Why Do You Charge for WhatsApp Channels?
Setting up WhatsApp Business requires manual actions at several steps of the process: Business must apply to WhatsApp and go through a multi-stage review process. Additionally, we actually deploy a highly available container setup in a specialized cluster environment for every WhatsApp channel created.
Because of these difficulties, we need to charge a small recurring amount for WhatsApp Business channels.
Can Everyone Use WhatsApp Business?
All WhatsApp Business accounts must go through a mandatory review process that involves checking the legal status of the company, public presence and your use case. No matter the company size, from a single-person workshop to a multinational enterprise with hundreds of hundreds of thousands of employees, all of them will need to undergo the same review process and adhere to the same rules. If your planned use case or line of business is not approved by WhatsApp, there’s no way to register a Business account.
How Does the Setup Process Work?
The WhatsApp approach to an API might be a little bit more complicated than you’re used to. First of all: WhatsApp doesn’t host the actual API themselves. This is a necessary step to ensure end-to-end encryption is maintained, so no unencrypted messages will flow through the WhatsApp servers.
So instead of simply connecting to the API you have to host a bunch of containers in a highly available configuration. But to actually use the WhatsApp Business API, you need a so called Business Solution Provider (BSP).
Good news: We are one ?.
Before we can supply you with your very own WhatsApp Business number, you’ll have to perform a few manual steps, though.
- Create a Facebook Business Manager ID
If you don’t have a Facebook Business Manager, you can create one at business.facebook.com . - Verify your business
Business verification is a process to both verify your business exists as a legal entity, and that you are entitled to represent it. You can find detailed information and a step-by-step guide in this Facebook help article . - Get the WhatsApp Approval (1 – 2 business days) Log into our app at app.messengerpeople.dev and navigate to Channels → WhatsApp Business. The app will guide you through this process.
After we receive your request, we will create a WhatsApp Business Account with the Facebook Business Manager ID you created earlier.Please note that the Facebook Business Manager ID must belong to the business that is asking for approval.
If you’re an agency or a developer and working on an integration on behalf of your customer, we need the Business Manager ID of your customer, not yours.
Be aware that your use case must comply with both the Business Policies as well as the Commerce Policies . - Give us permission to manage your WhatsApp Business Account on your behalf
After you submitted your request, we create the WhatsApp Business Account. You will then receive a notification in your Facebook Business Manager , asking you to grant permission to MessengerPeople to send WhatsApp messages on your behalf.
As soon as you accept the request and your business verification is complete, WhatsApp will start the approval process. You can find a detailed explanation in this Facebook help article . - Waiting for approval
WhatsApp is now validating your application. If you comply with all required policies, you will be approved. After we receive a notification of the approval, we will send you an email with instructions on how to continue. - Activating a phone number
As soon as steps 1 – 5 are complete, we can create the actual account and register a phone number. You can use both land line and mobile phone numbers, as long as it is able to receive either international SMS or international calls.
If you previously used WhatsApp with this phone number, you will have to deactivate the account.Please note that it doesn’t suffice to delete the app from your phone: You will have to actually disable your account. You can do this in WhatsApp directly by navigating to Settings → Account → Deactivate account.
Currently, there are two possible activation methods:
SMS Activation: You will receive an SMS containing a random code from the WhatsApp activation servers.
Voice Activation: You will receive a call with a digital voice reading a random code. Your phone number must not be behind an IVR. The IVR needs to be deactivated for the activation call.After you submit the activation code to us, we can finish the process.
After completing these steps, your account is fully activated and ready to be used.
How Do You Send Template Messages?
To send template messages with variable placeholders, you will first need to create a new template and wait for it to be approved by WhatsApp. This is a manual process that can take an arbitrary amount of time but is usually complete within one or two business days. Templates may be translated in multiple languages, and each language will be reviewed separately, so its fastest to submit them all at once.
You can create templates in the app at Settings → Templates or using the API directly; to get started, we recommend to use the web app, as it provides an interactive template editor that respects all guidelines and limits automatically.
Once your template has been created and approved, you can send messages referring the template using the API, passing in values for the placeholders in the template only.
Please be aware that WhatsApp charges extra for each template message sent. The prices depend on the country of the recipient number.
How Do I Contact Support?
We provide several channels for you to reach us:
- Via WhatsApp: We definitely eat our own dog food. Chat with us: +4915792470201
- Via Phone: Call us directly using +49 89 416173-140 . This is an ordinary German land line phone, so the usual fees of your provider apply.
- Via Mail: Send an email to [email protected]
Do You Have a Status Page?
Yes! You can check our current platform status at status.messengerpeople.dev . The status page also provides an API of itself, so you can check the current status programmatically or embed it in your internal dashboard (we do this actually).
Do You Provide Any Guaranteed Response Times?
We do not provide any guarantees on response latency currently, but try to respond as fast as we can. You will receive a confirmation of receipt, written by an actual human, typically on the same day.
We’re developers too, so we know how crucial it can be to get everything back to normal. We’re a small and dedicated team though, so we hope you’ll understand we cannot do everything at the same time.
Am I Eligible for Support?
We currently do not include any support tiers in our product. Support is provided, free of charge, out of goodwill. If you’re interested in having a dedicated support tier or customer success manager, please let us know.
Can I Switch Between Pricing per Message and per Monthly Active User?
Yes, switching between both pricing models is possible at any time, free of charge, and separately per channel.
How Do You Determine the Amount of Monthly Active Users?
A user is deemed active if they have sent or received at least one message during any given calendar month. All date calculations are performed in UTC exclusively, so even if a message has been sent in the previous month but from an earlier timezone, it will be added to the invoice for the next month.
Invoices are generated the first day of every month, based on the current setting.
