in Customer.io.
Can WhatsApp contacts subscribe in Customer.io?
Yes, when they agree in the chat. AeroChat asks first, and only subscribes them in Customer.io after a clear yes. If they say no, it carries on helping and adds nothing.
Do I need a developer?
No. You describe the workflow in your own words, create the keys in Customer.io and paste them in, and switch it on. AeroChat builds the Customer.io connection from your description and shows a checklist of what is left to do.
Which plan do I need?
Workflows via Skills are on every plan. Choose by message volume: Starter covers 500 AI responses a month and 3 seats, Growth covers 2,000 responses and 10 seats and adds payment links and broadcasts, and Advanced covers 5,000 responses and 25 seats.
Using a different system? If it has a public API, it connects to AeroChat the same way: describe what you want, paste in its key, and it runs.
Can’t find your tool? Message us in the chat on this page and we’ll tell you how it connects.
Connect Customer.io and try it
Paste the first recipe, add your Customer.io keys, and sign up with your own email in the chat.