Based on our experience we recommend connecting & integrating your WhatsApp number via the 360dialog provider, as this integration allows you to connect any phone number, whereas to be able to connect a WhatsApp number via Twilio, your phone number has to be purchased from Twilio directly. The integration via 360dialog is also faster as there are no additional approval processes needed as from Twilio's side. On the other hand, the Twilio option might be cheaper due to the high monthly fee of at least 49€/month for a 360dialog account.
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Related resources:
- WhatsApp integration via Twilio (separate article)
- WhatsApp ticket overview (separate article)
- Twilio WhatsApp integration possible problems (separate article)
To be able to start a new WhatsApp conversation with your customers or reply to customers' messages after 24 hours, you will need to create WhatsApp templates in the Twilio console and in LiveAgent.
Create a WhatsApp template
To create a WhatsApp template login into your Twilio console and search for WhatsApp Senders, then in the left menu access the WhatsApp templates section.
To create a new template please check this Twilio article which explains how to set the templates up on their side. New templates require approval from Twilio.
Once you have the templates and their translations approved by Twilio and Meta you can configure these templates in LiveAgent. Navigate to Configuration > WhatsApp > WhatsApp Numbers, edit the number to which you want to add the template by clicking on it, and click the "Change" button next to the "Message templates" header.
On the next "Message templates" screen, click the "Add" button to add a new template. Copy-paste the name and the message text of the template from the Twilio console into the "Template name" and "Body" fields, and choose the template language.
The template name and the message text (body) of the template must be absolutely identical in both Twilio and LiveAgent, otherwise, you won't be able to use the template.
Create a translation of a template
To create another language translation for an existing WhatsApp template, navigate to Configuration > WhatsApp > WhatsApp Numbers, edit the number to which you want to add the template translation by clicking on it, and click the "Change" button next to the "Message templates" header. In the "Message templates" section, click on the globe icon next to the chosen template. Copy-paste the message text of the template translation from the Twilio console into the "Body" fields, and choose the translation language.
The message text (body) of the template translation must be absolutely identical in both Twilio and LiveAgent, otherwise you won't be able to use the translation.
Edit the template translation
To edit an existing WhatsApp template translation in Liveagent, navigate to Configuration > WhatsApp > WhatsApp Numbers, edit the number of which translation you want to edit by clicking on it, and click the "Change" button next to the "Message templates" header. In the "Message templates" section, click on the language which you want to edit. It still applies that if the translation is changed in LiveAgent, it needs to be changed in Twilio as well.
It is not possible to edit the body of the translation once it's created. To change the message text in the body, it is needed to delete the translation and create a new one.
If there are more translations for a single template, the translation can be deleted from its language window. If there is only a single translation for a template, the translation can deleted from the Message templates section Action column.