Manage a WhatsApp business account

Prerequisites

  • Login credentials for customer’s Meta/FaceBook business manager

You can view your Meta Business Manager when you complete the new WhatsApp onboarding experience in Genesys Cloud via the Embedded Signup Flow. For more information about how to manage your WhatsApp Business Account (WABA), see Meta Business Manager. For more information about the embedded signup, see Work with Embedded signup flow. With Meta Business Manager, you can perform tasks, such as verify your business, update phone number or business profile, and maintain your message templates and QR codes. First, ensure that you meet the Meta/Facebook business manager account and meet the valid phone number criteria.

Warning: Do not remove the Genesys partner access or Genesys payment method from your WABA; doing so disconnects Genesys Cloud for WhatsApp integrations. After you complete the embedded signup, the system automatically performs a compliance check with the WhatsApp platform policies. WhatsApp then performs the check in the background. If this check fails, WhatsApp notifies the organization and Genesys via email and simultaneously disables the account and disconnects the phone number. You can then file an appeal request to WhatsApp through your Business Manager. Per WhatsApp policy, do not use the number and delete the integration/phone number in Genesys Cloud.

Meta/Facebook business manager account

You must have a Meta/FaceBook Business Manager Account. For more information about how to create an account, see Create a Business Manager. 

The brand that interacts with WhatsApp users owns the business manager account. A business manager that a partner, integration resource, or ad agency owns is not accepted for customers. When you set up the WhatsApp Integration in Genesys Cloud, you must be able to log in to the Meta/FaceBook business manager. You must also have a post that can step through the Embedded Signup Flow to connect the relevant Meta Business Accounts and WhatsApp Business Accounts.

Valid phone number criteria

Make sure that you have valid phone numbers to register on the WhatsApp Business Platform, along with the WhatsApp display names to use for each number that you register. The phone number for your business must meet the following criteria:

  • Is owned by the business
  • Has a country and area code, such as landline, mobile numbers, or toll-free numbers
  • Must be able to receive voice calls or SMS
  • Must not be a short code
  • Is not used with the WhatsApp Business Platform or the WhatsApp Messenger/Consumer app, or the WhatsApp Business App
    Note: If you want to use a phone number already registered with the WhatsApp Consumer or Business App. See Migrate an Existing WhatsApp Number to a Business Account for instructions on how to delete your account from the mobile app first, before going through the embedded signup.

When you verify your business, you ensure that your business is a legal entity, and that you are an approved representative of your business. For more information about how to verify your business, see Meta business verification.

Genesys recommends that customers start business verification when they want to scale business-initiated conversations, add more phone numbers, or request to become an Official Business Account (OBA). If the business is not verified, the number is eligible for an unverified trial for 30 days. During the trial period, you can register your number and use it to reach a limited number of users. After verification, you can use the phone number for regular usage. WhatsApp then starts the display name review for all phone numbers related to your account. For instructions about how to add and register new phone numbers, see WhatsApp’s display name best practices.

Note: If your business is not verified in 30 days, the unverified trial experience expires and the number disconnects. To create a new integration, you must verify your business, delete the existing WhatsApp integration in Genesys Cloud, and then reregister the number via the embedded signup flow.

After verification completes, you can send business-initiated conversations to 1K unique customers and use increased limits based on WhatsApp’s messaging limits upgrade requirements. For more information about the requirements for messaging limits, see Messaging Limits.

You can manage your WhatsApp phone numbers and business profiles from your Meta business manager. To update your business profile for your phone number, perform the following steps:

  1. Log in to Meta.
  2. Select your business.
  3. Navigate to WhatsApp Manager > Account tools > Phone Numbers.

For more information about WhatsApp business phone numbers and display names, see About your WhatsApp Business phone number’s quality rating, About WhatsApp Business display name and How to change your WhatsApp display name.

Note: After WhatsApp approves your display name, to reflect the new name, delete your existing WhatsApp integration in Genesys Cloud. Register your new business profile/number again using the embedded signup flow and create a new integration. If you change your mind and decide not to use it, you do not need to take action. Your existing WhatsApp integration continues to function as-is with the existing display name.

An Official Business Account (OBA) displays a green check mark badge in its profile and chat thread headers. When you submit the OBA requests directly, Genesys no longer submits WhatsApp OBA requests on your behalf. You can submit these requests from the Meta business manager. For more information about how to submit requests, log in to Meta Business Manager. You can also access the following articles in the Meta business help center for instructions and guidelines.

You can request message links or QR codes for your WhatsApp numbers from your Meta Business Manager. For more information about how to manage QR codes, see Manage your WhatsApp Business Platform QR code.

With the new WhatsApp Onboarding Experience, as an existing WhatsApp Business Account owner you can create WhatsApp templates in your Meta Business Manager directly. Genesys no longer accepts WhatsApp Template Message Request Forms for WABAs onboarded using the Embedded Signup Flow. To submit a template for approval with WhatsApp, perform the following steps:

  1. Log in to your Meta Business Manager. 
  2. Select your business/
  3. Navigate to WhatsApp Manager > Account tools > Message Templates. 

For more information about how to manage templates, see these articles in Meta’s Business Help Center:

Note: Genesys only supports WhatsApp templates in the Utility and Marketing categories, text-based headers in templates, and does not support authentication type of templates yet. When you create message templates in WABA, submit text-based headers only (if applicable to your template). If you create templates with Media, .pdf or Location in Headers, they do not deliver to customers when you use them in Genesys Cloud. Similarly, you can create up to two call-to-action buttons, three custom quick reply buttons or a single marketing opt-out button (applicable for marketing template). Genesys supports static website URL only. Genesys recommends that you have a single category of buttons in any template. WhatsApp does not support combinations of these buttons.

After you create and update your message templates in the WhatsApp Manager and WhatsApp approves them, you can add and use them in your organization. For more information about how to add and use a WhatsApp template in Genesys Cloud, see Add a WhatsApp template message and Use a WhatsApp template message. For more information about how to send WhatsApp notifications without involving an agent, see Agentless WhatsApp Notifications.

You can run real-time monitoring of messaging and spending analytics of your WhatsApp business account. You can also view the metrics of all conversations on the Insights tab of the WhatsApp Manager. The real-time graphs enable you to look into the performance of each metric. For more information about how to view conversation insights for your WABA, see View conversation insights for your WhatsApp Business Account.