Creating Templates with Request Contact Info

Use WhatsApp templates that include the Request Contact Info component to give your team more control over message content and branding when requesting phone numbers.

From Settings, create a new template:

• Choose Utility or Marketing category
• Include the special Request Contact Info component
• Create templates in multiple languages if needed
• Submit for Meta's approval

Template Whitelist: Control What Your Team Uses

The Whitelist in Settings acts like a favorites list for templates. Only whitelisted templates appear when agents send a Phone Number Request.

This means having a template with the Request Contact Info component doesn't automatically make it available to agents — you control which templates appear through the Whitelist.

How the Whitelist Works

Here's the workflow:

1. Create the template with the Request Contact Info component
2. Meta approves it
3. Add it to the Whitelist in Settings
4. The template is now available for agents to use when requesting phone numbers

When configuring the Whitelist, WOZTELL filters and displays only templates that contain the Request Contact Info component, making it easy to find and add them.

Default Templates

WOZTELL provides ready-to-use default templates in these languages:

• English
• Mandarin Chinese
• Traditional Chinese
• French
• Spanish
• Portuguese
• Arabic

For Request Contact Info: Default templates are created for all new and existing channels, submitted to Meta for approval, and automatically added to the Whitelist once approved.

How to Properly Request a Phone Number

Asking a contact to type their phone number in the chat is not the same as a Phone Number Request.

A phone number received as a regular text message cannot be properly associated with their contact identity through this feature.

This ensures the phone number is properly recorded and linked to their contact identity in WOZTELL.

Why This Matters

When you use the proper Request Contact Info method, Meta handles the phone number as structured data tied to the contact's BSUID. This means:

• The phone number is correctly associated with the contact's identity
• WOZTELL can automatically merge the phone number with their existing BSUID
• Conversation history is maintained
• All future conversations use the phone number as the priority identifier

When a contact simply types a number in the chat, none of this automatic linking happens.

The Template Whitelist System is Shared

The Whitelist and template management system works the same way for both:

• Request Contact Info (Phone Number Request)
• Calling Permission Requests

Both use templates with special WhatsApp components that let you control which templates your team can access. When you manage templates for one feature, the same principles apply to the other.

If you need templates for Calling Permission Requests, the setup and Whitelist management follow the same workflow.

Contact Import is Different

Contact import is a separate process for adding pre-existing contacts using supported External IDs.

You can import contacts using:

• BSUID
• WhatsApp Phone Number
• Instagram ID
• Facebook PSID

When you import a contact with a phone number, WOZTELL immediately creates a record for them using that phone number as the primary identifier.