WhatsApp API Glossary: Important Keywords Explained!

Navigating the world of the WhatsApp Business API can be overwhelming, especially with its comprehensive range of features, technical terminologies, and developing capabilities. Whether you're a developer, business owner, or marketer, understanding the key concepts is crucial in simplifying the complex maze and keeping things simple while onboarding to this powerful tool effectively.

In this article, we’ve compiled a comprehensive WhatsApp Cloud (Business) API Keyword Glossary to simplify the terminology and help you grasp the core essentials. From message templates and flows to rate limits and commerce messages, this guide will serve as your go-to resource for unlocking the full potential of WhatsApp API for seamless customer communication and engagement. Let’s dive in!

1. WhatsApp Business API

Business Portfolio: A business portfolio allows organizations to bring their Facebook Pages, Instagram accounts, ad accounts, catalogs, and other business assets together so you can manage them, and the people who access them, from one place using business tools such as Meta Business Suite and Business Manager.

WhatsApp Business Accounts (WABA): A WhatsApp Business Account represents a business on the WhatsApp Business Platform and is composed primarily of metadata about a specific business. Most other WhatsApp resources, such as WhatsApp Business Phone Numbers and WhatsApp Message Templates are associated with a WABA.

WhatsApp Business Phone Numbers: A WhatsApp Business Phone Number (business phone number) represents a real phone number, which, once registered for use with Cloud API, can be used to send and receive messages to and from WhatsApp users via the API.

WhatsApp Business API: A tool for businesses to communicate with customers at scale, enabling automated messaging, notifications, and customer support.

Official Business Account: A WhatsApp Business Account that is verified is an Official account. For an OBA, you need a Facebook Business Manager account, a phone number not previously used with WhatsApp, and go through a verification process, which is different from the WhatsApp Business app.

Business Verification: Process of authenticating a business's legitimacy to use the WhatsApp Business API. It involves submitting business details and documents to Meta for review, ensuring compliance with WhatsApp's policies. Verified businesses gain trust, a green checkmark badge, and access to advanced API features.

Phone Number ID: A unique identifier for a business phone number registered on WhatsApp.

WhatsApp Business Profile: A public profile for businesses that includes details like business name, description, address, and contact information.

WhatsApp Solution Provider: Official partners authorized by WhatsApp to provide access to the Business API and related services (previously known as Business Solution Provider or BSP)

Message Templates: Pre-approved message formats for businesses to send notifications or updates to users.

Session Messages: messages sent within a 24-hour window after a user initiates a conversation. Businesses can send free-form messages (text, media, etc.) without needing pre-approved templates, enabling real-time, two-way communication for customer support or engagement.

Out-of-Session Messages: Messages sent outside the 24-hour window after a user's last interaction. These require pre-approved message templates and are typically used for notifications, updates, or reminders. They incur charges and must comply with WhatsApp's policies to prevent spam.

Two-Way Communication: Refers to real-time interaction between businesses and users, allowing both parties to send and receive messages within a 24-hour session window. It enables customer support, engagement, and personalized conversations, fostering a seamless and interactive communication experience.

Webhooks: HTTP callbacks used to receive real-time notifications about events (e.g., message delivery, read receipts).

API Endpoint: A URL where API requests are sent to interact with WhatsApp servers.

Solution Providers: businesses that provide, or want to provide, WhatsApp messaging services to other businesses.

Solution Partners: Solution Partners are Meta Business Partners that provide a full range of WhatsApp Business Platform services to other businesses, such as messaging services, billing, integration support, and customer support.

Tech Providers: Tech Providers are similar to Solution Partners in that they also can offer a full range of WhatsApp Business Platform services to other businesses, either by providing these services on their own, or by partnering with a Solution Partner who already offers these services. Tech Providers however do not have credit lines.

Tech Partners: Tech Partners are Tech Providers who are, or are eligible to become, Meta Business Partners

555 business phone numbers: These numbers behave the same way as standard business phone numbers (subject to pricing rules, impacted by quality ratings, etc.), but must have their display names approved before they can be used to send messages. In addition, 555 numbers. Have a US country calling code (+1), Have a 555 area code, Are verified automatically, Cannot be migrated to another WhatsApp Business Account, or used outside of the WhatsApp Business platform. Business customers can claim up to two 555 business phone numbers.

Cloud API: A hosted version of the WhatsApp Business API, managed by Meta, eliminating the need for businesses to host their servers.

Auto-Scaling: The Cloud API within Meta infrastructure automatically scales and adjusts to handle your workload, within your rate limit (messaging volume and number of WABAs).

Encryption: Every WhatsApp message continues to be protected by Signal protocol encryption that secures messages before they leave the device. This means messages with a WABA are securely delivered to the destination chosen by each business.

Pair Rate Limits: Business phone numbers are limited to sending 1 message every 6 seconds to the same WhatsApp user phone number (0.17 messages/second). This is roughly equivalent to 10 messages per minute, or 600 messages per hour. If you exceed this limit, the API will return error code 131056 until you are within your limit again.

WhatsApp Manager: WhatsApp Manager is like an admin access allowing you to manually manage WhatsApp resources, such as WABAs, business phone numbers, and templates, and provides an easy way to see insights and quality ratings or limits on these resources. Most functionality offered by the WhatsApp Manager is also available via the API, with a few minor exceptions.

Graph API: The underlying API used by Meta to interact with WhatsApp and other Meta services.

Rate Limits: Maximum number of API requests a business can make within a specific time frame (e.g., per second, per day). It prevents overloading WhatsApp's servers, ensures fair usage, and maintains system stability. Exceeding limits may result in temporary restrictions or errors.

2. Messaging Features & Templates

Template Messages: A template message is a pre-approved, structured message format that businesses use to communicate with customers, especially when initiating conversations or sending outbound messages outside of a 24-hour session window

Template Categories: Template categories are pre-approved message formats that businesses use to communicate with customers, organized into three primary categories: Marketing, Utility, and Authentication.

Template Approval: template approval is the process where businesses, using the WhatsApp Business API, submit pre-defined message formats called templates for review and approval by Meta to ensure they adhere to WhatsApp's policies and guidelines.

Broadcast Messages: Refers to the feature with the ability to send a single message to multiple recipients simultaneously.

Opt-In: Opt-in is essentially a permission request from a business to a customer, asking for their consent to receive messages, promotional or otherwise, through WhatsApp

Opt-Out: Opt-out refers to a user's ability to choose to stop receiving messages, updates, or notifications from a business, effectively withdrawing their consent to future communications.

Media Messages: Messages sent to users with rich content like images, videos, audio, and documents to users. These messages enhance engagement and communication by supporting multimedia formats, making interactions more dynamic and informative. Media files must comply with size and format limits set by WhatsApp.

WhatsApp Flows: WhatsApp Flows is a way to build structured interactions for business messaging. With Flows, businesses can define, configure, and customize messages with rich interactions that give customers more structure in the way they communicate.

Interactive Messages: WhatsApp interactive messages are a feature that allows businesses to offer a more interactive and streamlined customer experience by presenting users with options or buttons to choose from, rather than requiring them to type out responses

Commerce Messages: Messages designed for businesses to facilitate transactions, share product catalogs, and provide purchase-related updates. They enable seamless shopping experiences by allowing users to browse, inquire, and complete purchases directly within WhatsApp, enhancing customer engagement and driving sales.

Contextual Replies: Contextual replies are a special way of responding to a WhatsApp user message. Sending a message as a contextual reply makes it clearer to the user which message you are replying to by quoting the previous message in a contextual bubble:

Quick Replies: Quick replies are pre-written messages or templates that businesses can use to quickly respond to common customer queries, acting as shortcuts to frequently used responses.

Reaction Messages: Reaction message allows businesses to react to customer messages with an emoji, providing a quick and personable way to show appreciation, confirm receipt, or react to customer feedback.

Service conversations: A service conversation is opened when any message other than a template message is delivered to your customer and no open conversation of any category exists between you and the customer.

Free Entry Point conversations: A free entry point conversation is opened if (1) a customer using a device running Android or iOS messages you via a Click to WhatsApp Ad or Facebook Page Call-to-Action button and (2) you respond within 24 hours. The free entry point conversation is opened as soon as your message is delivered and lasts 72 hours.

Messaging Limits: Messaging limits are the maximum number of business-initiated conversations (conversations opened as a result of sending a marketing, utility, or authentication template to a WhatsApp user) a business phone number can open in a 24-hour moving period.

Messaging Quality: Messaging quality is based on how messages have been received by recipients over the past seven days and is weighted by recency. It is determined by a combination of quality signals from conversations between you and WhatsApp users.

Fallback Templates: Backup message templates are used when the primary template fails (e.g., unsupported format or language). They ensure message delivery by providing an alternative, simpler format, maintaining communication even if the original template isn't delivered.

3. Administrative & Billing Management

Display Name: The display name is the business name that customers see on their WhatsApp Business profile, appearing above the business's phone number in the contact view, and is visible even if the customer hasn't saved the number in their contacts.

Verification Badges: Verification badges, with a green tick indicating an official, verified business account, and a blue tick indicating a verified Meta Business account.

User Blocking: Businesses can block users who have messaged them within the last 24 hours using the Block Users API, preventing those users from contacting them or seeing their online status, and vice versa.

Message Delivery Receipts (DLRs): Provides real-time status updates on the delivery and reading of your messages, allowing you to track their progress and ensure successful communication with your users.

Message Read Receipts: Notifications indicating when a customer has read a message sent by the business, allow businesses to track customer engagement and improve their messaging strategy.

Message Status: The message status notifications, sent via webhooks, inform you about the lifecycle of your messages, including when they're sent, delivered, read, or if the delivery fails.

Conversation Analytics: This provides businesses with insights into their WhatsApp communication performance, including metrics like message delivery, open rates, and customer engagement, allowing for data-driven optimization of their messaging strategies.

Error Codes: Codes returned by the API to indicate issues (e.g., rate limits, authentication errors).

Retry Mechanism: If a message fails to deliver due to temporary issues (e.g., the recipient's device is offline or there's a network problem), the API will retry sending the message at regular intervals until it is successfully delivered or until the message expiry time is reached

Conversation-Based Pricing: Businesses are charged based on the number of 24-hour conversations they have with users, rather than individual messages, and the cost varies depending on the conversation category (marketing, utility, authentication, or service) and the user's country.

Free Tier: WhatsApp offer Free tier offers 1,000 free service conversations per month, encompassing both user-initiated and business-initiated interactions, and is refreshed monthly. Starting 1st November 2024, all service conversations are free.

Billing Dashboard: A tool that allows businesses using the WhatsApp Business Platform to track and manage their usage and costs, providing an overview of conversations, their categories, and associated charges.

4. Other Advanced Features

Third-Party Providers: Companies or platforms that offer tools, services, and solutions to simplify the integration, management, and use of the WhatsApp Business API. They help businesses with setup, messaging, automation, analytics, and compliance, making it easier to leverage WhatsApp for customer communication.

Callback URL: A webhook endpoint (URL) where WhatsApp sends real-time notifications about message statuses, incoming messages, and other events. It enables your system to react dynamically to user interactions and updates, ensuring seamless communication and automation.

Authentication: The process of verifying API requests using secure credentials like an Access Token and App Secret. It ensures that only authorized users or systems can interact with the WhatsApp Business API, protecting data and maintaining secure communication between businesses and users

Multi-Agent Support: WhatsApp API multi-agent support allows multiple agents to handle customer inquiries through a single WhatsApp Business account, enabling businesses to scale their customer support teams and improve response times.

Chatbots: WhatsApp Chatbot aims to provide an interactive and conversational experience for users via a messaging channel they use daily to speak with family and friends

Message Expiry: Message Expiry refers to the time limit after which an undelivered message will no longer be attempted for delivery. This feature ensures that outdated or irrelevant messages are not delivered to users after a certain period.

Meta for Developers: The platform where businesses register and manage their WhatsApp Cloud API integration.

Access Token: A secure token used to authenticate API requests.

API Key: A unique key for securing your WhatsApp Cloud API integration.

API Documentation: Official guides for developers to implement WhatsApp APIs.

WhatsApp Business API solution is dynamicin terms of new features and capability addition. Hope this list provided you with all about the latest features, tools, capabilities of the Business API ecosystem. However if you plan to explore WhatsApp Business API for your business you can signup for our Chakra WhatsApp product demo using the link below.