Glossary · messaging-automation
What is WhatsApp Business API?
The WhatsApp Business API, now officially called the WhatsApp Business Platform, is Meta's version of WhatsApp for businesses that need more than one phone can handle. Unlike the free WhatsApp Business app, it has no app of its own: you connect a number through Meta directly or through a provider, and use their inbox or software. It allows many agents on one number, chatbots, automated replies triggered by events, integration with a CRM or store, and messaging customers who opted in using approved templates. Conversations are paid for under Meta's pricing, which varies by country and message type. A number moved to the API generally cannot be used in the normal app at the same time.
What does WhatsApp Business API mean for a business in Pakistan?
For a Pakistani business doing a few dozen chats a day, the free Business app is usually enough. The API starts to make sense for e-commerce stores sending order confirmations and COD verification, schools messaging parents, or clinics with several receptionists answering one number.
A worked example
Imagine an online store in Islamabad confirming 150 COD orders a day by hand. On the API, each order triggers an approved template — 'Your order of 2 items is ready. Reply 1 to confirm, 2 to cancel' — and only the replies needing a human reach the team's shared inbox.
Terms that go with this one
These come up in the same conversations and are worth reading together.
- Template messagetemplate messageA template message is a pre-written WhatsApp message that Meta has approved for a business to send through the WhatsApp Business Platform, mainly to…
- Opt-inijazat lenaAn opt-in is a customer's clear permission to receive messages from a business on a particular channel — WhatsApp, email or SMS. It should be…
- 24-hour customer service window24 ghante wali windowThe customer service window is the 24-hour period that opens on the WhatsApp Business Platform each time a customer sends a business a message.…
- Chatbot handoverbot se insaan takChatbot handover, also called human handoff, is the moment a chatbot stops answering and passes the conversation to a person, ideally with the full…
- Broadcast listbroadcastA broadcast list is a WhatsApp feature that sends one message to many contacts at once, with each recipient receiving it as a private one-to-one chat…
WhatsApp Business API — quick answers
What does WhatsApp Business API mean?
The WhatsApp Business API, now officially called the WhatsApp Business Platform, is Meta's version of WhatsApp for businesses that need more than one phone can handle. Unlike the free WhatsApp Business app, it has no app of its own: you connect a number through Meta directly or through a provider, and use their inbox or software.
WhatsApp Business API ko Urdu mein kya kehte hain?
واٹس ایپ بزنس اے پی آئی — though in practice almost everyone in Pakistan says "WhatsApp API". For a Pakistani business doing a few dozen chats a day, the free Business app is usually enough.
Why does WhatsApp Business API matter for a business in Pakistan?
For a Pakistani business doing a few dozen chats a day, the free Business app is usually enough. The API starts to make sense for e-commerce stores sending order confirmations and COD verification, schools messaging parents, or clinics with several receptionists answering one number.
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