As a WhatsApp Business solution provider, we give you the ability to use WhatsApp to send messages to your customers, or engage with them in two-way conversations.

• WhatsApp is a simple, reliable, and private way to talk to anyone in the world.
• More than 2.5 billion people in over 180 countries use WhatsApp to stay in touch with friends, family, and businesses, anytime and anywhere.
• WhatsApp Business helps businesses and customers connect quickly and easily.
• Customers want to connect with businesses in the same way they chat with their friends and family with fast, simple, and convenient messaging.
• WhatsApp Business is a way for businesses to better manage conversations with their customers and provide useful information.

WhatsApp business messages are ideal to:

• send opted in users alerts, reminders and notifications.
• converse with your customers to provide outstanding customer service.
• automate replies with chatbots so you can reach more people with less overhead.
• send non-transactional notifications to opted in users with personalized, relevant, and specific content.

You must ensure you have reviewed and comply with WhatsApp Business messaging policies.

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Permission

Gaining permission

In order for you to contact your customers via WhatsApp you will need to gain permission from them by obtaining an opt-in. You are solely responsible for determining the method of opt-in, that you have obtained opt-in in a manner that complies with laws applicable to your communications, and that you have otherwise provided notices and obtained permissions that are required under applicable law.

For instance:

Website based opt-in

We recommend using a check box on you websites with a clear statement that checking the box means the business may contact you through WhatsApp.

Opt-in forms

You can use our opt-in forms to add a prebuilt form to your website.

Email opt-in

You could send an email to customers asking them to either visit your contact preferences center on your website to opt-in to WhatsApp, as detailed above.

SMS opt-in

If you already have permission to send SMS to your customers, then you can send an SMS to invite them to opt-in to future communications using WhatsApp. You could either ask them to either visit the contact preference center on your website and include a link, or ask them to reply with an explicit keyword to opt-in, for example:

Hi, to receive future order updates from Acme Inc via WhatsApp instead of SMS simply reply "WhatsApp" to this message. Thanks

Invite customers to chat)

WhatsApp provides a simple way to embed links into websites and messages to invite customers to chat. The feature is called [Click to Chat](https://faq.whatsapp.com/en/general/26000030. This feature allows you to create a URL using the WhatsApp phone number for your business and an optional pre-filled text message, which when clicked either opens WhatsApp on a mobile device or navigates to the WhatsApp for web site. An example would be:

https://wa.me/15551234567?text=I'm%20interested%20in%20your%20car%20for%20sale

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Other ways

More information about gaining opt-ins can be found here

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What types of messages can I send?

WhatsApp allows businesses to send two types of messages; template messages and conversation session messages.

Template messages

A WhatsApp templated message is an outbound message that uses a pre-approved template for conversation. You can create templates in the Meta Platform (WhatsApp Manager), and all templates are synced automatically to Dotdigital in real-time.

NOTE: currently we support only “number” variables. Learn more about templates.

Templated messages can include:

• Text messages
• Text + URL (with preview)
• Image
• Audio
• Document

Session messages

If your customer reaches out to you via WhatsApp, then you may respond to them and start a conversation. You should ensure that all inbounds are answered promptly and a quality experience is received by your customer. Conversations last for 24 hours from the last inbound message received from the customer. During a conversation you may assist your customers as appropriate, and this may include recommending products and selling to them.

Supported media types

The following media types are supported in session messages:

What do conversations cost?

WhatsApp rates depend on two factors:
1.The recipient's phone number country code
2.The template category

Reach out to your Customer Success Manager to learn the most recent rates.

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Set up WhatsApp for Business

As a WhatsApp solutions provider we provide a simple wizard that allows you to setup a new WhatsApp Business Account (WABA).

During this process you will need:

• Details of your business, and intended WhatsApp use
• You must have a Facebook profile.

How to integrate with WhatsApp:

1. To set up WhatsApp, go to Channels > Configure and click “Add WhatsApp integration” and the Meta WhatsApp for Business wizard will pop-up.
2. Wizard step 1 - select business portfolio
   1. In the Facebook popover, for Business portfolio, expand the Business portfolio drop-down menu, then select Create a business portfolio if you don’t have one or choose the existing one.
3. Wizard step 2 - create WhatsApp account and WhatsApp Profile. This is the information that shows to people on WhatsApp.
   1. For WhatsApp Business Account Name, enter the name of your Business Account.
   2. For WhatsApp Business display name, enter the the display name for your business.
   3. This should match your business name and adhere to WhatsApp Business display name guidelines.
   4. Expand the Category drop-down menu, then choose the category that best describes your business.
   5. Enter any other requested details, then select Next.
4. Wizard step 3- Add a phone number for WhatsApp
   1. In this step, you verify a phone number for your WhatsApp Business Account. You can use your Facebook number, a new number, or migrate from WhatsApp Messenger or the Business App. Alternatively, you can use a (+1 555) number provided by Meta.
   2. Using your own number:
      1. For Add a phone number for WhatsApp, select Add a new or existing number.
      2. For Phone number, expand the region drop-down menu, and choose the region of the phone number you want to use for WhatsApp.
      3. Enter the rest of the phone number.
      4. For Choose how you would like to verify your number, select the verification method you want to use to verify your phone number. Options: Text message or Phone call.
      5. Select Next.
      6. Once you receive the verification code, enter the six-digit verification code into the box.
      7. Select Next.
5. Review permissions and complete connection
   1. Read and review the permissions related to this connection.
   2. If you want to proceed, select Save.

Once WhatsApp is connected, you will see a new box with WhatsApp account details.

How do I start sending?

To find out more about sending to WhatsApp using the Communications API please check out the docs here

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Configure Chat to use WhatsApp

Once you have setup your WhatsApp channel you can enable a chat team to receive your inbound WhatsApp conversations.

To do this:

1. Go to Contact > Chat > Configure in the left hand menu.
   
   
   

2. Select your team, or create a new one.

3. Select Setup in the WhatsApp section.

4. A chat team may have one WhatsApp phone number associated with it. In the popover window, expand the drop-down menu and select the WhatsApp-enabled phone number for this team to use.
   
   
   

5. Optionally, but recommended, expand the drop-down menu and select the template to use as a re-engagement message. Select Save.

   A re-engagement message can be used to allow your customer agents to contact customers whose conversations have lapsed due to being over 24 hours since the last inbound message. For example, if a customer sends a message during the weekend but no agent is available until Monday, then the agent isn’t able to reply as the conversation window has expired. The re-engagement message allows the agent to send a template message to make the customer aware that someone is now available to help them.

📘

No merge fields in the re-engagement template

Only template messages which have no merge fields are listed for selection as the template to send to re-engage a chat, as personalisation isn’t supported for re-engagement messages.

6. Select Add to team to complete the process.

Once you’ve completed the setup, start a WhatsApp conversation with your assigned WhatsApp phone number and ensure it arrives in Chat to test the configuration.