WhatsApp chatbot for business: what it can do and how to build your first flow

What WhatsApp allows, and what it does not

The WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy sets the limits for any bot. The parts that matter most for a shop:

• Permission first. Only message people who gave you their number and agreed to hear from you.
• The 24-hour window. You can reply freely while the customer service window is open; it opens and renews with each message from the customer. Outside it, only approved templates can be sent.
• Automation needs a way out. Automated replies are allowed inside the window, but there must be a quick, clear way to reach a person, such as a handover in the chat, a phone number or an email.
• Respect "stop". Every request to stop messaging must be honoured.
• No sensitive data. Do not ask for full card numbers, financial account numbers or identity numbers in the chat.

It is also good practice to say in the first message that the customer is talking to an automated assistant. It sets expectations and avoids frustration.

The kinds of WhatsApp chatbot

Most shops combine them: a short menu for the common paths, and a person, helped by AI drafts, for everything else. Keyword auto replies and the 24-hour window are explained in WhatsApp auto replies and the 24-hour window.

Buttons or a list?

WhatsApp offers two kinds of tappable menu. Reply buttons allow up to three buttons under a message. List messages open a menu with sections and rows, for when you have more choices.

• Use buttons for a quick choice: "Track order / Prices / Talk to us".
• Use a list for more options: product categories, branches, or delivery areas.
• Keep labels short and plain; customers read them in a second.

Design your first flow

Start small. A first flow with one menu and four paths covers most of what shops get asked:

1. Welcome menu: "Hi! I am the Noor Libas assistant. What can I help with?" with a list: New order, Track my order, Prices and sizes, Talk to a person.
2. New order: a short message with your catalogue link and how to order.
3. Track my order: ask for the order number, or call your own system to look it up.
4. Prices and sizes: a size chart image and a link to the price list.
5. Talk to a person: hand the chat to a teammate and pause the bot.

Write every message as you would say it at the counter. Short, friendly, and in the language your customers use.

How it works in Karobar

In Karobar you build the flow once, then turn it into a chatbot and choose which chats it answers. The full steps are in Build a WhatsApp chatbot flow. Points to know:

• Steps can send text, images, video, audio, documents, button messages and list messages.
• Action steps can assign the chat to a teammate, pause the chatbot in that chat until a time you choose, or call your own system and use its answer in the next step.
• A message that matches no option starts the flow again from its first step, so the first step should be the menu.
• A chatbot can answer all conversations, or only ones you select.
• Flows do not use AI and cost no credits; they send exactly what you wrote.

Limits to know before you start

• Flows run on WhatsApp. On Instagram and Messenger, use keyword auto replies, conversation starters and comment to DM instead.
• The window still applies. After 24 hours from the customer's last message, no bot can send anything but an approved template.
• Coexistence numbers. If you link a WhatsApp Business app number, Meta says app tools such as greeting and away messages stay in the app rather than moving to the platform.
• Opt-out words are handled for you. Karobar treats words like stop and unsubscribe as an opt-out on WhatsApp, and start or subscribe as opting back in.

Mistakes to avoid

• No way to reach a person. Always offer "Talk to a person"; it is also what WhatsApp's policy expects.
• Menus five levels deep. If it takes more than two taps to get an answer, customers give up.
• Forgetting to pause the bot. When a teammate takes over, pause the chatbot in that chat so it does not interrupt.
• Out-of-date answers. Prices and delivery times change; review the flow every month.