Business Phone Number

Your business will be identified by a phone number on WhatsApp, known as the Business Phone number. This number will be registered in your WhatsApp Business account (WABA) and customers willbe able to interact with your business on WhatsApp on this registered number.

  • This number should not have been previously registered on WhatsApp or on the WhatsApp Business app.
  • If you are already using a number on WhatsApp for your business and wish to use the same number, then you must first deregister the number on WhatsApp by deleting that account.
  • This number can be a mobile number (SIM or virtual) or a landline phone number, which has SMS and/or Voice calling facility enabled. During the “Verify Number” step in “Go-live” process, WhatsApp will send a One-Time Password (OTP) for two factor authentication via SMS or Voice.
  • This number cannot be a number that is behind an IVR since then the OTP verification processwill not be possible.
  • Once the number is verified here, please do not register the number on WhatsApp or the WhatsApp Business app on a mobile phone. This will result in the number being de-registeredfrom the WhatsApp Business API service provided by AskEVA.

Discovery

Once your WABA Approval is in place and your Business Phone Number has been verified, you can help customers discover your business and grow your brand presence on WhatsApp. Discovery that leads to customers initiating a conversation with your business on your WhatsApp Business Phone Number, can be accomplished with the following tools:

  • Click-to-Chat web links
    • Publish these web links on your website or in your direct-to-customer communication channels like SMS, email, etc. and automatically redirect customers into a conversation with your business on WhatsApp Web.
    • The web link format is: "https://wa.me/ < BusinessPhoneNumberinE.164Format > <?text= urlencodedtext" >
    • For example, if your Business Phone Number is +91 7558114322, your deep link can be https://wa.me/917558114322?text=Hi%20there
  • Click-to-Chat deep links
    • Embed these deep links in your mobile app or mobile ads to automatically redirect customers into a conversation with your business on WhatsApp
    • The deep link format is: Whatsapp://send?phone= < BusinessPhoneNumberinE.164Format > &text= < urlenco dedtext >;
    • For example, if your Business Phone Number is +91 7558114322, your deep link can be whatsapp://send?phone=917558114322&text=Hi%20there
  • Facebook Ads that Click-to-WhatsApp (CTWA)
    • Facebook and Instagram Ads that Click-to-WhatsApp are an effective way for businesses to get discovered and for customers to chat with them on WhatsApp.
    • This feature allows people to easily start a message thread in WhatsApp directly from Facebook or Instagram. When a person taps on an ad that clicks-to-WhatsApp, they will be transferred to a pre-filled WhatsApp chat where they can message your business quickly. Learn how to get started with this feature here.
    • We recommend that you register the same Facebook Business Manager ID (through which you run your Facebook/Instagram ads) during the WABA application process. This feature will then become available to you.

Steps to use phone number that has been registered with Whatsapp Business before

To apply for WhatsApp API Verification, you must use a number that does not have an account on any WhatsApp apps. You can use a phone number that is already registered in the Android, iPhone, or Business application versions of WhatsApp. However, to register this phone number on WhatsApp Business API, you will need to follow the steps below to delete the WhatsApp account associated with that phone number. Once a phone number is registered on the WhatsApp Business API, it cannot be used for WhatsApp Business or the WhatsApp consumer app. A phone number can be upgraded to the WhatsApp Business API, but not downgraded.

  • To delete your account

    1. Open WhatsApp.
    2. Tap More options > Settings > Account > Delete my account.
    3. Enter your phone number in full international format and tap DELETE MY ACCOUNT.
    4. Select a reason for why you're deleting your account in the dropdown.
    5. Tap DELETE MY ACCOUNT.
  • Deleting your account will:
    • Delete your account from WhatsApp.
    • Erase your message history.
    • Delete you from all of your WhatsApp groups.
    • Delete your backup.
    • Disable the QR code of your old WhatsApp account.
    • Information from Official WhatsApp documentations: WhatsApp Official Documents
  • Backup your chats
    • You can backup your WhatsApp Chats into JSON files
    • To back up, you can use our Google Chrome Add-on from here: here.
    • The chat files once backed up can be later imported to ASKEVA (texts only)
    • Guide to using the WhatsApp Chat Backup Add-on