Plan requirement
| Subscription | Suite Team or higher |
| Access | Admin |
Four things have to be in place before a WhatsApp channel can be added, and one of them takes days rather than minutes.
What you need
First the subscription. Every Suite plan from Team upwards includes the Social Messaging add-on at no extra cost. Without a Suite you need Support and Chat together with the Social Messaging add-on, so a Support-only account does not get there by buying the add-on alone. Either way the number itself is yours to arrange, and Zendesk hosts it: ask us what that costs for your situation rather than working from a figure you found.
| A phone number not already in use on WhatsApp | Including the ordinary app on somebody's phone. A number registered there has to be removed from it first. |
| A business account with WhatsApp | Connected to your organisation. |
| A verified business profile | This is the slow part. |
| Approved message templates | Only if you intend to message customers first. |
| A number that can take the activation call | The PIN arrives by automated call from a United States number, so the line has to accept US calls, and any IVR has to be out of the way: the call does not press buttons. |
The number question
Decide early. A new number keeps things clean but nobody knows it. Your main number is recognised, and taking it out of the ordinary WhatsApp app means whoever was using it loses that.
A new number, published alongside the main one, disrupts nothing that is already in use.
One consequence catches people out afterwards: once a number is connected for messaging, it can no longer receive calls in WhatsApp. If the number you had in mind is one customers ring, that settles the question for you.
You are not limited to one. Several numbers can run on the same account, with a default ceiling of twenty per WhatsApp business account; beyond that you connect a second business account. Check this before you design a setup per country or per brand.
Verification takes time
Business verification involves documents and a review by Meta. It is not instant and it can be rejected for reasons that need correcting.
Plan for it rather than assuming WhatsApp can be live this afternoon.
Templates before you need them
If you plan to send order updates or appointment reminders, those templates need approval before they can be used. Submitting them at the same time as verification saves waiting twice.
We can take you through this. Tell us which number you want to use and what you want to send, and we will help you get the verification and templates right first time.
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