1. Choose one customer journey
Start with an enquiry, appointment request or order-support workflow. Write down the information the customer provides, the approved knowledge the assistant uses and the next action. Treat inbound support and business-initiated follow-ups as different journeys with separate dependencies.
- Name the workflow owner and the team receiving enquiries.
- Define supported questions and requests outside scope.
- List the customer details needed, avoiding unnecessary sensitive information.
2. Confirm account and messaging readiness
Review the intended WhatsApp Business Platform setup, number and provider arrangement. Keep business ownership and access explicit, especially in white-label delivery. The business must review current platform policies and applicable messaging requirements before launch; development alone does not grant permission to contact people.
- Confirm who owns the business account, number and provider contract.
- Document opt-in, opt-out and template-review responsibilities.
- Separate implementation fees from provider and messaging charges.
3. Make CRM actions precise
Decide whether the assistant only collects an enquiry or can update a record. A submitted request is not a confirmed booking. Integration retries can duplicate leads or appointments unless the system recognizes the same operation and records its outcome.
- Define allowed reads and writes for each connected system.
- Use scoped credentials and a non-production test environment.
- Design duplicate prevention, validation and an operator-visible failure queue.
- Confirm success only after the connected system returns a reliable result.
4. Keep human handover usable
Agree what happens when a customer asks for a person, the assistant is uncertain or an integration fails. Passing a conversation to a queue is only useful if staff can see its context and know who is responsible. Plan an honest after-hours response instead of implying someone is immediately available.
- Name the receiving inbox or helpdesk and its operating coverage.
- Pass relevant context without exposing unrelated customer records.
- Test a request for a person and an unavailable receiving team.
5. Test before expanding
Use representative conversations and failure cases, not only a friendly demonstration. Agree release-blocking errors and review early production feedback with the business owner. Keep the initial automation narrow enough that incorrect actions can be understood and recovered.
- Test incorrect details, ambiguous requests and unavailable APIs.
- Verify opt-out handling, duplicate messages and escalation.
- Review answers against approved knowledge and requested languages.
- Document monitoring, support, rollback and account handover.
Platform reference
Check the current provider rules for your deployment. This planning guide does not establish legal or platform compliance.
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