Create a WhatsApp campaign

AI-generated summary

Genesys Cloud enables users to create WhatsApp campaigns for outbound messaging through its Digital Campaigns feature, which requires specific licensing (CX 1 Digital Add-on II through CX 4) and appropriate permissions for WhatsApp campaign management, contact list access, and WhatsApp integration administration. Campaign prerequisites include establishing a WhatsApp Messenger integration via self-service onboarding, creating an inbound message flow, and configuring message routing with associated inbound numbers. Campaign setup requires a mandatory contact list, an optional Do Not Contact (DNC) list, division assignment, and an optional contactable time set to define messaging windows by time zone. WhatsApp phone numbers are processed as Phone IDs rather than E.164 format by the messaging service. The campaign creation process involves navigating to Campaign Management, selecting the Digital Campaigns tab, entering a unique campaign name, and configuring campaign options including contact list selection with optional filtering capabilities. Contact lists can be created directly within the campaign setup interface by uploading CSV files, and multiple active campaigns can share a single contact list when contact list filters are applied to prevent overlap. Wrap-up code mapping and attempt controls do not apply to digital campaigns, distinguishing them from voice-based outbound operations. Messaging campaigns support configurable parameters including Messages per Minute settings to control sending rate, with values exceeding maximum limits triggering errors. DNC lists exclude specified phone numbers from campaign targeting and can be created directly within campaign configuration by uploading a CSV file containing telephone numbers, with support for multiple phone number columns. Digital Rule Sets apply automation logic to campaign record processing in left-to-right evaluation order with draggable reordering capability. Contactable Time Sets restrict message delivery to specified time zones and hours, requiring at least one time zone column in the assigned contact list for valid configuration. WhatsApp campaign type configuration requires selection of a Dynamic Template Column from the contact list to specify content template IDs per contact, with rule set-defined templates taking precedence over contact list specifications. The WhatsApp Column designates the phone ID field, while the WhatsApp Campaign Template and WhatsApp Integration selections establish the message template and integration connection. Supported message formats include text, image, and image carousel templates. The Advanced Options section includes an Always Running toggle that maintains campaign execution even when the contact list contains no available contacts, enabling continuous operation that remains idle when contact records are exhausted while awaiting dynamically updated contact lists from external sources. The platform enables optional contact list sorting by up to four columns with configurable ascending or descending order, with the first sort taking highest precedence. Numeric fields require the Field is Numeric toggle set to Yes, while date columns must use ISO 8601 format (yyyy-mm-dd) for proper sorting, as the system does not recognize mm/dd/yy formatting as a date and sorts it as a string instead. Contact sorting occurs at campaign start; contacts added during campaign execution are messaged but excluded from sorting. Upon campaign configuration completion, users click Save to make the campaign available on the Campaign Management page. The system enforces a maximum limit of 1,000 campaigns; exceeding this limit requires deletion of obsolete campaigns before saving. Digital campaign reporting is accessible through the Interactions view rather than call detail reports, displaying dispositions as OUTBOUND-MESSAGE-SENT or OUTBOUND-MESSAGE-FAILED, with WhatsApp campaign delivery status viewable in the Performance > Workspace > Interactions section under the Delivery Status column.

PrerequisitesClick to expand

Genesys Cloud CX 1 Digital Add-on II, Genesys Cloud CX 2, Genesys Cloud CX 2 Digital, Genesys Cloud CX 3, Genesys Cloud CX 3 Digital, or Genesys Cloud CX 4 license
For WhatsApp: Outbound > WhatsApp Campaign – Add, Delete, Edit, View permission
For all campaign types: Outbound > Contact List – Search permission
(Optional) For all campaign types: Outbound > DNC List – View permission
For the WhatsApp integration: Messaging > WhatsApp Integration – Add, Delete, Edit, View permission

Before you set up a WhatsApp campaign, perform these tasks:

Set up your WhatsApp Messenger integration. For more information about the self-service onboarding process for WhatsApp, see WhatsApp Embedded Signup Flow overview.
Create an inbound message flow. For more information, see Create a flow.
Create a message routing entry and associate inbound numbers with an inbound message flow. For more information, see Add an inbound message route.

Next, add the resources required for this campaign mode, or identify existing resources to reuse.

Resource	Required?	Description
Contact List	Yes	Define the list of persons that you want to contact or know which existing list to use. Notes: WhatsApp phone numbers are treated as Phone IDs, not E.164 numbers, by the messaging service today, even though the Phone ID technically represents a real phone number.
Do Not Contact List	Optional	Define a list of numbers that this campaign never messages, even if they are in the contact list. For more information, see Create a new internal DNC list.
Division	Yes	Know which division to associate with this campaign, or whether to use the Home division by default. For more information, see Divisions overview.
Contactable Time Set	Optional	Define when the campaign can send messages to specific time zones. For more information, see Create a contactable time set.

When your setup is complete, create your WhatsApp campaign by following these steps:

Click Menu > Digital and Telephony > Outbound > Campaign Management.
Select the Digital Campaigns tab, and then click Create New.
Type a name in the Campaign Name box. The name of a campaign can contain spaces and special characters, but must be unique.
Select a Division or accept the default Home division. For more information, see Work with Divisions in About access control.

Configure your Campaign OptionsClick to expand

Use the Contact List box to select a list of contacts for this campaign to message. To filter the list, type all or part of a name. If you select an unassignable list, a message indicates why. A contact list is invalid if:
- No defined phone number types exist for the list.
- The list has no records.
- The list failed to import.
- An import that created the list is still running.
Tip: If you have not created a contact list, you can do so without leaving the current page:
1. Click the Contact List box and then click Create a New Contact List.
  A dialog box prompts for the contact list name and a .csv file to upload:
2. Type a name in the Contact List Name box and click Browse to select a contact file to upload. For more information, see Create a new contact list.
  Ignore the Attempt Control option in the Advanced section. Attempt controls only apply to voice campaigns and are not applicable to digital campaigns.
3. Click Save.
Notes:
- Wrap-up code mapping is not applicable to digital campaigns.
- You can share a single contact list between multiple active campaigns. If you use the same contact list for multiple campaigns, Genesys recommends that you create contact list filters to avoid contact overlaps. Campaigns that share the same contact list can run at the same time.
Optional. From the Contact List Filter box, select the contact list filter relevant to this campaign to limit the messages to contacts that match the filter. For more information, see Contact list filters view. Click View Filtered Contacts to see the contact list editor with the selected filter applied.
From the Messages per Minute box, enter the number of messages to be sent each minute during the campaign. If you set the value to anything greater than the maximum message limit, an error occurs.
Optional. From the DNC Lists box, select a table of Phone IDs that this campaign must never message. To filter the list, type all or part of a name. When this campaign selects records to message from its contact list, it excludes numbers that match entries in this DNC list. If you select an unassignable list, a message appears. A Do Not Contact list is invalid if:
- All or part of the list contains no records.
- All or part of the list failed to import.
- The Contact Method for the list is not Phone.
Tip: If you have not created a DNC list, you can do so without leaving the current page:
1. Click the Do Not Contact Lists box and then click Create a New DNC List.
  A dialog box prompts for the DNC list name and for a .csv file to upload.
2. Type a name in the DNC List Name box and to select a DNC file, click Browse. At minimum, the .csv file can contain a single column of telephone numbers. A DNC file contains multiple phone number columns and redundant information, such as contact names.
  Example:
```
Last Name, First Name,DNC_Home,DNC_Cell,DNC_Work
Smith,Bill,317-153-4777,317-981-6233,317-333-2174
Thomas,Terry,424-999-2334,424-384-9993,424-973-8828
```
  Genesys recommends that you include only phone number columns in your .csv file.
3. Click Save.
Optional. Select sets of rules from the Digital Rule Sets filtered box. Rule sets apply automation to campaign records processing. To filter rule set choices, type all or part of a rule set name and view case-sensitive matched selections. To accept a matched item, select it from the list. For more information, see Rule sets view.
Tip: If you assign multiple rule sets, you can change the evaluation order by dragging items to new positions in the Digital Rule Sets box. The system evaluates rule sets in left-to-right order.
Optional. Select a Contactable Time Set containing time zone names and when a message can be sent for each time zone. For more information, see Contactable time sets overview.
Note: To use the contactable times feature, the contact list assigned to the campaign must contain at least one time zone column. If it does not, and you assign a set of contactable times to the campaign, the configuration is invalid and you cannot save changes to the campaign.

Set up your Type configurationClick to expand

From the Type box, select WhatsApp as the type of messages used in this campaign.
From the Dynamic Template Column box, select the contact list column that contains the ID of the content template.
You can specify a different ID for each contact in a contact list. We recommend that you apply contact sorting for better performance.
Notes:
- If Genesys Cloud cannot find the content template based on the ID, it uses the canned response set at the campaign level.
- If the content template specified in the contact list conflicts with a set content template action in the rule set that applies to the campaign, the rule set takes precedence.
- To get the response ID, go to the Canned Responses page, and click Copy Response ID . For more information, see View responses.
From the WhatsApp Column box, select the contact list column that contains the customer’s Phone ID.
From the WhatsApp Campaign Template box, select the WhatsApp campaign template.
Note: Outbound WhatsApp campaigns support text and image message templates and image carousel templates. For more information, see Add a WhatsApp template message.
From the WhatsApp Integration box, select the WhatsApp integration for this campaign.

Enable the Advanced optionsClick to expand

Optional. Enable Always Running if you want the campaign to continue running even if there are currently no contacts in the contact list. The campaign does not complete when it runs out of records, and instead sits idle waiting for more records to be added. This option is useful if the contact list is dynamically updated from another source.
Optional. Sort the contact list by column before messaging begins. For example, if your contact list has an Amount_Owed column, you could sort the list to message people who owe the highest amount first. Under Advanced > Contact Sorting, select a contact list column in Sort by. Select a Sort order: ascending (default) or descending. If the sort column contains numeric information such as a telephone number or monetary amount, switch the Field is Numeric toggle to Yes. Contact list sorting takes place at the campaign start. If you add a contact while a campaign is running, the new contact is messaged but it is not included in contact list sorting. To sort by extra columns, click the plus sign. You can sort up to four contact list columns, with the first sort taking the highest precedence.
Note: Special considerations apply when sorting a date column. The system does not sort a contact column that represents a date formatted mm/dd/yy as a date. It sorts the column as a string since the system does not recognize that format as a date. To work around this limitation, format dates using ISO 8601 format (yyyy-mm-dd). That format sorts in the same order whether considered a string or a date. To denote Christmas Day for example, enter 2017-12-25 instead of 12/25/17.

When you complete your WhatsApp campaign configuration, click Save. The new campaign is available on the Campaign Management page.

Notes:

A message appears if the new campaign exceeds the maximum limit count of 1,000 campaigns. Delete old or obsolete campaigns as needed and click Save again to complete the new campaign configuration.
You can see and export digital campaign reporting from the interaction view, and not in the call detail report. For digital campaigns, you can see the dispositions OUTBOUND-MESSAGE-SENT or OUTBOUND-MESSAGE-FAILED.
To view the delivery status of your WhatsApp campaign interactions, click Performance > Workspace > Interactions. The data is contained in the Delivery Status column. For more information, see Interactions view.

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Create a WhatsApp campaign

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