Scope & Walkthrough

The WhatsApp Business API is a solution that allows medium and large businesses to communicate with their customers at scale. Below are the items you need to know when signing up for WhatsApp API with Convrs.

 

Overview

ITEMTEAM IN-CHARGENOTES
Prepare Main Prerequisites
● Phone number 
● Facebook Business Manager
Client
  • Phone number can be mobile or landline and must be able to receive the OTP via SMS or voice call when signing up.
  • Facebook Business Manager must be verified to get the most out of the solution.
  • To have an active account you must add the company information in the Business Info section of Business Manager Settings, before or after going through the signup process. It needs to include a legal name, an address, a website, and a business phone number.
Credit Card Set-UpClient
  • A credit card is required for the signup. This will be for the subscription and conversation fees that will be incurred.
  • License Subscription to be paid to the BSP
    • Standard – 25 USD/EUR per month
    • Premium – 49 USD/EUR per month
  • License fee billing will begin as soon as the WhatsApp Business API stack is deployed. The stack is deployed immediately after the signup is completed.
  • The first charge is a pro-rata monthly subscription fee based on the days until the end of the month. It is then charged at the beginning of each month.
  • Conversation fees are prepaid only. You add balance, and then every conversation is deducted from that balance. If you have a zero balance, you won’t be able to send messages.
Signup ProcessClient/Convrs
  • The signup process will be done via the Conv.rs dashboard. 
  • This should be initiated by the person who has access to the Facebook Business Manager account. They can add others in the client hub once the initial sign-up is complete.
Template Message ManagementClient/Convrs
  • It is best to prepare the template messages to be used by your team before the signup process begins. This is because there is downtime after completing the signup before we are able to upload templates for review.
  • The Convrs team will upload your initial templates for Meta’s review. Once approved, the templates will be ready to use on your dashboard. Alternatively, you can also upload the templates via your own Convrs dashboard once the bot has been created. View the guide here.
  • You can start with a few templates and add more later.

 

WhatsApp Conversations

Conversations are message threads between you and your customers. Conversations can last up to 24 hours and must be initiated by you (business-initiated) or your customers (user-initiated).

Customers can initiate a conversation by sending you any type of message, but you can only initiate a conversation with a template message. Once the conversation has begun, you can then send any type of message to the customer.

All conversations are measured in fixed 24-hour sessions. A conversation starts when the first business message in a conversation is delivered, either initiated by the business or in reply to a user message.

Businesses and users can exchange any number of messages, including template messages, within a 24-hour conversation session without incurring additional charges. Each 24-hour conversation session results in a single charge.

 

Country Restrictions

Before starting your WhatsApp Business API journey, please take note that some countries have ongoing restrictions on WhatsApp. 

Businesses in the following countries are not eligible to use the WhatsApp Business API:

  • Cuba
  • Iran
  • North Korea
  • Syria
  • Three sanctioned regions in Ukraine (Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk) 

WhatsApp Messenger (WhatsApp) and WhatsApp Business app users in the following countries are not eligible to receive messages sent via the WhatsApp Business API:

  • Cuba
  • Iran
  • North Korea
  • Syria
  • Three sanctioned regions in Ukraine (Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk) 

 

Prerequisites
In this article