Prerequisites and best practices for account creation
As a 360dialog Partner, you can make Client's experience smoother by leveraging our different Signup options. When creating a new WABA, though, a client should always use their own credentials, including their Meta Business Manager.
While Partners can assist Clients on WABA creation, they should never do this on behalf of Clients.
Prerequisites for Clients to create WABAs
Valid email address
The first page of the Signup creates a Client Hub account. It should be created under a valid email address (free email domains are not allowed).
This email address should also not be registered under any other 360dialog Hub accounts (partner or client).
Valid Phone Number
To start using the WhatsApp Business API, your client will need a valid phone number.
The number must be able to receive an International Phone Call or SMS during the registration process and be owned by the client.
We do not provide or lease phone numbers. If this number has an IVR system enabled, the IVR needs to be temporarily disabled during the registration process.
Meta Business Manager Account with complete Business Info
Your client can use an existing Meta Business Manager Account or create a new one during the embedded signup process.
See here how to find the Business Manager ID. Please make sure to know the Business Manager ID, since it can't be changed after the number is registered.
To have an active account the client must add all information in the Business Info section of Business Manager Settings. It is essential to include a legal name, an address, a website, and the business phone number.
This information is used by Facebook to check compliance with the Commerce Policy. If it's not correctly set up, the account will be immediately rejected in the Commerce Policy.
Therefore, the website:
is mandatory
must be working
must have a clear explanation of the company's business model
must include the same legal name, address and business phone number as provided in the Business Manager settings
WhatsApp Business Compliance
The client's business must not violate the WhatsApp Business Policy and Commerce Policy.
As a Partner, you may assist the client during signup, but should never go through it on behalf of the client.
The client needs to create their own 360dialog Client Hub account under their owned email address and use their own Business Manager when registering a WABA.
WABA for Government Agencies
Government Agencies and Entities must get approval from Meta before creating any WhatsApp Business accounts. Some organizations (such as some NGOs or government contractors, for example), also need to go through this process.
Please note that this process can take up to 60 days and could generate extra costs, depending on your Partner Tier.
It is mandatory for partners who wish to register any government account on behalf of their clients to be registered as a Tech Provider. If you have not registered yet, please find instructions on how to get started by checking our Tech Provider Program documentation.
As a reflection of the level of service and required throughput necessary to properly support these accounts any local or national government entity will be charged at the Premium Rate of $49 and will be set up only as a Cloud service. On-Premise setup is not available.
To start the Government WABA Application process, please send the information requested in the form below. Then, a member of our team will reach out with the next steps.
Anybody involved (partner, business, or government agency) can fill out the form. If needed, extra information will be requested by the team member responsible for the process.
Allowed Government Agencies
All governmental entities or public companies need to go through the Government Agency process. Some organizations (such as some NGOs or government contractors, for example), also need to go through this process.
Political Parties, Politicians, Military, National Security and Law Enforcement are not accepted in this program, meaning that they cannot create WhatsApp Business API accounts.
Private service providers are not allowed, i.e.: campaign strategy, voting, government aggregators.
WhatsApp does not allow for any promotion, political campaigning, voter data gathering or any sort of election influencing.
Before applying
Please keep in mind that even when you have the first approval from Meta, it doesn’t mean you’ll be able to use the account. All approved accounts must go through the Meta Business Verification. They also need to fully comply with the Business Policy and Commerce Policy and agree with the WhatsApp Business Terms.
We recommend reading all the above articles before sending your form.
Request Government Agency Account
To request a Government Agency Account, please submit a ticket with our support team.
Creating a new WABA
When a client is creating a WABA, they can be in two different positions:
Creating a WABA with a new phone number
In this case, the client is using a phone number that has never been used in any WhatsApp Account. The client can go through Signup normally.
Creating a WABA with a phone number registered in the WhatsApp Business App
Clients can use a phone number that is already registered in the Android, iPhone, or Business versions of WhatsApp. However, to register this phone number in the WhatsApp Business API, the client will need to delete the WhatsApp account associated with that phone number. Please note that the chat history will not be transferred or retained with this process.
The steps for doing so are:
Open WhatsApp Messenger or WhatsApp Business app on your Android or iPhone.
Navigate to Settings > Account.
Select Delete my account. Messages sent to this phone number will be queued in the meantime.
Follow the steps to delete the WhatsApp account for that phone number. It may take up to 3 minutes for the disconnected number to become available.
You can test if the account was successfully deleted by trying to message it. If the message does not receive two checks, it means that the number is ready to be registered as a WhatsApp Business API account.
Creating a WABA directly in the Client Hub
Clients can create new WABAs from the Client Hub.
This functionality also enables number migrations between WhatsApp Business accounts, or migrating a number from the Classic model to the Embbeded model, as long as the Business Manager is the same.
Please refer to our documentation and follow the steps outlined to successfully generate a new WABA.
Best Practices for Account Creation Process
Complete the signup process
The client will need to log in to their Meta account to move forward. It's important that this Meta account has admin access to the Meta Business Manager that will manage this WhatsApp account.
Important: do not keep the signup pop-up open for more than 1 hour, otherwise the session will expire. Please ensure that you have all the prerequisites ready before starting.
WhatsApp Policy Policy review
WhatsApp will review your WhatsApp Account to ensure it is compliant with the WhatsApp Commerce Policy. Be sure to examine the policy closely to make sure you are Business compliant.
This review will happen in the background, after the account is already live.
If the account is not approved on the WhatsApp Commerce Policy it will be immediately blocked. The business is able to appeal this decision by creating a support ticket. The business can also downgrade to WhatsApp Business App; you can find info regarding this process here.
Messaging and Phone Number Limits
After completing the registration processes, the business will immediately be able to:
Respond to unlimited customer-initiated conversations (24-hour messaging windows)
Send business-initiated conversations to 250 unique customers in a rolling 24-hour period
Register up to two (2) phone numbers, which can both be assigned to 1 WABA or split between 2 WABAs.
Display Name review
After Business Verification is finished, WhatsApp will also approve the company's Display Name.
From 2024, the business Display Name will be visible in the user app chat for accounts that have passed business verification, regardless of whether they have a OBA badge.
Display Name Guidelines are very strict, and names will often get rejected for small details or minor discrepancies between the name and the Facebook Business, website, or social media. To avoid this, make sure you thoroughly review Meta guidelines.
Please note that this feature is completely handled by Meta and it is being rolled out gradually. We do not have any information on whether it will be applied to all businesses.
Billing
Billing will begin as soon as the WhatsApp Business API Client is deployed, and that is right after Embedded Signup is completed.
If for some reason the signup failed or the account will not be used, do not forget to cancel this account to avoid further charges.
Incorrect data
If you make a mistake with the Embedded Signup Onboarding Process such as:
- Number added to the wrong WABA - WABA added to the wrong FB Account - Account added but no Payment Method set
If you let us know within 14 days of registering the number we will be able to correct the mistake for you.
Possible Errors during Account Creation
Throughout the Embedded Signing up you may face some errors that might interrupt the process. Here we will show you some topics you should keep in mind, especially if you are signing up for extra phone numbers beside the ones you already have.
If the account was disconnected after signup
If the client went through signup and did not complete the Business Info section of the Business Manager in full, the account will be automatically disconnected after WhatsApp Commerce Policy check.
If the number was disconnected after signup, please check the Business Info section of the Business Manager. If any piece of information is missing (especially the website), the client will need to fill it and then Request a Review from Meta.
The client can request a review themselves from Meta Business Manager > Account Quality. They do not need to contact 360dialog to do this.
The Account Quality page is in the URL business.facebook.com/accountquality
Basic troubleshooting
You may go through this checklist:
Check Business Manager Not verified Business Managers can only have up to 2 phone numbers. So, guarantee that the correct Business Manager is ready to get the correct amount of allowed phone numbers.
Still not working Close the browser window and try it again, that might resolve the issue.
Stuck on a screen Get a screenshot of the problem you are having.
Reach out to our Support Team! Get in touch with us from your 360dialog Hub explaining the issue and attach the screenshot you have. This level of detail will save the time of investigation, thus, improve the time of response.
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