Using WhatsApp Business API On Twilio - Working

Continuing the discussion from Whatsapp business API:

Hey guys.

Zammad currently works with the Twilio WhatsApp Business API.

Just register as a new SMS number and in the sender include the prefix “whatsapp:”, without quotes, before the sending number.

It works to receive and send, to send just reply to the received message.

Limits for this workaround: 160 chars per message, because this channel origin is SMS.

I’ve changed this topics category to technical assistance because I cannot identify a feature request and kinda a duplicate post we already have.

I recently came across the discussion about using the Twilio WhatsApp Business API with Zammad and found it quite insightful. I’m considering implementing this in our Zammad setup and have a few questions regarding the experience and nuances of this integration.

  1. Handling of Multimedia: How does Zammad handle multimedia messages, such as images or documents, sent from WhatsApp? Are these received as links, or are they directly embedded in the tickets?
  2. Character Limit: I noticed the mention of a 160-character limit per message due to the SMS origin of this channel. How does this limitation impact the communication flow, especially when dealing with more detailed customer queries?
  3. Customer Experience: How has the overall experience been from the customer’s perspective? Is the transition from WhatsApp messaging to a ticket in Zammad seamless for them?
  4. Agent Workflow: From an agent’s viewpoint, how does managing these WhatsApp-originated tickets compare with handling other ticket types in Zammad? Any particular workflow adjustments or best practices you would recommend?
  5. Technical Challenges: Have there been any notable technical challenges or issues during the setup or ongoing operation of this integration?

I’m eager to learn from your experiences as they would greatly help in making an informed decision for our customer support strategy. Any insights, tips, or shared experiences would be immensely appreciated.

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@Bzaid94 In the end the SMS-Channel is currently not designed to be used with WhatsApp. For sure it’s working with this Workaround in some way, but only in the context of how the SMS-Channel works.

I would need to integrate pictures though, and ideally also snippets or parts from the knowledge-database in Whatsapp-Posts. that wouldn’t work from Zammad, right?

Yes, currently not, the plan is to have a “real” WhatsApp channel in the future, but for sure this needs still some time until it is available.

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It’s great that you’re considering having a WhatsApp channel in the future. Indeed, this workaround works for receiving messages but doesn’t work for a conversation.

I’m trying to decipher the chat channel to use it with Twilio so that I can have a chat-level conversation. I’ve already managed to establish a session and other commands via WebSocket.

I hope you can create a WhatsApp channel and even a bot that can communicate with both WhatsApp and web chat.

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