WhatsApp Business for companies: the app, the platform and AI agents

The WhatsApp Business app is a free download and, according to Meta, is aimed at small business owners. It works like WhatsApp with added business tools: a business profile with logo, description, opening hours and website, a catalogue to showcase products and services, automated messages, and labels to sort conversations. Among the benefits of its Meta Verified offering, Meta states that up to 10 devices and agents can be linked to the account, so more customers can be answered from the same number.

The WhatsApp Business Platform is a different kind of product. Meta presents it as the way for businesses to communicate with their customers at scale, and its documentation is explicitly aimed at developers: the Cloud API to send and receive messages, APIs to manage accounts, phone numbers and message templates, and webhooks to be notified of incoming messages. On its comparison page, Meta specifies that access requires development resources or working with a business messaging partner.

The two are no longer necessarily mutually exclusive. Meta documents an option known as coexistence, which lets a number already active in the WhatsApp Business app be used with the Cloud API: message history is synchronised between the two, but some features are disabled in the app, such as disappearing messages or creating new broadcast lists, and others do not go through the API, such as group chats, which are not synchronised. This option is set up through the solution that connects to the API; check with that provider whether it offers it before changing numbers.

The app offers three basic automations. The greeting message is sent automatically to new customers when they start a conversation. The away message replies to messages received outside opening hours, to say when the business will be back. Quick replies are shortcuts to saved messages that a person triggers in a few taps to answer common questions.

These tools are helpful, but none of them reads the question. The away message is the same for everyone, whether it is a request for opening hours, a complaint or an order; a quick reply assumes someone is in front of the screen to choose it. They are well suited to a business that receives few messages, handled during the day by a named person.

To get the most out of them, write an away message that genuinely helps the customer: when you reply, how long it will really take you to get back to them, and another way to reach you in an emergency. Use labels to distinguish the conversations to handle first (quotes, complaints, orders in progress), and keep quick replies up to date when your prices or opening hours change.

The WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy sets a starting condition: a business may only contact a person on WhatsApp if that person has given it their mobile phone number or username, and if it has obtained their consent (opt-in) confirming that they wish to receive its messages or calls. It must also respect the wishes of people who block its communications or ask to stop receiving them. The platform documentation adds that, when collecting this opt-in, the business must clearly state that the person is agreeing to receive its communications, as well as the name of the business concerned.

On the platform, everything revolves around the customer service window. When a user messages or calls the business, a 24-hour window opens, and it restarts for another 24 hours with each new message or call from that user. During this time, the business can reply freely. Once the window has closed, it can only send message templates, written in advance, classified in one of the three categories set by Meta (marketing, utility, authentication) and approved before sending.

Some messages sent through the platform are charged by Meta, depending on their category and the recipient’s country, and the rate card changes regularly. Before estimating a budget, consult Meta’s official pricing page at the time of your project rather than a figure taken from an article.

For the platform, the same policy allows replies to be automated during the 24-hour window, on one condition: offering clear, direct and prompt escalation paths. Meta cites several, such as handover to a person in the chat, a phone number, an email address, online support, a store visit or a support form. A system that answers on its own without ever offering a route to a human therefore does not comply with these rules.

In practice, this is prepared before going live. State from the first message that the customer is talking to an automated assistant and what it can do. Provide a simple way to ask for a person, and decide who receives the alert, on which device and within what timeframe. Show in your profile the hours during which a person replies, so customers know what to expect in the evening or at the weekend.

Customer service on WhatsApp also means dealing with cases that are not suited to it: sensitive information, disputes, requests that require supporting documents. For these, the right answer is often to switch to another channel, telling the customer so clearly.

An AI agent does not replace the app’s automations; it does something else: it reads the message, looks for the answer in the information the business has provided, asks a follow-up question if needed, takes down contact details or offers a slot. It becomes useful when messages are numerous and varied but often cover the same topics (opening hours, service area, services, availability), when a share of them arrive outside opening hours, or when each request needs to be qualified before a person calls back.

On the other hand, it adds little if the business receives a few messages a week, or if every exchange calls for case-by-case assessment. Meta also offers its own agent, Meta Business Agent, which is set up in the WhatsApp Business app, learns from the business’s content (website, catalogue, Facebook Page) and lets you define when the chat should be handed over to a person; Meta presents it as available to eligible businesses in certain markets, which means checking whether it is available in France. Other solutions connect to the platform.

Whatever the tool, ask four questions before choosing: where do the answers come from, what does the agent do when it does not know, how does a person take over the conversation, and where are the conversations stored? Alyas, for example, answers your website visitors through a widget and, once your accounts are connected from your dashboard (subject to these accounts’ permissions and availability validation), on WhatsApp and Messenger, using the information you give it; when a request needs to go to a person, the conversation is flagged and your team is alerted by email.