As a business person, you likely know that WhatsApp is fast becoming the preferred social media tool, for marketing. With around 1.6 billion active users on the platform, most of whom are below the age of 25, WhatsApp offers a vast possible marketplace for business owners and marketers to sell their products. Or alternately it also offers a channel of communication with customers regarding customer support.

If you are looking at WhatsApp as a marketing tool, there are two options for you:

1. Register as WhatsApp Business Account: This allows you to assign a business or corporate account to a telephone number, to communicate with prospects or customers, to automate certain canned messages such as Busy and Away, and to showcase your product portfolio
2. Register with WhatsApp API: WhatsApp API is an API by WhatsApp offered to select third parties (called Business Solution Providers or BSPs) to build a variety of marketing and CRM, including chatbots, for business promotion and selling of products and services, on WhatsApp.

Whilst WhatsApp Business is effective for messaging prospects and customers and some degree of automation, WhatsApp API allows for full-fledged conversations and engagement possibilities in service of selling and customer support.

Steps To Use The Power of WhatsApp API

1. Directly: Go directly to the WhatsApp Business API website sign up. However, to use and harness the capability of the API requires technical expertise. You are better off going through someone
2. Through a Solution Provider: When you are ready to move WhatsApp API, you could approach an authorized third-party solution (called Business Solution Providers or BSPs) to build a variety of applications that use WhatsApp for business promotion and selling of products and services.

BotSpace is one such solution provider you may approach.

Steps to Apply for a WhatsApp Business API

Step 1

Buy or port a phone number
The number you decide to use for your WhatsApp API cannot be used for anything else. If you have a number that is already being used for a Business Account, then you would need to relinquish that number and get a new number for WhatsApp API

Step 2

Apply to a Business Solution Provider, such as BotSpace
We will send you a contract form that you would need to fill in.

Step 3

Undergo WhatsApp Commerce Policy and Display Name checks
WhatsApp will review your application to ensure that it meets its Commerce Policy. You would need to mention your Display Name. As the name suggests the Display Name is the name that will appear on your WhatsApp API account. It is advisable to use a display name that matches your official business name.

Step 4

Verify Facebook Business and number, and accept messaging permissions
As part of the application process, you need to complete the Business Verification in Facebook Business Manager by providing some required documents. Facebook Business Verification is different from Facebook Page Verification.
Facebook requires business verification as a way of establishing the credibility and integrity of your business. You may also be required to start business verification in the app dashboard if your app is required to go through an app review. If you already invoice regularly to pay for ads on Facebook, you don't need to submit documentation for verification.
Even after you have done your business verification, you can still return to the Security Centre to edit your details at any time. However, these changes would entail that you would be required to once again complete the business verification process
You must be an admin of the Business Manager account to verify your business.
Advertisers based in China may be asked to complete bank account verification

There are simple steps to Facebook Business Verification

1. Go to Security Centre. In the Security Centre, you can see your business verification status.
2. Click Start verification
3. Enter your business details and click Next. The business information that you provide during the business verification process will become publicly visible if your Page has a large US audience or runs ads about social issues, elections, or politics in the US.
4. Select the correct business from the list or select None of these matches if you can't see your business on the list.
5. Confirm your business details.
6. Choose to receive a verification code on your business phone number via a text message or phone, or via email.
7. Note that the phone number option may not be available in all countries.
8. If you don't receive the verification code, you can request to receive another code. If you're still having problems getting your verification code, learn more abouthow to troubleshoot phone call issues.
9. (Optional) If your domain is already verified, you can click Verify us... at step 5. If not, complete the domain verification process. Then return to the Security Centre and click Continue. Learn when to use domain verification to verify your business.
10. Enter your verification code (not applicable if you use domain verification).
11. Click Submit.

If you receive confirmation that your business is verified, there's nothing more you need to do. You'll receive a notification when the review is complete. You can also check your status in your Security Centre. If we're unable to verify your business identity, we may ask you to submit your ID before we attempt to verify again. Learn more aboutwhen to use ID verification for business verification.

Step 5

Generate an API Key to connect to a business software
Next, for Business plans, we configure the payment to be done and start the integration with an onboarding with Customer Success. After the payment is processed, the onboarding is automatically done once the integration is requested.
Once you have obtained a WhatsApp API account, generate your WhatsApp API account key and connect it to business software. As it has no app or front-end interface, WhatsApp API has to be integrated into a third-party WhatsApp CRM before you can use it.

Step 6

Finally, you’ll have to delete WhatsApp (if needed) from the regular WhatsApp App and receive an SMS verification code to conclude the verification and start using WhatsApp via your BSP’s (us!) system.

For more details, you can reach out to us

‍