# Send a WhatsApp Message

After you’ve [enabled WhatsApp support](/journeys/whatsapp-messages/) and created [WhatsApp-approved templates](/journeys/whatsapp-content-templates/), you can send WhatsApp messages in any campaign or broadcast.

## Set up your WhatsApp message[](#set-up-your-whatsapp-message)

 If you created your WhatsApp template in Design Studio, check out our Design Studio docs!

The process for sending a WhatsApp message made with Design Studio is simpler than with other templates. [Learn more.](/journeys/whatsapp-design-studio/#connect-to-a-campaign)

1.  Add a **WhatsApp** message block to your campaign or broadcast workflow.
    
    [![the customer.io workflow builder with a WhatsApp block highlighted](https://docs.customer.io/images/whatsapp-drag-whatsapp.png)](#184eb513102bf2e9010daa215a9bd1b8-lightbox)
    
2.  Click **Add Content**.
    
3.  Select a WhatsApp approved sender in the *From* field. If you only have one sender phone number, it’s already selected for you.
    
    [![the whatsapp message builder with a sender field selected](https://docs.customer.io/images/whatsapp-native-sender-selected.png)](#a3acc212be0a6e14c77b8b0fbd38b8f8-lightbox)
    
     We don’t know which of your Twilio senders are WhatsApp approved!
    
    If you send WhatsApp messages using Twilio, and you select a sender that is not WhatsApp approved, your messages will fail. When you add sender numbers in Twilio, you might want to add “WhatsApp” to the sender names. This’ll help you identify which senders are for WhatsApp messages.
    
4.  In the **Template** field, search for the template you want to use for your message. If you don’t see the template you’re looking for, you may not have [created it](/journeys/whatsapp-content-templates/) yet or it may not have been approved by WhatsApp.
    
    [![the whatsapp message builder with a template field selected](https://docs.customer.io/images/whatsapp-content-pick-template.png)](#c1f417490b33874c2aba6b85c67e28ff-lightbox)
    
5.  Fill in the templated variables for your message. You can use [liquidA syntax that supports variables, letting you personalize messages for your audience. For example, if you want to reference a person’s first name, you might use the variable `{{customer.first_name}}`.](/using-liquid) in these fields to personalize your message.
    
    [![the whatsapp message builder with a template field selected](https://docs.customer.io/images/whatsapp-message-with-variables.png)](#ed5806c2cb3205555939719d063feede-lightbox)
    
6.  Click **Save**.
    

### Localizing WhatsApp messages[](#localizing-whatsapp-messages)

WhatsApp supports [different languages](/journeys/localization-getting-started/#supported-languages), but only one language per template. If you want to translate your WhatsApp messages, you’ll need to create a separate template for each language. Then, in Customer.io, you’ll need to set the right template for each language variant.

You can create multiple templates in WhatsApp with the same name but different languages.

[![the whatsapp message builder with a template field dropdown showing messages in en-US and es-ES](https://docs.customer.io/images/whatsapp-localization.png)](#55d83ca04f2ad7650f911d3fd4b2360c-lightbox)

## Business-initiated vs user-initiated sessions[](#business-initiated-vs-user-initiated-sessions)

The kinds of messages you can send through WhatsApp change depending on whether you or your audience initiate the conversation. These are called business-initiated and user-initiated (or conversational messaging) sessions respectively. In general, WhatsApp messages sent through Customer.io are business-initiated.

User-initiated conversations can be more flexible than business-initiated messages, providing a 24-hour window during which you can send free-form replies and use special templates, like location-based or list-based messages, that aren’t available in business-initiated conversations.

But Customer.io doesn’t support incoming messages natively. If you want to respond to [user-initiated conversations](https://www.twilio.com/docs/whatsapp/api#conversational-messaging-on-whatsapp), you’ll need to set up Twilio to handle incoming messages; you’ll use keywords in Twilio to send webhooks to Customer.io that [trigger outgoing campaigns](/journeys/webhook-triggered-campaigns/) based on the messages you receive.