How to start a chat on whatsapp from 3cx?

[Jorge Lucas]

There is no option to start a conversation on whatsapp through my contacts. Is this possible?
Because once I press the "Dealt with" button the chat disappears and I need to be able to contact the customer.

 

[Charles_3CX]

There is no option to start a chat to WhatsApp, only replies.


You may find the chat after it has been dealt with from the chat window within the webclient or desktop app > Archived section in the top right of either app.



You can then unarchive the WhatsApp chat from the 3 dots and reply.

 

[Jorge Lucas]

thanks Charles,

Is there any chance of a chat start function being implemented?

 

[Charles_3CX]

There is no option to start a chat to WhatsApp, and I can't see there ever being one. This is what SMS is for. You can also consider this option.

 

[Jorge Lucas]

I already thought about this possibility, however here in Brazil nobody uses SMS, people only see whatsapp.

It's a programming issue because the whatsapp api as far as I understand it allows starting a conversation.

 

[Charles_3CX]

To start a conversation with a WhatsApp user, they would first need to opt-in somehow, and you are required to use a pre-approved message template, which can be text-based, media-based, or interactive, so not ideal. Additionally, note that conversations only stay active for 24 hours after which time you can no longer reply.

 

[Jorge Lucas]

Is this standard for all whatsapp business API?

 

[Charles_3CX]

Yes, this is their requirement as per meta documentation.

 

[Jorge Lucas]

Thank you very much for the clarification.

 

[VoIPTools]

I made a free video walkthrough for setting up the WhatsApp integration for 3CX. You can access the video here. There is a little longer introduction than is perhaps necessary, but hopefully you will find the information helpful.

 

[extrememicro]

Yes, this is their requirement as per meta documentation.

I'm reading documentation but I can't see that limitations:
https://developers.facebook.com/docs/whatsapp/cloud-api/guides/send-messages

I tried using curl like the example provided in the "Getting started" section on Meta for developers and sended several messages to new whatsapp contacts successfully.

Indeed, I have a free tier to start conversations:

 

[Charles_3CX]

I'm reading documentation but I can't see that limitations:
https://developers.facebook.com/docs/whatsapp/cloud-api/guides/send-messages

I tried using curl like the example provided in the "Getting started" section on Meta for developers and sended several messages to new whatsapp contacts successfully.

Indeed, I have a free tier to start conversations:View attachment 32795

You will need to check with Meta, but as per our guide: https://www.3cx.com/docs/manual/whatsapp/

"WhatsApp integration enables your agents to send a reply to WhatsApp messages directly from 3CX"

Our integration is so that messages can be answered after they arrive within 3cx.

 

[VoIPTools]

It may be possible to initiate outbound conversations over WhatsApp, but not from within 3CX. It simply is not supported... period. I asked 3CX support whether this could change in the future and was told there are no plans at this time to support outbound initiated conversations from 3CX.

 

[Mark Phillips]

It is a 3CX limitation not WhatsApp Business API. Indeed, once you have verified your business in WhatsApp, you are permitted to initiate up to 1000 chats per 24 hours.

 

[pwadmin]

Hello, I would like to see this fucntion to initiate a WhatsApp Chat with external Clients! Only reply on incoming messages limits our business.

 

[N_G]

Its not as simple as that. "Unsolicited" Outbound messages have to be pre approved by Whatsapp/Facebook - its very strict. So we have not unlocked this yet from our product. Definitely we will enable this in a future update via our templates feature, but i dont think you should see Whatsapp as a marketing tool because you will get your Business account blocked by the user or Whatsapp.

 

[Mark Phillips]

I see legitimate use cases where the customer may prefer to receive updates or contact regarding a service via WhatsApp rather than email / phone. I agree that spamming is not the way forward.

 

[pwadmin]

Looking forward! Hope that the update with the mentioned function will be released soon! Thanks for your quick reply

 

[Maschio]

Its not as simple as that. "Unsolicited" Outbound messages have to be pre approved by Whatsapp/Facebook - its very strict. So we have not unlocked this yet from our product. Definitely we will enable this in a future update via our templates feature, but i dont think you should see Whatsapp as a marketing tool because you will get your Business account blocked by the user or Whatsapp.

Same issue with me. Here in Brazil, 99% of people uses WhatsApp as chat tool. The goal its to start a WhatsApp conversation with our actual costumers, not for marketing tool.
Thanks ;-)

 

[Javier A]

We have the same problem here in Paraguay, SMS it's only used for e-banking notifications, an 2 factor Auth. We only use WhatsApp as an all purpose chat tool.
If we need start a conversation with a customer or get back to he/her after the 24 hs period we can't innitate a contact.
Currently we are still using this functionality with another provider that allows message initiation until this feature becomes available.
We were looking forward to unite our channels through 3CX but at the moment this lack of feature is a show stopper.