Configure a WhatsApp channel through Twilio

Article
02/29/2024

Omnichannel for Customer Service offers a suite of capabilities that extend the power of Dynamics 365 Customer Service Enterprise to enable organizations to instantly connect and engage with their customers across digital messaging channels. An additional license is required to access Omnichannel for Customer Service. For more information, see the Dynamics 365 Customer Service pricing overview and Dynamics 365 Customer Service pricing plan pages.

The WhatsApp channel feature lets you integrate WhatsApp through Twilio with Omnichannel for Customer Service to engage with customers who prefer to use the WhatsApp channel.

The success of social media customer service, like all other customer service, depends on the quality of care provided. Communications from agents should be timely, accurate, sensitive, brief, and friendly, which ultimately improves the customer satisfaction and brand loyalty.

Prerequisites

Make sure channels are provisioned in your environment. More information: Provision Omnichannel for Customer Service

Note

To enable the Twilio channel in an existing environment, you must upgrade to the latest version of Omnichannel for Customer Service. For information, Upgrade Omnichannel for Customer Service.

For newly created Twilio accounts, you must disable a security setting that blocks the ability to send media files. More information: Extended notice and update on security changes: HTTP Authentication for Voice and Messaging Media enabled by default
Obtain a Twilio account with an appropriate subscription or a Twilio sandbox account. For information on configuring a Twilio sandbox account, see Integrate a Twilio sandbox account with Omnichannel for Customer Service
Connect Twilio Number to your WhatsApp Business Profile. To learn more, see Connect your Twilio Number to your WhatsApp Business Profile.
Verify that you have permissions on the secure columns. More information: Configure permissions to access secure columns

WhatsApp message types and 24-hour session rule

Template messages: Are the outbound messages that agents send through Twilio using one of the preapproved templates? They're typically transactional messages, such as delivery alerts and appointment reminders, sent to users who have opted in to receive messages from your organization. For messages requiring localization, you must get the message approved by WhatsApp in each language. For more information about WhatsApp message templates, see WhatsApp documentation.
Session messages: According to WhatsApp, session messages are incoming messages from a customer or outgoing replies by an agent to the incoming messages, within 24 hours. A messaging session starts when agents receive a message from a customer. It lasts for 24 hours from the most recently received message. Session messages don't need to follow a template, and can include media attachments.
24 hours session rule: A messaging session starts when an agent receives a message from a customer or replies to the incoming message from the customer. When the customer sends a message, the agent has 24 hours to reply from the time the agent received it. However, after 24 hours, the agent can send a message to customer only by using a predefined and approved template.

End-to-end walkthrough

Fetch Twilio account details
Create a WhatsApp channel
Create routing rules
Modify settings for a specific WhatsApp phone number

Fetch Twilio account details

Important

Support for the Omnichannel Administration app ended on April 30, 2022, and the app was removed in July 2023. We recommend that you use the Customer Service admin center app to configure the latest features, such as unified routing and voice channel. More information: Omnichannel Administration app is deprecated

To integrate a WhatsApp channel through Twilio with Omnichannel for Customer Service, you need to go to your Twilio account and fetch the ACCOUNT SID and AUTH TOKEN values. Save the values safely because they're required to configure a WhatsApp channel through Customer Service admin center.

Go to your Twilio Console Dashboard > Settings > General to fetch the details.

Create a WhatsApp channel

In Dynamics 365, go to one of the apps, and perform the following steps.
- Customer Service admin center
- Omnichannel admin center (deprecated)
1. In the site map, select Channels in Customer support. The Channels page appears.
2. Select Manage for Messaging accounts. The Accounts and channels page appears.
3. Select New account.
Important

Omnichannel admin center is deprecated. Use the Customer Service admin center app for admin tasks across Customer Service.
- In the site map, select Channels under General settings, and on the Accounts and channels page, select New account.
Enter the following details:
1. On the Channel details page, enter a name and select WhatsApp in Channels.
2. On the Account details page, enter the following details:
- Account SID: Specify the value from your Twilio account.
- Authentication token: Specify the value from your Twilio account.
1. On the WhatsApp numbers page, select Add, and on the page that appears, enter the following information:
- Name: Specify a name.
- Number: Specify the WhatsApp phone number by prefixing the plus (+) symbol.
1. On the Callback information page, copy the value in the Twilio inbound URL box to use for the Twilio account.
2. Select Done. The account is added to the list.
To configure routing and work distribution, you can create a workstream or select an existing one.
Select the workstream that you've created for the WhatsApp channel and on the workstream page, select Set up WhatsApp to configure the following options:
1. On the WhatsApp number page, in the Available WhatsApp numbers list, select the number that you created.
2. On the Language page, select the language.
3. On the Behaviors page, configure the following options:
1. On the User features page, set the toggle for File attachments to On and select the following checkboxes if you want to allow agents and customers to send and receive file attachments. More information: Enable file attachments.
- Customers can send file attachments
- Agents can send file attachments
1. Verify the settings on the Summary page, and select Finish. The WhatsApp channel instance is configured.
Configure routing rules. More information: Configure work classification.
Configure work distribution. More information: Work distribution settings
Optionally, add a bot.
Based on your business needs, in Advanced settings, configure the following options:

Configure WhatsApp message templates

You can configure the option for agents to send WhatsApp-approved messages. If 24 hours pass after a customer's last message, agents will only be able to send messages from WhatsApp-approved templates until the customer responds. You must create your message templates in your Twilio account and have them approved by WhatsApp before you add them in Omnichannel for Customer Service.

Perform the following steps:

For the selected workstream for WhatsApp, edit the WhatsApp account.
On the Behaviors tab, in WhatsApp message templates, select Add.
On the Add message template dialog box, do the following:
- Name: Specify a name for the template.
- Default language: Select the language from the list.
- WhatsApp approved text: Copy and paste the approved text from the template that you created in WhatsApp.
Select Save.
Create as many templates as required.

Integrate a Twilio sandbox account with Omnichannel for Customer Service

In Twilio, go to the Programmable SMS > Programmable Messaging > WhatsApp sandbox.
In the WHEN A MESSAGE COMES IN box, enter the Twilio inbound URL that you generated in Omnichannel for Customer Service, and save the changes.
To test the WhatsApp channel with the Twilio sandbox, you can send a WhatsApp message to the number provided by Twilio with a unique code that is also provided by Twilio. You can also use the sandbox message template provided by Twilio to test sending messages outside of the 24-hour window.