In short
- People comment your word on a post.
- They get a DM with a button. It opens a WhatsApp chat with you.
- You don't connect WhatsApp to sprkly. The button is a plain WhatsApp chat link.
Set it up
- Open Automation and click New.
- Find Send people to WhatsApp. Search for it, or filter by Drive traffic.
- Pick the post it should watch. The word starts as CHAT. Change it if you like.
- Add your WhatsApp phone number, your WhatsApp username, or both.
- Check Their first message. You can change it or leave it blank.
- Pick the account and click Go live.
Your phone number
- Start with the country code, not 0. Like 6591234567.
- Spaces, a + and dashes are fine. We take them out.
- Your phone number always works.
Your username
- Usernames are new on WhatsApp. If you set a username key, people need it to message you.
- A username has 3 to 35 letters, numbers, dots or underscores. The @ is optional.
- Not sure? Add your phone number too.
Their first message
- It starts as "Hi! I saw your post on Instagram."
- It is typed in for them when the chat opens. They can change it.
- Leave it blank and the chat opens empty.
What they get
- A reply under their comment: "Sent! Check your DMs." You can change it.
- A DM: "Thanks for asking! Tap below to chat with me on WhatsApp."
- One button, Chat on WhatsApp.
- Added a phone and a username? They get two buttons: Chat on WhatsApp and Chat by username.
What we store
- Your WhatsApp number or username, so we can send the button.
- Anyone who gets that DM can see it.
- We delete it when you delete that automation or your account.
- Records of sent DMs that hold the link are cleared within 13 months.
- Each tap opens a sprkly link first, so we can count taps.
- Export this automation as a file and the WhatsApp link is taken out. The file has {link} in its place.
Your link was refused
- "Start with the country code, not 0. Like 6591234567." Drop the 0 and add your country code.
- "Add a phone number with the country code, like 6591234567." Check the number is complete.
- "That username belongs to WhatsApp. Use your own." Type your own username.
- "The first message is too long. Make it shorter." Cut a few words.
- "This button link looks like WhatsApp but isn't wa.me. Use a wa.me link." A link typed by hand, or one in a file, only passes if it is a real wa.me or whatsapp.com link. Or set it up from the template.
- "This button link hides where it goes. Take out the part before the @." Delete everything between https:// and the @.
An old link stopped working
- You changed your number or username and turned the automation on again.
- Buttons in DMs sent before that now say "This link is no longer active."
- DMs still waiting to go out get your new link.
- So nobody lands on a number you took out.