# Use a send message step in a journey

In this article, you will learn how to add a **send a message step** to a journey. This step is essential for delivering marketing content to your contacts through journeys.

There are specific channels through which businesses can send promotional, marketing, and notification updates to their customers. By utilizing the "send a message" step, you can communicate with your customers via the following channels:

* [WhatsApp](/applications/channels/channels/supported-channels/whatsapp.md)
* [SMS](/applications/channels/channels/supported-channels/sms.md)
* [Email](/applications/channels/channels/supported-channels/email.md)

{% hint style="info" %}

### Good to know

* This step uses message templates. If you update a message template that is used in a published journey, the journey will continue to use the original version of the message template that was selected when the journey was published.
* To use the latest version of a template in your journey, you must manually update the "Send a message" step associated with that template. This ensures the journey fetches and utilizes the most recent template version.
* If a template used in a published journey gets deleted, the journey will encounter an error at the step that requires that template, causing it to fail.
  {% endhint %}

### What you'll need

* A [message template](/applications/content/message-templates.md)
* An installed [channel](/applications/channels/channels.md)

### Step one: Add the send message step

Assuming your journey already has a trigger set up, you can now add a *Send a message* step.\
From the right-hand action bar, drag the *Send Message* action into the journey builder.\
You’ll see a blue plus icon or a grey drop area indicating where the step can be placed.\
Simply drop the action at the desired location in your journey to add it.

<figure><img src="/files/8YVtIxSqYX2njp1aCnS2" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

### Step two: Configure the send message step

1. Choose the channel instance of your choice. All installed channel instances will be available here.

<figure><img src="/files/23DmZTAk5jNSApKi8wI1" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

2. After selecting the channel instance, select the message template that you want to use.
3. After selecting the template, you can see a preview of the message template. Check that everything looks right.&#x20;
4. If there are any variables in your message template, configure them here. Make sure you add a default value in case there is no matching variable available in the recipient's contact profile.
5. **Save** the step.

<div align="left"><figure><img src="/files/X324LElzMHXUq32gJnp1" alt="" width="375"><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div>

{% hint style="success" %}
Success! You've added a send message step.
{% endhint %}


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