Please note that Twilio for WhatsApp is currently a Beta product available from Twilio. Please review the details on this Beta product on the Twilio site https://www.twilio.com/docs/sms/whatsapp/api. |
Luma is available through many different chat channels but for some organizations WhatsApp is the way their users communicate with each other and with the support team. The Twilio API for WhatsApp helps organizations send and receive messages to WhatsApp users using the Twilio Messaging API.
To configure the WhatsApp chat channel, a Skills Builder Administrator needs to complete the following high-level steps:
To use WhatsApp with Luma, you need to first register on Twilio. To do so:
Create an account in Twilio by clicking Signup.
To know how to sign up for a Twilio account and other account management details, refer https://support.twilio.com/hc/en-us/sections/205104908-Account-Management. |
Once the registration is completed, on the Create a Project page (which appears after submitting the verification code), on the Templates tab, select the SMS Chatbot tile.
The Twilio home page appears, and your are prompted to login.
Once your Twilio account is created, ensure that you set up billing for the Twilio messages/transactions. There are two types of messages - session message and WhatsApp template message. A WhatsApp Session message is any message sent or received in response to a user-initiated session. A messaging session starts when a user send a message to Luma, and lasts for 24 hours from the most recently received message. You can wait for users to message, or you can send a Template Message to invite the user to respond.
A WhatsApp template message is Luma initiated (follow up, approval, or resolution). They are pre-approved message templates for outbound notifications such as delivery alerts and appointment reminders. A WhatsApp Template Message can be used if more than 24 hours have elapsed since the user last responded to you. Any other type of message will fail.
For more details on how much Twilio charges for the different types of messages, refer https://www.twilio.com/whatsapp/pricing/us.
To enable WhatsApp in Skills Builder, do the following:
Paste the copied Account SID, Auth Token (from step 10 in Register in Twilio section) and Sender Number (from step 16 in Register in Twilio section) from Twilio in the Configure WhatsApp dialog box.
Account SID and Auth Token are used to send messages from Luma to Twilio. |
Copy the Message URL and paste it in the Twilio > Programable SMS > WhatsApp (Beta) Sandbox > When a Message Comes in (step 16 in Register in Twilio section). You can use the copy icon to the right to simplify the operation.
Once the Twilio sign up is completed and WhatsApp is enabled in the Skills Builder, to chat with Luma, do the following: