Opt-in

A customer's clear permission to receive WhatsApp messages from your business, which Meta requires before you message them.

An opt-in is the customer agreeing to hear from you on WhatsApp. Meta requires it before a business sends templates, and expects the customer to understand what kind of messages they will get and from whom.

Opt-in can be collected in many places: a tick box on a checkout or sign-up form, a line in a paper form at a branch, a customer messaging you first and asking for updates, or a reply to a question in a WhatsApp flow. What matters is that it is clear, specific and recorded. A phone number in your sales ledger is not an opt-in on its own.

Record when and how each customer opted in, and keep it with the contact. Ask separately for marketing, since many people want order updates but not offers. In Marichi Talks, opt-in and opt-out are recorded on each contact, and campaigns go to opted-in contacts.