WhatsApp integration

Overview

Our WhatsApp integration enables you to send WhatsApp messages directly from in-app journeys or as one-off campaigns, adding it as a new channel alongside Email, SMS, and Push. Enhance your customer engagement with seamless messaging through one unified platform.

Accessing WhatsApp

To access the WhatsApp integration page, go to Settings > Channels > WhatsApp.

Managing WhatsApp

The WhatsApp page allows users to:

• Add WhatsApp numbers.
• Configure message templates.
• Set up advanced settings.

Adding WhatsApp numbers

To start sending WhatsApp messages from Ortto, connect your WhatsApp account to sync your numbers. Follow these steps to get started:

1. Navigate to Settings > Channels > WhatsApp > WhatsApp numbers.
2. Select Connect WhatsApp account.
3. You'll be redirected to Meta to follow the prompts. Once completed, you'll return to Ortto, where your WhatsApp number will appear as connected.

Message templates

WhatsApp templates are pre-approved messages you can send to your recipients, and they are the only supported way to send WhatsApp messages. To create new templates, follow these steps:

1. In your Meta account, navigate to WhatsApp Manager.
2. Under Message Templates, click Manage Templates.
3. Select Create Template. On this page, you can create a new template from scratch by selecting Custom, or choose one from the existing templates provided by WhatsApp under the Template Library.
4. After configuring your template, click Submit for Review.

Once the template is approved in Meta and its status changes from In review to Active, it will automatically sync to Ortto and appear on the Message Templates page.



Mapping variables

If your WhatsApp message contains variables, you can automatically populate them with CDP data by mapping them. To do this:

1. Navigate to the Variables section of your WhatsApp template and click Edit.
2. For each variable you want to map, click the Merge tag dropdown and select the relevant field from your CDP.
3. If applicable, enter a fallback for each variable to be used if the selected field is empty.

Advanced settings

Campaign sending limits

In Ortto, the Campaign sending limits section allows you to control when WhatsApp messages are sent. This includes:

• Controlling whether a contact with a Talk conversation should receive Ortto-initiated WhatsApp messages.
• Managing how often customers receive Ortto-initiated WhatsApp messages.
• Specifying the dates and times when Ortto-initiated WhatsApp messages triggered from journeys are sent.

To set these restrictions, follow these steps:

• Do not send campaign messages to people with an open conversation in Talk: If a contact has an open conversation in Talk when a WhatsApp message is attempted, the message won’t be sent. Learn more about Talk.
• Frequency limits: Prevent sending more than one message every X hours. Check this box and specify the time interval (X hours).

• Date-specific limits: Specify when Ortto-initiated WhatsApp messages triggered from journeys are sent.

• Waking hour restrictions: Select to only send WhatsApp messages during waking hours, which are from 8 am to 9 pm based on the contact's geo-location. This location can be found on the contact's profile.

  

Marking WhatsApp messages as transactional

When marking a WhatsApp message as transactional, the following will apply:

• Campaign sending limits are bypassed: The message will ignore restrictions such as the "1 message per 16 hours" rule and time-based limits (e.g., avoiding messages outside of waking hours).
• Subscription status is ignored: The message will be sent regardless of the contact's WhatsApp subscription status.

However, delivery may still fail due to certain limitations, including:

• The template used no longer exists or has not been approved.
• You’ve reached the daily limit for cold messages.

Sending WhatsApp messages

Learn more about sending WhatsApp messages from Ortto.