Vendor Engagement Flow – Follow-up Message Not Triggering

[akanshaaa19]

Summary

Issue Summary

Problem Statement: Follow-up messages in the Vendor Engagement flow are not triggering for users who sent the keyword "Vendor."

Expected: Users who send the keyword "Vendor" should receive a follow-up message as part of the Vendor Engagement flow.

Actual: Some users did not receive the follow-up message after sending the keyword "Vendor."

Error Message: No specific error message was provided, but it was noted that the contact names in question are not opted in to the platform.

Reproduction Steps:

1. Users send the keyword "Vendor" to initiate the Vendor Engagement flow.
2. Check for follow-up message receipt by the users.

Additional Notes: The issue may be related to the fact that the users who did not receive the messages are not opted in, and that the keyword is linked to a flow that cannot send messages to non-opted-in users.

Source

• Discord thread: https://discord.com/channels/717975833226248303/1504371557324161095
• Reported by: misba_19137
• Title: Vendor Engagement Flow – Follow-up Message Not Triggering

Original message

<@1118428955859505224> We have piloted the Vendor Engagement flow; however, a few users who tried accessing the flow by sending the keyword “Vendor” are not receiving the follow-up message.
Attaching the screenshot for your reference. Please check and let us know if there is any issue with the flow configuration ?

Full thread transcript

misba_19137: <@1118428955859505224> We have piloted the Vendor Engagement flow; however, a few users who tried accessing the flow by sending the keyword “Vendor” are not receiving the follow-up message.
Attaching the screenshot for your reference. Please check and let us know if there is any issue with the flow configuration ?

sangeetamishra._91310: <@1483039196305424527> - The issue here is the contact name you highlighted are not opted in to the platform and the vendor keyword associated to the flow Vendor Engagement 1st node starts with HSM and HSM can't be sent to non opted in users
https://selco.glific.com/flow/configure/2e303c84-bcea-4f78-a5ba-991469460024

[shijithkjayan]

From investigation, it looks like an issue in the flow. From May 8th 4:30 PM to May 15th, the flow only worked for one user, who was already actively using the bot, it failed for everyone. The first node of the flow is an HSM message (during this time period as well), which was created and approved the day before. In this time period the flow was not published after the last change on 8th. So its safe to assume that the issue was within the flow.

Asked the org to verify if the issue still persists, waiting for a response.

[akanshaaa19]

Root cause confirmed: new contacts hit the bsp_status check before they have a chance to opt in.

Reproduction:

A new (unknown) contact sends their first message → contact is created with bsp_status: :session (in-session, but not opted in).
The "Vendor" keyword triggers the Vendor Engagement flow, whose first node is an HSM.
Glific.Contacts.can_send_message_to?/2 at contacts.ex:641 rejects the send because :session is not in [:session_and_hsm, :hsm], producing: Cannot send hsm message to contact, invalid BSP status.

      contact.bsp_status not in [:session_and_hsm, :hsm] ->
      {:error, dgettext("errors", "Cannot send hsm message to contact, invalid BSP status.")}

The flow resets and the user never gets the message.
After the contact goes through the opt-in flow, bsp_status flips to :session_and_hsm and the HSM goes through fine.

So this isn't a flow-configuration bug — the flow is correctly starting with an HSM, but the very first node requires the contact to already be opted in. Any user who arrives via the "Vendor" keyword as their first-ever message will be stuck in :session and the HSM send will be blocked.

Options to fix on the flow side: route new contacts through the opt-in flow first, or use a session message as the first node. Fixing on the platform side would mean revisiting whether :session should be allowed for HSMs (which has WhatsApp opt-in policy implications).

@shijithkjayan @AmishaBisht

[akanshaaa19]

glific/glific#5114