Cordial's WhatsApp channel gives you a direct line to contacts on the world's most widely used messaging app. Alongside SMS, MMS, and RCS, WhatsApp lets you manage mobile contact engagement from a single, unified platform. 

Compared to SMS, WhatsApp offers:

• Rich message templates with media, choice buttons, and card carousels
• Structured header, body, footer, and button components approved through Meta
• Delivery and engagement reporting at the message level
• Higher-fidelity, app-like experiences for both promotional and transactional content

To enable the WhatsApp channel in your Cordial account, please contact your Client Success Manager. You'll need a provisioned WhatsApp Business Account through Meta Business Manager as part of your channel setup.

Message templates for WhatsApp are created and approved in Meta Business Manager, not in Cordial. Templates must be Meta-approved before they're available to select and send.

Creating a new WhatsApp message

1. To get started, log in to Cordial and navigate to Messages > Create New Message 
2. Name the message, select optional Tags
3. Select WhatsApp from the Channels dropdown
4. Select Continue.

Message creation uses Cordial's standard Schedule and Audience settings. Unlike other message types, layout and content of WhatsApp messages is set within Meta. Cordial displays a preview and the ability to modify editable content fields.

Template picker

The template picker retrieves your Meta-approved templates and shows:

• Template name
• Status — Approved, Rejected, Draft, Submitted, or Paused. Only Approved templates are available to select and send.
• Type — Single Card or Card Carousel
• Date Created — Provided by Meta

Add content to your WhatsApp message

WhatsApp templates are built from up to four components. 

Header (optional)

• Text (up to 60 characters, supports one variable) or media — image, video, document, or location pin
• Media headers require a hosted media URL

Body (required)

• Message text: up to 1024 characters, the primary copy recipients see
• Supports bold, italic, strikethrough, and inline emojis
• Add variables as placeholders that are filled in with contact-specific data at send time

Footer (optional)

• Additional text, up to 60 characters
• No variables or emojis allowed

Buttons (optional)

Choose one button type per template:

• Quick Reply — up to 3 text-only buttons, 25 characters each
• URL — static or dynamic link (dynamic URLs use a variable filled at send time)
• Phone Number — opens the recipient's dialer to a specified number
• Copy Code — lets the recipient copy a coupon code

Add media, choice, and carousel content

WhatsApp messages support the following content types:

• Media — images (JPEG, PNG), video (MP4/H.264), audio, and documents, subject to per-type size limits
• Choice — up to 3 text-only reply options; each choice is limited to 20 characters and must be unique
• Card — a single rich card combining media, title, description, and buttons
• Carousel — multiple cards in a swipeable set, each with its own media and buttons

Personalization with Smarty

Insert fields like first name, loyalty tier or order details directly into body text, headers, and button labels using Smarty:

• Configure the message template in Meta to receive dynamic content (e.g. defined in the template as {{1}})
• Use fallbacks (default values) to ensure graceful rendering when data is missing
• Personalize media fields (image, video, document URLs) per contact
• See Smarty variables for detailed usage

Consent and subscription management

• WhatsApp requires explicit contact opt-in before sending marketing or transactional messages. Consent obtained for SMS does not automatically apply to WhatsApp.
• Subscription status is tracked per-channel. Cordial recommends collecting consent for "all mobile messages" to cover SMS, MMS, RCS, and WhatsApp together.
• Opt-out keywords (STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END, QUIT, REMOVE, OPT OUT, and variants) are recommended defaults for WhatsApp unsubscribe.

Triggered responses using WhatsApp

WhatsApp supports setting up a chain of responses to contacts based on incoming triggers and Podium orchestrations. These responses can leverage contact and product data for rich follow-up messages related to product choices (from a carousel message), an offer selection, order status queries, and more.

1. Compose a WhatsApp message that includes choice buttons.
2. Within a Podium orchestration, create a trigger using a contact's real-time behavior. (Also supported: Message Automations)
3. Choose the incoming WhatsApp event crdl_incoming_whatsapp and add a conditional event property matching the choice reply from your WhatsApp message.
4. To help narrow the response to WhatsApp-enabled contacts, add a conditional property that matches a Send Type of WhatsApp.

Other platform touchpoints

WhatsApp activity and configuration also appear in:

• Message Reports and Event Data Reports: delivery, engagement, and event-level detail for WhatsApp sends
• Account Settings: manage WhatsApp Business Account keyword responses