WhatsApp Business Rules and Regulations

WhatsApp Business Rules is the foundamentals of something that makes your life so much easier on a daily basis that is called WhatsApp. Salesforce users that are about to implement WhatsApp Business in their organization should have in mind that as of 2021 WhatsApp has more than 2 billion users, with over 100 billion messages exchanged daily on WhatsApp, the application is used in over 180 countries, and is statistically the most popular application in 155 of these countries. Knowing all that we can start considering implementing WhatsApp Business in Salesforce as a way of communication.

We understand that implementing a texting solution can be a very complex process. And that this requires finding a trusted third-party provider, getting it in line with your developers’ team, ensuring a budget approval, and clearing out any legal hurdles. We are honoured that VaueText has been named one of the best apps in Salesforce by Cybernews.

Despite all the obstacles with the release of WhatsApp Business, this is a perfect opportunity for you to meet your customers where they are by using an app that is already part of their everyday lives. In this article, we will cover the most important things to implement WhatsApp Business in Salesforce, and how to get started.

Getting Started with WhatsApp Business in Salesforce

WhatsApp LLC is the entity that is providing you with WhatsApp Business Services unless you are located in a country in the European Economic Area and in any other country or territory included in the “European Region”, in which case WhatsApp Ireland Limited will be the contracting entity providing you with their Business Services.

Actually, WhatsApp Business is a cloud-based API that reduces the need for ongoing developer resources and the time to deploy. With ValueText you can have a very quick and easy sign-up, allowing you to receive and respond to your customer’s inbound messages immediately through a user-friendly dashboard. Additionally, at ValueText you can organize, keep track of your messages, and respond to your customers using our Converse Inbox View, which is similar to your email inbox with the difference that your emails will get a 25% open rate compared to 95% for text messages.

While having the opportunity to engage with your customers who have clicked on your website, ads, and help center right away. This type of communication will help your Salesforce users to provide your customers with a better journey while using/purchasing your product.

For those of you using ValueText, we recommend not overlooking simple security precautions such as using a VPN for your WhatsApp, which will not only safeguard you but also allow you to use it even in countries where it is prohibited. Here is an article on the best VPNs for WhatsApp in 2022.

WhatsApp Business Rules to comply with in Salesforce

WhatsApp Business Policy

Quality Experience

Your WhatsApp Business profile needs to include:

• customer support contact information and at least one of the following: website address, email address, and/or phone number.
• you have to keep all the information accurate and up-to-date.
• you must not mislead customers as to the nature of the business.

Your business can only reach out to people on WhatsApp only if: (1) they have provided you with their phone number; and (2) they have given consent to be contacted by your business over WhatsApp. A business must not deceive, confuse, defraud, spam, mislead or surprise its customers with its communication.

Also, if a customer wants to discontinue, opt-out, or block communication with a given business the business must respect their request and remove them from their contacts list.

To avoid getting sued for an enormous amount of money ValueText has provided several quick and easy ways for people to opt-out:

• To Opt-out your customers have to tipe “STOP” in the chat, and to Opt-in back they can simply tipe “START”.
• A Salesforce user can manually Opt-out a customer by selecting a checkbox, and the user will be opted out.

You can find more information about Opt-in and Opt-out here.

WhatsApp Business Solution-Specific Terms

Before you dive deeper into WhatsApp Business Solutions have in mind that ValueText takes care of all WhatsApp Business Approvals for its customers during the onboarding process.

Opt-in:

• to initiate a WhatsApp message the customer gives consent that they wish to receive messages from the given business
• you are solely responsible to determine the method of opt-in

Acceptable Message Types:

• You may only initiate a conversation using a WhatsApp Approved Template

• If a customer initiates the conversation a 24-hour window will be open in which you can chat with this person. The window will be closed after 24 hours from the last inbound message.
• You may use automation but you must include prompt, direct, and clear paths to human agents. This might include a phone number, email, web support, support form, in-store visits, or in-chat human agent transfer.

Data Protection

• You are responsible for securing all necessary permissions, notices, and consents to collect, share and use people’s information.
• DO NOT use any obtained data from WhatsApp about a person, other than the content of message threads for purposes different than to support messaging with that person.
• DO NOT share or ask individuals to share full-length payment card numbers, personal ID card numbers, financial account numbers, or any sensitive identifiers.
• DO NOT use WhatsApp Business for telemedicine, to send or request any health information.
• DO NOT share information of one customer with another.

Intellectual Property Policy: Trademarks and Copyrights in WhatsApp Business

To report trademark and copyright infringement and request from WhatsApp to remove any infringing info that is out there on the platform, you can send an email with the complete trademark and copyright infringement claim to ip@whatsapp.com.

Include all the information listed below when reporting a trademark or copyright infringement claim to WhatsApp:

• Complete contact info (name, email address, and phone number), the name of your company or the client who owns the information that you are reporting, and the content of the report to the person who you are reporting.
• A description of the work that you claim has been infringed.
• The phone number of the individual you are reporting.
• Electronic or physical signature.

WhatsApp Business Account

Business Use and Eligibility

You consent that you: (1) will use the WhatsApp Business Services only for commercial, business, and authorized purposes; (2) will only provide legal information associated with your organization; (3) that you are at least 18 years of age; and (4) you have not been previously removed or suspended from using WhatsApp Business Services.

Account and Registration

The company may only create a WhatsApp Business account by providing complete, accurate, and current information, including legal and valid business phone number, name of the organization, and other information required.

Communication Preferences

During your relationship with WhatsApp, you permit them and third-party providers to use your contact information to receive messages, emails or phone calls from them regarding: (1) notices about your account, payment authorizations, password changes, and other transactional information; (2) notice about updates; and (3) commercial information.

For more detailed information on the topic please refer to WhatsApp Business Terms of Service.

Now that we are familiar with the WhatsApp Business rules and regulations we can start thinking about gaining consent from our customers (SMS Opt-in and Opt-out) and sending our first text message. After getting yourself familiar with the best practices to Opt-in, and the importance of gaining consent. You can start sending your first text messages using this simple but effective guide.

Use Cases & Organizations allowed using WhatsApp Business in Salesforce

Since WhatsApp has its own rules and regulations about the types of use cases and business verticals that are allowed for business messaging. Also, WhatsApp does not allow certain countries to implement WhatsApp in their business environment.

Allowed use cases:

• Notifications
• 2FA or user verification
• Customer care
• Marketing messaging 

Restricted use cases:

• Newsletter or subscription-type messaging, including content subscription

Allowed business verticals:

• Automotive
• Animal products
• Customer
• Education
• Energy
• Family planning 
• Finance
• Fitness and well-being
• Food
• Grooming services for animals
• Healthcare products and supplements
• Healthcare Technology
• Insurance
• Jewelry
• Legal
• Manufacturing
• Non-profit
• Pharmaceuticals
• Real estate
• Religion
• Retail
• Technology 
• Telecommunications
• Travel and Transportation
• Veterinary services
• Weapons licenses (safety training)

Forbidden business verticals:

• Adult content
• Alcohol
• Animal sales (including any parts of animals)
• Currency
• Dating
• Defense
• Digital subscription and content
• Drugs
• Gambling
• Tobacco
• Weapons, ammunition, explosives

Forbidden business countries:

• Crimea
• Cuba
• Iran
• North Korea
• Syria

Political & Governmental organizations:

         WhatsApp prohibits governments and organizations which are representing a political purpose from using the WhatsApp API. Therefore, businesses that do not fall under the forbidden categories above may send us an email at: support@valuetext.io to request an onboarding request for access. 

Despite that, navigating through WhatsApp Business and complying with all the laws and regulations might be stressful sometimes. At ValueText, we understand your pain and we would love to give you a hand in your endeavors. You can contact us at the above-mentioned email or on our website here.