Key points
- Use the official WhatsApp Business Platform; unofficial tools risk losing the account
- Business verification takes time outside your control, so start it first
- The number must be dedicated and cannot run on the ordinary WhatsApp app
- Replying within a session window differs from starting a conversation
- Outbound messages need templates approved in advance
- Opt-in and opt-out handling is required by the platform and by data protection law
The short version
WhatsApp business automation answers customer messages automatically through the official WhatsApp Business Platform. Inbound conversations can run fairly freely within a session window. Outbound messages need pre-approved templates and explicit opt-in from the customer.
Official platform or nothing
Unofficial automation tools exist and they are a bad idea. They breach the terms, and enforcement means losing the number along with every conversation on it. For a business that has spent years building a customer base on that number, that is not a risk worth a saved setup fee.
The official route involves business verification and a number dedicated to the platform, which cannot also run on the ordinary WhatsApp app. Verification sits outside anyone direct control, so start it early.
Templates and the session window
The rules distinguish between replying to a customer and starting a conversation. Once a customer messages you, a session opens during which you can reply fairly freely. Outside that window, reaching out needs a template approved in advance.
Design around this from the start. Teams that discover the template rules late end up rebuilding flows that assumed they could message anyone at any time.
Opt-in is not optional
Customers must agree to receive messages, and withdrawing that agreement has to be straightforward. Beyond the platform rules, data protection law in most markets requires it too. Build the opt-in and opt-out handling properly rather than treating it as an afterthought.
What suits it
Order updates, appointment reminders, delivery notifications, answers to routine questions, and collecting photographs. That last one is underrated: customers send images in seconds on WhatsApp where a web upload form would defeat them.