Setup documentation

How to set up Votomation for WhatsApp automation.

Follow this path after creating your workspace. Clients can connect their own Meta WhatsApp details from Settings, while the platform admin can still manage accounts centrally.

1. Create a workspace

Open Start free and create the owner account.
Use a real work email because this account becomes ORG_ADMIN.
After signup, Votomation opens the client dashboard for that organization.

2. Connect WhatsApp Cloud API

Open Settings inside the client workspace and use Meta WhatsApp connection.
Add WABA ID, Phone Number ID, display phone number, business name, access token, and webhook verify token.
Tokens are encrypted before storage and are never returned to the browser.
Use Test connection and Send test before campaign sending.

3. Where to get Meta details

In Meta for Developers, create or open an app with the WhatsApp use case.
In WhatsApp API setup, copy the WABA ID, Phone Number ID, display number, and temporary or permanent access token.
In Webhooks, set the callback URL to https://votomation.com/api/webhooks/whatsapp and enter the same verify token you saved in Votomation.
Subscribe the WhatsApp Business Account to messages so inbound replies and delivery statuses can reach Votomation.
For production client onboarding, use a permanent system-user token from Meta Business settings instead of a short-lived test token.

4. Prepare contacts and tags

Create contacts manually or import CSV from Contacts.
Keep opt-in true only for users who consented to WhatsApp messaging.
Use tags such as VIP, Leads, Renewals, or Region to build campaign audiences.

5. Build approved templates

Create template records with Meta-approved names and language codes.
Use variables like {{name}} or {{order_id}} in the body.
Only APPROVED templates appear in the campaign builder.

6. Send campaigns through the queue

Choose an approved template, pick all opted-in contacts or one tag, then map variables to contact fields or static values.
Send now queues each recipient in Redis/BullMQ instead of blocking the page.
Open the campaign report to inspect queued, sent, delivered, read, failed, replied, and skipped counts.

7. Plan automations

The Automations workspace is reserved for trigger/action rules.
Recommended first automations: welcome reply, missed-message follow-up, tag-based nurture, and inactive lead reactivation.
Keep automation rules paused until webhook domain and HTTPS are connected.