Connected Accounts
Connecting SMS
The SMS tab in Connected accounts is where you set up text messaging. Open your Profile at the bottom left, go to Settings, then Connected accounts, then the SMS tab.
Twilio
Twilio is the default and the one we recommend. It has the widest country coverage and the most reliable delivery of the options here.
You will need three things from your Twilio account:
Account SID
Auth token
Sending number
Your Account SID and auth token are both on your Twilio dashboard. The sending number is the number your messages go out from.
The sending number has to match a number in your Twilio account exactly. This is the most common reason a connection fails, and it is usually a formatting difference rather than the wrong number. Copy it from Twilio rather than typing it from memory.
Sending names
In some countries you can send from a name rather than a number, which puts your business name in the sender field instead of a phone number. If your country supports it, you can enter it here.
Most countries do not support this. Where it is unavailable you send from a number, and the setting has no effect.
Worth knowing that a sender name means customers cannot reply, since there is no number to reply to. A number is usually the better choice for booking work even where a name is allowed.
Webex
To connect Webex you need an API key from your Webex account.
WhatsApp connects differently. You sign in with your Facebook account to validate the connection, since WhatsApp Business runs through Meta rather than through a messaging provider.
WhatsApp also works differently once connected, and it is worth understanding the rules before you plan anything around it, because they are Meta's rules rather than ours and they apply to every business using the platform.
The 24 hour window
When a customer messages you, a 24 hour customer service window opens. It resets every time they message again. While that window is open you can send normal free-form messages, and once it closes you can only send pre-approved templates.
You can also only message people who have opted in to hearing from you.
So you can start a conversation with a customer who has never messaged you, but you have to do it with an approved template. Free-form messaging is only available while a window is open.
Message templates
Templates are message formats submitted to Meta and approved in advance. They fall into three categories. Utility covers transactional messages such as confirmations and reminders, authentication covers verification codes, and marketing covers anything promotional. Anything mixing utility content with promotion counts as marketing.
Our WhatsApp connection handles template creation and approval for the templates it provides. If you need something outside those, you are into creating and submitting your own templates, and Meta can reject them.
Plan for that before you build a process around WhatsApp. A message you cannot get approved is a message you cannot send.
Automation
Automated replies are allowed while the window is open, provided you also give customers a clear route to reach a person.
Outside the window, an automation can only fire an approved template. Any automated flow that assumes it can send whatever it likes at any time will not behave the way you expect on WhatsApp.
Which should I use?
Twilio for most people. It works in the most countries, it is the simplest to set up, and customers can reply.
WhatsApp is worth adding where your customers already use it, which in much of Europe, Latin America and Asia is most of them. Treat it as a second channel alongside SMS rather than a replacement, given the constraints above.
If messages are not sending
Check the sending number matches your provider account exactly, including the country code and formatting.
Then check the credentials, since an auth token that has been rotated at the provider will still look correct here while no longer working.
Then check your provider account has credit and that the destination country is enabled on it. Providers restrict some countries by default, and the message fails at their end rather than ours.