Onboarding your first client on a white-label WhatsApp platform: the complete checklist

Before you start

WhatsApp API client onboarding is where resellers win or lose clients. A client who sends a useful first campaign in their first fortnight renews; a client stuck on a rejected display name for three weeks asks for a refund. This guide is the partner-side checklist: what you do in your partner panel, what the client does in theirs, and the order that avoids rework. The steps use Broadchat's panels; the Meta parts are the same on any official platform.

If the client is a business setting up for itself, our WhatsApp Business API setup guide covers the same ground from their side.

Step 1: collect inputs before the call

Send the client this list a day before the onboarding call:

Step 2: create the account and assign the plan

Two ways to create the client's account:

• Client signs up: copy the Customer sign-up link from Panel Customization → Brand Settings → URL Manager → Your links and send it. At first sign-in the client picks a plan.
• You create it: open Audience → Users and click Add New User (name, email, password, phone, country, currency). Then open the user and use Assign Plan.

Activating a paid plan is charged to your partner main wallet (the platform cost of the plan, plus the per-client charge your partner quote describes). Keep the main wallet recharged from Dashboard → Recharge Now, or plan activations are blocked.

Step 3: decide how the number will connect

Coexistence is available in India; the requirements are in Meta's coexistence documentation. In the Broadchat client panel it appears as Use my WhatsApp Business app number during channel setup. Messages the client sends from the phone app also show in the inbox and are not billed.

Step 4: run Embedded Signup with the client

Do this on a screen-share call, with the client clicking. The client should use their own Facebook login: the WhatsApp account is then created in the client's own business portfolio, which protects them and you.

1. The client signs in on your panel address and opens Channels → All Channels, then + Add New Channel.
2. On the WhatsApp card they choose the Currency of the channel's messaging wallet (usually INR).
3. Meta's window opens: Continue with Facebook, log in, choose or create the business portfolio, then create a new WhatsApp Business account (or choose an existing one).
4. Enter the number and display name, and verify with the code.
5. On Channel Connected Successfully, open the channel.

If the window closes halfway, use Try Again; if nothing opens, allow pop-ups for your panel address. If the client gets stuck when you are not on the call, open the user in Audience → Users and use Guest Login to see their panel as they do.

Step 5: display name and business verification

Meta reviews the display name after connection. Names that clearly match the business (Sunrise Clinic Jaipur) pass; names that are generic or promotional (Best Clinic Offers) do not. The display name can be changed up to 10 times in 30 days, per Meta's display name documentation, but every rejection costs days.

Start Meta business verification in the client's portfolio the same day. A new portfolio starts at a messaging limit of 250 unique users per rolling 24 hours. Completing business verification is one of the paths to 2,000; the others are partner-led verification or sending 2,000 delivered messages with high-quality templates within 30 days, and Meta still reviews each case (messaging limits).

Step 6: fund the wallet and set your markup

Template messages are charged to the channel's messaging wallet; if the balance is too low, business-initiated messages are not sent. Two ways to fund it:

• You deposit: Settings → Channel Manager, open the channel, Deposit from your Conversation (Coin) wallet. Recharge that wallet from the dashboard first.
• The client recharges: in their panel, Workspace → Billing, recharge type WA Charges, paid to you by UPI, bank transfer or your gateway.

In the same Channel Manager screen, set your % Margin or Flat Markup per message category (or rely on the Channel Markup package on the client's plan), a low balance alert, and whether the client sees channel balance, billing logs and the billing category. Pricing advice is in reseller pricing models and margins.

Step 7: get three starter templates approved

In the client panel open CRM → WhatsApp Templates → Create Template. Three templates cover the first month for most clients:

Use realistic sample values (Priya, 14 Oct, 11:30 am), keep promotion out of utility templates, and click Sync Templates to refresh status. Review can take up to 24 hours (templates overview). The templates guide covers rejections.

Step 8: import opted-in contacts

Import contacts in CRM → Imports from a CSV, and tag each import by source ("walk-in register Oct 2026", "website form"). Leave out anything bought, scraped or collected for another purpose. Then give the client a way to grow the list properly: a QR code at the reception desk, a checkbox on the booking form, or a Click-to-WhatsApp ad. Details in the opt-in guide.

Step 9: send a small first campaign and hand over

1. Open CRM → Bulk Campaign → Create New Campaign → Create Messaging Campaign.
2. Choose the audience: a tag or segment of the most engaged contacts, well under the 250 limit for a new portfolio.
3. Pick the approved template, map the variables and use Send Test Message to your own phone.
4. Schedule it for a sensible time (late morning works for most local businesses) and save.
5. Next day, review delivered, read, replied and failed counts with the client.

Then hand over: add staff in Workspace → Manage Team, show them the inbox and the 24-hour window indicator, switch on a simple chatbot for the top questions, and book a review at the end of week two.

After launch: the first month

Watch the quality rating on the channel card weekly; our quality rating guide explains the signals. Review every marketing campaign before it goes out for the first month. When the messaging limit rises, grow the audience gradually. And put the onboarding into a template of your own, so the next client in the same niche takes hours instead of days. For the business side of reselling, see how to start a WhatsApp reseller business.