Calls on WhatsApp

What it does

Customers press the call button in your WhatsApp chat and talk to the same assistant as on your website and phone line. The assistant finds products, tells current prices and stock (only from your catalog), answers shipping, returns, payment and opening-hours questions, checks free booking times, and sends checkout and booking links to the caller's WhatsApp chat. It says at the start of the call that it is an AI.

The call reaches your own WhatsApp Business number, the one you already connected to OrderInChat. You do not need a new number.

Turn it on

1. Open the WhatsApp calls tab of Channels & integrations → Voice assistant & phone.
2. Your WhatsApp Business number must be connected (Integrations → Meta). The card shows the number.
3. You need at least one simultaneous call (see below). Without one, the tab shows a link to the Phone line tab, where you add them.
4. Turn on Answer WhatsApp calls with the AI assistant. OrderInChat changes the calling settings of your number at Meta for you: you do not need to touch WhatsApp Manager.

Only the store owner or an admin can change the switch. The first calls may fail for up to two minutes after switching on, while the phone system picks up your number.

Meta allows calls only on WhatsApp Business numbers with a messaging limit of 2,000 or more. If Meta refuses, the card tells you why (for example a missing business management permission: reconnect WhatsApp and try again) and the switch stays off.

Cost

• Simultaneous calls: 2 USD a month for each call your store answers at the same time, on every plan; no plan includes any. They are one pool for the whole store, shared by WhatsApp calls and the calls to your phone line numbers, and billed with your subscription (Billing). When all of them are in use, the next caller hears a busy tone, no AI credits are used, and the call is listed as missed (call limit) in Inbox → Calls so you can call back.
• Minutes: paid from your AI credits like any voice call. WhatsApp calls are free for the customer and carry no carrier charge.
• A new call is answered only when your AI credits cover the minimum start of every call already running plus this one.

During and after the call

Every call appears live in Inbox → Calls (read it in your language, give the assistant instructions, open a ticket) and stays there afterwards with its transcript and recording. A short summary is added to the caller's WhatsApp conversation in the Inbox. Calls are recorded like phone calls, with a short notice to the caller first, unless you turned off Record calls on the Recording tab (Voice assistant). Your maximum call length and the Blocked tab apply as for every voice call (Voice assistant).

Caller's name and rating. When the caller's name is known (your customer record, or a WhatsApp profile name that looks like a real name), the assistant opens with "Hi, am I speaking with …?" in the caller's language; otherwise it asks for the name early and saves it on the customer. After a call longer than 20 seconds the caller gets one thank-you message on WhatsApp asking them to rate the call from 1 to 5. The score shows in Customer 360 and in Inbox → Calls; the assistant does not reply to it. Turn the message off with Rate the call on WhatsApp on the General tab (Voice assistant).

If your voice assistant is turned off or your AI credits run out while the switch is on, callers can leave a voicemail instead; each voicemail becomes a support ticket.

When the switch is off

OrderInChat turns calling off for your number at Meta, so WhatsApp shows customers no call button. A customer who asks in the chat to call you (for example "can I call you?") gets a short WhatsApp message in their language:

• Voice assistant on: a link to your store that opens the chat with the call button, so they can talk to the assistant on your website right away.
• Voice assistant off: an invitation to continue in writing in the same chat.

Voice notes on WhatsApp work either way.