The goal of this article is to explore one of the core themes of omnichannel and guide you through configuring a customer service channel via WhatsApp Business Channel. Currently, there isn’t a straightforward way to implement this setup for testing without the specific Messaging permission. This permission is essential to create the new channel and to access standard objects such as Messaging User and Messaging Session, ensuring integrated and efficient communication with your customers.
Table of Contents
What is Omnichannel?
Omnichannel goes beyond offering multiple contact channels. It allows the customer to move between channels (such as WhatsApp, phone, and email) without losing the context of the previous interaction. This means that, regardless of where the contact started, service remains consistent and the interaction history is available to agents—ensuring a unified and efficient customer experience.
How Can Omnichannel Help Day to Day?
Omnichannel integration streamlines support operations by centralizing interactions on a single platform, such as Salesforce. Instead of using multiple systems to manage different channels, you can control everything in a single environment, such as an Omnichannel System. This increases efficiency, saves time, and improves the experience for both the support team and customers.
Benefits of Integrating WhatsApp Business with Meta Business Suite
- Efficient Routing: With the Salesforce integration, routing becomes faster and more effective, directing customers to the right agent based on their needs.
- Unified Monitoring: All communication channels are consolidated in one platform, making interaction history easy to access and manage—facilitating performance analysis and continuous improvement.
- Personalized Service: The team has access to each customer’s full history, enabling more personalized and efficient service and increasing customer satisfaction.
Configuring the WhatsApp Business Channel
Let’s get started! The goal of this section is to provide a practical, step-by-step guide so you feel confident kicking off the setup.
Step 1: Create the Permission Set
- Access Salesforce: Go to the Messaging settings section.
- Create New Channel: Select Enable, then Create a New Channel.
- Add Permissions: Create a permission set specific to the WhatsApp Business channel and assign it to the appropriate users (Messaging permissions).
Step 2: Channel Configuration
- Start Configuration: When you begin channel setup, a new window opens with a guided, step-by-step wizard.
- Visual Guides: See the GIF below for a visual walkthrough of the process.
Step 3:
Note that in this scenario, we are using the phone number provided by WhatsApp Business, without the need to use a regular personal number.
Step 4
- Detailed View of the Facebook Configuration Window: After completing the channel setup in your Business account, Salesforce will return to the internal configuration window, displaying additional details about the connected channel.
- You can configure routing at this stage or move forward and adjust it later. In some cases, the setup process may fail, requiring you to restart it — this is expected behavior. In practice, I usually prefer to complete the channel creation first and only then proceed with building the routing flow.
Second Stage in Creating the WhatsApp Channel
After completing these steps, your messaging channel will be configured. The next step is to activate the channel and review the configuration completed in Facebook/Meta.
- Access the Activation Page: Click the channel name or the arrow on the right to select Edit and access the activation panel.
- Create the Routing Process: Configure how conversations will be routed, either directly to a Queue or through an omnichannel flow. In the example, we are routing to a queue for activation.
Configuring Outbound Messages
After the channel has been created and activated, you can configure an outbound message to be used within Salesforce.
- Access the Message Templates Page:
Go to your Meta Business account and navigate to:
Message Templates → Manage Templates → Create Template
Important Consideration: Salesforce does not support WhatsApp message templates that include footer buttons.
If your template contains these buttons, the message will not display correctly when used in Salesforce messaging components.
If you are already logged into your Meta account, you can access the templates page directly here:
https://business.facebook.com/wa/manage/message-templates
Template editing screen:
Conclusion
Once the channel is configured, activated, and routing is set, your Salesforce org is ready to handle WhatsApp communication smoothly and efficiently.
Relevant Resources
- Salesforce Messaging Permissions Documentation
https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleViewid=sf.messaging_permissions_parent.htm&type=5 - WhatsApp Business API Terms of Service (Meta / WhatsApp Business Platform)
https://www.whatsapp.com/legal/business-terms - Considerations for Using WhatsApp within Salesforce Service Cloud
https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleViewid=sf.messaging_whatsapp_considerations.htm&type=5 - WhatsApp Business Messaging FAQ – Digital Engagement (Salesforce)
https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleViewid=000380726&type=1 - “Edit” Option Not Appearing for Messaging Channel Setup (Troubleshooting Guide)
https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleViewid=000380773&type=1
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Leandro Augusto Correa
Leandro is a Salesforce Consultant and Solution Architect with experience leading multi-cloud implementations across Service Cloud, Sales Cloud, Marketing Cloud, and Data Cloud. He specializes in Omnichannel strategies, WhatsApp Business integration, Digital Engagement, and Einstein Bots, ensuring scalable architectures and smooth customer service operations. With a strong background in team leadership and agile delivery, he has guided squads in improving platform governance, customer experience, and continuous evolution of Salesforce solutions.