Set up WhatsApp Business messaging
The topics in this section explain how to set up and test WhatsApp Business messaging for Amazon Connect. You use AWS End User Messaging Social to link a WhatsApp Business Account and phone number to an Amazon Connect instance, then import the linked phone number into Amazon Connect. Customers can then use WhatsApp to send messages to your call center.
You can also use Amazon Lex to automate responses to customer questions, which saves agents time and effort. For more information, see Getting started with Amazon Lex in the Amazon Lex Developer Guide.
Topics
Prerequisites
Before you can integrate WhatsApp with Amazon Connect, you must have the following items:
A WhatsApp Business Account.
A WhatsApp phone number. The number must be able to receive a voice call or an SMS text message in order to complete Meta’s phone number verification process for WhatsApp Business messaging. You can use an Amazon Connect voice number or an AWS End User Messaging SMS number for the WhatsApp phone number. You can also use a phone number that you own outside of AWS.
When using an Amazon Connect voice number or AWS End User Messaging SMS number, we recommend claiming a new number that isn’t used with live voice or SMS traffic to avoid potential disruption of service.
You can use the AWS End User Messaging Social console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/social-messaging/
to create the WhatsApp Business Account and phone number. For more information, see Signing up for WhatsApp in the AWS End User Messaging Social User Guide.
Important
WhatsApp has an automated business verification process that can take up to 2 weeks to complete. We recommend you begin this process early. WhatsApp can disable WhatsApp Business Accounts if the WhatsApp Business policy is violated or the business identity can't be verified.
Also, we strongly recommend
reviewing Best
practices for AWS End User Messaging Social and
WhatsApp Best Practices
After you create the account and phone number, complete the steps in the following sections in the order listed.
Step 1: Enable Amazon Connect as the event destination
The following steps explain how to use AWS End User Messaging Social to enable Amazon Connect as the event destination for your linked WhatsApp Business Account. This enables the system to import your WhatsApp phone number.
You can use the AWS End
User Messaging Social console
The following steps explain how to use the console.
To use the console
Sign in to the AWS End User Messaging Social console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/social-messaging/
. In the navigation pane, choose WhatsApp Business accounts, then choose the desired account.
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On the Event destination tab, choose Edit destination.
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For Destination type, choose Amazon Connect.
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For Connect instance, choose your Amazon Connect instance from the dropdown list.
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For Role ARN, choose an IAM role that grants permission to deliver messages and events, and to import phone numbers. For example IAM policies, see Add a message and event destination to AWS End User Messaging Social in the AWS End User Messaging Social User Guide.
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Choose Save changes.
This starts the process of importing your phone number to Amazon Connect.
After the operation finishes, the number appears in the Amazon Connect admin website.
To view the number
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In the navigation pane, choose Channels, then Phone numbers.
The Active Channels column displays WhatsApp for all WhatsApp numbers.
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Step 2: Configure an inbound contact flow on your phone number
You can create an inbound contact flow for use with your WhatsApp phone number, or you can reuse an existing flow. If you reuse a flow,
you can add a CheckContactAttribute block and enable branching for the flow. The block enables you to send WhatsApp contacts
to a specific queue, or take another action.
For more information about building your contact flow, including interactive messages and rich link previews, see WhatsApp Business messaging capabilities later in this section.
The following sets of steps explain how to configure an inbound contact flow and add a CheckContactAttribute block to the flow.
To configure a flow
Start the Amazon Connect console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/connect/
In the navigation pane, choose Channels, then Phone numbers.
Choose the WhatsApp number, then choose Edit.
Under Flow/IVR, choose the flow you updated.
Choose Save.
To add the CheckContactAttribute block
Follow steps 1–4 in the previous section.
Open the Properties page for the flow.
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In the Attribute to check section, set Namespace to Segment attributes, and key to Subtype. For more information about segment attributes, see SegmentAttributes, later in this guide.
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In the Conditions to check section, set condition to Equals and value to connect:WhatsApp.
Choose Save.
Step 3: Send and receive test messages
In this step, you use the Contact Control Panel (CCP) and a mobile phone to send and receive WhatsApp test messages.
To test the integration
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In your CCP, set your status to Available.
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Using WhatsApp on your mobile phone, start a conversation by entering the phone number you added previously.
The following image shows a message with Options, and the resulting list of options.
Next steps: Preparing to go live
After you test your integration, we recommend adding the following features and capabilities to your WhatsApp messaging channel.
Adding Amazon Connect features
The links in the following list take you to information about Amazon Connect features that you can add to your customer and agent experiences.
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Learn more about the WhatsApp Business messaging capabilities.
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Enable customers to resume chat conversations in Amazon Connect – Customers can resume previous conversations with the context, metadata, and transcripts carried forward. They don't need to repeat themselves when they return to a chat, and agents have access to the entire conversation history.
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Create quick responses for use with chat and email contacts in Amazon Connect – Provide agents with pre-written responses to common customer inquiries that they can use while they chat with customers. Quick responses make it faster for agents to respond to customers.
Adding entry points
The links in the following list take you to information about adding different types of customer entry points.
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Entry points: 5 ways to direct leads and customers to business messaging conversations
(WhatsApp blog post) -
QR codes: Manage your WhatsApp Business Platform QR code
(Meta help article) -
Click-to-WhatsApp ads: Create Ads that Click to WhatsApp in Ads Manager
(Meta help article)
Adding a display name to your phone number
To add a verified display name that customers see, About WhatsApp Business display name
Scaling traffic
After you onboard live traffic to your WhatsApp integration, we recommend monitoring the quotas listed below.
Amazon Connect quotas
For more information about default quotas, and about raising them, see Amazon Connect service quotas earlier in this guide.
StartChatContact throttling quota.
SendChatIntegrationEvent throttling quota.
SendIntegrationEventthrottling quota. A permission only API used by AWS End User Messaging Social to publish inbound WhatsApp events.
End User Messaging Social quotas
AWS End User Messaging Social enforces rate limits on a number of messaging APIs. Monitor the following APIs to see if you need to change one or more quotas. The links take you to the AWS End User Messaging Social API Reference.
For more information about increasing AWS End User Messaging Social quotas, see the following topics in the AWS End User Messaging Social User Guide:
Troubleshooting
Use the information in the following sections to troubleshoot common problems with a WhatsApp integration.
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Unable to see imported phone numbers in your Amazon Connect instance
If your imported number fails to appear in the Amazon Connect admin website, follow these steps:
Ensure that the event destination IAM role has the necessary permissions. For more information, see Step 1: Enable Amazon Connect as the event destination earlier in this section.
See if your Phone numbers per instance quota needs to be raised. For more information, see Amazon Connect service quotas earlier in this guide.
To reassign a linked WhatsApp Business Account to a different Amazon Connect instance, you must first release the imported phone numbers from the original Amazon Connect instance. After the phone numbers are released, you can update the event destination on your linked WhatsApp Business Account to another Amazon Connect instance.
Important
Do not release numbers that handle live customer traffic. Instead, claim new phone numbers.
To help determine the cause of the import issue, search your CloudTrail logs for
ImportPhoneNumberevents and check for error details. If theImportPhoneNumbercall succeeds, you can callDescribePhoneNumberfor other error details.
Inbound messages from end users are not delivered
If AWS End User Messaging SMS delivery stops, search your AWS CloudTrail logs for SendIntegrationEvent
and SendChatIntegrationEvent for error details.
You can also check these common scenarios:
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Ensure that your linked WhatsApp Business Account in AWS End User Messaging Social has an Amazon Connect event destination enabled.
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Ensure your event destination IAM role has the necessary permissions. For more information, see For more information, see Step 1: Enable Amazon Connect as the event destination earlier in this section. You have a misconfigured role if CloudTrail throws
AccessDeniedExceptionerrors from theSendIntegrationEventAPI. -
Ensure that your WhatsApp phone number imported successfully to your Amazon Connect instance, and that the number has an associated inbound contact flow. For more information, see Step 2: Configure an inbound contact flow on your phone number.
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Inbound messages were dropped because they are not yet supported. For more information, see WhatsApp Business messaging capabilities later in this section.
