Automating WhatsApp messaging in a campaign

Who should read this article: Administrators, Supervisors

Extend your Dialer campaigns with WhatsApp messaging and Flow Builder to increase contact reach and responsiveness.

Introduction

You can now add WhatsApp messaging to your outbound Dialer campaigns using Voiso’s follow-up rules. Based on specific call outcomes—such as no answer or busy signal—your campaign can automatically send a WhatsApp message to the contact using a predefined message template.

This message can include links, key details, or direct the contact to continue the conversation with a chatbot built in Flow Builder. Integrating voice and digital channels in this way gives contacts another opportunity to respond and improves your ability to connect with them on their preferred channel.

Setting up a Dialer campaign including WhatsApp

Prerequisites

1. Create User accounts for agents that will be handling the voice calls and the WhatsApp messages.
   • Assign the WhatsApp channel to the user account. Refer to Adding WhatsApp outbound channels. You can also assign the WhatsApp channel in bulk; refer to Bulk User Account Management.
   • For contact centers using basic user roles, add the following privileges to your agent accounts:
     • Omnichannel Workspace Enabled: to handle WhatsApp interactions.
     • WebRTC Enabled: to handle voice interactions.
   • For contact centers using security access groups, add the following privileges to the access group to which your agents are assigned:
     • Enable WebRTC: to handle voice interactions.
     • Omnichannel Workspace Enabled: to handle WhatsApp interactions.
2. Assign the agents to teams according to your business processes.
3. Create a queue to route inbound WhatsApp messages to your agents. In the Assigned channels section, select WhatsApp. Optionally you can also create a queue to handle inbound voice calls related to your campaign.

Basic steps

Here are the basic steps to enable you to add a WhatsApp message to your unanswered Dialer campaign calls:

1. Add a WhatsApp channel. Consider creating a channel that is specific to the campaign so that you can create a Chatbot in Flow Builder that responds to the campaign.
2. Create a WhatsApp template. The message in the template could invite the contact to take action, such as replying to the message in WhatsApp, calling your contact center, or following a link. Make sure you add the channel to the template.
3. Create a Digital Flow to capture responses to your WhatsApp message and route them to the appropriate resource. Make sure you add the WhatsApp channel you created to the flow.
4. Use Flow Builder to design an inbound digital interaction flow that responds to the content of the WhatsApp message template.
5. Compile a calling list either as a CSV or from your CRM.
6. Create a new Dialer campaign. In the Follow-up rules, add the Send WhatsApp action, selecting the template you created. Add agents (users) to the campaign individually or by team.
7. Run your campaign.

Detailed steps

The following sections provide more information about setting up a Dialer campaign that includes sending WhatsApp message templates.

Add a WhatsApp channel

Follow the steps detailed in the WhatsApp article to create a new WhatsApp digital channel.

Create a WhatsApp template

1. Follow the steps detailed in the Creating a WhatsApp template article. Here are some suggestions for the message content that you can add to your template according to the Follow-up rule you are configuring. Adjust them according to your business processes.

   • No Answer: Hello, we tried to reach you by phone but didn’t get an answer. If you’d like to continue the conversation here, just reply to this message. You can also contact us directly at 5555555555.
   • Answering Machine Detected: Hi, we weren’t able to speak with you by phone earlier. If it’s more convenient, please reply to this message and we’ll assist you here.
   • Busy: Hello, we noticed your line was busy when we tried to call. Would you prefer to continue via WhatsApp or schedule a better time to talk? Please respond to this message and let us know!
   • Rejected or Failed: Hi, we tried calling you but couldn’t get through. If you still need assistance or have questions, you can reply here at any time.

2. On the Add WhatsApp template page, scroll to the Assigned WhatsApp channels section, then click Manage to display the WhatsApp channels assignment panel.

3. On the panel, select the WhatsApp channel you created in the previous step, then click Assign.

   

4. Click Submit to send your template to Meta for approval. This process can take up to 24 hours. Until approval or rejection, your template status is Pending. Refer to WhatsApp templates.

Create a Digital Flow

For details about creating Flows, refer to the Flows and Digital flows articles.

1. On the Voiso main menu, navigate to Inbound > Flows.

2. On the Flows page, click Add flow.

3. On the Add flow panel, name your flow, select Digital as the type, and select WhatsApp as the channel type.

   

4. Click Continue.

5. On the Edit flow page, configure the flow according to your business processes.

6. Scroll to the Assigned digital channels section and click Manage to open the Digital channels assignment panel.

7. Select one or more of your WhatsApp channels, then click Assign.

   

8. Save the flow.

Use Flow Builder

1. With your flow created, from the Voiso main menu, navigate to Inbound > Flows.
2. Select your flow from the Flows table.
3. On the Edit flow page, click Launch builder.
4. Design a flow that handles inbound messages from the WhatsApp channel you are going to use in your Dialer campaign.
5. Save your flow.

Here are some ideas that can help you create a flow using Flow Builder. Your flow will be tailored to your business processes and will be much more complex than these simple examples.

Scenario: No Answer

1. Start node: Triggered when a WhatsApp message is sent to the contact after a missed call.

2. Message Node: Send a greeting to the contact's WhatsApp account as a reply to their message. For example:
   Hi {{from}}, thank you for getting back to us! We're sorry we could not reach you by phone! Please let me know what you would like to do:

   • Include Buttons or Quick Replies to make it easy for you to route the interaction based on the contact's response. Refer to the Message (WhatsApp) article for details.
   • Include an option to chat with an agent.

3. Route node: If the contact wants to chat immediately, route the interaction to a queue with the WhatsApp channel assigned to it.

   

4. Conditions node: If the contact sends a WhatsApp message as a response instead of clicking a button or quick reply, use the Conditions node to parse the response and route the conversation accordingly.

5. Message node: Use multiple Message nodes to build a chatbot that routes the conversation based on the contact's responses.

Compile a calling list

Create a calling list as a CSV file. Refer to Dialer contact list file schemas.

You can also build a calling list in your CRM. Refer to Adding a new campaign: CRM and Running a CRM campaign.

Create a new Dialer campaign

To create a Dialer campaign that leverages sending WhatsApp messages to follow up on calls that were not answered for one reason or another, follow these steps:

1. From the Voiso main menu, navigate to Outbound > Dialer campaigns.

2. On the Dialer campaigns page, click Add Dialer campaign.

3. On the Add Dialer campaign page, set up your campaign following the steps outlined in the Adding a new campaign article.

4. In the Follow-up rules section, you will see a list of scenarios where a call is not answered by the contact. For each scenario, you can configure one or more rules that tells Dialer what to do. For example, if the call is not answered (the No answer scenario), you can add a rule that Dialer should redial the number after a certain interval.

   

   • Select Redial from the action menu. You can also include a rule that automatically sends a WhatsApp message to the contact's number.
   • Select Send WhatsApp from the action menu, then specify the WhatsApp channel you created above and the appropriate WhatsApp template for the scenario.

5. Assign agents to the campaign. It is not necessary to use the same agents as the ones who are assigned to the queue you created to handle replies to the WhatApp messages sent by the Follow-up scenarios. You can assign voice-only agents to handle campaign calls and omnichannel agents to handle the WhatsApp messages responded to by campaign contacts.

6. Save the campaign.

Run your campaign

When your campaign and agents are ready, click Start next to the campaign name on the Dialer campaigns page. Refer to the following articles about how to run a Dialer campaign:

• How to run a Dialer campaign
• Running a campaign
• Running a CRM campaign