Glossary of terms

Every WhatsApp and WA Suite term you will meet in the app, explained once, in plain language.

WhatsApp platform terms

WhatsApp Business Platform (also: WhatsApp Business API, Cloud API)

The official system businesses use to send and receive WhatsApp messages at scale through software. It is separate from the free WhatsApp Business app you install on a phone. WA Suite is built entirely on this platform.

WABA — WhatsApp Business Account

Your business's account inside Meta's system. It holds your phone number(s), your templates, and your quality and messaging limits. Created for you through the BSP when you connect a number.

BSP — Business Solution Provider

A Meta-approved company that gives businesses access to the WhatsApp Business Platform. WA Suite uses Gupshup as its BSP — you create a WhatsApp app in Gupshup, then paste its credentials into WA Suite on the Connect your number tab.

Gupshup

The BSP WA Suite sends through. When this documentation says "submit to Gupshup/Meta", it means the request goes to Gupshup, which forwards it to Meta for the actual decision.

Source number / sender number

The WhatsApp phone number your messages come from. Customers see this as who they are chatting with. Set on the Connect your number tab. Until you connect your own, sends use a shared test number.

Display name

The business name shown at the top of the chat. Set in Gupshup and reviewed by Meta; it does not have to match your legal name but must represent the same business.

Green tick / verified badge

An optional official-business badge Meta grants to some accounts. Not required to send. Requested through Gupshup, not WA Suite.

Messaging rules

Session / 24-hour customer service window

The 24 hours after a customer's most recent message to you. Inside the window you can send free-form messages — any text, images, whatever. Outside it, you may only send an approved template. Every inbound message resets the 24 hours.

In the Inbox, the badge next to each contact shows the time left in their window.

Template message (also: HSM, highly structured message)

A message whose exact structure was approved by Meta in advance. Required for any message sent outside the 24-hour window, and for all bulk campaigns. Built and submitted on the Templates tab.

Opt-in

Permission from a person to receive WhatsApp messages from your business. Meta requires you to have it before you message anyone. WA Suite tracks each contact's opt-in status and only lets opted-in contacts receive a campaign.

Opt-out

A contact asking to stop receiving messages — by texting one of your opt-out keywords (STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE by default; configurable on the CRM Triggers tab), or opted out by hand. An opted-out contact is skipped by every campaign until they opt in again (an opt-in keyword like START, or a manual change).

Quality rating

A score Meta keeps for your number — Green (high), Yellow (medium), Red (low) — based on how recipients react (blocks, "not helpful" reports). Low quality shrinks your messaging limit. Shown as WhatsApp Health on the Dashboard.

Messaging limit

The maximum number of new conversations your number can start in 24 hours: usually 250, then 1,000, then 10,000, then 100,000 as you build a good sending history. Separate from your WA Suite plan's monthly message cap.

Conversation

Meta's billing unit: a 24-hour thread between you and one customer. Meta charges your BSP per conversation, priced by category (marketing, utility, authentication, service) and country.

Template terms

Category — Marketing / Utility / Authentication

Marketing: offers, promotions, announcements, anything to drive sales. Utility: messages about an existing order or account (shipping updates, receipts). Authentication: one-time passcodes. Meta prices and polices each differently and can re-categorise a template it disagrees with.

Header

Optional top of the template: a short line of text, or an image / video / document. Media headers need a sample file URL at submission and a real file URL on every send.

Body

The main message text. The only required part of a template.

Footer

Optional small grey line under the body — often Reply STOP to opt out.

Buttons

Up to 3 optional buttons: quick reply (sends text back to you), visit website (opens a URL), or call phone number. Buttons are part of the approved structure.

Variable / placeholder — {{1}}, {{2}}

A slot in the template you fill in per recipient — Hi {{1}}, your order {{2}} shipped. Numbered in order. At submission you provide a realistic sample value for each so Meta can review the finished message.

Template status — Draft / Pending / Approved / Rejected

Draft: saved in WA Suite only, freely editable. Pending: submitted, awaiting Meta (minutes to a day). Approved: usable in campaigns and the inbox; its structure is now locked. Rejected: Meta declined — make a new template addressing the reason.

WA Suite terms

Contact

One person on your list: phone number, name, tags, opt-in status, and any custom field values.

Tag

A free-text label you attach to contacts (vip, mumbai, diwali-2026) to group and target them. A contact can have many.

Custom field

An extra column you define — text, number or date (e.g. Membership tier, Renewal date) — filled per contact and usable as a campaign condition.

Segment

A saved audience definition (tags + custom-field conditions). Build it once in a campaign, save it, reuse it. Its member count updates automatically as contacts change.

Campaign

One template sent to one audience. Runs in the background through the send worker; the campaign row shows sent / delivered / read / failed counts as they come in.

Send worker / cron

The background process that actually pushes campaign messages out over time (rather than all at once). This is why a campaign shows "queued" then fills in gradually — refresh to see progress.

Delivery status — Sent / Delivered / Read / Failed

Sent: accepted by WhatsApp. Delivered: reached the phone. Read: the blue ticks. Failed: rejected — often not opted in, invalid number, or outside the window with no template.

Pipeline / lead / deal / stage

A lead (or deal) is a contact you are tracking as a potential sale, shown as a card on the Pipeline board. You drag it between stages (columns) as it progresses.

Chatbot / flow / step / trigger

A flow is one bot. Its trigger (a keyword, or entering a pipeline stage) starts it. Each step sends a message or takes an action, then either waits for a reply or moves on. See the Chatbot guide.

CRM trigger

A rule outside the chatbot: when a tag is added or a contact goes silent for N hours, then send a template or reassign the conversation. Fires at most once per contact. See CRM triggers.

Canned reply

A saved snippet of text you insert into the inbox composer with one click, so agents do not retype common answers.

Internal note

A comment on a conversation visible only to your team, never to the customer.

Assignment / claim

Who on your team owns a conversation. Staff only see conversations assigned to them; managers and admins see all. "Claim" assigns an unassigned chat to yourself.

Role — Admin / Manager / Staff

Admin: everything. Manager: everything except team management and the number connection. Staff: the inbox only, and only their own assigned conversations. See Team & roles.

Message cap

Your WA Suite plan's monthly allowance of messages. Resets on the 1st of each calendar month. Separate from Meta's per-day messaging limit.

Trial

A 14-day free period on signup, no card required. After it ends you pick a plan on the Billing tab to keep sending.