A step-by-step path through the platform, in order, on one page: account setup, your first template, a chatbot, Flows, CRM basics, and reading your quality score. Each module ends with a link to go deeper.
The free WhatsApp Business app is built for one person on one phone. WhatsApp Business API, what WA.Expert runs on, is built for a team: multiple agents on one shared number, chatbots, bulk messaging with approved templates, and integrations with your CRM or store. The App caps broadcasts at 256 contacts and has no automation; the API has neither limit, but needs a platform like WA.Expert on top to actually use it.
Full comparison: API vs App, side by side.
Two separate charges: a flat ₹599/month platform fee, and Meta's per-message rate depending on template type — ₹0.99 for Marketing, ₹0.12 for Utility, ₹0.12 for Authentication templates (WA.Expert adds zero markup on Meta's rates). Replying to a customer within 24 hours of their last message is free — no template or per-message charge applies.
Full breakdown: the API Pricing Guide.
Pick a dedicated number, a fresh mobile or landline, not your personal WhatsApp. If it's ever been on WhatsApp before, delete that account and wait two hours before registering here.
Already have a number live on the regular app and want to keep using both? See registering a co-existing number. Migrating a number that's already active elsewhere? See the 3-part migration walkthrough. Full guide: the phone number setup guide.
Complete Meta Business Verification with a GST certificate, MSME certificate, or Certificate of Incorporation, matching your legal business name exactly on business.facebook.com. This is the step Meta checks before your account can send messages at scale.
Any message outside an active 24-hour reply window needs an approved template. Three categories: Marketing (promotions, highest rate), Utility (order updates, cheaper), Authentication (OTPs, cheapest, fixed format).
Full reference: the Template Messages Guide.
The bot builder is drag-and-drop: triggers (a keyword, a button tap, any new message) connect to message blocks, question blocks that capture a reply into a field, and routing logic. No code required.
Building blocks worth knowing once the basics click: Ask a Question, trigger types, button payloads, and the GoTo block for looping logic.
Beyond fixed flows, an AI agent can answer in its own words, trained on your documents and data. Create the agent, train it, then test it before connecting it to a live chatbot.
The newest layer: an AI agent that can take a WhatsApp voice call, not just text. Useful for customers who'd rather talk than type, especially for support or booking flows.
Full guide: How to Set Up a WhatsApp Chatbot, or the technical reference in the Bot Builder docs (28 articles) and Voice AI docs.
Mini Apps, what Meta calls WhatsApp Flows, are forms that open and complete entirely inside the chat: dropdowns, date pickers, and text fields, no website redirect. Use one when a plain back-and-forth would take too many messages, like booking an appointment or collecting a structured order.
Once the basics work, Flows can get smarter: conditional fields that show or hide based on earlier answers, and dropdowns populated live from an API rather than a fixed list.
Explore the full set of Flow guides in the WhatsApp Flows Guide, or the technical how-to in the Mini Apps docs (8 articles).
Connect a Shopify store directly, or create a Meta catalog manually, then push and sync products so customers can browse without leaving the chat.
Turn on the catalogue icon and cart functionality so a customer can browse products, build a cart, and place an order, all inside the same conversation.
Full reference: the E-commerce docs (15 articles, including Meta catalog setup and India compliance fields).
Send a payment link via Razorpay, PhonePe, or WhatsApp's native Pay, and get a message the moment it succeeds or fails, so you always know where an order stands without checking a dashboard.
Full reference: the Payments docs (7 articles, including selling tickets via bot and payment request campaigns).
Every contact who messages you lands in the CRM automatically. From there, add Super Fields (custom fields like order value or plan tier), apply tags, and build segments, saved filters that stay current as contacts move in and out.
Bringing in an existing contact list, or need to pull data out? See importing contacts via CSV and exporting with Super Fields.
The Team Inbox is the shared view where your whole team answers conversations from one place, instead of everyone checking their own phone. Once you have more than a couple of agents, departments and canned replies keep things organised and fast.
Adding people to the team? See creating team members.
Full reference: the CRM docs (15 articles).
The automation builder connects triggers to actions: a webhook fires, a form is submitted, a date arrives, and a workflow runs, sending messages, updating a datastore, or waiting and following up, entirely on autopilot once set up.
Some of the most common, valuable automations are already built as recipes: abandoned cart recovery, order-triggered messages, birthday greetings, missed-call callbacks, and payment reminders.
Webhooks push a WhatsApp message the instant something happens in another system, a Shopify order, a delayed manufacturing job, a payment event, without anyone checking a dashboard.
Full reference: the Automation Codex, or the technical docs for Automations (20 articles) and API & Webhooks (8 articles).
A broadcast sends an approved template to a list of contacts at once. The best ones are targeted, timely, and give the reader an obvious next action, not a generic blast.
Full guide: the Broadcast Guide and Drip Campaigns.
Rocket Campaign distributes a bulk send across multiple upgraded channels to multiply sending speed, useful for flash sales or time-sensitive broadcasts where a normal campaign would take too long to land.
The same campaign lands very differently depending on when it goes out. A renewal reminder during a gym's slow month, a festive offer during Diwali, a last-minute Tuesday push, timing is often the difference between a campaign that converts and one that gets ignored.
Award points automatically through a bot, notify customers on transaction events, and let them redeem rewards, all inside WhatsApp.
Full reference: the Reward Points docs (4 articles).
Meta scores every number green, yellow, or red based on how customers react, mainly blocks and spam reports. Your score affects your messaging tier, how many unique users you can message per day.
Most Low ratings recover to Medium within about 7 days of clean sending. Full detail: the Quality Score Guide and the Messaging Limits Guide.
The most common issues, a bot not triggering, a number stuck on Pending, hitting the phone-number limit, or a template getting restricted, all have known, fast fixes.
Full reference: the Troubleshooting docs (15 articles, including the phone-number limit and a template restriction fix).
That's the full loop, foundations, bots, Flows, commerce, CRM, automation, campaigns, loyalty, quality, in the order most businesses actually need them. From here, the deeper reference material is organised by topic rather than by sequence:
3-day free trial. Live in 24 hours. No technical setup required.
Start Free Trial →