WhatsApp, Business texting · 8 min read
WhatsApp for business: calls, chats and texts on one business number
By the CallRoute team ·
For many customers, WhatsApp is the default way to reach a business. They tap the number on your website and start typing. If that number is a personal phone on one person's desk, the chat lives on that phone and nobody else on your team can see it. This guide explains how to put WhatsApp on a real business number that your team shares the work on, and the Meta rules that shape how it behaves.
The WhatsApp Business app vs the WhatsApp Business Platform
Meta offers two ways for a business to use WhatsApp, and they are built for different jobs.
| WhatsApp Business app | WhatsApp Business Platform (API) | |
|---|---|---|
| Runs on | A phone, plus a few linked devices | Software you connect through a provider |
| Built for | One owner answering their own chats | Teams sharing chats with other tools |
| Cost from Meta | Free app | Per message pricing for templates, set by Meta |
| Works alongside calls and texts | Separate from your phone system | Can sit in the same inbox as calls and texts |
| Set up | Install and verify the number | Connect through Meta with your business account |
The app is a good start. It breaks down when more than one person needs to answer, when you want WhatsApp history next to calls and texts, or when the phone running it is lost or leaves with an employee. The platform, often called the WhatsApp Business API, is what phone systems and inbox tools connect to.
Why one number for calls, texts and WhatsApp
Customers do not think in channels. They call you on Monday, text a photo on Tuesday and send a WhatsApp voice note on Wednesday, all to the number on your van or your website. If each of those lands somewhere different, your team ends up asking the customer to repeat themselves.
- One history. Every call, text, voicemail and WhatsApp chat with a person sits in one thread.
- One number to advertise. Your website, signage and email signature show a single number for every way to reach you.
- A fallback when WhatsApp is not an option. Not every customer uses WhatsApp. A normal text or call still works on the same number.
The 24 hour customer service window
This is the rule that surprises most teams. When a customer sends you a WhatsApp message, a 24 hour window opens. Inside it you can reply with anything: free form text, photos, documents. Every new message from the customer restarts the clock.
When the window closes, WhatsApp no longer lets you send free form messages to that person. The only way to start the conversation again on WhatsApp is a message template: a message written in advance, submitted to Meta, and approved for a category such as utility, authentication or marketing. Meta prices templates per message, and the rate depends on the category and the country of the person receiving it.
Continuing the conversation after the window closes
You have three honest options once the window is closed:
- Send an approved template, if your provider supports them and you have one approved for that purpose.
- Continue by text or call on the same number. If the number also sends SMS, a plain text reaches the customer whether or not they open WhatsApp. Make sure you have their consent to text, the same as for any business text.
- Wait for the customer. The moment they write again on WhatsApp, the window reopens.
Keeping the WhatsApp Business app on your phone
Many businesses already use the WhatsApp Business app on the number they want to connect. Moving a number to the platform used to mean giving up the app. Meta now supports connecting a number that already runs the app, often called coexistence: the app keeps working on the owner's phone, and the platform receives the same chats so the team can answer from shared software. Recent chat history and contacts can come across when you connect.
A number can only be on one WhatsApp provider at a time. If an agency or another tool set up WhatsApp on your number before, they need to remove it from their account before you connect it somewhere else.
Meta limits worth knowing
- Display name review. Meta reviews the business name shown on your WhatsApp profile. Until it is approved, customers see your number instead of the name.
- Numbers per business account. Meta caps how many WhatsApp numbers one business account can hold. The cap is low until you complete business verification in Meta Business Settings, and higher after.
- Messaging limits. New numbers can start only a limited number of conversations with new customers each day. Meta raises the limit as you keep a good quality rating, which depends on how customers react to your messages.
- Calling. Meta turns on WhatsApp calling for a number only once it has reached a higher messaging limit. Customers can then call you on WhatsApp. Meta does not allow business initiated WhatsApp calls from US and Canadian numbers today.
- Opt outs. A customer can block or stop messages from your business. Respect it, and do not switch channels to keep messaging someone who asked you to stop.
These rules change from time to time, so check Meta's current WhatsApp Business documentation before you plan anything that depends on them.
Team habits that make WhatsApp work
- Answer inside the window. Treat a new WhatsApp message like a ringing phone. Someone should own it within hours, not days.
- Say who is replying. When several people answer from one business profile, a short sign off such as "Maria, Harbor Plumbing" helps customers know who they are talking to.
- Keep sensitive details out. Do not ask for card numbers or passwords over chat. Use a payment link or a call.
- Move to a call when it gets complicated. Five back and forth messages about a fault is often a two minute phone call. Offer one.
If you also text from the number, the same consent rules apply to those texts. Our guides to A2P 10DLC registration and toll-free verification cover what US carriers expect.
How WhatsApp works in CallRoute
On Business Plus, you can connect WhatsApp to the business numbers you already call and text from. You click Continue with Meta, sign in with the Facebook account that manages your business, and pick the number. For a CallRoute number, the WhatsApp code Meta texts to it shows up right in the app, and often the number is verified with Meta ahead of time so there is no code to type at all. If the number already uses the WhatsApp Business app, tick that option and keep using the app; recent chats and contacts come over and new messages show in both places.
WhatsApp chats then arrive in the same inbox thread as that customer's calls, texts and voicemail. When you reply, you choose how it goes: on WhatsApp, as a text, both, or automatically, which sends on WhatsApp while the window is open and as a text when it is not. CallRoute does not send WhatsApp templates yet, so once the window closes you continue by text, and the composer tells you which way a message will go before you send it. Customers can also call your number on WhatsApp once Meta enables calling for it, and those calls ring the number's owner in CallRoute without using plan minutes.
Keeping a WhatsApp number with another provider? You can connect it for WhatsApp chats and WhatsApp calls only, for a monthly fee from your wallet, while its phone calls and texts stay where they are. See the team inbox, the pricing page, or start a free trial.