WhatsApp Messaging
Alerting Hub can send messages via WhatsApp in a similar manner to sending SMS messages; in fact the format is identical when using the sendalert API call, you just specify the alertType as ‘whatsapp’ instead of ‘sms’.
WhatsApp is however, stricter in terms of who can send messages, what the format of the messages can be and so forth, as follows:
- Unsolicited messages to a WhatsApp user must follow a pre-approved template format. Once a user has responded you can then send them free-form messages within a 24 hour period.
- You can send WhatsApp messages from Alerting Hub’s own WhatsApp approved account but these messages will appear to the user to have come from Alerting Hub (we cannot change our account to look like yours but we can display your details as part of the message).
- You can send WhatsApp messages from your own WhatsApp approved account but you will need:
- An approved WhatsApp number – we can provide one of these if required.
- Have a Facebook Business Account ID – we can help you set this up if needed.
- Have been ‘Business verified’ by Facebook – we can assist in taking you through the process.
Due to these restrictions we don’t WhatsApp enable your account by default. You will need to contact your Alerting Hub sales representative in order to begin the process of being WhatsApp approved. If you wish to have your own business profile / account for WhatsApp then we can take you through that process and even complete the majority of the paperwork for you on your behalf.