Part of milestone 5 · Every channel coming in
When you finish you'll have: every message that reaches your number coming into the CRM and creating a lead on its own, with an owner ready to be assigned.
How long it takes: about thirty minutes per number, plus Meta's waiting time.
What do I need before starting?
- Your pipelines and stages created: the source points to a Pipeline and an Initial stage that must already exist.
- Administrator access to the Meta portfolio that owns the number.
- A card that accepts international charges in dollars, for Meta's payment method.
Why doesn't WhatsApp come in if I already connected it?
Because there are three layers and they have to be completed in order.
1. The number. It's registered in Settings > Data Sources, on the WhatsApp Business card, with Connect the first time (or Add number if you already have one). The wizard itself launches the authorization with Meta and asks you how you use the number today: the answer changes the rest of the path. The cases, one by one, are in Connect or buy your WhatsApp line: the 5 ways, step by step.
2. The line. In CRM > Settings > Lines, WhatsApp tab, with Add WhatsApp you pick the number and confirm with Add line. The Activate link you see next to the number in Data Sources brings you exactly here: what activates the line is adding it from here. The only exception is coexistence, which comes out active on its own.
3. The source. In CRM > Settings > Lead sources, with New source, choose WhatsApp Business and create a source tied to that line; close with Save and connect.
What do I choose in the WhatsApp source?
What decides the outcome is the Destination:
- Prospect inbox — the message goes into review before becoming a deal.
- Direct deal — it's created as a deal in the Pipeline and the Initial stage you choose.
For raw WhatsApp, the Prospect inbox is almost always the better choice: if you send every incoming message straight into the funnel, it fills up with wrong numbers and supplier inquiries, and your conversion by origin stops meaning anything. Your starting configuration confirms which one applies to you.
The other decision in the source is the Deduplication strategy: what to do when that number already exists in your base. You have Merge with existing, Create activity, Notify duplicate and Skip duplicate. In WhatsApp the normal case is the customer who writes again months later: with Merge with existing, their message is added to the record you already had instead of creating a new person and splitting their history in two. Whoever handles it will see everything that came before.
Module detail, including advanced field mapping: Lead sources: mapping, webhook and historical-lead backfill (without duplicates).
What does my number's status mean?
Before calling it done, look at the status in Settings > Data Sources:
| Status | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| API | Active dedicated line | Nothing |
| Coexistence | Active line: works on the phone app and in MB Suite at the same time | Nothing |
| Enabled | The line still has to be added | Go to CRM > Settings > Lines |
| Registration pending | Meta hasn't finished yet | Wait; it retries on its own |
| Needs re-subscription | Incoming messages are not arriving | It's resolved when you add the line |
| Shared | Another platform also receives those messages | Check whether that's what you want |
Why do I receive but can't send?
It's what surprises people most, and it's not an MB Suite problem.
That payment method is loaded after connecting the first number, because the WhatsApp Business account is only born then. And the currency you choose when loading it can't be changed later. See WhatsApp message costs: how Meta's pricing works.
How do I check it turned out right?
Use a phone that is not in your base and send a message to your connected number.
- The conversation appears in CRM > WhatsApp.
- A prospect or a deal was created, according to the Destination you gave the source.
- The number's status in Settings > Data Sources is API or Coexistence, in green.
- You can reply to that message from the CRM and it reaches the phone.
If all four pass, your WhatsApp channel is coming into and going out of the CRM.
What if it doesn't work?
| What you see | What's missing |
|---|---|
| Not even the conversation appears | The line isn't added. Messages to that number are being lost |
| You see the conversation but no lead is created | The source tied to that line is missing |
| The number stayed in Enabled | Step 2 is missing: add it in CRM > Settings > Lines |
| The number stayed in Registration pending | Meta hasn't finished. It retries on its own; wait |
| You receive fine but no message goes out | The payment method in your WhatsApp Business account in Meta is missing |
| You connected the second number and the first stopped working | Two different Meta accounts were used. Reconnect everything with the same user, a portfolio administrator |
The symptoms in more detail: My WhatsApp doesn't send or receive messages and I can't add or connect my WhatsApp number.
What's next?
If you haven't yet, complete the milestone with the other half: Connect forms and ads, and know which campaign each lead came from. There you also install the pixel, which is what makes a lead who writes to you on WhatsApp from your site arrive with their source campaign instead of showing up as plain WhatsApp.
With milestone 5 closed, the next step is for those messages to have an owner and for someone to find out: Distribute leads and get your team operating the CRM every day. There you also define who sees the WhatsApp messages that come into each line, which up to here isn't configured.
Still have questions?
Ask MIA, the MB Suite AI assistant: open it with the MB AI button (⌘J) in the top bar. MIA knows the section you're in, so you can ask it about what you see on screen — and it can also answer how-to questions about using MB Suite.