How it works, step by step
The customer messages your WhatsApp number in their own words. Our engineers write the conversation program for your business, so the steps below are the usual shape, not a fixed template.
- The customer asks“Where’s my order?”, “has EX-1042 left yet?”, or a tap on a “Track my order” button in your welcome menu. Voice notes can be transcribed first, with South African language support.
- The chat works out what they wantButtons and keywords catch the simple cases. For free text, Claude sorts the message (order status, change of address, complaint, something else) and pulls out any order number, account code or date it contains.
- It finds the right orderBy the order number, or by the WhatsApp number the customer is messaging from, matched to the phone number on the order or account. If the two don’t match, it asks for a second detail you choose before it shares anything.
- It reads the live statusThe program calls your system’s API over HTTPS: your store or order management system, your ERP, your TMS or route planner. Where the parcel is with a courier, it can also call the courier’s tracking API for the latest scan or delivery window.
- It replies in plain words“Packed, leaving tomorrow”, “out for delivery, expected 13:00 to 17:00”, with a tracking link button if your courier provides one. No status codes, no copy-paste from a back-office screen.
- Anything odd goes to a personNo order found, a late or failed delivery, an angry message or a refund request: the chat tells the customer someone will pick it up, and Claude drafts a short summary of what was asked and what your system showed. The conversation stays in your shared inbox; where the summary goes (your helpdesk, CRM or a team mailbox, through its API) is agreed and built with you. Your team replies from the shared inbox, and the automation pauses for that conversation.
What counts as “odd”
You decide the rules with us during scoping. Typical hand-over triggers:
- No matching order, or several possible orders and the customer can’t say which.
- The order is past its promised date, a delivery attempt failed, or the courier status hasn’t moved for longer than you allow.
- The customer wants something the chat shouldn’t do on its own: cancel, refund, change an address after dispatch, or complain.
- Your system doesn’t answer in time. The chat says so honestly rather than guessing.
Systems connected
Some parts already run on our platform; the conversation and the connection to your systems are built for you. We say which is which.
| Part | What it does here | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) | Your own WhatsApp account and number, connected through Meta’s Embedded Signup | Runs |
| Conversation program | The order-status logic: menu, questions, matching rules, replies, hand-over rules. Written by our engineers for your business | Build |
| Claude (Anthropic) | Sorts free-text messages by intent, pulls out order numbers and details, drafts the hand-over summary for your team | Runs on our platform; prompts written per build |
| Your store, order system, ERP or TMS | The live order, its lines and its status, read through its API | Build: your own software, SAP and ERPs, Shopify |
| Courier tracking API | Latest scan, delivery window and tracking link, where your courier offers an API | Build |
| Shared inbox | Every conversation, automated or not, with human takeover that pauses the automation, and notes your team adds | Runs |
Our platform already syncs a Shopify or Ecwid catalogue in and pushes paid WhatsApp orders out to the shop. That sync does not answer status questions. Looking up an order’s fulfilment and tracking on WhatsApp is a separate build on the shop’s API. See WhatsApp and Shopify.
Two limits we design around
By default, our platform’s calls to your API time out after 10 seconds, and they accept only a small response (8 KiB, enough for an order and a few lines). So we ask your system for only the fields the chat needs. If your system is slow or returns huge records, we put a thin lookup service in front of it. Customers get a fast, short answer, and your system isn’t hit with heavy queries.
Message categories and what Meta charges
Order-status questions start with the customer, so this use case mostly runs inside Meta’s 24-hour customer service window, and the replies are service messages.
| Message | Meta category | Meta’s charge to a South African number |
|---|---|---|
| The customer’s question | Inbound | Free |
| The chat’s reply, or your team’s reply, within 24 hours of the customer’s last message | Service | 1,000 free per business phone number per month, then US$0.0095 each |
| Your team’s answer after the 24-hour window has closed | A Meta-approved template, usually utility | US$0.0095 |
| “Your order has shipped” or “arriving in about 15 minutes”, sent without being asked | Utility template | US$0.0095. See delivery updates |
example A store answers 2,500 order-status questions a month from one number, with one reply each: the first 1,000 replies are free and the other 1,500 cost 1,500 × US$0.0095 = US$14.25 to Meta. If that number also sends other service messages that month, they share the same 1,000 free.
Meta bills you directly, through your own account, at Meta’s rates. We add nothing to message costs. The categories here are our reading of Meta’s rules; Meta sets the final category when it reviews a template.
Source: Meta: Pricing on the WhatsApp Business Platform (rates effective 1 October 2026) · Meta: Customer service windows. Rand examples on our pricing page.
What we need from you
- Your WhatsApp account and number, connected through Meta’s Embedded Signup, and a payment method on your Messaging account so Meta can bill you directly.
- API access to the system that knows the order: the endpoint, credentials limited to reading orders (and customers, if we match by phone number), and a test environment if you have one.
- Your courier’s tracking API details, if you want courier scans in the answer.
- A list of your order statuses and what each one should say to a customer in plain words.
- Your hand-over rules: what counts as odd, and what the chat should say while a person picks it up.
- How customers should be identified, and what second detail to ask for when the WhatsApp number doesn’t match.
There’s no ready-made ERP or TMS connector: every connection is built on your system’s API. Our shared inbox doesn’t assign chats to named agents, route them by team or give supervisors a dashboard. Conversations are written and changed by our engineers, not in a drag-and-drop builder. If any of these matters, tell us early; routing and reporting can often live in a helpdesk or CRM you already run, connected as a separate build.
What it costs
- Meta’s charge. As above: service replies are free for the first 1,000 per number each month, then US$0.0095 each. Billed to you by Meta.
- Our charge. A one-off build from R15,000 ex VAT, plus R7,500 per integration, depending on how many systems the chat reads from, and a monthly fee from R4,950 ex VAT to host, monitor and look after it.