Let shoppers chat to you on WhatsApp

Most Nigerian shoppers would rather ask a question on WhatsApp than fill in a form. Switch this on and your storefront carries a WhatsApp button; tapping it opens a chat with you, in the shopper's own WhatsApp, on their phone or their desktop. It is on every plan, there is no verification to go through and no cost per message, because nothing is sent through us.

1. Open the settings

Go to Settings → WhatsApp Chat and turn on Enable WhatsApp chat.

2. Fill in your details

• WhatsApp number (required). The number shoppers will message, with its country code. Nigeria is +234, chosen from the flag beside the box, and then your number without the leading zero. This must be a number that actually has WhatsApp on it.
• Display name (optional). Shown on the chat button label and tooltip. Leave it blank to use your store name.
• Default greeting (optional). This text does two jobs: it is the message shown inside the chat popup, above the button, and it is also prefilled into the shopper's WhatsApp when they tap through. Leave it blank and the popup says "Hi there, how can we help you?" while the shopper starts with an empty message, which is usually what you want. On a product page the product name and link are added to the message automatically, whatever you put here.
• Availability note (optional). One line under your name in the popup, for example "Typically replies within an hour". Say only what you can keep to.

3. Choose where it appears

Where it appears has three switches, each for one place on your storefront:

• Floating button: the round WhatsApp button on every page. Floating button position puts it at the bottom right or the bottom left.
• Product enquiry button: an Ask on WhatsApp button beside Add to Cart on a product page. The message it opens with already names the product and links to it.
• Cart help prompt: a Need help? WhatsApp link in the cart.

Choose Save WhatsApp settings. The page says WhatsApp settings updated successfully.

4. Check your storefront

Open your storefront. The button sits in the corner you chose, and tapping it opens the popup with your name, your availability note and your greeting.

Chat on WhatsApp hands the shopper to WhatsApp itself. The conversation then lives on your phone like any other, and you reply from there.

What this is not

This is a link, not an integration. Order confirmations, delivery updates and abandoned-cart reminders are not sent over WhatsApp: those go by email. Nothing a shopper types in WhatsApp reaches your dashboard, and there is no record of the conversation in your store. What you get is a shopper who can reach you in one tap, from every page, using the app they already have open.

If it does not work

• No button on the storefront. Either Enable WhatsApp chat is off, the number is empty, or the surface itself is switched off under Where it appears. All of those hide it completely rather than showing a broken button.
• The chat opens to the wrong person, or to nobody. The number is wrong or has no WhatsApp account on it. Check it includes the country code and drops the leading zero: a Nigerian 0801 number is entered as 801 after the +234.
• You changed something and the storefront still shows the old version. Refresh once. A storefront page is cached for a few seconds after a change.
• The greeting reads oddly in the popup. It is the same sentence used for the shopper's outgoing message, so a line written for one reads strangely in the other. Leaving it blank avoids this.

Email support@shoponent.com with your store name if anything here does not match what you see. We read and answer every message.