WhatsApp Business Automation
"WhatsApp Business Automation is the use of AI chatbots to manage customer interactions on the WhatsApp Business API."
What is a WhatsApp Business Automation?
WhatsApp Business Automation is the use of AI chatbots to manage customer interactions on the WhatsApp Business API. Related product: WhatsApp Business Suite.
Reviewed by Atul Diwedi, Co-Founder · Last reviewed
Deep Dive
Botcadence provides native WhatsApp automation, allowing your business to send notifications, answer product questions, and even close sales on the world's most popular messaging app. Messaging teams apply WhatsApp Business Automation inside opted-in threads so broadcasts, replies, and handoffs stay policy-compliant and measurable. See WhatsApp Business Suite. Confirm opt-in and template policy on each WhatsApp flow before scaling broadcast volume.
WhatsApp Business automation is the use of software, usually an AI agent, to answer and send messages on a WhatsApp business number: support replies, order updates, booking confirmations, lead qualification from click-to-WhatsApp ads and consented marketing templates.
The platform behind it. Automation needs the WhatsApp Business Platform (the API), accessed through Meta's Cloud API or a Business Solution Provider; the consumer WhatsApp Business app cannot run a chatbot at scale. Coexistence mode lets a number that is already on the Business app keep working while automation is added.
Meta's rules shape every flow. A customer's message opens a 24-hour service window in which replies are free-form and free of Meta charges; after it closes, a business-initiated message must be an approved template, billed by Meta by category (marketing, utility, authentication) and destination country. Opt-in is required before templates are sent, and quality rating controls the number's daily messaging limit.
Example. A store connects Shopify. A customer asks "where is my order 4492?"; the agent reads the order status and replies with the tracking link. The next day a utility template announces delivery. A promotion goes out only to opted-in contacts as a marketing template.
What to measure. First-response time, share of conversations resolved without a person, handoff rate and reason, template delivery and read rates, opt-outs and the number's quality rating.
The WhatsApp Business chatbot guide walks through setup; the WhatsApp chatbot page lists what each Botcadence plan includes.
Related Technology
See WhatsApp Business Automation in a Botcadence agent
Start on the Free plan and configure an agent that uses WhatsApp Business Automation on your own website chat or WhatsApp number. No card needed.
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Common Questions
WhatsApp Business Automation FAQs
Replies inside the 24-hour customer service window that opens when the customer messages you: answers, order status, booking confirmations. Anything sent outside that window needs an approved template.
Collect explicit opt-in, honor stop keywords, keep marketing templates separate from utility ones and watch the quality rating Meta assigns to your number. A falling rating throttles sends before it blocks them.
Yes. One knowledge base serves both, with channel-specific formatting such as shorter messages, buttons and lists on WhatsApp. See the WhatsApp chatbot channel page.
Meta bills its own per-message fees for template messages on top of the Botcadence plan, at rates that vary by message category and the customer's country. Plan allowances count broadcasts as template sends.