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Using the WhatsApp Sub-Account Model

About the Sub-Account Model

Before you can distribute your survey through WhatsApp, you will need to complete some preliminary setup steps. This page goes over those steps for customers on the sub-account model. This model is the default one offered, and is recommended if your company doesn’t have an existing Twilio relationship and would like to leverage the help of the Qualtrics team while getting onboarded. See a comparison.

The steps on this page should be completed by Brand Administrators. The Qualtrics representative you should be in contact with is your XM Success Manager.

Estimated Onboarding Timeline for the Sub-Account Model

Attention: All timelines listed in this section are estimates and are subject to vary based on the volume of requests.

Below is a list of timeline estimates based on each step of the process.

Approval of a WhatsApp sender number: About 1 week.
Verification of a Facebook Business Manager account: About 1-2 weeks.
WhatsApp message template approval: About 1-2 days.
(Optional but recommended) Upgrading to a WhatsApp Official Business Account: About 1-2 weeks.

Creating and Verifying a Twilio WhatsApp Profile

Step 1: Create a Facebook Business Manager Account

Your organization must have its own Facebook Business Manager account in order to be approved for WhatsApp access. This is used by WhatsApp to identify your business and associate your phone numbers.

If your organization doesn’t already have a Facebook Business Manager account, you can create one at business.facebook.com. See Facebook’s instructions for setting up this account.

Find your Facebook Business Manager ID by following the steps listed here on Facebook’s support site and write it down. You need this for the next step, when you enable your Twilio numbers for WhatsApp use.

Step 2: Verify your Facebook Business Manager account

Qtip: We recommend starting the verification process as soon as you can, as this can take more than one week for Facebook to complete.

If you have not already verified your Facebook Business Manager account, see Meta’s or Twilio’s documentation.

Wait until Meta completes the registration process. This usually takes a few days. You will receive an email confirmation that Meta has finalized the registration of your profile.

When that happens, you should see Approved next to your profile in Programmable messaging > Senders > WhatsApp Senders.

Step 3: Have your XM Success Manager set up a Qualtrics Twilio sub-account and WhatsApp profile

Contact your Qualtrics XM Success Manager and provide them with the following information. Once they have this, they can create a dedicated Qualtrics Twilio sub-account and WhatsApp profile for you.

Qualtrics brand identifier (brandID)
Business display name
Qtip: See Facebook’s support pages for display name guidance.
Company name
Company address
Company email
Website
Link to the company logo. Must meet the following requirements:
- Image is at least 640×640 pixels in size
- JPG is the preferred (not required) format
- PNG format cannot have a transparent background
- Square aspect ratio
Business HQ country
Facebook Business Manager ID
Qtip: Find your Facebook Business Manager ID by following the steps listed here on Facebook’s support site.

Qtip: Optional fields can be updated later, but we highly recommend setting the logo to create a better experience for your survey recipients.

Creating a WhatsApp Template Message

Although WhatsApp opens up new communication possibilities, they also carry a set of protective requirements regarding consent. Before you can distribute surveys in WhatsApp, you will need to create messages meeting WhatsApp’s consent guidelines, and submit these templates to your XM Success Manager so they can get approval from Twilio.

Step 1: Template Message Requirements

Here are some guidelines for drafting your message template:

Message templates should avoid the word “survey.” Instead, we recommend that you ask respondents to “share their experience” or “give feedback.”
Please keep in mind that you may have different language versions of the message template to distribute and they need to be approved separately.
If you modify the template, you must have it approved again. Distributions sent with unapproved messages will fail.
Invite templates must include survey and opt-out links as Piped Text.
The message template content field is limited to 1024 characters.
The message should not start or end with a piped text or have piped texts back to back.
Avoid having more than one new line between each of your paragraphs.

Qtip: Messages can include emojis.

Example for Survey Invitations:

Hi ${m://FirstName}!

We’ve noticed that you started using our new XM Hub Portal. If you like to share your experience please open ${l://SurveyURL}. If you don’t like to receive such notifications in the future please open ${l://OptOutURL}.

Qualtrics XM

2-way templates must be written in the form of a question that explicitly asks for yes/no answers (e.g., 1 – yes; 2 – no). Additionally, your message must include a third option to unsubscribe.

Example for 2-Way:

Hi ${m://FirstName}

We’ve noticed that you started using our new XM Hub Portal. Would you like to share your experience with us?

Enter 1 for yes

Enter 2 for no

Enter 3 to unsubscribe from future notifications like this one

Step 2: Uploading a Message Template to the Qualtrics Library

Once you have prepared your message, upload it to your Qualtrics message library.

Qtip: There is no piped text button in WhatsApp Message Templates. However, any piped text you generate elsewhere and add to the message should still work, so long as it’s relevant to the survey or the mailing list you’re distributing with.

Create a message in your library.
Set the Message Type to WhatsApp Message Templates.

Qtip: You need the Use WhatsApp Distributions permission to create WhatsApp templates in your library.
Type out your message, explaining how the respondent can consent, refuse to take the survey, or opt out of all future WhatsApp surveys.
Set the language of the message.
Qtip: Every translation of the message has to be separately approved by WhatsApp.
Name the message.
Click Save.

Qtip: If the recipient opts out (either by replying “3” or by clicking an opt-out link), they will be opted out of the mailing list. When opted out of a mailing list, the recipient will not receive any distribution sent to that list. This does not, however, opt the recipient out of the entire directory.

Qtip: It may be helpful to add WhatsApp message templates to an organization-wide library that is accessible for all users.

Step 3: Submit the message template and wait for approval

Submit your message template via the approval survey you received during onboarding. If you didn’t receive a template approval survey, reach out to your XM Success Manager.

Wait for the approval before proceeding to the next step.

Upgrading to a WhatsApp Official Business Account

Although not required, we recommend this step because it adds legitimacy to your WhatsApp distributions and lets respondents know your business can be trusted. For specific steps, see Upgrading to a WhatsApp Official Business Account.

Distributing through WhatsApp

Once you have completed the steps on this support page, you are ready to distribute your survey through WhatsApp. Please see WhatsApp Distributions for more details on how to import WhatsApp numbers, 2-way and survey link distributions, viewing past distributions, and more.