This article describes how you can add WhatsApp social messaging channels. WhatsApp is a popular chat and voice messaging app with more than 1.5 billion users in over 180 countries.
Zendesk Suite plans include five WhatsApp numbers (for accounts created after Feb 1, 2021), but WhatsApp usage-based charges may apply. If you need more numbers, or if numbers are not included in your plan, you can add these on.
Related articles:
Understanding the requirements and impacts of adding a WhatsApp channel
Before adding a WhatsApp channel, make sure you meet and understand the following requirements and impacts:
- Once you connect your phone number with WhatsApp Business API, you will no longer be able to use that phone number to receive calls in WhatsApp (Meta limitation).
- You need to have a Meta Business Manager that belongs to your own business.
- The person who is connecting the phone number must be an Admin within their own Meta Business Manager (Meta requirement). If you are unable to access the existing Meta Business Manager, you must create one, which can be done as part of the setup flow. See Adding a WhatsApp channel.
- The phone number used needs to be able to receive international phone calls/SMS (Meta requirement). See Meta's documentation for more information.
If your phone number is currently in use with the WhatsApp for Business mobile app, you will need to follow Meta's process to remove the account before following Zendesk's instructions below.
Note: A phone number can't be connected with the WhatsApp for Business mobile app and the WhatsApp Business API at the same time (Meta limitation). - The display name needs to match your business name/branding, otherwise, WhatsApp will reject it. See Meta's WhatsApp documentation for more information.
- If you connected your phone number with another Business Solutions Provider (BSP), you can still register that phone number with Zendesk. To do so, you must delete your current WhatsApp integration, disable the 2FA attached to the number and delete the number from your WhatsApp Business Account. Then you can connect that phone number with Zendesk using the self-service process.
- If you used the WhatsApp Business API to connect your phone number, you can still use it with WhatsApp for Small Business or any WhatsApp app on a mobile device. To do so, you must delete the WhatApp Business API integration and disable the 2FA attached to the number, then manually delete the number from your WhatsApp Business Account. A few minutes after doing so, you will be able to use the phone number with the WhatsApp standard app.
Adding a WhatsApp channel
To support WhatsApp social messages, you can add one or more WhatsApp channels. You must be an administrator to add WhatsApp channels. To learn how to find the information required to add a WhatsApp channel, see Editing your WhatsApp business profile.
Topics in this section include:
The following video takes you through the flow for adding WhatsApp.
WhatsApp Zendesk Self-Serve (2:37)
Starting the setup flow
Follow the instructions in this section to use the self-service process for adding a WhatsApp channel. If your WhatsApp business account has not been verified, you can only go through the flow once. Adding additional numbers can only be done once the WhatsApp business account has been verified.
To add a WhatsApp channel
- In Admin Center, click
Channels in the sidebar, then select Messaging and social > Messaging.
- Click Add channel and select WhatsApp from the drop-down.
- Click Continue with WhatsApp to open the WhatsApp setup flow.
The set-up flow will ask you for the following information. Follow the instructions in the flow to add this information.
Action Description Authenticate to your Facebook profile This is your profile that's linked to your company's Meta Business Manager. You can Continue with the existing profile or sign in to another account. Provide permission to share your WhatsApp business account and phone number with Zendesk. Zendesk needs this permission to host the number and connect it to the Agent Workspace. Select a Meta Business Manager for your WhatsApp number. You can select an existing Business Manager or create a new one. Select the business account you want to share with Zendesk. You can select an existing WhatsApp Business Account or create a new one. If you already connected a number via your Zendesk account, we recommend that you select the existing WhatsApp Business Account to add additional phone numbers. In order to know the limit of phone numbers per business, see Meta's documentation.
Set up your business profile See Editing your WhatsApp business profile for the type of information you need to provide in the profile. Set up your phone number If you don't already have a phone number set up, add a phone number and verify it.
If the business account you selected already has a phone number you want to use, click Cancel to skip this part.
- When you've finished the setup flow, click Done.
- From the drop-down in the Admin Center channel configuration, select the number you’d like to activate and click Next.
If the number is dimmed and marked (pending) you will need to complete your Meta Business Manager’s verification and wait for the phone number display name to be approved. Once you receive an email from Meta that your business account and display name have been approved, restart the setup flow and follow the instructions to finish connecting your phone number.
- Assign a name to the new WhatsApp channel you are connecting, then click Add channel.
Use a name that makes it easy to identify the channel in the Channels list.
Adding the channel may take up to 5 minutes as Zendesk sets up hosting for your new number. When the channel connects successfully, a Channel added message appears. - You host and own your WhatsApp Business Account through your Meta Business Manager. From there, you will be able to monitor the display name, the messages usages, your quality rating, etc.
Once this is done, you can access your WhatsApp Business Account Manager through your own Facebook Business Manager. In Facebook Business Manager, click Accounts > WhatsApp accounts, locate the WhatsApp Business Account, then open Settings > WhatsApp Manager. From there, you can monitor the display name, the message usage, your quality rating, and the like.
Finishing up
To successfully spin up your WhatsApp number there are a few things to double check:
- Has your Meta Business Manager been verified? Before your WhatsApp business account can be approved, your Business Manager will need to be approved as outlined above.
- Are you eligible to use WhatsApp per WhatsApp’s Commerce Policy and has your WhatsApp business account been approved? This takes approximately 1-2 weeks. If you fall in the list of prohibited businesses, you will unfortunately not be able to use this channel.
- Does your selected display name align with WhatsApp’s guidelines? If you don’t select a display name that falls within WhatsApp’s guidelines, you will end up delaying the launch of your WhatsApp number.
- Unlimited customer-initiated conversations.
- The ability to send notifications to 50 unique customers in a rolling 24-hour period, provided you have a Sunshine Conversations License.
- The ability to register up to two phone numbers.
- You cannot apply for an Official Business Account until the Meta Business Manager verification is complete.
Editing your WhatsApp business profile
When you add a WhatsApp channel in Admin Center, you can include business profile details for your account. These details are visible to your customers from WhatsApp.
Business profile details include:
- Channel name: Enter a unique name to identify the channel.
- Brand (for accounts with multiple brands): Select a brand to associate with the channel.
- Profile picture: Upload a profile picture. This picture appears in your WhatsApp business profile and in WhatsApp conversations.
- Description: Enter a brief description of your business. This information will appear at the top of your WhatsApp business profile.
- Enter more information about your business, including your business Address, Email, Industry, and Websites.
To add a WhatsApp business profile
- In Admin Center, click
Channels in the sidebar, then select Messaging and social > Messaging.
- Locate the WhatsApp channel you want to edit and click to open it.
- Enter the business profile details about your WhatsApp channel.
- When you've finished adding these details, click Save.
Next steps
After you've configured your WhatsApp channel and edited your business profile, you can:
- Enable access for agents who will participate in social messaging conversations.
- Configure automatic responses to messages.
- Advertise your WhatsApp number.
- Request an Official Business Account
19 Comments
Hello
Just wondering if the hosting for your WhatsApp phone number add-on is also required when configuring WhatsApp with the new agent workspace and social messaging enabled?
Over in the article Setting up your WhatsApp channel (standard agent interface) it says to contact your account manager about purchasing the add-on....but no mention in this article.
Reason for asking is that I have gone all the way through set-up (new agent workspace and social messaging enabled), selected my phone number (all approved by FB etc) but at the last step when I try to add it under channels in the Admin centre, I get an error message saying:
"Channel couldn't be added"
"Give it a moment and try again"
I've spent the best part of the day scouring FB articles (even went down this path) and Zendesk articles to no avail. I contacted support but kind of didn't help.
Only thing I can see is if I need to purchase the add-on but I have no idea how to see if it's required (or already purchased).
Thanks for any help.
Figured it out. I don't have the WhatsApp number add-on purchased on my account. All good !!
Do I need a WhatsApp API account or just WhatsApp Business number?
I want multiple agents to be able to be assigned to just 1 number.
I hope I'm making sense.
Hi Raj,
Thank you for your message. For this one, you will need a WhatsApp business number and having multiple agents for 1 WhatsApp number is fine.
If like us, you can't find the Messaging and Social under Channels, there is another guide. I suggest that you edit this article to include this link and explanation that it is a separate app that needs to be installed.
https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408828254362-Installing-and-setting-up-social-messaging-channels-standard-agent-interface-
Hi There
currently facing a challenge setting up the facebook account when doing the whatsapp integration with zendesk. was using the zendesk whatsapp setup wizard and got to this point.
note we have a created a facebook account and have a whatsapp business no.
Step 1 was completed we signed into facebook account via wizard to grant permission for the apps to talk to each other
Step 2 it asked to create a meta and whatsapp business account
after entering name, address n phone gave error would not let us proceed
an error has occurred while processing your request, pls try again later. which we did but still shows same issue
can anyone please suggest a solution to resolve this issue.
thanks in advance
Upon checking, you have already submitted a ticket for this concern. You can always create a followup by replying to the email we sent you if you need additional assistance for it.
Buenas tardes , intento migrar una cuenta de WhatsApp Bussiness Quiera saber cuál es el mejor procedimiento para realizar esta tarea ..
¡Espero que estés muy bien!
Entiendo que deseas migrar tu número de WhatsApp de otra plataforma a Zendesk.
Explicamos este proceso aquí: ¿Zendesk admite la migración del número de WhatsApp?
Te recomiendo utilizar el auto-servicio al momento de añadir tu número de WhatsApp.
Espero que la información te sea de ayuda, en caso de que tengas más dudas, te recomiendo contactar con el soporte de Zendesk.
Un saludo,
Hi. I need to disconnect my WhatsApp line and there are no information in the any of the pages and I have not received support through private channels despite trying to this for months!
Sorry about the trouble. I've already reached out to our team to update you on the ticket you've raised with us. Kindly check your email for updates. Thank you!
Hi Christine. I have received how to erase the account but no explanation on why it is not in my business account manager of meta and how I can manage it. Still waiting for your team to reach out.
Hello Zendesk Engineering,
Few questions:
1. Have you tested WhatsApp Group Chat? Does it work?
i.e. Client creating a Grup Chat, adding your business WhatsApp and starting a conversation between Support & a few clients. I would like to know if responses from different clients wil be added to the same ticket or no.
2. Is it possible to link the client's WhatsApp number with his email profile?
Facing a problem with our display name. We have a WhatsApp business display name approved by Meta and in our business settings. But when we send messages - users only see the number in Whatsapp - not the display name. We can not use Whatsapp on the phone or desktop now connected to Zendesk. Any ideas how to make sure our business name shows?
Hi Georgina 👋🏽
In order to see the display name attached to the phone number on WhatsApp Business API, an Official Business Account is needed. If you connected your phone number via the self service process, you can request the Official Business Account directly via the WhatsApp Business Account you own and host. Here is the process you need to follow. Please, note that only WhatsApp decides regarding the Official Business Account approval, this is out of Zendesk control. Have a nice day
Hi team, I saw the note that states, "Note: Once you add your WhatsApp number for messaging, you will no longer be able to use that number to receive calls in WhatsApp."
Does this mean that you can no longer use the call functionality for WhatsApp and only use it for messaging once you integrate with Zendesk?
Hi James,
Once the phone number is connected with WhatsApp Business API, the phone call feature is not available anymore on WhatsApp (Meta restriction).
However, you will still be able to receive standard/classic phone calls on the device (if ou have one) or Zendesk Talk (if you have this Zendesk product).
Cécile We do have Zendesk Talk. If we install the standard WhatsApp integration will it automatically forward calls to ZD Talk? Or is there additional configuration considerations? Is there a separate article and how to work with What'sApp voice calls in Talk?
If you have Zendesk Talk, you'll be able to receive the phone calls within your Zendesk instance.
Here is the Article for Zendesk Talk: https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408821196314
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