Integrate Zoho Commerce with WhatsApp
Using WhatsApp for customer communication offers an easy way to send messages with a personalized touch. Integrating WhatsApp with Zoho Commerce keeps your customers informed regarding their order status by sending them automated notifications.
Note: If you have integrated your Zoho Commerce organization with Zoho Books or Zoho Inventory where you have already set up the WhatsApp integration, you don’t have to go through the WhatsApp integration process again. Navigate to WhatsApp under Integrations & Marketplace in your Zoho Commerce organisation and click Enable to send automated WhatsApp notifications to your customers.
After enabling WhatsApp, you will have to buy credits to send notifications to your customers. Learn more about WhatsApp Credits.
Prerequisites:
- Once you set up this integration, Zoho will become your Business Service Provider (BSP). Ensure that your WhatsApp Business account is not associated with other BSPs.
- The phone number you want to use to set up this integration must be valid and owned by you. If it is associated with any other BSPs, WhatsApp Personal or WhatsApp Business accounts, you may lose your existing chats.
- You should have a verified Facebook Business Manager account.
Connect to WhatsApp
Note: You can only send WhatsApp notifications to customers who have signed up for the customer portal.
To send WhatsApp notifications to your customers, you must connect Zoho Commerce to WhatsApp first. To do so:
- Go to Settings and then Integrations & Marketplace.
- Navigate to WhatsApp and click Connect near WhatsApp Business.
In case you have an existing WhatsApp Business account, the Set up WhatsApp Business pop-up will appear.
- Click Use the existing WhatsApp Business account registered with Zoho and select the account from the dropdown to continue using the existing WhatsApp account that is integrated with other Zoho apps. (or)
- Click Connect a new WhatsApp Business account with Zoho to connect a new WhatsApp Business account.
- Click Continue.
- Read and agree to the terms in the Connect WhatsApp with Zoho Commerce pop-up. Click Connect WhatsApp, and you will be redirected to the Facebook Login page.
- Enter the registered Email Address or Phone Number and Password and click Log in.
Insight: If you don’t have a Facebook account, create one by clicking Create New Account.
- Verify your account and click Continue as ‘Your Account Name’ on the next page. If you want to log in with another account, click Log in to another account.
- Read through all the WhatsApp Business Terms of Service and the Meta Terms of Service and click Get Started.
- Fill in your Business Details and click Next.
- Select a WhatsApp Business account and WhatsApp Business Profile on the following page.
Insight: If you don’t have one, select Create a WhatsApp Business account and Create a new WhatsApp Business Profile from the dropdown.
- Click Next and click Finish on the page that follows.
Your Zoho Commerce organisation will be connected with WhatsApp.
- Click Continue in the Connected to WhatsApp pop-up.
- Select a Default WhatsApp Number from which the WhatsApp messages will be sent to your customers and click Continue.
You can either buy credits in the next step or do it once you have created templates for WhatsApp notifications.
Configure Templates
To send notifications through WhatsApp, create a template in Zoho Commerce and get it approved by the WhatsApp Business team.
Create Templates
To send order details through WhatsApp, you’ll have to create a template. Here’s how:
- Go to Settings, navigate to Integrations & Marketplace, and click WhatsApp.
- Select Order Placed under Message Templates.
- Click + New Template. The Create WhatsApp Template pop-up will appear.
- Fill in the Template Name and select the Template Category.
Insight: The Template Category could either be Utility or Marketing. Learn more about Template Categorization.
- Mark the Include a PDF attachment along with this message checkbox if you want to include the invoice PDF in the WhatsApp message.
- Click the dropdown next to Language to choose the preferred language for your customers.
- Edit the content under the Message field if required. You can insert placeholders by clicking the dropdown next to Insert Placeholders.
- Click Save.
A template will be created, and once it is approved by the WhatsApp Business team, a notification will be sent automatically every time a customer places an order.
Similarly, you can create templates for the rest of the order statuses.
Template Approval
Once you create a template, it will be sent for approval. It can take up to 24 hours for the WhatsApp team to approve it. The status of the approval will be displayed on the list page.
A template can have the following statuses:
| Status | Description |
| Approved | The WhatsApp Business team approved the template and it can be sent to customers. |
| Rejected | The WhatsApp Business team rejected the template. Edit and resubmit the template for approval. Learn why the templates get rejected. |
| Pending Approval | The template has been sent to the WhatsApp Business team and is awaiting approval. It could take up to 24 hours for the status to be updated. |
| Deletion in Progress | The WhatsApp Business team is evaluating your request to delete a template. |
| Deletion Failed | The template was not deleted due to network issues. Initiate the deletion process once again. |
| Deleted | The WhatsApp Business team has deleted the template. This action cannot be undone. |
Other Actions
Clone Template
If you want to create a template similar to an existing template, you can clone it. Here’s how:
- Go to Settings and click WhatsApp Templates under Reminders & Notifications.
- Select the order status template you want to clone.
- Click the More icon next to the template you want to clone and select Clone.
- Edit the necessary details in the following Clone WhatsApp Template pop-up and click Save.
The cloned template will be sent for approval to the WhatsApp Business team and can be used once approved.
Set Template as Default
If you want a template as your default choice, you can set that template as default. To do so:
- Go to Settings and click WhatsApp Templates under Reminders & Notifications.
- Select the order status template that you want to set as the default template.
- Click the More icon next to the preferred template and select Set As Default.
If you have multiple approved templates, you can set any one of them as your default template at any time. The default template will be used to send automated order statuses to your customers via WhatsApp.
Delete Template
Warning: Deleting a template is permanent and cannot be undone. However, you can create a new template again and send it to the WhatsApp Business team for approval.
You can delete a WhatsApp template if you do not require it. To do so:
- Go to Settings, navigate to Integrations & Marketplace, and click WhatsApp.
- Select the module under Message Templates.
- Click the More icon next to the template that you want to delete.
- Click Delete from the dropdown to proceed.
A request will be sent to the WhatsApp Business team to delete the template, which will subsequently be deleted.
Enable WhatsApp
Enable WhatsApp Notifications for Order Statuses
Once you set up templates, you need to enable the order statuses that you would like to send to your customers through WhatsApp. To do this:
- Go to Settings, navigate to Integrations & Marketplace, and click WhatsApp.
- Slide the toggle button next to the order statuses you wish to send.
The enabled order statuses will be sent automatically to your customers.
Enable WhatsApp for Customers
Notification Consent Preference
To send notifications to your customers through WhatsApp, you’ll have to get their consent. Your customers can change this anytime from the My Profile section in the customer portal. Here’s how you can set your preference:
- Go to Settings and click WhatsApp under Integrations and Marketplace.
- Click Configure and choose Update Consent Preference.
In the pop-up that follows, select your preference.
| Field | Description |
| Customers opt-in manually during checkout | Select this if you want to display the ‘Receive Mobile Notifications’ checkbox on the checkout page. Customers can opt-in to receive notifications by marking this checkbox. You will not be able to send WhatsApp notifications to the customers who opt-out from receiving notifications. |
| Customers opt-in automatically by signing up for customer portal | Before you select this option, include in your store’s terms and conditions that your customers consent to receive mobile notifications by signing up for the customer portal. By choosing this preference, you will be able to send WhatsApp notifications to all the customers that sign up for the customer portal. However, customers can decide to stop receiving WhatsApp notifications based on their preference from the My Profile section in the customer portal. |
Enable WhatsApp for Customers in Bulk
Here’s how you can enable WhatsApp messaging for your customers in bulk:
- Go to Settings, navigate to Integrations & Marketplace, and click WhatsApp.
- Click Update Communication Preference on the right, next to the gear icon.
In the pop-up that follows, select:
- Only Primary Contacts and click Save.
Manage WhatsApp IM Credits
How IM Credits Work
Once you enable WhatsApp and create templates, you’ll need to buy credits to send notifications through WhatsApp.
For instance, one credit costs 10.30 USD, and sending a utility message costs 0.0200 USD. Therefore, on an average, you can send 500 or more WhatsApp utility messages for just one credit.
Each time a WhatsApp notification is sent, the amount will be reduced according to the template category and the recipient’s region. View WhatsApp’s conversation charges and rate card.
Buy IM Credits
To buy WhatsApp credits:
- Go to Settings, navigate to Integrations & Marketplace, and click WhatsApp.
- Click Buy IM Credits at the top of the WhatsApp configuration page.
- Enter the number of credits required in the IM Credits field.
- Click Calculate Price and then click Make Payment.
You’ll be redirected to the payment gateway where you can pay. Once done, the credits will be added to your organisation.
View Sent WhatsApp Notifications
You can view the sent WhatsApp notifications at two different levels. Here’s how:
At Transaction Level
- Click Orders under Sales on the left sidebar and select an order.
- Click Comments & History at the top-right corner.
You will be able to view the status of the WhatsApp notifications sent to your customers.
At Organisation Level
- Navigate to Reports on the left sidebar.
- Scroll down to Activity and click WhatsApp Notifications.
You can also click View Report in the WhatsApp configuration page and view all the WhatsApp notifications sent from your organisation.
Other Actions
Mark WhatsApp Inactive
If you want to disable the WhatsApp integration temporarily, you can mark it inactive. Here’s how:
- Go to Settings, navigate to Integrations & Marketplace and click WhatsApp.
- Click Configure and select Mark as Inactive from the dropdown.
WhatsApp will be disabled for your organisation. You can enable this anytime by clicking Mark as Active from the Configure dropdown.
Change Default WhatsApp Number
To change the default WhatsApp number, you must first delete the existing WhatsApp channel. To do so:
- Go to Settings, navigate to Integrations & Marketplace, and click WhatsApp.
- Click the Trash icon in the Default WhatsApp Business Number section.
- Click Delete in the following confirmation pop-up. The WhatsApp number associated with Zoho Commerce will be deleted.
Once the existing channel is deleted, you can set up a WhatsApp channel with the new phone number.
To do this,
- Click Set Default Number in the Default WhatsApp Business Number section.
Select the number you want to set as the default WhatsApp number from the pop-up that follows and click Continue.
- If you haven’t verified the WhatsApp Business number, it will not be listed in the pop-up. In that case, click Verify Numbers.
- Select the desired number and click Send OTP to verify the number. You can also choose to get the OTP via call.
- Enter the OTP and click Verify.
- Once verified, click Back and select the number from the Default WhatsApp Number dropdown.
Your default WhatsApp number will be updated.
Change WhatsApp Business Account
You can also change the WhatsApp Business account if you already have an existing account. Here’s how:
- Go to Settings, navigate to Integrations & Marketplace, and click WhatsApp.
- Click Configure and select Change Account from the dropdown.
Note: Once you change your WhatsApp Business account, you will not be able to use your existing WhatsApp channel and templates. Therefore, you will be required to delete the templates before proceeding.
In the following pop-up, you should delete the existing templates before changing the default account. You can click:
- Schedule Automatic Deletion to initiate the automatic deletion process. The time duration for deletion depends on the process at the Meta end.
- I’ll Delete Manually to remove certain templates. Go to each template, click the More icon next to it and select Delete.
Once the deletion process is completed, the status of your WhatsApp Business account will be changed to SETUP PENDING. You can also check whether the number of templates for each module has been changed to zero (0) to confirm that the deletion process has been completed.
- Click Configure and select Change Account from the dropdown.
The Change WhatsApp Business Account pop-up will appear.
- Click Use the existing WhatsApp Business account registered with Zoho and select the account from the dropdown to continue using the existing account. (or)
- Click Create a new WhatsApp Business account with Zoho to create a new WhatsApp Business account.
- Click Continue.
The WhatsApp Business Account will be changed.
