WhatsApp (Twilio)

Overview

Millions of businesses use WhatsApp to communicate with their customers, and Yada's WhatsApp integration allows you to easily manage those conversations as a team. Instead of juggling multiple mobile devices to handle WhatsApp conversations, you can efficiently receive and reply to WhatsApp messages from your Yada inbox, and respond faster to every guest.

Instructions

Your team can manage WhatsApp conversations right from a shared inbox, just like they would email, SMS, or chat. Like other shared channels, WhatsApp channels will need to be set up by a Yada admin.

Yada's WhatsApp channel is exclusively powered by Twilio, so you will need to use a WhatsApp-enabled number from Twilio. Twilio manages the approval process to enable WhatsApp Business. You will need to secure approval before setting up a WhatsApp inbox in Yada. The approval process follows WhatsApp's Commerce Policy, so be sure to abide by these guidelines to avoid any unnecessary delay.

Part 1 - Twilio Approval

Step 1

Sign up or log into your existing Twilio account. In your Twilio dashboard, click the Develop tab in the left sidebar. Open the Phone Numbers section, click Manage, then select Buy a number.

If you've already purchased a Twilio number, you can also use this existing number. You can also port a number into Twilio by following Twilio's usual process.

Step 2

If you are purchasing a new number, select all of the options you need under Capabilities and complete the check out process to select your number.

You can skip this step if you already have a Twilio number.

Step 3

Click the Develop tab in the left sidebar. Open the Messaging section, click Senders, then select WhatsApp senders.

Step 4

Fill out the form that appears.

Step 5

Click Submit Request to start the WhatsApp approval process. It may take several business days for Twilio to complete your approval.

You can monitor number approvals in the Status section of your WhatsApp Enabled Senders dashboard.

Step 6

Once your number is approved, proceed to Part 2 to set up your Twilio WhatsApp inbox in Yada.

Part 2 - Connecting Yada to Twilio

Step 1

You must be logged in as an admin. Go to the "Integrations" page in yada and select "Twilio"

Step 2

Copy the twilio Account SID and Auth Token

The Account SID and Auth token are found in your Twilio Console Dashboard, by clicking on your company name at the top left corner of Twilio.

Step 3

Once you've entered your Twilio account credentials, a new card will appear below the SID and Auth Token card. Click the "Refresh" button to get the most up-to-date list of available phone numbers

Step 4

Select your WhatsApp enabled number from this list

At this point, the number has been associated with the whatsapp sender, and the number webhooks have been set up. There is one more webhook step which we will need to take.

Finalizing Webhook

Yada has successfully at this point created the incoming and outgoing messaging webhooks for the phone number but we still need to make sure these webhooks are also associated with the whatsapp sender

Not to worry, there's only one more copy / paste to go!

Step 1

In your Twilio dashboard, click the Develop tab in the left sidebar. Open the Phone numbers section, click Manage, then select Active numbers.

Step 2

In the settings for your WhatsApp number, scroll down to the Messaging section. Copy the full URL from the 'A Message comes in' Webhook section-- you will use this later in the setup process.

Note: If your Twilio number does not show a Messaging section, or the webhook URL is not set, please reach out to our support team, who will be happy to provide you with the webhook URL for your number.

Step 3

In the Develop tab in the left sidebar, open the Messaging section, click Senders, then select WhatsApp senders. Select your WhatsApp number to open its settings.

Step 4

Under How would you like to configure this sender?, select Use webhooks. Paste the webhook URL that you copied in Step 2 into the 'Webhook URL for incoming messages' field.

Step 5

Click Update WhatsApp Sender.

Step 6

Refresh your page to ensure the webhook URL is present. If it is not displayed, repeat Steps 4 and 5 until you've ensured that the webhook URL appears after saving/refreshing the page.

Step 7

Now, test the connection by sending a message to your shared inbox from another WhatsApp number (such as your personal phone). Your message should show up immediately in Yada