Texting 101: What's Up with WhatsApp?

For organizations wishing to send text messages using an A2P application such as Mogli, WhatsApp provides a variety of benefits as a messaging provider, including the ability to communicate directly with international stakeholders through their mobile numbers.

If you think WhatsApp is the right messaging carrier for your organization, there are a few important details you need to be aware of to have a successful experience.

Get Verified

In order to send messages through WhatsApp, your organization will need to have a Meta Business Account. You should plan to complete Meta’s Business Verification process once you’ve established your business account. 

The verification process requires submission of your business’ basic information and contact details, including its legal name, address, phone number, and website, which must be HTTPS compliant. Once submitted, the verification process typically takes 7-14 days.

While your organization can send messages without going through the Business Verification process, it will be restricted to initiating 250 unique conversations during any rolling 24-hour period. While your message capacity will not be uncapped once verified, you will be able to initiate more conversations. As you demonstrate engagement from those conversations Meta typically boosts your message cap over time. 

As you begin the process of sending messages with Mogli through WhatsApp, be sure you pay close attention to the quality of your messages with a focus on the value provided to the recipient. High value messages should drive additional engagement, and minimize opt-outs and reports of SPAM, which reduces your quality rating. As you build credibility based on your message quality, the quantity of messages you are allowed to send will increase.

Templates and Initiating Conversations

While all message carriers require you to submit your messaging use case and define the parameters under which you are allowed to send messages, WhatsApp has very specific parameters for what your initial outreach to a contact can be. 

During your registration process you will have to create outbound message templates. These templated messages, once approved by Meta, will be the only outbound message(s) that you can use to initiate a conversation with a contact via text. Your template(s) must fall within one of the following categories in order to be accepted:

• Marketing : Marketing conversations relate to your business, products, or services. These include offers and promos, related product suggestions, abandoned cart messages, or any conversation that doesn’t qualify as authentication or utility.

• Utility: Utility conversations are directly related to a transaction, including post-purchase notifications and recurring billing statements.

• Authentication: Authentication conversations provide users one-time passcodes for authentication purposes. These can occur at any stage of the user journey — such as account registration, account recovery, or integrity challenges.

As you can see, all of these categories require you to have an existing relationship with a contact before you can initiate a text based WhatsApp generated conversation with them.

If a conversation you initiate has been responded to by your recipient within a rolling 24-hour period, you can have unlimited additional open dialogue with them for an addtional 24-hour period following the last received response. Also, each initiated conversation that results in a return engagement boosts your message quality rating with Meta.

Conclusion

WhatsApp is a powerful communication tool that allows you to quickly connect with contacts and key stakeholders, both domestically and internationally, but there are very specific protocols that must be followed to achieve success. 

Fortunately, the Mogli team has extensive experience guiding organizations through the set-up process for WhatsApp and SMS based A2P text messaging. However, it is important to remember that unlike some other communication mediums, text messaging has very specific parameters for client behavior. If you have questions about these processes or would like to learn more about text messaging with Mogli, book time with a solutions expert today.