Set Up a WhatsApp Unified Messaging Channel

Create a WhatsApp channel that supports both marketing and service interactions. To set up a WhatsApp channel in Unified Messaging, deploy and configure the appropriate data streams in Data 360. Also, make sure that an existing WhatsApp Business account is associated with your Salesforce account. Contact your account executive to make sure that your account is eligible to use this channel.

Note

• To use a bot or service agent, first set up a Messaging channel in Service Cloud.
• For a few UCP WhatsApp channels, you may see the error: Unable to display Data Storage Region. This is because of a known technical issue that temporarily prevents our system from retrieving and showing this specific piece of information. This is a display issue only and has no impact on core functionality, such as channel activation, messaging, or your channel's compliance with data storage policies. We are aware of the issue and are working on a solution.

• Prepare for WhatsApp Unified Messaging
  Before setting up a WhatsApp channel in Unified Messaging, get to know how it works. Compare Unified Messaging channels side by side with Marketing Cloud Engagement and Service Cloud Digital Engagement, and learn about number reuse and conversation transitions that can occur within a WhatsApp Unified Messaging channel.
• Connect Your WhatsApp Business Account
  To use WhatsApp in Unified Messaging, connect your WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) and number to your Salesforce account. If you don’t have a WABA, we walk you through creating one.
• Manage WhatsApp Consent in Unified Messaging
  Set up the data streams that are used to track consent settings for WhatsApp. After you deploy the data streams, you can manage WhatsApp consent and keywords for each connected number.
• Choose Your Unified WhatsApp Data Residency
  Ensure industry and regulatory compliance by selecting the country where your Unified WhatsApp data is stored at rest. While you make your selection in Salesforce Setup, your data storage is managed by Meta.
• Add a Cloud to a WhatsApp Unified Messaging Channel
  You can connect an existing WhatsApp Unified Messaging channel to another cloud in your Salesforce account.
• Guidelines for Transferring a WhatsApp Number
  To comply with Meta’s requirements and ensure a smooth migration of your WhatsApp number, follow these guidelines.
• Migrate to Unified WhatsApp
  In Unified Messaging, service and marketing interactions occur in a single channel. If you’re already interacting with customers in a WhatsApp channel created in Digital Engagement (Service Cloud), a WhatsApp-First channel in Marketing Cloud Engagement, or via another business service provider, migrate your channel to Unified Messaging to access Unified Messaging features. After migration, your existing message templates are available in Unified Messaging.
• Configure How to Handle Incoming WhatsApp Messages
  If an incoming WhatsApp message isn’t associated with a keyword or conversation, you can send it to a flow for additional processing. Depending on your Salesforce setup, you can also send these types of messages to a support agent or bot or to Marketing Cloud Engagement. Each of your WhatsApp numbers has its own configuration for processing incoming messages. If you don’t configure how to handle incoming messages, the messages are dropped.
• Configure Messaging During a Support Session for Unified WhatsApp
  Specify whether a message is sent to customers while they work with Service Cloud support. You can prevent customers from receiving promotional or other low-priority content during conversations with an agent or bot. This feature is available for only Unified WhatsApp numbers.
• WhatsApp Engagement Data in Unified Messaging
  Use Journey Builder to transfer a WhatsApp conversation with a customer from a marketing interaction to a service bot to give the customer additional assistance.
• Pause Traffic in a WhatsApp Unified Messaging Channel
  If you need to pause traffic in a Unified Messaging WhatsApp channel, temporarily disconnect the Service Cloud Digital Engagement and Marketing Cloud Engagement apps in Setup.
• Re-Register a WhatsApp Phone Number
  If your WhatsApp display name is updated, a business account lock is lifted, or a channel is in an unexpected broken state, you can re-register your WhatsApp phone number with Meta to fix it. When you click Refresh Connection, Salesforce calls the Meta API on the already-registered number. We also ensure that the channel is aligned and correct any missing information.