WhatsApp automation for D2C brands: a complete playbook

Stage 1: get on the WhatsApp Business Platform

1. Choose a provider that creates the WhatsApp Business Account inside your own Meta business account, so the number stays yours.
2. Pick the number: a new one, or one moved from the WhatsApp Business app (it then stops working in the app).
3. Set your display name and profile exactly as customers know your brand.
4. Verify your Meta business account if you can; it affects your messaging limits over time.
5. Add a WhatsApp opt-in at checkout, worded with your brand name, and keep a record of it.

Stage 2: order updates first

Order confirmation, shipped, out for delivery and delivered are utility messages: ₹0.115 each to Indian numbers from 1 October 2026, and they are the messages buyers thank you for. Get these four templates approved, connect your Shopify or WooCommerce store, and switch them on before anything else. They cut "where is my order" questions and warm up your number with messages people read.

Stage 3: COD confirmation

If cash on delivery is a large share of your orders, add a confirmation right after each COD order: confirm, cancel, or pay now instead. It is a utility message too, and every cancelled-before-dispatch order is a return you did not pay for.

Stage 4: abandoned cart recovery

Cart reminders are marketing messages, ₹0.8631 each to Indian numbers. Send one reminder a few hours after the cart is left, stop the moment the order is placed, and at most one follow-up. Only message people who opted in at checkout.

Stage 5: your first campaign

1. Choose a segment, not your whole list: past buyers of a category, or people who opted in recently.
2. Write one clear offer with an end date and one link.
3. Check the cost before you send. On a tool with no markup, it is Meta's rate times the recipients.
4. Send in the morning or early evening, when replies can be answered.
5. Watch opt-outs and your quality rating for the next two days before sending again.

What it costs in month one

Protect your number

Every template has a quality rating based on usage, customer feedback and engagement; low ratings can lead to template pacing or pausing. New business portfolios start with a messaging limit of 250 people in a moving 24-hour period, which can rise to 2,000, 10,000, 100,000 and then unlimited as you send high-quality messages and use at least half of your limit in 7 days.

In practice: start with utility messages, keep marketing to opted-in segments, make opting out easy, and never buy contact lists.