How to collect WhatsApp opt-ins the right way

WhatsApp's Business Messaging Policy is clear: before you send a customer messages on WhatsApp, they need to have agreed to receive them. This agreement is called an opt-in. It's also the single best thing you can do for your results, because people who asked to hear from you actually read your messages.

What a good opt-in looks like

A valid opt-in makes two things clear to the customer:

1. Who will message them: your business, by name.
2. That it's on WhatsApp, and roughly what they'll get (order updates, offers, reminders).

For example, a checkbox at checkout:

☐ Send me order updates and offers from Ceylon Tea Co on WhatsApp.

Or a line on a sign-up card in your shop: "Yes, I'd like Ceylon Tea Co to send me offers on WhatsApp", with space for the number.

Where to collect opt-ins

• Your website: at checkout, in a sign-up form, or with a "Chat with us on WhatsApp" button.
• In person: at the counter, on a sign-up card or a QR code that opens a WhatsApp chat.
• Over the phone: ask, and note down that the customer agreed.
• On WhatsApp itself: a customer who messages you first can be asked whether they'd like to receive offers.

Never buy or borrow a list of numbers. People who didn't ask to hear from you block and report, and that damages your number.

Keep a record

Note when and how each person agreed, for example "website checkout, 3 October". If someone ever asks why they're getting your messages, you can answer. When you import contacts into WAlenz, you confirm they agreed and the source is recorded with each contact.

Make it easy to stop

People must be able to opt out as easily as they opted in.

• Add a "Stop promotions" button to marketing templates. A tap is easier than a block, and blocks hurt your number's quality.
• Respect replies like STOP. Remember Sinhala and Tamil speakers: words like "නවත්වන්න" or "நிறுத்து" mean the same thing. WAlenz understands these out of the box.
• WhatsApp also lets people turn off marketing messages from a business in the app. When they do, stop sending them marketing.

WAlenz stops campaigns to anyone who unsubscribes in any of these ways. When someone replies STOP, it also sends a short confirmation, so they know it worked.

Why it matters for your number

WhatsApp gives every business number a quality rating based on how people react to its messages. Many blocks and reports lower the rating, which can limit how many people you can message a day, or restrict the number altogether. Asking for permission, sending what people signed up for, and making it easy to leave keeps that rating high, and keeps your messages arriving.