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Outbound WhatsApp messages

How to use Outbound to schedule and send outbound WhatsApp messages to your customers.

Written by Beth-Ann Sher

Use outbound WhatsApp messages to proactively reach your customers at scale — send one-off campaigns, trigger messages based on events, or include WhatsApp in multi-step Series. This article covers how to set up, send, and monitor an outbound WhatsApp message from Intercom.

These messages have the same capabilities as other message types, including:

  • One-off messages

  • Ongoing dynamic messages

  • Event targeted transactional SMS

  • Available to use in Series

  • And more!

Before you start

To use this feature, you'll need to set up the WhatsApp integration first.

WhatsApp only allows sending pre-approved business initiated message templates (so you can’t customize the text message in Intercom). You can create message templates in WhatsApp Manager, a tool provided by Meta (Facebook's parent company).

Read WhatsApp's policy for sending proactive business initiated messages.

Note:

  • Sending outbound WhatsApp messages is a usage-based feature that generates additional charges on your bill. Each message sent is counted as one unit of 'Bulk WhatsApp Sent' and billed according to our tiered pricing. You can monitor your usage at any time via Settings > Subscription > Usage.

  • Outbound WhatsApp messages are available on current Intercom plans. If you're on a legacy plan, you'll need the WhatsApp add-on to access this feature. Free trial workspaces can send up to 100 messages in a rolling 30-day window. Contact our team if you'd like to discuss plan options or confirm your access.

How to send an outbound WhatsApp message

Go to Outbound from the main menu and click + New message in the top right corner.

The Outbound section in Intercom showing the All messages list with a '+ New message' button in the top right corner, highlighted with an arrow.

On the channel selection screen, choose WhatsApp from the list of message types.

How to set up your message content

  1. In the From field, choose the teammate the message will be sent from.

  2. In the Assign replies to field, choose the team or teammate who should receive replies (including the Owner of the user or lead).

  3. Click Select WhatsApp number and choose a WhatsApp business number you've integrated with Intercom.

  4. Click Select message template and choose one of your pre-approved WhatsApp message templates. Once approved by Meta, templates sync automatically to Intercom.

  5. If your template is available in multiple languages, select the language version to use.

  6. A preview of your message appears in the panel on the right.

Note: Intercom supports Utility, Authentication, and Marketing WhatsApp template types. All approved templates will appear in the template list, provided these conditions are met.

If you select a Marketing template, the following additional constraints apply:

  • Delivery may be capped or throttled by WhatsApp based on your account's messaging tier and recipient engagement history. Refer to WhatsApp's messaging limits documentation for details.

  • Marketing messages to US numbers are blocked.

  • Charges may apply even for failed sends.

  • Recipients must have opted in to receive Marketing messages.

  • Compliance with WhatsApp Business/Meta policies is mandatory.

Note: If your templates are active in Meta but not appearing in Intercom, confirm the template's category in Meta and ensure it is fully approved.

The outbound WhatsApp message content setup screen. The left panel shows fields for From (Beth-Ann Sher), Assign replies to (Beth-Ann Sher), Send from (Intercom phone number), Message template (thank_you_parameters), and Language (English). The right panel shows a live preview of the selected template: 'Thank you for your interest [First name], we'll get back to you soon', with a note that the message may look different in WhatsApp.

Note:

  • This preview may look different to the actual message in WhatsApp.

  • Outbound WhatsApp message templates don't currently support rich media such as images or videos. If you need to share visual content, include a URL link to the resource in your template text instead.

  • WhatsApp messages will use your contacts' Phone attribute to send the message to that phone number. Numbers must be in E.164 format — the international standard for phone numbers, beginning with + followed by the country code and number (e.g. +441231234123 for a UK number).

Fill parameters using attributes

Outbound WhatsApp message templates support variables (also called parameters) that you can fill with customer data from Intercom. If your template includes variables, you can map each one to an Intercom attribute.

The variable mapping interface for a WhatsApp message template. On the left, a template preview titled 'An update on your order' shows unmapped variables highlighted in yellow (labeled 2 and 3). On the right, a panel lists available Intercom attributes grouped by type: People Attributes (First name, Last name, Name), App/Author Attributes (Author name, Author full name, App name), and Company Attributes (Company name, Company ID). An arrow points from variable 2 in the template preview to 'App name' in the attribute list, illustrating how to map a template variable to an Intercom attribute.

For example, the WhatsApp message template might have a variable for a user's first name. So you'd select this variable highlighted in the message preview and choose the "First name" attribute from the list.

The sender of the message will be associated with the "Author" attributes.

Some special characters are not supported for For WhatsApp message template variables/parameters. This is security best practice because special characters in text fields can potentially disrupt functionality when they're being accessed.

The affected special characters are / & < > and will appear as the values below in the message received on WhatsApp:

/ = /

& = &

< = >

> = <

Outbound WhatsApp templates must have variables that correspond exactly to the variables mapped in Intercom. Otherwise, the variable should be removed to prevent message delivery failures.

How to set audience rules and triggers

Choose if you want the WhatsApp message to trigger based on event or date based rules.

Then define the audience the message will send to:

For example, you might want to send this message to leads after they've contacted your Sales team, but only if their Phone number starts with "+44".

The Rules configuration panel for an outbound WhatsApp message. The Triggers section shows 'When to send' set to 'Contacted Sales' event, with an option to add more event or date rules. The Audience section shows 'Dynamic (people who match rules now and in the future)' selected, with audience filters set to 'Leads' and 'Phone starts with +44'. A preview link shows 22 people currently match the audience.

Note:

  • Users without a value saved in the Phone attribute will automatically be excluded from the audience.

  • If you use an event or date based rule to trigger a WhatsApp message, your audience must be "Dynamic".

How to set sending frequency and schedule

Decide how often you want the WhatsApp message to send (i.e. "Send once, first time the person matches the rules"). Then schedule the start and stop dates for sending this message.

The Frequency and scheduling configuration panel. Under 'Send more than once', three options are shown: 'Send once, first time the person matches the rules' (selected), 'Send every time the person matches the rules', and 'Send based on a fixed schedule if the person matches the rules'. Under 'Start sending', 'Immediately' is selected (with 'Custom date' as an alternative). Under 'Stop sending', 'Never' is selected (with 'Custom date' as an alternative). A 'How to schedule a message' help link appears at the bottom.

How to set a message goal

Click + Add goal to measure how effectively your outbound WhatsApp message drives customers to take a specific action in your product. After setting a goal, you can track how many message recipients complete it in the message's reporting view.

Learn more about measuring message effectiveness with goals.

How to set your message live

Once you've finished setting up your outbound WhatsApp message, click Set live in the top right corner. For a Fixed audience, the message begins sending immediately to matching contacts. For a Dynamic audience, the message continues sending to new matches until you set a Stop sending date or pause it manually.

Note:

  • Messages to a dynamic audience will remain live and send every time the rules are matched, unless you specify a date to "Stop sending".

  • The most common cause of high error rates in outbound WhatsApp campaigns are due to an error from the WhatsApp API, having a high amount of Users with invalid numbers, or your workspace having exceeded its plan's monthly outbound WhatsApp limit. Check your plan details or contact your Intercom admin to confirm your workspace's monthly message limit.

How to send WhatsApp messages in a Series

Outbound WhatsApp messages can be set up as part of a Series you've orchestrated too.

This is great for triggering WhatsApp messages to send as part of a customer's journey through your product, such as reminding users about items in their shopping cart, or confirming when a refund has been processed.

Note: WhatsApp messages sent as part of a Series count toward your Bulk WhatsApp Sent usage and will generate additional charges on your bill — the same as messages sent directly from Outbound. You can monitor your usage at any time via Settings > Subscription > Usage. See Bulk WhatsApp Sent pricing for the full rate breakdown.

A Series canvas showing a simple two-step customer journey. An 'Entry Rules' node (with a lightning bolt icon) labeled 'Empty rules' connects via a 'When matched' arrow to a 'WhatsApp Message' node (with the WhatsApp icon) labeled 'Empty WhatsApp message', illustrating how a WhatsApp message can be added as a step inside a Series.

What the customer sees

When your outbound WhatsApp message goes live, any customer who matches your configured audience rules will receive it on WhatsApp. Audience rules are set in the Rules step when creating your message.

A customer's WhatsApp screen showing a received outbound message from 'Intercom Wsapp'. The message reads: 'Thanks for reaching out. If you have more questions, go to our website:' followed by two call-to-action buttons: 'Visit us' and 'Call us'. The message was received at 5:05 PM.

The customer can reply, and you'll receive the reply in the inbox you assigned replies to. Teammates will be able to see the WhatsApp message that the user replied to in the conversation thread.

How to view reporting and troubleshoot issues

For WhatsApp messages that have been live, go to Outbound and open the WhatsApp message in view mode (before clicking Edit) to see the Sent/Issues stats.

The reporting view for a live outbound WhatsApp message in Intercom. The Issues tab is selected, showing 2 messages sent with a 50% issue rate (1 issue). A line chart shows the issue rate over the period Dec 4–8, 2025, starting at 50% on Dec 4 and dropping to 0% by Dec 5. Below the chart, a 'Customers who had an issue' table shows one customer (Violeta) with the issue reason 'An error occurred while attempting to send the WhatsApp message', logged 4 days ago.

If there were any issues sending the message, you'll see them in the Issues tab. Some known issues are:

  • The WhatsApp integration does not exist.

  • You don't have access to the WhatsApp add-on on your current plan (this is required on our legacy plans).

  • There was an error from the WhatsApp API request that sent the message.

  • Users numbers are invalid.

  • Your workspace has exceeded its plan's monthly outbound WhatsApp limit.

  • Marketing templates may fail to deliver due to Meta-imposed constraints, such as delivery restrictions or frequency caps.

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