Click-to-WhatsApp ads, routed into Wazzap

Overview

Click-to-WhatsApp (CTWA) ads are paid posts on Facebook and Instagram with a button that opens WhatsApp instead of a landing page. The user taps, WhatsApp opens with a pre-filled message to your business number, they send, the conversation is yours. Wazzap turns that stream of leads into a real CRM conversation thread you can answer with humans, AI, or both.

How CTWA routes into Wazzap

1. You build an ad in Meta Ads Manager with the destination set to WhatsApp.
2. The ad references your WhatsApp Business profile (which is already linked to your number).
3. A user taps the ad. WhatsApp opens with a pre-filled message; they hit send.
4. Your number receives the message. Wazzap forwards it into HighLevel's Conversations tab and tags the contact with the campaign source.
5. You reply, manually or via AI. Conversion tracks back to Meta automatically.

Setup

1. Link the WhatsApp number in Meta

Before you can target WhatsApp from an ad, your number has to be claimed inside Meta Business Manager.

1. Go to business.facebook.com.
2. Open Business Settings, WhatsApp Accounts.
3. Click Add and follow the prompt to verify ownership of the number via SMS.
4. Connect that WhatsApp account to your Facebook Page.

2. Launch a Click-to-WhatsApp ad

1. In Meta Ads Manager, create a new campaign with objective Engagement or Sales.
2. At the ad-set level, set Conversion location, WhatsApp.
3. Pick the WhatsApp account you just linked.
4. Build the creative as usual (image or video, headline, copy).
5. Set the pre-filled message. This is what users send when they click the ad. Make it specific, e.g. "Hi, I saw your ad about the May promo, I'd like more info."
6. Publish.

3. Confirm routing inside Wazzap

Click your own ad from a test profile to verify the loop. Within a couple of seconds the pre-filled message should land in your WhatsApp number, mirror into Wazzap and into HighLevel's Conversations tab with the source already tagged.

Attribution and source tracking

Wazzap inspects every inbound message for the Meta source signal (a ctwa_clid query parameter) and:

• Stores the campaign, ad set, and ad name on the contact record.
• Reports the conversion back to Meta when you convert the lead (purchase, booking, etc.).
• Surfaces ROI by campaign in your admin panel.

Inbound message detected
  source:    meta-ads
  campaign:  may-promo-mx
  adset:     lookalike-1
  ad:        carousel-v2
  ctwa_clid: q9r2x...8e

Best practices

• Answer in under 60 seconds. CTWA leads are 3-5x more likely to convert when the first reply arrives within a minute. Wire up an AI auto-greeting via GPTalk Pro while a human takes over.
• Specific pre-filled messages. Vague "Hi, I'm interested" prompts make qualification harder. Bake the offer or product into the pre-fill.
• Tag aggressively. Use slash commands to tag conversations by campaign and stage so your retargeting pixel fires correctly.
• One number per offer. If you run very different offers in parallel, use a different WhatsApp number per offer so the inbox doesn't blur the signal.

Troubleshooting

Ad approved but no one ends up in WhatsApp

Verify the destination at the ad-set level is WhatsApp and not Messenger. They're separate options. Also confirm the WhatsApp account in Meta is linked to the same Facebook Page running the ad.

Messages arrive but campaign attribution is empty

The ad creative is pulling the WhatsApp number from somewhere other than the linked profile, possibly a manual wa.me link in the copy. Make sure the click destination is set via Meta's WhatsApp destination, not a free-form URL.

Lead arrives at WhatsApp but doesn't sync to HighLevel

Check that the HighLevel integration is connected and the sub-account is mapped. The CTWA lead is a regular inbound to Wazzap and follows the same routing as everything else.