Can my business message customers on WhatsApp?

Yes — through the official WhatsApp Business app or the WhatsApp Business Platform, and with one condition that matters more than any feature: the customer opts in first. Meta requires a business to get the customer’s opt-in before the business starts a conversation. In practice that means they messaged you first, or they agreed to WhatsApp messages when they booked. Answer the people who write to you quickly, don’t message people who never asked, and never use unofficial automation tools to do any of it.

Opt-in first, on the official app or platform

There are two official routes. The WhatsApp Business app is Meta’s app for running a business account from a phone. The WhatsApp Business Platform is the route business software uses — booking systems, shared inboxes, answering tools — when messages need to sit alongside your calls and texts. Pick the one that fits how many people will answer, and set it up on a number you plan to keep, the way you’d treat your main phone line.

Then get the opt-in right — Meta’s own guidance puts it before any conversation the business starts. A customer who writes to you first — from a WhatsApp link on your website, or because they saw your number on your door — has opened the conversation, and you’re replying. A customer who books can be asked plainly: “Can we send your confirmation on WhatsApp?” Keep a note of who agreed and when. Agreeing to a confirmation is not agreeing to promotions, so keep messages to what they asked for.

Answer the people who write to you, fast

Someone who messages a business is often in the same spot as someone who calls: ready to book, with one question in the way. If replies sit until tonight, they may well book somewhere else. Decide who watches the chats during open hours, and if your setup allows an automatic after-hours reply, use it to say when you’ll answer — then keep that promise.

This matters most if you serve Spanish-speaking customers. For many people who grew up in Latin America, WhatsApp is simply how they message — family, friends, and the businesses they use. Give them a WhatsApp option and some will write instead of calling, often in Spanish and often outside your hours. Answer in their language, with replies written by someone who speaks it rather than pasted from a translation app; the same rule applies on the phone, covered in handling calls in Spanish when you don’t speak it.

What to avoid

• Messaging people who never reply. In October 2025 Meta began piloting a monthly cap on messages businesses send to people who never reply, according to trade press reports. Cap or no cap, chasing silence is how a business annoys people into blocking it.
• Unofficial automation tools. Browser add-ons and bulk-sender programs that drive WhatsApp outside Meta’s official app and platform break the rules and put the number itself at risk. If a tool isn’t the official app or platform, don’t connect it.
• Messaging strangers. A WhatsApp number is not a license to reach people who never contacted you. Opt-in first, every time.

If your customers don’t use WhatsApp, you don’t need it. Ask a few regulars before you set anything up.