Outbound Message Guide

Outbound Messages are those sent directly to users without any prior interaction on your WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) line. According to META’s policies, an approved Outbound Message is the only permitted method for initiating contact with customers. To send these messages, the following two requirements must be met:

1. User Opt-In: The user must grant explicit permission to your business, allowing you to contact them via Whatsapp for business purposes. This is known as an opt-in. For more guidance on obtaining opt-ins, visit this link.
2. Message Approval: The Outbound Message you will use to initiate interaction with users must be approved by Whatsapp (META), to ensure compliance with requirements and guidelines and prevent user spam, fraud and other policy violations.

Prerequisites

To flawlessly perform all the steps of this guide, the following prerequisites must be met:

1. Truora Account: If you don’t already have one, learn how to Set up a Truora account.
2. Activated Whatsapp line: Follow this guide to acquire and activate WhatsApp lines in Truora.
3. A Created Whatsapp Flow: Have at least one flow already built. Learn how to Create a WhatsApp Flow in Truora.

Create an Outbound Message

To create and send an Outbound Message for approval, follow these steps. Please note that each message can only be sent for approval once:

1. Log in to the Truora dashboard and click Open in the Customer Engagement section.
2. Click on Outbound Messages and then on Create new message:

3. Select the Message Category and Line

This step is very important because the message content must correspond to the chosen category. Meta has very specific rules for each message category, and although some messages may be recategorized based on their content, misuse of categories can block the WABA line.

• Marketing: Use this category to send promotional offers, product announcements, and other marketing content to increase awareness and engagement.
• Utility: Use this category for messages related to a specific transaction or subscription that the user has already agreed to. These messages will typically be used to confirm, suspend, or change the details of that transaction or subscription.
• Authentication` Use this category to authenticate users, which can be used at multiple steps in the login process.

3.1 Marketing

Outbound marketing messages are proactive, business-initiated communications sent to users on WhatsApp rather than waiting for customers to initiate contact.

Currently we offer the following Categories

• Custom: A Custom message is designed for personalized offers.
• Media Carousel: A Media Carousel message is an interactive, horizontal-scrolling message designed specifically for marketing engagement.

3.2 Utility

Outbound Utility Messages are a specific category of business-initiated, template-based messages sent to customers to provide essential, time-sensitive information regarding a transaction or account, rather than promotional content.

Currently we offer the following Categories

• Custom: A custom message designed for notifications, updates.

3.3 Authentication

Outbound Authentication Messages are specialized, pre-approved message templates used by businesses on the WhatsApp Business Platform to verify user identities

Currently we offer the following Categories

• One-time Passcode: A One-time Passcode message is astrictly formatted message for sending time-sensitive one-time passwords

4. Fill the message templates

4.1 Custom

• Outbound name: Enter a name for the Outbound Message.
• language: Select English, Spanish, or Portuguese, for the language of the message.
• Header type: Choose the type of content for the Outbound Message, such as Text, Video, Image, or Document.
  • If the Header is Text it is posible to includes variables, insert them using Add Variale and provide a name and an example of the variable.

    

• Text: Enter the message to be sent to the user, such as: “Hello, are you ready to start the process?”.
  • If the message includes variables, insert them using Insert customizable word and provide a name and an example of the variable. Please keep in mind that the message should not be finished with a variable.

    

• Footer optional: Enter the footer text.It will show at the end of the outbound message
• Buttons optional (max 10): Add the buttonsthat the message requires

  

  • Quick reply buttons: This buttons are used for sent an specif responce from the client. This kind of buttons are required to start workflows.
  • Call-to-action: Buttons to start an specific action as:
    • Go to website(max 2): When the user taps this button, the specified URL will be opened. It is posible to include one variable into the url
    • Call phone number(max 1): When the user taps this button, the specified phone number will be dialed.
    • Copy offer code (max 1): When the user taps this button, the specified text will be copied into clipboard.(only applies for marketing category)

4.2 Media Carousel

• Outbound name: Enter a name for the Outbound Message.
• language: Select English, Spanish, or Portuguese, for the language of the message.
• Text: Enter the message to be sent to the user, such as: “Hello, are you ready to start the process?”.
  • If the message includes variables, insert them using Insert customizable word and provide a name and an example of the variable. Please keep in mind that the message should not be finished with a variable.

    

• Cards: Add the cards for the carousel message (min 2, max 10)
  • Media Type: Choose the type of content for the Card, such as image, Video/
  • Text: Enter the card message, such as: “Today only: Buy 3, Get 2”. The test is option but if is defined on card 1 it becomes required for the other cards to keep consistency.
    • If the message includes variables, insert them using Insert customizable word and provide a name and an example of the variable. Please keep in mind that the message should not be finished with a variable. Those variables could be share between cards`
  • Buttons optional (max 2): Add the buttonsthat the message requires, the type of buttons is defined on card 1, other cards have the same kind of buttons to keep consistency

    

    • Quick reply buttons: This buttons are used for sent an specif responce from the client. This kind of buttons are required to start workflows.
    • Call-to-action: Buttons to start an specific action as:
      • Go to website: When the user taps this button, the specified URL will be opened. It is posible to include one variable into the url
      • Call phone number(max 1): When the user taps this button, the specified phone number will be dialed.

• Outbound name: Enter a name for the Outbound Message.

• language: Select English, Spanish, or Portuguese, for the language of the message.

• Code expiration (minutes) Optional: Enter ther the number of minutes that this code will de valid.

• Validity period: You can set a validity period in which your message must be delivered before it expires. By default this periodis 15 minutes but you can change this time to a shorter one.

5. Once you have completed the message, click on Submit for approval. Please note that the message must be approved by the Facebook (Meta) team and this process can take anywhere from 5 minutes up to 5 business days.

Get the Outbound ID (Optional)

Once the message is approved by Facebook (Meta), you might need to obtain the Outbound ID of your message for other purposes within Truora, such as including your message as part of the OTP verification in a Phone Validation process. To obtain it, follow these steps:

• Click on Outbound Messages in the sidebar.
• Locate the desired Outbound name in the list of outbound messages.
• Click on the copy icon below the Outbound name to copy its Outbound ID.

Send Outbound messages

Once the message is approved, click on Outbound Messages and select the approved message. You can either choose Single message or Batch sending.

Single message

To send the Outbound Message as a single message:

1. Select Single message.
2. Select the country and enter the phone number.
3. Fill in any required variables for the outbound message.
4. Enter or paste the flow ID if the message will start a flow.
5. Click Send Message to send the message.

Testing your Outbound message

Once you reach the Test Conversation option in the flow creation steps, you have the opportunity to verify the message or select another approved outbound message. Then, to send your message, you can either choose Single message or Batch sending. For Batch sending you will be asked to upload an Excel (.xlsx) file as explained in the previous step Send Outbound messages..

To test sending your outbound message as Single message, after Creating WhatsApp flow:

1. Save and publish your flow.
2. Click on Test Conversation.
3. Click on You Send it and Continue.
4. Select the Message that will start the conversation and Continue. This is your approved message.
5. Select the country and fill the recipient phone number, then click Next.
6. Review the message and recipient details, then click Send.