Before you start
- A Facebook account with access to your company’s Meta Business portfolio (or the right to create one).
- A phone number that can receive an SMS or a call to verify it, and that is not registered in the WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business app (or that you are ready to migrate).
- A payment method in Meta Business for the conversations Meta bills.
Connect a number
1
Start the connection
Open Communication > Channels > WhatsApp Business and click Connect WhatsApp Business account.
2
Log in to Meta
A Shortext page opens the Meta signup window. Log in with Facebook, choose or create your business portfolio and your WhatsApp Business account, then add and verify your number.
3
Back to Shortext
When Meta is done, you come back to the dashboard. Your numbers are listed in the WhatsApp channels, and Shortext syncs their templates.
4
Choose the agent
Open the number and choose the agent that answers on it.
The 24-hour window
WhatsApp protects users from unsolicited messages:- When a contact writes to you, a 24-hour window opens. During that window, your agent and your team can send any message: text, media, interactive.
- Outside the window, a business can only send an approved template. This is also how you write first to a contact.
When your team replies from the Inbox outside the window, Shortext sends the reply as a notification template so it still reaches the contact. Through the API, starting a conversation with free text outside the window is refused: use a template. See Start a conversation.