WhatsApp business setup checklist: your first week on Avox
You don't need to do everything on day one. Here is a calm seven-day order for connecting WhatsApp to Avox, with the real button names, what to have ready and what to leave for later.
The usual way to set up a new tool is to click everything at once and then not touch half of it again. A week is a better pace. This WhatsApp business setup checklist spreads the real work over seven days, and each day is small enough to finish before lunch.
Blobatar, the character in the dashboard, will turn up now and then. It's a mascot, not an assistant, and it can't set anything up for you. It does have opinions about order.
The WhatsApp business setup checklist at a glance
- Day 1: sign up, answer the welcome chat, choose a plan.
- Day 2: connect your number.
- Day 3: look around and check health.
- Day 4: create your first template.
- Day 5: switch on one small automation.
- Day 6: invite a teammate and turn on two-factor.
- Day 7: learn where to look when something feels off.
Days 1 to 3: get connected
Day 1: sign up and choose a plan
- Sign up at theavoxai.com with your email, Google or Facebook. If you use email, we confirm it with a code.
- Answer the short welcome chat. In its standard form it asks who you are, what your business does and what you'd like WhatsApp to do for you, then offers to connect now or later. If you stop halfway, it picks up where you left off. We explain the questions in why we ask them.
- Pick a plan on the pricing page. An active plan is needed before you can connect a number.
That's it. Resist the urge to connect on the same afternoon if you're tired.
Day 2: connect your number
This is the part most people worry about, and it's mostly waiting. Have these ready:
- Admin access to your WhatsApp Business Account in Meta, if you already have one.
- Your phone, if the number already runs in the WhatsApp Business app. You'll confirm the connection in the app halfway through.
- Pop-ups allowed for the Avox dashboard, because Meta's sign-up opens in a pop-up.
- A number that isn't connected elsewhere in Avox.
Then open Connections, click Connect a WhatsApp number and follow the wizard: pick the number type (Existing number (Coexistence) if the number is already in the WhatsApp Business app, New number (Bot only) if not), name the connection, then click Continue to Meta. Keep Meta's window open until it closes by itself.
The full path, screen by screen, is in how to connect your WhatsApp Business app to a team inbox. When it works, the number shows Connected and every Admin gets a confirmation email.
(Blobatar goes very still while Meta's window is open. It's allowed to. This is the big one.)
Day 3: look around and check health
Nothing to build today. Open the Inbox and send yourself a message from another phone to see it arrive. Then open Health, which shows whether your number is connected and whether Meta is reporting a problem with it. Check health now lists any issues in Meta's own words.
Also check the display name customers will see. It comes from your WhatsApp account and Meta reviews it, so it isn't something you change on a whim.
Days 4 and 5: a first message and a first automation
Day 4: your first template
A template is a pre-written message you can use to start a conversation, even when the 24-hour reply window has closed. Every template you create goes to Meta for review through Avox, and you can send it once it's approved.
- Go to Templates and click Create template, or Template library for something ready-written.
- Choose the category that fits what the message really is: Marketing, Utility or Authentication.
- Fill in the content, with example values for any variables.
- Click Submit to Meta and watch the status. Pending review means Meta hasn't decided yet.
Start with something plain and useful, such as a booking confirmation or an order update. The template approval tips explain the common reasons for a rejection, and the template library post shows what's already written for you.
Day 5: one small automation
Pick one. Just one.
Go to Automation. The quickest start is a premade card, which fills in the trigger, the keywords and the actions so you only review them. Good first choices are Welcome + tag new customers or Store hours auto-reply. Nothing runs until you switch it on, and every message an automation sends spends automation credits.
Use the builder's preview to play the conversation before you switch it on. Then switch it on and ask a friend to message the number.
Keep your first automation modest. A short reply that sets expectations does more good than a clever one. More on that in our post on auto replies that don't annoy people, and on premade automations.
Days 6 and 7: your team and your safety nets
Day 6: invite a teammate and lock your own door
- Open Settings, Switchboard, Invitations, click Invite, type their email and choose Admin or Manager. Manager is the default, and it covers the day-to-day work: inbox, templates, Flows and automations. The invite email links to a page that works once, for the invited address only.
- Then, for yourself, go to Settings, Security, Two-factor authentication and click Enable. You'll scan a QR code with an authenticator app and type a code to confirm. It takes about two minutes.
The roles and permissions post explains what each role can see, and two-factor codes and passkeys covers the other option.
Day 7: know where to look when something feels off
Today is about knowing where the answers live, before you need them.
- The public status page shows the live health of every part of Avox, and of the WhatsApp services underneath. Bookmark it.
- Logs shows webhook events. Analytics shows volume and delivery.
- If a message doesn't send, the number in brackets after an error, such as AVX-3059, is a code you can look up. We wrote about reading those codes.
Then do nothing else. A week is plenty.
Questions people ask
Can I do all of this in one day?
You can, and some teams do. The order matters more than the pace: connect, check, template, automation, team, security.
Do I need a template before I can chat with customers?
No. When a customer messages you, you can reply freely within the reply window. A template is for starting a conversation, or for continuing one after the window has closed. As of October 2026, Meta's pricing page describes the window this way: when it's open you can send non-template messages, and when it's closed you can only send templates. Check that page for the current rules.
What if I get stuck on Day 2?
Closing Meta's window early changes nothing on your account, and the wizard saves your choices as a draft. Use Resume setup on Connections to pick it up again.
Next step: pick today's day and do only that one. If you haven't started, create your account, choose a plan and stop there. Day 2 can wait until tomorrow.
Thanks for reading
How did this land?
Was this helpful?
Try it yourself
A day-by-day WhatsApp business setup checklist for your first week on Avox: connect your number, send a first template, switch on one automation, invite a teammate.
Follow Avox on Google
Pick Avox as a preferred source and Google shows our stories more often in Top Stories and its search results.