Articles in this section

Setting Up WhatsApp

Before you can start sending WhatsApp messages with Iterable, there are a few steps you need to complete:

Once you’ve completed this setup process, you can start creating WhatsApp templates and sending WhatsApp campaigns.

NOTE

To add WhatsApp messaging to your Iterable plan, contact your customer success manager.

In this article

Required permissions

To complete the WhatsApp setup process, you need the View, Set Up, and Manage Channels
permission for your project.

Step 1: Set up an opt-in flow

Meta requires you to obtain users’ consent to receive WhatsApp messages from your business. You can do this however you wish (for example, a landing page or web form — consider our integration with Digioh), but at a minimum you must collect users’ names, phone numbers, and explicit opt-in to receive WhatsApp messages from your business. Once you have this information, save it to your Iterable project, either by uploading new users or updating existing user profiles (see Step 2).

To learn more about obtaining user consent to receive WhatsApp messages, see Meta’s support article Getting Opt-In for WhatsApp.

Step 2: Save user phone numbers to the whatsAppPhoneNumber data field

Iterable uses the whatsAppPhoneNumber field to send WhatsApp campaigns to users. In order to send WhatsApp messages, you need to collect users’ phone numbers through your opt-in process and add them to user profiles by importing or updating their user data. The value of the whatsAppPhoneNumber field should be a string representing the user’s phone number, including the country code. Values must be formatted using E.164. For example:

  • US: +14155550132
  • Germany: +498999998000

NOTE

The whatsAppPhoneNumber field differs from the phoneNumber field, which Iterable uses to send SMS campaigns to users. The value of these two fields may be the same for a user, but Iterable cannot send a WhatsApp campaign to users who only have the phoneNumber field.

When you’re ready to start sending WhatsApp campaigns, make sure your audience lists contain users with the whatsAppPhoneNumber set. For more information, see Adding Users and Creating Lists.

Step 3: Connect WhatsApp Business to Iterable

Next, connect your WhatsApp Business Platform account as one of your Iterable project’s sending platforms.

  1. Sign in to your Iterable account. Click the gear icon at the top right of the page, and select Sending Platforms.

    The Sending Platforms option

  2. Under Connect a New Platform, select WhatsApp.

    Adding WhatsApp as a sending platform

Step 4: Set up your WABA and WhatsApp Business profile

To create your WABA and WhatsApp Business profile, you’ll complete Meta’s Embedded Signup process. This process is managed by Meta but allows you to connect your Meta and WhatsApp account information directly in Iterable.

  1. On the WhatsApp sending platform page, click Continue with Facebook.

    The Continue with Facebook option

  2. Enter the email or phone number associated with your Meta Business Suite account, and click Continue.

    Signing in to Facebook

  3. Connect or create your WABA.

  4. Set up your WhatsApp Business profile. Your profile’s display name will be visible to users who receive WhatsApp messages from you and must comply with Meta’s guidelines (see Meta’s support articles About WhatsApp Business Display Name and About Creating a Business Name).

    Setting up your WhatsApp Business profile

  5. Add the phone number you want to use to chat with your customers on WhatsApp. Note that the phone number must be new — it can’t be associated with another WABA. For more information about this step, see Meta’s support articles Phone Number Addition Screen and Managing Business Phone Numbers.

    Adding a phone number for WhatsApp

  6. Choose whether you want to verify the number via text message or phone call, and follow the steps to verify the phone number.

    Verifying your WhatsApp phone number

NOTE

It’s currently not possible to edit your WhatsApp Business profile and sender information in Iterable once it’s been set up. Be sure you’ve filled out all of this information correctly before saving.

Step 5: Add an Iterable subscription channel for WhatsApp

Once you’ve added WhatsApp as a sending channel in your project, you’ll need to set up a subscription channel from which you can send WhatsApp messages in Iterable.

  1. Click the gear icon at the top right of the screen, and select Message Channels and Types.

    Adding a subscription channel for WhatsApp

  2. On the Subscription Channels page, select WhatsApp.

  3. Add a new message channel for WhatsApp. For detailed instructions on this step, see Create Message Channels.

Step 6: Add an Iterable message type for WhatsApp

Once you’ve created at least one subscription channel for WhatsApp in your project, add at least one message type for the channel.

  1. On the Subscription Channels page, select one of your WhatsApp subscription channels.

  2. Click Add Message Type. For detailed instructions on this step, see Create Message Types.

Once you’ve completed this process, it may take a few minutes for your WABA information to display under WhatsApp Business Accounts on your project's WhatsApp sending platform page. In rare cases, it could take up to an hour.

Want to learn more?

For more information about some of the topics in this article, check out these Iterable resources. Iterable Academy is open to everyone — you don't need to be an Iterable customer!

Iterable Academy

Support docs

Related articles