The short answer
WhatsApp Business is the company version of WhatsApp: messages from your business number, shared by the team, alongside SMS. Activation is heavier than texting because Facebook owns the process, so we schedule a session and step through it together. Plan on half an hour or so.
Before we start
- A Facebook account owned by your business that can log in. A personal profile, not a page.
- A way to receive the verification code on the business number, by text or by a voice call. Forwarding the business number to a cell for the session is the easy way to catch the call.
- The session booked with us. The activation runs on your computer, because Facebook requires the customer to drive it.
What Facebook creates
During activation Facebook creates two linked accounts in the background: a Facebook Business account for your company and a WhatsApp Business account tied to the number. You will not need to touch either afterwards.
The verification step
The number has to prove it is yours. Facebook sends a six-digit code by text or reads it in a voice call, you pick which, and you type it into the Facebook screen. If the text does not arrive, switch to the voice call.
Going live
Once the number is verified we finish the connection on our side. WhatsApp conversations then arrive where your texts already do, in Webex through Textdock, in the portal's Messaging inbox, or by email, marked with the WhatsApp icon. There is no separate app and no separate login. A conversation your business starts, rather than the customer, uses a pre-approved template message, which we set up with you.
What it will not do
- No group chats. Conversations are one-to-one.
- No status posts.
- No WhatsApp voice or video calls.
- No patient information. WhatsApp is not covered by the HIPAA agreement and cannot be made to be.
Common snags
Facebook sometimes asks for extra verification, such as a photo ID, when the account is new or has not logged in from that computer before. That is Facebook's process; finish it with them and come back to the activation. Timing overall depends on Facebook's approvals, which are not in our control. Which channel fits which customers is in texting on your number.