Automation playbook
WhatsApp order automation: read in, confirmed by a person, never retyped
In many businesses the order book lives in WhatsApp: photos, voice notes, “send 20 of the usual”. Someone reads it all and types it into the system, and the mistakes show up at dispatch. We build the path from the message to the order, with a person confirming instead of copying.
In short
WhatsApp order automation reads incoming order requests into a review queue inside your system, with the customer, the items and the quantities already filled in where the message names them. A person checks and confirms each one, which is faster and safer than retyping. From there the order confirmation, the status updates and the dispatch message go to the customer automatically, on the channel they wrote to you on.
The flow
Step by step, who does what
- Message arrives Text, a photo of a list, or a catalogue code
- Read into the queue Customer and items pre-filled where named
- A person confirms Checks stock, price and the odd request a person decides
- Order created Confirmation sent back on WhatsApp
- Status updates In production, ready, dispatched
- Dispatch message With the tracking details attached
Stays with people: A person confirms every order before it exists, and handles anything unusual in the message.
What gets automated
The reading. An order request that arrives on WhatsApp is matched to the customer and, where it names codes or products you sell, to the items in your catalogue. It lands in a review queue with those fields filled in and the original message beside them, so the person confirming can see exactly what was asked.
The talking back. Once confirmed, the customer gets a confirmation on WhatsApp. As the order moves, the updates you choose go out by rule: in production, ready, dispatched with the tracking details. Nobody has to remember to send them, and nobody has to answer “where is my order” on the phone.
- Order requests matched to customers and catalogue items
- A review queue instead of retyping
- Confirmation, status and dispatch messages by rule
- The original message kept with the order
How we build it
We look at a month of your real WhatsApp orders first, because the way your customers write is the specification. Some send codes, some send photos of a handwritten list, some send “same as last time”. The matching rules and the review screen are designed around that.
The CRM we built for a manufacturer reads order requests arriving on WhatsApp into a review queue, where a person confirms them. We also set the limits with you: which messages the system may send on its own, and which must wait for a person. Those limits are yours, and they are written down.
What it connects to
The WhatsApp Business platform on the number your customers already use, your product catalogue for matching, your order system or ERP for the confirmed order, and your courier or dispatch records for the tracking details in the final message.
- WhatsApp Business platform
- Product catalogue and prices
- Order management or ERP
- Dispatch and courier records
Questions
Common questions
Does the system reply to customers on its own?
Only where you allow it. Confirmations and status updates about an order a person has already confirmed can go out automatically. Anything that needs a decision, a price or a judgement waits for a person, and the customer is told that a person will reply.
What happens to voice notes and photos?
They go into the queue with the message, and the person confirming reads them. We do not let a guess become an order: text that names codes and quantities is pre-filled, and everything else is checked by a person.
Does this need the official WhatsApp Business platform?
Automation on a business number runs on the WhatsApp Business platform, which has its own rules about message templates and approvals. We set it up with you and explain what it allows and what it does not.
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