A Shopify or WooCommerce WhatsApp integration is ready when four things line up: one number on the WhatsApp Business Platform, a phone number and opt-in from each buyer, order events flowing from your store, and an approved template for every message you send. Work through the checklist below in order and most launch problems never happen. It belongs to the WACRM guides; the product behind it is WACRM order automation.
1 · Number
Pick the number customers already know, and decide on the phone app.
2 · Business details
Business name, website and the admin who can approve access.
3 · Checkout
Phone field visible, country code kept, opt-in recorded.
4 · Order data
Order and product events reach WACRM from Shopify or WooCommerce.
5 · Templates
One approved template per order event, in the right category.
6 · Test
A real order on your own phone, event by event.
7 · After launch
Watch failed sends, webhook health, opt-outs and replies every week.
What do you need before you connect your store?
You need a number to put on the WhatsApp Business Platform and the business details Meta asks for when that number is registered. Sort both out first, because they decide what customers see at the top of every message.
Your WhatsApp number
Use the number your customers already message, if you can. A boutique that has answered shoppers from one number for years keeps that history and that trust; a new number starts from zero. The number must be able to receive a call or text for verification during setup.
Note
Keep the phone app if you want to. With coexistence, which comes with the WACRM plans that include it, the same number stays active in the WhatsApp Business app on your phone while it also runs on the WhatsApp Business Platform. Order messages go out automatically, and the owner can still answer from the phone.
Your business details
Have these ready before anyone opens a setup screen:
- The business name customers recognise, the same name your store shows at checkout. Meta’s opt-in rules ask that the person knows which business they agreed to hear from, so the names should match.
- Your store’s website address and a short description of what you sell.
- The person who can approve access: the store admin for Shopify or WooCommerce, and the admin of your Meta business account.
- Your launch scope: which order events you want on WhatsApp at the start. Most stores begin with the order confirmation and the delivery update, then add more.
This list is the same for a fashion label, an electronics reseller or a bakery that takes orders online: the platform rules do not change with the product.
How do you collect phone numbers and opt-in at checkout?
Make the phone field visible at checkout, keep the country code, and record a clear opt-in. Without a usable number there is nobody to message; without opt-in you should not message them.
Meta’s opt-in requirements (checked 13 November 2026) say a business must have opt-in before messaging people on WhatsApp, and the opt-in must:
- clearly state that the person is opting in to receive messages from the business;
- clearly state the business name they are opting in to;
- comply with the law that applies to you.
Meta also suggests asking for opt-in by message category, for example order updates separately from offers, so people only get what they expect. That is good practice for a store: a buyer who wants delivery updates may not want promotions.
Shopify
In Shopify the checkout settings decide whether a buyer gives a phone number, an email or both, and whether the
phone field is optional or required. Shopify sends the buyer’s marketing choice with each order: the order
payload in Shopify’s webhook reference carries a
buyer_accepts_marketing field. Check your checkout once as a customer would, on a phone, and confirm the number
lands on the order with its country code.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce shows a billing phone field by default, and your theme or checkout plugins can hide it or make it optional. Look at a recent order in WooCommerce → Orders and confirm the phone number is there in full. Then add an opt-in line at checkout that names your business and says what it will send on WhatsApp.
A number without its country code is the most common reason an order message never arrives. If your store sells in one country only, make sure the integration knows which country code to add.
What store data does the integration need?
The integration needs the order events (created, paid, shipped, completed), the buyer’s name and phone number, the order number and items, and your product list. Shopify and WooCommerce expose the same facts in different ways.
| What is needed | Shopify | WooCommerce |
|---|---|---|
| Where the store runs | Hosted by Shopify | Your own WordPress site |
| Order events | Webhook topics such as orders/create and orders/fulfilled | Order webhooks, on the Webhooks screen of WooCommerce settings |
| Product data | Products and variants, with products/update events | Products and variations through the REST API |
| Access | An app with permission to read orders and products | A REST API key with Read, Write or Read/Write permission |
| Site requirement | None on your side | Permalinks set to any option other than Plain |
Sources: Shopify.dev webhook topics, WooCommerce REST API and WooCommerce webhooks, checked 13 November 2026.
WooCommerce: permalinks, keys and webhooks
WooCommerce’s REST API documentation asks you to set WordPress permalinks to a readable format before generating API keys: Settings → Permalinks, any option except Plain. A key can be Read, Write or Read/Write; give it only what the integration uses. Webhooks are where order events start, and WooCommerce automatically disables a webhook after more than five consecutive delivery failures, so a security plugin or firewall that blocks outgoing requests can silently stop your order messages.
Shopify: order and product events
Shopify reports each order change through its webhook topics, and tracks order and fulfilment progress the way its order management docs describe. The thing to check on your side is your own process: if staff mark orders fulfilled in Shopify, the delivery update can follow that event; if fulfilment happens elsewhere and Shopify is never updated, there is no event to send from.
With WACRM, our team makes this connection for you through Setup Commerce. The Shopify and WooCommerce pages describe what is connected. Synced products are also what the WhatsApp AI agent reads when it answers price and stock questions.
Which order messages should you send, and in which category?
Send one approved template per order event, and categorise each by what it says: an order confirmation or a delivery update is utility while it sticks to the order; a cart reminder is marketing. Meta decides the category from the content, not from the name you give the template.
WACRM order automation covers four order templates:
| Template | Sent when | Category | Opt-in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Order confirmation | An order is placed | Utility | Buyer gave their number for the order |
| COD confirmation | A cash-on-delivery order is placed | Utility | Buyer gave their number for the order |
| Delivery update | The order is shipped or delivered | Utility | Buyer gave their number for the order |
| Abandoned-cart reminder | A cart is left without checkout | Marketing | Explicit opt-in to WhatsApp marketing |
Categories per Meta’s template categorization, checked 13 November 2026.
Two rules from Meta’s categorization page catch most stores out:
- Utility must stay utility. An order update may confirm, update or cancel an order with its specific details, but it should not promote, upsell or cross-sell. Add a discount code to a delivery update and the whole template becomes marketing.
- Cart reminders are marketing. Meta lists “You left items in your cart” as a retargeting example, marketing even when it seems helpful. The abandoned-cart guide covers the opt-in for it.
Put the order number in every utility template, keep the wording plain, and read the template approval guide before you submit. Cash-on-delivery sellers should also see the COD confirmation guide.
How do you test the integration before going live?
Place a real order on your own phone for every event you switch on, and check the message, the reply and the record in your team inbox. A test with a dummy number proves nothing about country codes or delivery.
1 · Event
Order #1042 is created in Shopify or WooCommerce.
2 · Rule
WACRM picks the approved order confirmation template.
3 · Message
”Your order 1042 is confirmed” arrives on the buyer’s WhatsApp.
4 · Result
The buyer replies, and the chat lands in your team inbox.
A test plan that covers what usually goes wrong:
- Order confirmation. Place an order with your own number. The message should arrive within moments and show the right order number, name and items.
- Number formats. Repeat with the number typed in a different way, with and without the country code, the way a real customer would.
- Cash on delivery. If you offer it, place a COD order and confirm the COD message arrives instead of, or as well as, the normal confirmation, as you intended.
- Delivery update. Mark the test order shipped or completed the way your staff normally do, and check the update follows.
- Reply. Answer the message from your phone and confirm the reply appears in the WACRM inbox, so nobody misses a customer question.
- Opt-out. Ask to stop receiving messages and check that your team can see it and honour it.
- Cancel and refund. Cancel the test order in the store so it does not distort your sales reports.
What does it cost to run?
There are two costs: Meta’s per-message charge and your WACRM plan. Order updates use utility templates, a cart reminder uses a marketing template, and replies to a customer who wrote to you are service messages.
- Meta. From 1 October 2026 the first 1,000 service messages per business phone number per month are free, and a payment method is needed beyond that (Meta’s pricing page, as of the check on 9 November 2026). Utility and marketing templates are billed per delivered message at the rate for the customer’s country. The message pricing guide lists the per-market rates.
- WACRM. Store connection and order automation, set up by our team, come with the WACRM plans that list them; the pricing page shows which. Setup Commerce is quoted before any work starts.
A quick way to estimate: count last month’s orders, multiply by the number of utility messages you plan per order, and add the cart reminders you expect to send to opted-in shoppers.
What should you check after launch?
Check delivery, webhooks, opt-outs and replies once a week for the first month, then monthly. Integrations rarely break loudly; they stop quietly.
- Failed sends. Look for order messages that failed and why: a missing country code, a number not on WhatsApp, a paused template.
- Webhook health. On WooCommerce, open the Webhooks screen in WooCommerce settings and confirm every order webhook is still Active, not Disabled.
- Template quality. If customers block or report a template, rewrite it before Meta limits it.
- Opt-outs. Make sure everyone who asked to stop is excluded from cart reminders and offers.
- Unanswered replies. Buyers answer order messages with questions. Someone on the team should own them.
- Product data. Keep names, prices and stock current in the store, since synced products feed your WhatsApp answers.
The same weekly check works for a cosmetics brand, a furniture shop or a sports retailer: the messages differ, the failure points do not. The online shops solution shows how order messages, the team inbox and AI replies fit together.
Get your store connected
The checklist is short once the number, checkout, order data and templates are in place. If you would rather not do it yourself, see how WACRM order automation sends order confirmations, COD checks, delivery updates and cart reminders on WhatsApp, and let our team connect your Shopify or WooCommerce store with Setup Commerce.
