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Using the WhatsApp Sub-Account Model

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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.

  1. Approval of a WhatsApp sender number: About 1 week.
  2. Verification of a Facebook Business Manager account: About 1-2 weeks.
  3. WhatsApp message template approval: About 1-2 days.
  4. (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 (optional)
  • Company address (optional)
  • Company email
  • Website (optional)
  • 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
Qtip: Optional fields can be updated later, but we highly recommend setting the logo to create a better experience for your survey recipients.

Step 4: Log In to Your WhatsApp Profile

Once your Qualtrics XM Success Manager has created a dedicated Qualtrics Twilio sub-account and WhatsApp profile for you, you can log in to your Facebook business account.

Navigate to the Organization Settings tab within the Admin page and select the Messaging section. Click Login with Facebook to sign into your Facebook business account.

WhatsApp signup in the Admin tab

Qtip: This button will only be visible after your XM Success Manager has created your Twilio account and WhatsApp profile.

Once your Facebook account is connected, your Meta account information will be displayed in this section. To make changes, contact your Customer Success Manager.

logged in facebook account

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.