What you need
- A phone number that has no WhatsApp account yet, or one on an existing WhatsApp Business Account. Meta may limit some features for existing accounts.
- Access to your company's Meta Business Manager. If you can see the business there, you can connect it.
- Business documents, if your business isn't verified with Meta yet.
- A payment method in Meta Business settings. Meta bills WhatsApp messages to your WhatsApp Business account.
Check that your business is allowed on WhatsApp first: the WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy lists the businesses, goods and services it doesn't allow. WhatsApp comes with messaging on Premium and higher plans, and each number counts toward your plan's social accounts: 10 on Premium, 100 on Agency and no limit on Unlimited.
Connect your number step by step
- Open the WhatsApp set-up. Go to Social Accounts, choose Add account, then WhatsApp: Connect a business number. The page that opens lists what you need.
- Start Embedded Signup. Under Configure WhatsApp via Embedded Signup, choose CONFIGURE. A Facebook window opens: sign in, pick your business and follow Meta's steps to add your phone number.
- Keep the phone app, if you use it. If the number already runs on the WhatsApp Business app, connect it as a Business app number and keep using the app. Meta checks that the number is eligible, so keep the phone at hand to scan a QR code.
- Pick your default number. Connected more than one number? Choose the default WhatsApp number for new conversations and alerts. Replies always go out from the number the customer wrote to.
- Add a payment method in Meta. Meta bills WhatsApp messages to your WhatsApp Business account. Add a payment method in Meta Business settings: the WhatsApp settings in Postocial link to Meta Billing.
- Send a test message. Message your business number from a personal phone and answer it from the Unified Inbox.
Once the number is connected, its settings show the verified name and display name status, the quality rating and the messaging limit. They also let you register the number with its six-digit PIN, start business verification or disconnect the number.
Who pays for WhatsApp messages
Postocial doesn't charge per message: WhatsApp is included on Premium and higher plans. Meta bills WhatsApp messages to the payment method on your WhatsApp Business account, per delivered message, at a price that depends on the message category and the recipient's country. Meta changes its prices from time to time, so check Meta's WhatsApp pricing before a big send.
Fill in your business profile
With the number selected in WORKSPACE CHANNEL, open Salesbot > Settings > Bot setup:
- Business profile: about, description, address, email, up to two websites, category and photo. Customers see it in WhatsApp.
- Welcome message and ice breakers: a greeting for new conversations and up to four tappable prompts for first-time customers.
- Commands: up to 30 slash commands customers can type, such as /menu.
- Commerce: show your product catalog and turn on the cart, if you have a catalog in Meta Commerce Manager.
Selling to customers in India? Add the compliance details WhatsApp asks for: your legal entity and your customer care and grievance officer contacts.
Create and submit a template
Outside the 24-hour window, WhatsApp delivers only templates Meta has approved, so set up a few before you need them.
- Open your templates. With your WhatsApp number selected in WORKSPACE CHANNEL, open Salesbot > Broadcasts and choose WHATSAPP TEMPLATES. Templates you already have at Meta can be synced here.
- Start from the copy library. The template copy library holds 64 ready-made marketing templates across 8 industries, written with Meta's review rules in mind. Choose CUSTOMIZE to edit one, or SUBMIT AS-IS. You can also build your own from scratch.
- Pick the category and fill in the parts. Choose marketing, utility or authentication, then add an optional header, the body with its variables and sample values, a footer and buttons.
- Submit it for review. Meta reviews every template. Once it is approved you can send it, and its sent, delivered, read and replied counts appear next to it.
- Send it to people who opted in. Use the approved template in a broadcast or an automation, or send it from the inbox when a conversation is outside the 24-hour window.
What a template can include
| Part | What you can add |
|---|---|
| Header | Optional: text, an image (JPG or PNG up to 5 MB), a video (MP4 up to 16 MB) or a document (PDF up to 100 MB) |
| Body | Your message, with variables such as the customer's name. Each variable needs a sample value for Meta's review. |
| Footer | A short closing line. New templates start with one that tells people to reply STOP to unsubscribe. |
| Buttons | Quick replies, website links, a call button or a copy-code button |
Marketing templates can also show a catalog or a carousel of 2 to 10 cards. Keep promotions out of utility templates, which are for updates about an order, a booking or an account. If you keep the STOP footer, add an unsubscribe keyword flow with the Unsubscribe step, so a STOP reply really takes the person off your list.
Mind the 24-hour window
When a customer writes to you, WhatsApp opens a 24-hour window for regular replies, and each new message from them restarts it. Once it closes, you can only send a template Meta approved. Postocial helps you keep track:
- The inbox counts down the window on every WhatsApp conversation.
- When the window is closed, the inbox offers to send an approved template instead.
- Automations can check whether the window is open, and WhatsApp steps can fall back to an approved template when it isn't.
Read the WhatsApp 24-hour window and templates, explained for the full picture.
Message only people who opted in
- You can always answer people who message you, inside the window. To start a conversation, such as a broadcast, you need the person's permission first: a clear opt-in that names your business.
- Collect opt-ins where people already are: a checkbox at checkout, a form or the WhatsApp opt-in popup on your website.
- When you import contacts, tick These contacts agreed to receive WhatsApp messages from us only for people who did. Contacts without a recorded opt-in are left out of marketing templates.
- Opted-out and blocked contacts are skipped by broadcasts, scheduled automations and the API.
Read the WhatsApp Business Terms of Service as well as the messaging policy. Ready to reach your contacts? Send your first broadcast.
Keep your number in good standing
WhatsApp limits how many people a business can start conversations with in a rolling day, and raises that limit for verified businesses whose messages people want. Blocks and reports count against you. Message people who asked to hear from you, keep each message relevant, and check your quality rating in the number's settings.