Send campaigns and flows on WhatsApp

This feature is in early access: it is built and tested, but not yet switched on for every organisation or not yet tried with the outside provider. Ask us on WhatsApp if you would like to try it.

WhatsApp campaigns and flows go through the same WhatsApp number your Inbox uses. This is in early access: it has not yet run against Meta's live service, so expect changes.

Before you start

• The Inbox app must be on and its WhatsApp connection complete. See connect WhatsApp.
• The CRM's Channels card in Settings → CRM settings must show WhatsApp ready.
• To reach customers who have not written to you in the last 24 hours, you need a marketing template approved in your own Meta account. Its first parameter must be the customer's first name and its second the message.

Steps

1. Open Settings → CRM settings.
2. Under WhatsApp marketing template, type the Template name and the Template language exactly as Meta shows them.
3. Select Save.
4. Open CRM → Campaigns and write a campaign as for e-mail, but pick WhatsApp under Channel. See send an e-mail campaign.
5. Select Preview and read the note about the 24-hour window.
6. Select Send a test to me. The test goes to the organisation owner's own number.
7. Select Start.

Good to know

• The 24-hour window. WhatsApp lets a business send free text only to customers who wrote in the last 24 hours. Everyone else gets your approved template, or nothing: without a template, those customers are skipped with outside the 24-hour window.
• Consent. Only customers with Agreed on WhatsApp get the message. A number that asked the Inbox for no more messages is never sent to.
• STOP. A customer who replies STOP, unsubscribe or a stop word in their language is recorded as Said no at once. Within 7 days of your marketing message, a plain "cancel" counts too. See record a customer's consent.
• Results. WhatsApp gives Delivered and Replied (a message from the number within 7 days). See read a campaign's results.
• Flows on WhatsApp follow the same rules. See set up automatic flows.
• Pace and quiet hours are the same as for e-mail.