WhatsApp Business API: How to connect and top up

Before you start installing the integration, make sure you have:

• A phone number that is not connected to any WhatsApp account.
• A personal Facebook profile.
• A Business Facebook page that is connected to your personal Facebook profile. You can learn how to create a Facebook page for your business here.

To install the WhatsApp integration:

1. Head over to Settings > Integrations and select WhatsApp Business API

1. Accept the Privacy Policy and Terms and click Install
2. Click on WhatsApp Manager in the widget window and you will be directed to the WhatsApp manager.

☝️ Tip: After you install the widget, you can always access WhatsApp Manager in the Settings section. It will appear as a new subsection for you to manage all your numbers, stats and payments in one place.

1. Click the Connect button to start connecting your WhatsApp Business account and number.
2. You will be redirected to the Gupshup page. Authorize with your Facebook account by tapping Continue with Facebook.

1. On the next window, authorize your Facebook account, click Get started > Continue to allow certain permissions to Gupshup.
2. Next, you need to fill in your business information. You can select your Meta Business account if you have one. In this case, the data from your Meta account will be automatically imported. Or, create a new account right away, and enter your business information.

1. Next you have the option to either create or select your WhatsApp Business account. If you choose to create a new Business account, you will need to enter the business account name, profile display name and business category. Additionally you can add a description and your website address. This information will be visible to your clients on WhatsApp.

1. Add a phone number for WhatsApp Business API and verify it by a call or a text message

Note: the number should not be connected to any WhatsApp account. Numbers connected to a personal or business WhatsApp account cannot be connected.

1. Finally, choose the WA business ID > phone number and click Confirm.
2. Go back to Kommo and refresh the page.

Once you have done this you can start receiving messages straight away, but if you want to initiate a conversation, you will need to create templates and have them approved by WhatsApp.

If you wish to disconnect your number, please contact our support team from your account.

With official WhatsApp Business API integration you can answer your clients only when they message you first. In this case you will be given 24 hours to respond to their message.

If you haven’t replied within 24 hours or want to start a conversation yourself, you need to send templates that have been approved by Meta.

To create templates and submit to Meta:

1. Click Create Template

1. Name your template. It cannot be changed once you submit it. Keep it short and unique for each template.
2. Choose the WhatsApp number that you will be using the template for.
3. Choose the template category. It will be provided to WhatsApp’s template reviewers.
4. Select the language of the text of your template.
5. Add a header to your message if you wish.
6. Next, enter your template text. You can see the demo of your message on the right side of the screen. Personalize your message with placeholders. To do that, just click ‘[‘.

1. You are also able to add a link button or a quick reply. Each option can include up to 20 characters. Up to 3 buttons are available:

a. Quick replies allow customers to reply in a click by choosing one of the offered answers.

b. Call to actions trigger an action upon the click. For example, calling or sending an email.

1. If you added placeholders to your template body, you will also need to provide an example for each template. For instance, an example for the [first name] can be Max.
2. You can save the template as a draft, which can be accessed later from the Templates tab or submit it for review straight away.

It can take up to 48 hours to review the templates. When the template is approved, the status will be changed to Approved.

To delete a template, just click on the template name, scroll down to the bottom and tap the trash icon.

You will be able to send and receive multimedia files such as images. For this type of message the price will be different. You can send the templates that have already been approved.

Once you create an account, you'll receive $1 as a gift from the Kommo team to test the integration.

To top up your balance:

1. Go to the Billing tab, where you can easily add funds to your account balance and view detailed statistics on your message usage, expenses, and transaction history.

1. Select an amount ($5, $50, $100) or enter your custom amount.
2. Click Top up now
3. Enter your bank card details and make the payment.

When your balance is lower than $1, you can see an alert box on the top of the page.

This is how the charging for your messages works:

1. The Kommo fee:

a. For each message we charge 0,002$.

b. For the media pricing is different, you can find the detailed prices here.

1. There is an additional cost charged by Meta per conversation, depending on the type of your message. There are two type of messages:

a. Business-initiated conversation (BIC). This refers to conversations that are initiated from a business sending a user a message outside the 24 hour customer service window. Messages that initiate a business-initiated conversation will require a message template.

b. User-initiated conversation (UIC). This refers to conversations initiated by a user. Whenever a business replies to a user within the 24 hour customer service window, that message will be associated with a user-initiated conversation. Businesses can send free-form messages within this 24 hour customer service window.

Fees for initiated conversations vary by market (i.e. country or region). When charging for conversations, the country code of the user (recipient) is taken into account. You can find detailed information on the Meta Pricing page.

Note: Meta gives you 1000 free conversations (doesn`t matter who is initiator) every month for 1 phone number.

Need more help setting up or troubleshooting? Contact us by sending an email to support@kommo.com or write to us on Facebook.

Not a user yet? Visit our tour page or contact us for a demo.