One business number, many agents, and a record of every conversation. Leads from click-to-WhatsApp ads are qualified by a chatbot, assigned to a person, labelled, followed up within Meta's rules and synced to the CRM you already use.
A WhatsApp CRM is a shared inbox and contact record on the official WhatsApp Business API, so a team can work one business number with assignment, notes, labels and response-time tracking. AvanceZone, a verified Meta Tech Provider in Sulur, Coimbatore, runs this on its own platform: a team inbox, a no-code chatbot with live-agent handoff, broadcasts, drip follow-ups, click-to-WhatsApp ad attribution, and a REST API with webhooks to sync your CRM. You pay Meta's per-message charges (indicatively ₹0.8631 for marketing, ₹0.115 for utility), 18% GST and a platform fee we quote after a demo.
"WhatsApp CRM" is used for everything from a browser extension to a full sales system. Here is what ours does, and where it stops.
It is not a full sales CRM. Our WhatsApp platform has no deal-stage board, quotations or field-sales tracking. If your team needs those, there are two honest routes:
Plenty of small teams do well on the free app. The question is when it stops being enough.
| WhatsApp Business app | API with our team inbox | |
|---|---|---|
| Who can reply | One phone plus up to four linked devices on the same number; a paid Meta Verified subscription allows more | Each agent with their own login |
| Sharing the work | Everyone on a linked device sees every chat | Assignment, transfers, private notes, labels and SLA tracking |
| Control | Remove a device to remove access | Roles and audit logs |
| Automation | Greeting and away messages, quick replies | Chatbot studio with buttons, lists, conditions, lead capture and live-agent handoff; drip campaigns |
| Broadcasts | Broadcast lists reach only people who saved your number | Approved templates to opted-in segments, with delivery and read reports |
| Other systems | None | REST API, webhooks, CRM sync, SMS fallback for OTPs |
| Cost | Free (Meta Verified is paid) | Meta's per-message charges, GST and our platform fee |
Sources: WhatsApp blog, "One WhatsApp account, now across multiple phones" (25 April 2023), for the four linked devices; WhatsApp Business blog (6 June 2024) on Meta Verified and multiple devices for employees; WhatsApp Help Center on broadcast lists.
One lead's path through the inbox at a home-interiors studio running a click-to-WhatsApp ad. This is an illustration, not a real customer.
Priya taps "Send message" on an Instagram ad for modular kitchens. The inbox records which ad and campaign she came from. Her message opens a 24-hour window.
The chatbot asks three questions with buttons: kitchen or full home, flat or independent house, and budget. Her answers are saved to her contact.
The bot hands over to a live agent. The chat is assigned to Karthik, who handles kitchens, and the SLA clock starts. He adds the label "Kitchen · ₹3 to 5 lakh".
Karthik sends photos of two finished kitchens and asks for a floor plan. He leaves a private note: "Wants a site visit on Saturday. Ask about appliances."
Priya read the message but did not reply. Twenty-four hours after her last message, Karthik can no longer send her a normal message.
He sends an approved template: "Hi Priya, shall we book your site measurement for Saturday? Reply YES and we will confirm a time." Meta will usually treat this as marketing.
"YES" reopens the window and the chat carries on as normal. A webhook sends her contact, labels and visit date to the studio's CRM, where the deal stage lives.
When a customer messages or calls your business number, a 24-hour customer service window opens. Inside it, agents can reply in their own words, send photos and documents, and use the bot. Each new message from the customer starts the 24 hours again.
Once the window closes, you can only send a template that Meta has approved in advance. That is Meta's rule, enforced by the API, not a setting in our software. So before go-live, a team needs a small set of approved follow-ups: a "still interested?" message, a visit confirmation, a payment reminder.
The category affects the bill. A follow-up that tries to sell is marketing. A confirmation of something the customer already asked for, such as a booked appointment, is usually utility, which costs far less. Meta checks the category when it reviews the template.
Source: Meta for Developers, WhatsApp Cloud API guide to sending messages (customer service windows).
Illustration, not a real customer: a four-agent team sends 300 follow-up templates (marketing) and 600 visit reminders (utility) in a month. Meta charges ₹258.93 + ₹69.00 = ₹327.93, about ₹386.96 with GST. Replies beyond the first 1,000 are billed at Meta's current service rate, and the platform fee is separate. Adding a fifth agent changes none of Meta's charges.
Full rate card and more examples: WhatsApp Business API pricing in India.
Ask every vendor these questions, including us.
| Question | Why it matters | Our answer |
|---|---|---|
| Is it the official WhatsApp Business API? | Tools that automate the ordinary app or WhatsApp Web break WhatsApp's terms. WhatsApp has said it bans accounts for automated or bulk messaging, and the number goes with the ban. | Yes. We are a verified Meta Tech Provider, and templates go through Meta's approval. |
| Whose account is the number on? | If the WhatsApp Business Account is not in your company's name, leaving the vendor gets complicated. | We verify your business with Meta and register your number under it. |
| Can your data leave the platform? | Contacts, labels and chat history are customer records you may need in other systems. | Webhooks and the REST API send message and contact events to your own systems as they happen. |
| Are there roles and audit logs? | A departing agent should lose access the same day, and you should see who did what. | Yes, both. |
| What if WhatsApp cannot deliver? | Not every customer is on WhatsApp, and an OTP cannot wait. | OTPs fall back to SMS or voice, from one wallet for WhatsApp, SMS and voice. |
| Who handles Meta's paperwork? | Rejected templates and stalled verification delay go-live. | We handle verification, number registration, display name, templates and the green-tick application. Meta grants the green tick; nobody can guarantee it. |
Source: WhatsApp Help Center, "Unauthorized use of automated or bulk messaging on WhatsApp", and WhatsApp's statement of June 2019 that it bans about two million accounts a month for such abuse (reported by TechCentral, 11 June 2019).
Our office is on Kalangal Road in Sulur. For teams in Coimbatore, inbox setup and agent training can happen at your office or ours, in Tamil or English. Elsewhere in Tamil Nadu and the rest of India, the same work runs over video calls and screen share.
See also our WhatsApp Business API page for Coimbatore and the Tamil Nadu rate guide.
We look at how your team handles WhatsApp today and agree what the inbox, bot and sync need to do.
Business verification, number registration and display-name approval for your company.
Follow-up, reminder and confirmation templates written and submitted for approval.
Agents, roles, labels, assignment and SLA targets, with training on notes and transfers.
A first chatbot flow with live-agent handoff, and click-to-WhatsApp ads linked for attribution.
Webhooks and API connected to your CRM, or a scoped plan for a custom one.
Book a demo. We will map your chats to an inbox, a bot and a set of templates, and tell you what syncing with your CRM would take.
