WhatsApp Business Template Messages

Integrating Whatsapp business in your Rocket.Chat workspace offers valuable enhancements to simplify your business communication workflows. The Whatsapp business integration allows you to send template messages to targeted contacts from your workspace.

Template messages on WhatsApp serve as a proactive means for organizations to engage with their WhatsApp contacts. These messages can be related to appointment reminders, delivery updates, issue resolution, or payment updates. They also act as notifications, encouraging users to respond and kickstart conversations to foster interaction between organizations and their audiences.

Set up template messages on WhatsApp

When using Rocket.Chat Whatsapp apps, you must define the template messages within your WhatsApp provider account before sending them through Rocket.Chat. The procedure may vary depending on the app.

WhatsApp Sandbox

There are only three pre-defined template messages available on WhatsApp Sandbox. Templates cannot be created or modified. Refer to the official documentation for more details.

WhatsApp 360Dialog (Cloud API)

Consult the official 360Dialog template message documentation to learn how to create template messages in  360dialog.

WhatsApp Cloud

Before you proceed, refer to the Meta template guide for a comprehensive understanding of template messages. In this document, we'll be creating a simple shipping reminder template message. To create this template message for WhatsApp Cloud,

• Go to the app created on your Facebook developer console.

• Navigate to WhatsApp > Quickstart.

• Click Message Templates from the WhatsApp Business section.

• It redirects you to the message templates page on your Meta Business account. Click Create template.

• Add the category, name, and language of the template message.

  • Category: Select Utility for this example guide.

  • Name: Add a name for the template message.

  • Language: Select English for this example guide.

• Click Continue.

• For this example, add this simple text in the Body : "Your package has been shipped. It will be delivered in {{1}} business days."

• Put a random integer in the Samples for body content.

• Click Submit.

The template message is now sent for review. Once it has been approved, you can now start sending template messages to contacts from your workspace.

Visit this quick guide to learn more about creating WhatsApp template messages.

Send WhatsApp template messages from your workspace

Once you have the template messages in your WhatsApp provider account, you can send them to targeted contacts within your workspace using any WhatsApp app available on the Rocket.Chat marketplace.

There are two distinct methods for sending Whatsapp template messages in Rocket.Chat:

• Using slash commands

• Using the API endpoint

Slash commands

Send the template message using the GUI form in your workspace. To trigger the GUI, open a WhatsApp contact room and run the respective send-template command for the WhatsApp app.

• WhatsApp Sandbox: Run the /whatsapp-sandbox send-template command in the room. A pop-up modal prompts you to select the template name, language, and other required details for the selected template. Click Confirm to send the template message to the contact. Visit the official documentation to learn more about the available WhatsApp Sandbox template messages. To see the available template messages, run /whatsapp-sandbox view-templates.

• WhatsApp 360Dialog (Cloud API): Run /whatsapp-360d-cloud send-template in the room. A pop-up modal prompts you to select the template name, language, and other required details for the selected template. Click Confirm to send the template message to the contact. To see the available template messages, run /whatsapp-360d-cloud view-template.

WhatsApp Cloud app does not support slash commands for sending template messages.

API endpoint

All Rocket.Chat WhatsApp apps use the POST templateMessage endpoint to send template messages to contacts. To get the valid endpoint URL for your Whatsapp App, navigate to App Info > Details >  APIs > POST templateMessage. Refer to the Send a WhatsApp Template Message API endpoint for more details.

Below is an example JSON body parameter for sending the previously created template message via the WhatsApp Cloud API:

{
    "phoneNumbers": [
        "2228105035435"
    ],
    "connectedWhatsAppNo": "104979685899299",
    "template": {
        "name": "ship",
        "language": {
            "code": "en",
            "policy": "deterministic"
        },
        "components": [
            {
                "type": "body",
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "type": "text",
                        "text": "20"
                    }
                ]
            }
        ]
    }
}

If your template message includes parameters, make sure to replace all of them with the appropriate information before sending. Failure to do so may lead to an error.

In conclusion, the ability to send template messages through WhatsApp Business Integration enables businesses to maintain a consistent and professional communication approach with their audience.