Welcome Messages

The Welcome Message feature is an integral part of the Conversational Components developed by Meta. It serves the purpose of greeting first-time users with a welcoming message. These Conversational Components are in-chat features designed to enhance user interaction with your business.

Activation Process

Obtain WABA ID

1. Log in to your Gupshup account and select your App name.

2. Within the Settings tab, locate your WABA ID.

   

Enabling the Welcome Message Feature

1. Log in to your Facebook Business Manager account.

2. Navigate to Accounts > WhatsApp accounts and search for your WABA ID.

3. Select the WhatsApp Manager.

   

4. Within the WhatsApp Manager, go to Account tools > Phone numbers and locate the desired phone number.

5. Click on the Settings icon adjacent to your phone number.

6. Proceed to Automations and locate Welcome messages on the right-hand side panel.

7. By default, the feature is disabled. Toggle the switch to enable it.

   

📘

Enabling this feature initiates a process where Meta checks for any prior message threads between the user and your business phone number. If no such thread exists, it activates a messages webhook with type set to request_welcome. This webhook can be utilized to craft and send your personalized welcome message to the user.

Webhook Payload

{
    "app": "<APP_NAME>",
    "phone": "<APP_PHONE_NUMBER>",
    "timestamp": 1712046854895,
    "version": 2,
    "type": "message",
    "payload": {
        "id": "<MESSAGE_ID>",
        "source": "<PHONE_NUMBER>",
        "type": "request_welcome",
        "sender": {
            "phone": "<SENDER_PHONE_NUMBER>",
            "name": "<SENDER_NAME>",
            "country_code": "<SENDER_COUNTRY_CODE>",
            "dial_code": "<SENDER_DIAL_CODE>"
        }
    }
}

Testing

To test out the configured conversational feature, launch the WhatsApp app and initiate a chat with your designated business phone number.

Before proceeding with welcome messages, ensure there's no existing chat thread with the business number by following these steps:

1. Open the existing chat thread in your WhatsApp client.
2. Tap on the profile of the business phone number.
3. Select Clear Chat followed by Clear All Messages.
4. Return to the now empty chat thread.

Once the chat thread is cleared, you can proceed to send a message to the business phone number. This action should trigger the request_welcome webhook, allowing you to evaluate the functionality seamlessly.