Invites

What it does

Invites send the WhatsApp opt-in message for a channel, so customers can agree to receive your marketing messages.

The Invite hub holds three ways to invite, and the list below it records every invite and its outcome.

When to use it

Use it when you have phone numbers for customers who expect to hear from you and you need their opt-in before you can send campaigns:

• 1. Single invite for one customer, for example while they are on the phone or at the trade counter.
• 2. Bulk invite for a list of customers, up to 250 at a time.
• 3. Self invite when you want customers to opt in themselves from a website page, email signature or printed material.

Steps

1. Open WhatsApp → Invites.
2. Choose your Channel. The line underneath shows the Customer reference requirement for that channel: Required, Optional or Not used.
3. Open the section you need and follow the steps below.

Until you choose a channel the requirement line reads Not available and the self-invite panel asks you to select one.

1. Single invite

1. Open 1. Single invite.
2. If the channel asks for one, enter the Customer reference exactly as it appears in your own system (up to 36 characters; some accounts use a 9-digit reference). The field is hidden when the requirement is Not used.
3. Enter the Phone number including the country code, for example +447712345678. The leading + is optional.
4. Select Send invite.

2. Bulk invite

1. Open 2. Bulk invite.
2. Check File requirements and prepare your file:
   • CSV file with UTF-8 encoding.
   • Exactly two headers, REFERENCE and PHONE, in either order.
   • Maximum of 250 rows per upload.
   • Up to 5MB file size.
   • Phone numbers include the country code; the leading + is optional.
3. Select Download under Example CSV if you want a template to start from.
4. Select Pick CSV file and choose your file. The upload starts as soon as you pick the file.
5. Wait for Bulk invite summary before leaving the page.

On a channel where the reference requirement is Required, every row must have a REFERENCE value.

Use the shared CSV format conventions for encoding and quoting. The invite file is stricter: the first line must be exactly REFERENCE,PHONE or PHONE,REFERENCE in capitals, with no space after the comma and no extra columns.

The whole file is limited to 250 rows.

3. Self invite

1. Open 3. Self invite.
2. Select Copy link to copy the WhatsApp link, or use the QR code shown beside it.
3. Add the link to website pages, team email signatures and email footers, or print the QR code.

The link opens WhatsApp on the customer's own device with the opt-in message already written, so they only have to press send. Each channel has its own link; change the Channel at the top to get a different one.

What you'll see

Single invite shows one of three results:

• Invite sent - the WhatsApp invite went out to that number.
• Invite recorded — message not sent - the invite is logged for your records but no message was sent. The reason is shown underneath: the contact already has a marketing consent status for this channel, or the customer reference could not be matched.
• Invite failed - nothing was recorded. The message explains what to correct.

Bulk invite shows Bulk invite summary with Total rows, Processed, Succeeded and Failed, plus the first errors with their row numbers. A failed row does not stop the rest of the file, so correct only the rows listed and upload those again.

While the file uploads the button reads Processing..., and the file you picked is listed under Selected file:. Switching Channel clears the last summary.

The list below the hub shows every invite, newest first, with Timestamp, Customer, Contact, Channel and Status. Before any invites exist it reads No invites yet. Invites sent to contacts will appear here once created.

Invite statuses

A customer who never replies stays at the delivery status they reached and is not added to your marketing audiences.

Consent changes also appear in WhatsApp → Consent Log, and the person invited appears under CRM → Contacts.

If something goes wrong

• No WhatsApp channels found: the channel is not set up yet. Check WhatsApp → Channels or contact your onboarding manager.
• Customer reference is required for this channel: the channel requires a customer reference. Add it and send again.
• Customer reference is invalid for this company: the reference uses characters that are not allowed. Use letters, numbers, hyphens, underscores and ampersands only. Some accounts require a reference of exactly 9 digits - if yours does and you are unsure, contact your onboarding manager.
• Customer Not Found on a required-reference channel: the reference is valid but no customer matches it. Confirm the customer exists in CRM → Customers and import them first if not; see Customer imports.
• Phone number is invalid or unsupported: include the country code and check the digits, for example +447712345678.
• We couldn't send the WhatsApp invite right now: a temporary delivery problem. Nothing was recorded, so try again shortly.
• Failed to create invite. Please try again. - try once more; if it keeps failing for every number on this channel, the channel needs attention: contact your onboarding manager.
• A row shows Failed or Unreachable: the invite did not reach that number. Hover Unreachable for the reason, check the number is a WhatsApp account with the customer, and invite them again once it is corrected. If it repeats for numbers you know are correct, contact your onboarding manager.
• Bulk invite failed: the whole file was rejected - the message names the reason (no channel chosen, no file picked, wrong header or too many rows). Nothing was sent.
• CSV header must be exactly 'REFERENCE,PHONE' or 'PHONE,REFERENCE': remove any extra columns, blank leading rows or renamed headers and upload again.
• CSV file exceeds the 250 row limit: split the list into files of 250 rows or fewer.
• Only .csv files are supported: export from your spreadsheet as CSV rather than XLSX.
• CSV file is empty: the file you picked has no content. Re-export it from your spreadsheet and pick it again.
• CSV file does not contain any data rows: the headers are there but there are no rows beneath them. Add at least one row and upload again.
• Row n: PHONE column is required: that row has an empty PHONE cell.
• Row n: Reference is required for this channel: that row has an empty REFERENCE and this channel requires one. Fill it in and re-upload just the failed rows.
• Row n: Reference is invalid for this company: the reference uses characters your account does not allow.
• Existing Marketing Consent when you expected a send: that contact has already opted in or out on this channel. Check WhatsApp → Consent Log and use a campaign instead of an invite.
• A row failed but the summary shows others succeeded: correct only the listed rows and upload a smaller file containing just those rows. The successful rows have already been invited.

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