Client Handbook

Clickatell, WhatsApp Business Solution Provider (BSP)

©2019 Clickatell. All rights reserved. 1

 Contents
Getting Started.................................................................................................................. 2
Introduction to WhatsApp Business Solution .......................................................... 3
Types of WhatsApp Applications and Programs ...................................................... 4
Program Qualifications for the WhatsApp Business Solution .............................. 5
Vertical Guide .................................................................................................................... 6
OFF
WhatsApp Business Solution - Use Case Qualifications ....................................... 7
ON
Getting Started with WhatsApp Business Account ......................................... 9
Creating Your Program ............................................................................................... 10
WhatsApp Business Solution – Requirements .................................................... 11
WhatsApp Business Quality Best Practices .......................................................... 19
Best Practices for Marketing and PR Campaigns ............................................... 22
Brand Guidelines for Campaigns .............................................................................. 23
Out of channel campaigns (Driving Channel Growth) ........................................ 26
Approval Process for Drafted Press Releases: ...................................................... 30
Frequently Asked Questions: .................................................................................... 30
Addendum: .................................................................................................................... 31
©2019 Clickatell. All rights reserved. 1
Getting Started
You’re receiving this client handbook after showing interest in
Clickatell’s WhatsApp Business Solution. Our WhatsApp Business
Solution is designed to enable businesses to chat with consumers
via WhatsApp.

Why Clickatell
Clickatell is a WhatsApp BSP (Business Solution Provider) and will
facilitate your company’s onboarding process with WhatsApp, as
well as help you launch programs within the channel. We’ll also help
to ensure that you comply with the WhatsApp brand requirements
and experience a smooth approval process for your programs.

Important:
Read this guidebook in its entirety. It’s important to understand how WhatsApp provides a channel
for business communication with consumers. Usage of the WhatsApp Business solution needs to
be structured and tailored specifically around customer care and two-way communication between
brands and consumers.

©2019 Clickatell. All rights reserved. 2

 Introduction to WhatsApp
Business Solution
The WhatsApp Business Solution is designed for enterprises
who wish to engage with their mobile customers via the popular
WhatsApp chat channel. The WhatsApp Business Solution supports
popular WhatsApp features along with additional capabilities which
allow it to be deployed on a server and reliably interact with other
communication and business systems as well as scale to support
the changing digital needs of larger brands.

Important:
The WhatsApp Business solution has moved into a post-beta phase and some of the manual processes still
need to be enhanced and automated.

©2019 Clickatell. All rights reserved. 3

Types of WhatsApp Applications and Programs
1 billion people

180 Countries

WhatsApp
More than 1 billion people in over 180 countries use WhatsApp to stay in touch with friends and family- anytime and anywhere.

WhatsApp is free and offers simple, secure, and reliable messaging and calling, and is available on phones all over the world.

WhatsApp Business App

The WhatsApp Business app is a free downloadable app and was built with the small business owner in mind.

Using the app, small businesses can interact with customers easily by using tools to automate, sort, and quickly respond to
messages.

WhatsApp Business Solution

For medium and large businesses, the WhatsApp Business Solution powers your communication with customers.

Using Clickatell’s One API, larger brands can integrate with other enterprise systems to provide a richer set of digital
communication experiences, using a single API.

©2019 Clickatell. All rights reserved. 4

Program Qualifications for the WhatsApp Business
Solution
WhatsApp requires a review of all business applications. All applications must comply with its Business TOS, and its Commerce
and Business policies to ensure that they can be onboarded onto the WhatsApp network.

Important:
The WhatsApp Business Solution may not be used to send messages to or from the following countries and
regions: Crimea, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Syria.

Their Commerce Policy will affect businesses in the following ways:

May be onboarded ONLY following WhatsApp’s explicit direction
Businesses in these industries are only being onboarded with limited availability and testing led by WhatsApp. At
this time, BSPs may not onboard businesses in these industries without specific direction from WhatsApp.

May be onboarded, pending additional review and screening

Businesses in these industries need to undergo additional checks that require the BSP and/or end-client to take
additional steps beyond the standard onboarding process.

May be onboarded, but additional review/exclusions may apply

Businesses in these industries may be onboarded subject to our review against all relevant policies.

©2019 Clickatell. All rights reserved. 5

 Vertical Guide
For illustrative purpose only, require onboarding check for final decision

May not be onboarded

Business that have their sole or primary business in these verticals will
May be onboarded, generally not be onboarded onto the platform
but additional
May be onboarded review, screening
Misleading,
and exclusions
Currency, Medical and deceptive,
apply
trademark and healthcare fraudulent or Other
illegal products products offensive offers and
products

• Retail • Approval • Real, virtual, and • Medical devices • Misleading • Animals,

• Ecommerce pending fake currency • Medical financial weapons,
• Financial additional • 3rd party healthcare categories gambling,
services review/ infringement services including P2P dating,
• Insurance screening: • Illegal products • Drugs and lending, debt supplements,
• Travel • Digital and services pharmaceuticals collection, tobacco, adult
• Logistics subscriptions • Bodily fluids short-term products
• Telco • News publishers loans and services,
• Approval only alcohol
by explicit
WhatsApp
direction:
• Fact checkers
• Governments

©2019 Clickatell. All rights reserved. 6

WhatsApp Business Solution
- Use Case Qualifications
Do’s
Business-initiated conversations
Consumers can sign up to receive time-sensitive, urgent alerts like flight status
changes, or informational notifications like shipping order updates. These are known
as business-initiated conversations and they require template messages.

Customer-initiated conversations
Consumers can reach out to your business on WhatsApp. This will initiate a 24-hour
conversation session. A business may then send non-template messages (plain text,
rich text, media) to the consumer as a response, only during this 24-hour window.
Typical use cases for customer-initiated conversations are customer support, status
update enquiries, or chat banking.

Re-engagement conversations
Messages sent from a business to a consumer for the first time, or more than 24
hours after the consumer last messaged the business, are known as “Re-Engagement
conversations”. This is a variation of the business-initiated conversation. All such
messages are required to make use of a template message. Typical use cases for
re-engagement conversations include status updates on support tickets after more
than 24 hours of enquiry by the consumer, or confirmations of issue resolution after
24 hours.

©2019 Clickatell. All rights reserved. 7

Don’ts
The WhatsApp Business Solution is not designed for the following use cases:
• Promoting and advertising your consumer brand and associated products.
• Sales or promotional messaging.
• Blasting messages out to customers, whether they have opted in or not.
• Time-bound messages – for example, ‘For a limited time only…’, or ‘Starting from
December…’.
• Verbiage or wording in your chat journey that violates the WhatsApp Commerce
Policy. Examples include words like ‘Free’, ‘Special’, ‘Extra value’, and ‘On sale’.

Never offer incentives of any kind for user engagement.

• You cannot incentivize the user by offering a service or discount for the user
engagement.

WhatsApp may not be used to do surveys, polls, measurement, and fact-checking

of any kind. Fact-checking can however be approved following explicit permission
by WhatsApp.
• Use another channel, not WhatsApp, to ask your customers to answer questions.

©2019 Clickatell. All rights reserved. 8

Getting Started
with your WhatsApp
Business Account

©2019 Clickatell. All rights reserved. 9

Creating Your Program
Business Use Cases and Key Elements of a Successful WhatsApp Program
Using WhatsApp will significantly enhance your ability to connect with your customers through real-time communications.
Below are some guidelines and samples of customer care and notification use cases.

Item Customer Care Use Case Notification Use Case

Definition Consumer-initiated conversations Business-initiated messages based
enabling businesses to provide support on the transactional triggers set up by
via WhatsApp consumers with explicit opt-in consent
Messaging Type Conversational Informational
Opt-In Not required Requires explicit/active opt-in
completed out-of-channel
Opt-Out Required, and can occur via a different Required, and can occur via a different
channel channel
Consumer Consent Method –ONLY if the consumer initiates the Explicit written consent – Consumers
message exchange and the business should give express written permission
responds to each consumer with before a business sends them a
relevant information, then no verbal or message. Consumers may sign a form,
written permission is expected check a box online, or otherwise provide
consent to receive notifications
Messaging Initiated by First message is sent by the consumer First message is sent by the business
Message Content Format Text, rich text, rich media Text, rich text
Pre-approved Message Templates Not required Required
Typical Use cases Support, Chat banking Flight alerts or shipping updates
©2019 Clickatell. All rights reserved. 10
WhatsApp Business Solution – Requirements
1. Name Requirements
Creating business names
A business name must be representative of the business or organization.

Rules for creating a business name

In order to be eligible for an “official business account,” business names can’t include:
• All capital letters, except for acronyms. Only the first letter of each word can
be capitalized, conjunctions may not be capitalized. For example:
 Correct: Sweet Treats or Tammy’s Burritos and Tacos
 Incorrect: SWEET TREATS* or Tammy’s Burritos And Tacos
• Any extra spaces between words. Business names must use single spacing.
• Unnecessary punctuation
• Emojis
• Symbols (example: ®)
• Consecutive non-alphanumeric characters (characters which are neither numbers nor letters)
• Any of these special characters: ~!@#$%^&*()_+:;”’{}[]\|<>,/?
• Any variation of the word “WhatsApp”. Learn more about the WhatsApp Brand Guidelines here.

Also, business names can’t consist of only:

• A person’s full name
• A generic term (example: Fashion)
• A generic geographic location (example: New York)
• Less than three characters

©2019 Clickatell. All rights reserved. 11

2. Phone Number Requirements
Picking a Phone Number
A business must use a valid phone number. Short codes are not allowed on the WhatsApp platform. Land lines are
acceptable phone numbers to use. The number must include a country and area code. Since a phone number is
connected to a WhatsApp account, you must own this number. The phone number does not need to receive calls
or SMS messages, except for during the registration process when you’ll be required to verify the number. It may
also not have been used on the WhatsApp network before.

1-800 and Toll-Free Numbers

Many businesses want to use a phone number their customers already know such as their 1-800 or other toll-free
number. These types of numbers are usually behind an IVR, which a WhatsApp verification call cannot navigate.
Instead, WhatsApp can share with you 1 to 2 phone numbers that the verification phone call will come from. Your
business can then use this information to create a whitelist for those numbers so that once the call comes in, it can
be redirected to an employee or mailbox where the registration code will be captured.

IMPORTANT
Key things to consider when choosing a number: In certain markets, toll-free numbers are not supported.
In South Africa, 0800 numbers do not work and should not be selected.

Migrating a Phone Number

A phone number already active on the WhatsApp network cannot be migrated and your business will need to
pick a different phone number. However, you can use a phone number that is already registered for the Android or
iPhone versions of the WhatsApp Business Application for small businesses. You will however need to delete the
WhatsApp account associated with that phone number. Any incoming messages during this time will be queued
by the WhatsApp servers, and delivered upon successful registration.

©2019 Clickatell. All rights reserved. 12

3. Message Template Requirements
About Template Messages
A Template Message (also known as a Highly Structured Messages) is a special message 09:37

type for business-initiated and re-engagement conversations. Businesses can register Banking USA
2
Online
content for their most commonly used messages and simply send the relevant variable
parameters instead of recreating the entire message during the API call each time it is Today
used. It should be a string of no more than 1024 characters.
Banking USA
For the consumers who receive a notification message from your verified business for the Hi Andrew. How can we help you
today?
first time, and do not have the business number saved as a contact in their phone book, 9:35

the WhatsApp application will recognize the registered template and display the message I lost my bank card. 9:35

without any warnings. This will reduce the likelihood of your messages being marked as
Banking USA
spam by the consumer. Sorry to hear. We have two cards on
record. Which one should we stop?
Applying for Message Templates 9:35

When creating a new message template, business must follow the below best practices: 5949 xxxx xxxx 9004. 9:35

• Template name: Unique name to identify the template use case for the business. Banking USA
It should be all in lower case, with no spaces. You can use underscore to indicate a One moment please... 9:35

space.
• Template parameters: A Template Message will contain at least one parameter,
and all message formatting options will apply. Parameters cannot have new line/tab
characters or more than 4 consecutive spaces.
Example Welcome Template:
Clickatell_Welcome_message: “ Hello {{1}}. This is a demo welcome message from {{2}}”

©2019 Clickatell. All rights reserved. 13

 Business Message Template Rejections
If your template(s) have been rejected, it may have been for one of the following reasons:

1. Template(s) may be considered to be promotional

09:37
• Advertising, marketing or promotional messages are not permitted.
Banking USA
2
Online • Offering coupon codes and/or free gifts
• Upselling
Today
For example: “Here is your boarding pass, with seat assignment and gate
Banking USA information. If you would like to save 10% on your in-flight dinner, order your meal
30% off your next flight when you through our app.”
use your FutureBank credit card!
Promo code: 30FLIGHTFB 9:35 • Cold call messages
For example: “Is now a good time to talk?”, “Thank you for your interest, can we
speak now?”, “I tried contacting you but you weren’t available. When are you free?”,
etc.
• Sending a survey or poll to collect data
For example: “Hi, we’re interested in knowing how you feel about certain food
groups. Do you mind participating in a survey?”
• Inclusion of certain words or phrases that make the message template promotional
(even though the content of your template may be fine)
Tip: Think about how your template sounds when you read it out aloud.

2. Template has floating parameters

• Just parameters and no text
For example: “Hello {{1}}”, “{{1}} – {{2}}”
• It is important to surround the parameters with contextual text so it’s clear what
will be inserted for the parameters.

©2019 Clickatell. All rights reserved. 14

3. Formatting is incorrect
• Message templates containing spelling mistakes will be rejected.

4. Message Templates contain potentially abusive or threatening content 09:37

• Templates that threaten customers with a legal course of action will be rejected. 2 Banking USA
Online

• Templates that threaten to add customers to a WhatsApp group with their

Today
friends and family to shame them if they don’t pay back their loans will be rejected.
Banking USA
Minimum payment due by 30/12/2-
Additional guidelines to help accelerate the Message Template approval 19. failure to comply will result in
process: legal action adn notific-
ation off friends and family. 9:35
• Make your message template name clear. Instead of using a name like
“template_014,” use “order_update”.
• Remember that someone outside of your business will be reviewing your
templates. Providing more clarity gives reviewers context around how the
template will be used.
If you need to write a message template to re-open the 24-hour window, we
would suggest starting with some mention of the previous conversation thread.
For example: “I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to respond to your concerns yesterday
but I’m happy to assist you now. If you’d like to continue this discussion, please
reply with ‘yes’.” or “I was able to do some follow-up based on our previous
conversation, and I’ve found the answer to your question about our refund policy.
If you’d like to continue our conversation, please say ‘yes’.”

©2019 Clickatell. All rights reserved. 15

4. Messaging Limits Requirements
All business phone numbers are enforced with daily message limits for Template Messages once successfully registered for
WhatsApp Business Solution. This will impact your roll-out plan, so please take special note of the various Limit Tiers listed
below, and the upgrade mechanism implemented by WhatsApp.

Tier 1: Allows your business to send Tier 2: Allows your business to send Tier 3: Allows your business to send
messages to 1K unique customers in a messages to 10K unique customers in a messages to 100K unique customers in a
rolling 24-hour period. rolling 24-hour period. rolling 24-hour period

Businesses start with Messaging Limit Tier 1 and will be Below is an example illustrating the upgrade from one Messaging Limit
Tier to the next:
upgraded to the next tier if:
• The business maintains high conversation and
messaging quality
• The cumulative number of users it sends notifications
to adds up to twice its current messaging limit
within a 7-day period. Once the business reaches
this threshold, it will be moved to the next tier. The
minimum amount of time in which this upgrade can
occur is 48 hours, when the business is sending
messages up to their current limit every day.

©2019 Clickatell. All rights reserved. 16

5. Opt-In and Opt-Out Requirements
Before a business can start sending notification messages on WhatsApp, it must
receive consent from the consumer to communicate on this channel via an explicit
opt-in process triggered on a non-WhatsApp channel. Acceptable non-WhatsApp
channels for opt-in include methods like email, SMS, website, app, and retail location.

Opt-In Methods and Guidelines

There are several ways in which you can engage with the consumers and invite them
to opt into the WhatsApp channel for business messaging.
1. Web Page/Mobile App Opt-In:
With this method, the consumer is presented with an opportunity to
opt-in to receive messages on WhatsApp on the business website
– like a homepage or special landing webpage (logged-out state), or
consumer profile page (logged-in state). At a minimum, the business
must implement the following on their web properties (e.g., website
and mobile app):
• Program information: The type of information related to the flow
• Channel information: Include the logo and name for the channel
• Phone number information: Explicit mention of the phone
number to be opted in, editable text box
• Visual element: Checkbox or similar next to WhatsApp name
and logo. This cannot be a single checkbox across multiple
channels.

©2019 Clickatell. All rights reserved. 17

2. SMS Opt-In:
Here, the business initiates an opt-in request for the WhatsApp channel using SMS messaging. This SMS message
should clearly indicate the program information and instructions to complete the opt-in.
Website-redirect:
• The business can send an SMS to the consumer redirecting them to an opt-in web page
• The opt-in form must include all the above elements for compliance

SMS double opt-in:

• The business can also request the consumer to reply with a consent keyword like “Yes”
• The consumer replies to the SMS with “Yes” to confirm opt-in

3. Email Opt-In:
If you are interested in an email campaign, your business can contact consumers with details of the newly available
WhatsApp channel and include a clear call to action on the available opt-in methods like website or SMS.

Opt-in methods are not limited to the list above and can be defined per the business process with sufficient
compliance. www.clickatell.com | 18

4. Opt-Out Methods and Guidelines

Consumers can elect to opt-out of receiving messages from your business on a non-
WhatsApp channel. Opt-out requests from the consumer must be respected, and
they must be removed from the list with no further attempts to send any messages in
the future. OFF

ON

©2019 Clickatell. All rights reserved. 18

WhatsApp Business Quality Best Practices
The success of business messaging is largely attributed to the creation of a safe, trusted, and convenient
environment for the end users while protecting them from any unwanted communication from the business.

Overall Business Program Quality

WhatsApp actively monitors and updates business quality ratings based on consumer feedback, messaging trends,
and other factors which could result in a bad channel experience.

Messaging Quality Rating

WhatsApp determines a quality rating based on how your business messages have been received by your customers
in a rolling window of the past 24 hours. There are 3 states of messaging quality: High, Medium, and Low.

Business Quality Status

Based on the messaging quality rating trends, WhatsApp determines a business quality status for each active
business phone number. It is important to maintain a high messaging quality in order to ensure a “Connected”
business quality status at all times.

Below are the details for the various business quality statuses:
Flagged
◦ Messaging quality is determined to be low
◦ Messaging quality will be monitored closely for an additional 7 days, and the business is required to
maintain high or medium messaging quality
◦ If the messaging quality rating does not improve, lower message limits will be imposed on the business
phone number for notification messages
◦ Businesses will be able to respond to user-initiated messages within the 24-hour customer care
window.

©2019 Clickatell. All rights reserved. 19

 Restricted
◦ Phone numbers that reach their messaging limit are moved to a ‘Restricted’ status
◦ The business phone number will not be able to send notification messages until the 24-hour restricted window is reset
◦ Businesses will however still be able to respond to user-initiated messages within the 24-hour customer care
window.
Conversation Quality
Provide timely responses to your users. Not responding will create a bad user experience. For example, in the case of a live
agent hand-off, it is recommended that you send an automated message with acknowledgement and an estimated response
time of when the agent can assist.
• Ensure complete and thorough responses to users
◦ Reduce the chattiness of the conversation and focus on making it more interactive instead of sending lots of
messages
• Do not send the same message to the same user again if they have not responded
• Do not send excessively long messages as it may appear as spam to the user
• Personalized messages are preferred over canned messages (like auto responses) to increase adoption and engagement
• Ensure that the messages have correct formatting and language expected by the user
• Always try to stay on topic and do not send unwanted or irrelevant messages
◦ Don’t send messages about products or services unrelated to the original request
◦ Avoid excessive use of emoticons and URLs
• Do not send duplicate notifications to a user on multiple channels

Business Profile Management

• A business name must be representative of the business or organization
• Maintain a WhatsApp business profile with customer support contact information, including one or more of the
following: email address, website address, and telephone number
• All information should be up to date

©2019 Clickatell. All rights reserved. 20

Know your customer / Identify your customer (Authentication)
It’s important that you ensure that you are only speaking to customers who have opted in to receive communications from the
channel. In order to achieve this and other good principles around creating good customer chat journeys, we need to ensure
that the conversational flow and structure of a conversation is carefully laid out and planned.

For example:
In a banking environment, if a user saves the phone number of the bank brand in their contact
list when they first engage with the brand, it is prudent that the customer is recognized in
that conversation by the bank. This is achieved by the bank correctly authenticating the
user by checking to see if the user is an existing or new customer to the brand.

In the following customer journey, the financial services company, Absa, automatically
addressed its customer by their first and last name. This is an excellent example of customer
authentication and verification, as well as a rich chat experience for the consumer.

Protect your Customer

• An end user must have actively opted-in or initiated a conversation with your Business to start receiving messages
• Do not provide or request sensitive information in the chat. Sensitive information includes, but is not limited to:
◦ Credit card numbers
◦ Social security, passport or other government issued identification numbers
◦ Login credentials and passwords
• You must respect all requests to block, discontinue, or otherwise opt-out of communications from your business on the
specified channel. If a user communicates an opt-out to you, you must update your contact list to remove that user and
may not send (or attempt to send) any further messages to that user using that business channel.

©2019 Clickatell. All rights reserved. 21

Best Practices for
Marketing and PR
Campaigns

©2019 Clickatell. All rights reserved. 22

Brand Guidelines for Campaigns
Approval Process
WhatsApp prefers to receive a business package which includes all possible aspects of omnichannel campaigns for reviews, rather than
receiving piece meal information. It is quicker for WhatsApp cross functional teams to review and respond when provided full views of
campaigns. Google AdWords would be an exception, as would video transcripts and storyboards. These can be sent individually ahead
of time.

Clickatell’s Role as Business Solution Provider

Clickatell is a strategic launch partner for your WhatsApp programs and for approvals by WhatsApp. Your positioning and messaging need
to be clear and acceptable to WhatsApp, as it is their intellectual property being showcased. Plan your successful marketing campaigns
with Clickatell by following these steps:
1. It is required to review the WhatsApp Brand Guidelines: https://whatsappbrand.com. Also, the WhatsApp Customer Stories are
helpful examples of successful WhatsApp branded campaigns: https://www.whatsapp.com/business/customer-stories.
2. Request the Marketing Campaign brief from your Clickatell account manager and send the completed brief to
pr@clickatell.com. Clickatell PR will set up a conference call with you to discuss the campaign and make recommendations if
necessary.
3. Once your campaign is set, send all marketing and PR material and assets to pr@clickatell.com to obtain Clickatell and WhatsApp
approvals.
4. Turnaround time for marketing collateral is typically 1 to 2 weeks. To be safe, WhatsApp requests materials to be submitted at least 3
to 4 weeks prior to your launch date.
5. Once approval is provided by WhatsApp, no changes can be made to the assets. If a change is made, the asset must be resubmitted.

Important:
It is required to review the WhatsApp Brand Guidelines: https://whatsappbrand.com. Your positioning and
messaging need to be clear and acceptable to WhatsApp, as its intellectual property is being showcased.

©2019 Clickatell. All rights reserved. 23

Rollout Strategy – Phased Approach
WhatsApp requests brands to scale their programs for their customer base, as there are quality ratings and rate limits, and they
want to ensure brand protection and a good user experience in the chat journeys. With a phased approach, you can identify
and resolve quality, chat flow, or potential technical issues as they arise.

This rollout strategy below is not required but highly recommended:

Phase Phase Phase

1 2 3

We strongly recommend that you Once this is done, roll out to 1-5% From there, you can periodically
start sending and receiving messages of your users and make sure that any increase the rollout to 10%, 25%,
with internal employees first to check technical issues are fixed. 50%, 75%, and then 100% of your
that the system is working and to user base.
prevent negative experiences for your
customers.

Also, a campaign can be broken down into geographic regions or by age or socio demographics.
• Campaign AA
◦ Campaign AA.1 ◦ Campaign AA.2
> Target customers from ages 19 -24 > Target customers form ages 25 to 50
> Channels: Twitter, Facebook > Channels: Email, SMS

©2019 Clickatell. All rights reserved. 24

Out-of-channel Customer Journey
Messaging
Your messaging should be simple and should promote your WhatsApp
Business channel in a clear way, staying true to the customer care
narrative.

Examples:
• Come say Hi to us on WhatsApp
• See how we deliver amazing customer service by adding
+2712345678 and saying “Hi” on WhatsApp
• We are also on WhatsApp for Business, please add +12345678 as
a WhatsApp contact for customer service help.

©2019 Clickatell. All rights reserved. 25

Out-of-channel campaigns
(Driving Channel Growth)
A brand may promote their WhatsApp for Business program out-of-
channel (not in WhatsApp). This must be done in the true nature and spirit
of the program and what it is designed for.

The main use cases supported are around customer care and therefore
out-of-channel messaging should be around customer care and
notifications.

As all campaigns are subject to WhatsApp and in some cases the Facebook
Marketing and PR team, the following best practices should be noted:
• Do not use WhatsApp in a promotional way or incentivize the channel
with prizes and competitions
• Promotional offers and discounts should be avoided in your
messaging when WhatsApp is being mentioned
• Within their branding (and their associated promos), there needs to
be a clear separation of products from WhatsApp Business Solution
which is about giving customers a channel for customer care and
engagement in the approved use cases for your business.
WhatsApp cannot be used as an adjective like “WhatsApp Banking”.

Here are examples of allowed call to action messages via SMS, email or
web pages.

©2019 Clickatell. All rights reserved. 26

 Content Call to Action (CTA)
Allowed examples:
• Say hi to BRANDX on WhatsApp for customer care.
Channel
• Chat to BRANDX on WhatsApp for a new customer care experience.
SMS, email, or web page
• Message BRANDX on WhatsApp for a new customer care experience.
content messaging
• Did you know that BRANDX has launched a WhatsApp customer care channel
where you can get product & service support via messaging?
• Message BRANDX on WhatsApp.

Video
You can submit large video files for review in the following ways:
• YouTube, Vimeo or 3rd party video platform via provider link.
• Raw video file for viewing (.mp4) via a Dropbox or WeTransfer link.
• If you submit a video ahead of time, WhatsApp prefers voice over (for context) for demonstrating the channel
experience and journey versus no voice over or no captioning.
• Final video approvals usually take 1 to 2 weeks. However, it’s best to share video scripts or storyboards with
WhatsApp ahead of time (40 to 60 days prior to launch) to receive early feedback before incurring expenses
on video shooting/production.
• Transcripts are okay (Word docx, Google doc, etc.)
• A quick story board is okay too. PDF file formats are preferred, as are PowerPoint slides (.pptx) wireframes.
Here is an example by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines using the WhatsApp brand in an acceptable use case. Please not
this video has no voice over sound: https://news.klm.com/klm-launches-family-updates-on-whatsapp/

©2019 Clickatell. All rights reserved. 27

Radio/Podcast Click to Chat Button
• You need to provide transcripts for review. Brands can also make use of the Click to Chat
button. For more details, see guidelines here:
Digital and Social Media – https://faq.whatsapp.com/en/android/26000030/
Web, Facebook post, email, or
Twitter Promoting with a QR Code
If you want to promote your brand via QR code,
• Text is fine for approvals unless the text is
here is an example below of how to implement.
accompanied by graphics or rich media.
Where graphics or rich media accompany
Press Materials
the text, include screenshots or place them
Follow these guidelines for external
in a doc to show placement context.
communications that reference WhatsApp.
• For web landing pages and microsites,
This includes but is not limited to press releases,
screenshots are acceptable. Some
blog posts, case studies, social media posts,
businesses use Adobe’s InVision for
infographics, etc.
collecting feedback throughout the design/
copy development process. Reference: Suggested WhatsApp Messaging includes:
https://www.invisionapp.com/ • WhatsApp is a simple, reliable, and private
way to talk to anyone in the world.
Web Page Example
• More than 1.5 billion people in over 180
If you’re going to promote your WhatsApp channel
countries use WhatsApp to stay in touch with
on a web page, be concise and use minimal text
friends, family and businesses - anytime and
to showcase the expected user experience (chat
anywhere.
menus, for example).
• Customers want to connect with businesses
in the same way they chat with their friends
and family – with fast, simple, and convenient
messaging.
©2019 Clickatell. All rights reserved. 28
Your communication materials should address: Statistics:
• How your business helps customers. • You are welcome to share details about how many
• Why it makes sense to use WhatsApp to communicate conversations your business is having and how many
with your customers. customers your business is connecting with over
• How customers opt in to receive messages from your WhatsApp.
business. • Statistics about WhatsApp should only be sourced from
• What positive outcomes you have seen. the WhatsApp website: https://www.whatsapp.com
Messaging themes should include: • WhatsApp’s most recent earnings report may also be
• How you connect with your customers on WhatsApp. quoted: https://investor.fb.com. Do not, however, include
• How your business is using WhatsApp. estimations or projections about the WhatsApp usage
• Why it makes sense for your business to use WhatsApp process.
to communicate with customers.
• How businesses must get opt-in from their customers.
• How interested companies can work with you.
Messaging not to use: 09:37

• Do not use the word ‘Partner’. 2 Banking USA

Online
• Do not use the phrase ‘Service Provider’.
• Do not refer to yourself as an extension of WhatsApp Today
Business.
• Don’t combine the WhatsApp name or logos or any Banking USA
Hi Andrew. How can we help you
portion of them with any other logo, company name, today? 9:35
mark, or generic terms.
I lost my bank card. 9:35
• Don’t make WhatsApp the most distinctive or prominent
feature of your materials. Banking USA
Sorry to hear. We have two cards on
record. Which one should we stop?
9:35

5949 xxxx©2019
xxxx 9004.
Clickatell.
9:35 All rights reserved. 29
Approval Process for Drafted
Press Releases:
• Send drafts of any public-facing materials to pr@clickatell.com.
• The Clickatell team will provide edits and/or approval within one week. When it’s
ready to go to the WhatsApp team, we will facilitate approvals. The WhatsApp
team will usually respond within one week.
• Please share a press plan (timing of announcement, media targets, etc. if
appropriate)
• Materials cannot be distributed without written approval from the WhatsApp
team.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: When should we issue our public announcement?
A: You are welcome to distribute your public facing materials when you are using
WhatsApp Business externally and once you have received written approval from
WhatsApp.
Q: Can I conduct press interviews as part of my announcement?
A: Yes, if agreed upon with WhatsApp in advance.
Q: Where do I send WhatsApp media enquiries?
A: Please direct all WhatsApp media enquiries to press press@whatsapp.com

©2019 Clickatell. All rights reserved. 30

Addendum
Also the Covid19 addendum
document is now available at:
Clickatell Guide to Launching
Covid19 Programs on
WhatsApp

©2019 Clickatell. All rights reserved. 31

 clickatell.com

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