WhatsApp Business Platform (API) Quick Start
WhatsApp Business Platform (API) Overview
WhatsApp API is designed for medium to large companies that want to use WhatsApp with multiple users. It presents an attractive opportunity for businesses to broadcast messages to a wider audience and monitor agents’ and teams’ performances. However, WhatsApp API does not come with an interface to send and receive messages. Fortunately, YesHello solves that problem by providing you with an easy-to-use messaging platform that allows businesses to easily sign up and connect to the WhatsApp API.
⚠️ WhatsApp API is not free to use and incurs charges based on the number of conversations. Learn more about WhatsApp Pricing here.
💡 If you have a WhatsApp API account from another Business Solution Provider (BSP), you can migrate your phone number to our WABA partner, respond.io here.
Pre-requisites to Sign Up for a WhatsApp Business Platform (API) account
Here are a few things you need to prepare and understand before getting a WhatsApp Business Platform (API) account:
YesHello account
Phone Number
Meta Business Manager (MBM)
YesHello account
You’ll need a YesHello account to get access to the platform for the WhatsApp API sign up process. This account will exist once you have signed up for our free trial or subscribe to any of our plan.
Phone Number
The phone number used for WhatsApp Business Platform (API) must be valid (can send and receive SMS).
If you want to use a number connected to your personal WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business App, you must first delete your account.
Your phone number must not be from any of these restricted countries:
Crimea (+7978)
Cuba (+53)
Iran (+98)
North Korea (+850)
Syria (+963)
💡 Note that businesses in Turkey can sign up for a WhatsApp API account but is limited to communications with customers with non-Turkish phone number.
Meta Business Manager
You need a Meta Business Manager (MBM) to sign up for a WhatsApp Business Platform (API) account. However, if you currently do not have one, you can create one during the embedded sign-up process.
Ensure that your business adheres to the WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy.
When filling out your business info in your MBM, ensure that your website is valid.
💡 What is a valid website?
- Viewable and belongs to your business - Has a matching email domain and web address - Features your company's name or logo. Having a valid website in your MBM serves as a best practice to prevent any potential issues if and when you want to apply for Meta Business Verification.
How to Sign Up for WhatsApp Business Platform (API)
⚠️ Ensure that you have an Admin access level in your MBM.
Steps to sign up for WhatsApp Business Platform (API) account and connect your Channel on YesHello
On the YesHello Platform’s Channel Module
Click Add Channel > Navigate to WhatsApp Business Platform (API) from the Channel Catalog > Click Connect.
Click Get Started and go through the eligibility checks.
Click Connect With Facebook button and log in to your Facebook account.
Click Continue to grant permissions for respond.io to manage your WhatsApp Business account and billing.
Select an existing Meta Business account or create a new account. (The following steps will show you the steps to create a new Meta Business account)
Fill in your Business details and make sure your website is valid > Click Next.
Under Choose a WhatsApp Business account, select Create a WhatsApp Business account. Under Create or select a WhatsApp Business profile, select Create a new WhatsApp Business profile > Click Next.
Fill in your business details as necessary > click Next.
Add your WhatsApp phone number and choose a verification method.
Verify your phone number with the 6-digit verification code > click Next.
Click Finish.
Select the phone number to be connected and click Done to complete the setup.
Congratulations! You have successfully signed up and connected your WhatsApp Business Platform (API) Channel with YesHello.
💡 Ensure your WABA/MBM currency is set to USD. This step is crucial to avoid issues with sending business-initiated conversations despite having sufficient credits.
Send a Test Message
Once you have successfully signed up and connected your WhatsApp Business Platform (API) Channel, you can try this:
Send a test message - Click on the https://wa.me/{phoneNumber} link to start sending test messages to your WhatsApp Business account.
Reply to the test message - Click on the Start replying to customers now button to send a reply in the YesHello platform.
💡 Alternatively, you can try using our WhatsApp Link Generator to generate a chat link for your phone number to send a test message.
What’s Next?
You’ve successfully signed up for a WhatsApp Business Platform (API) account and connected the Channel to YesHello. You are now ready to move on to the next step of your journey -
💡Have a question?
If you have a question, feel free to contact our support team here
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