Confirm an order in the customer's WhatsApp
The buyer gets an instant order confirmation in the app they already have open.
New Submission on your product order form
Send an approved WhatsApp template message to the customer confirming the order
One-directional. A submission triggers the action — nothing is written back into your form.
"Did my order go through?" is the most common message a small shop gets, and it is almost always caused by a confirmation email sitting in a promotions tab. WhatsApp is read.
This one needs an approved message template, because you are the one starting the conversation. That is a one-off setup step with Meta, not a per-message cost, and it is what makes the confirmation arrive at all rather than being silently dropped.
Setting it up
- 1
Publish the Product Order Form template with Phone Number required — without a number there is nowhere to send the confirmation.
- 2
In the WhatsApp Business Manager, create and submit a message template with placeholders for the customer name, the item and the quantity. Approval usually takes under a day.
- 3
In Zapier, use formformform's "New Submission" trigger on your order form.
- 4
Add the WhatsApp Business Cloud action Send Template Message and select the approved template.
- 5
Set the recipient to the Phone Number field, and check the number format your account expects — most require the country code with no leading zero and no spaces.
- 6
Map each template placeholder to the fields below, in the order the template defines them. Placeholders are positional, so a swapped pair produces a confidently wrong message.
- 7
Test with your own number before switching the Zap on. A template message that reads badly is harder to walk back than an email.
What maps where
Using the Product Order Form as the starting point. These are its real fields — swap in your own and the mapping works the same way.
| Form field | |
|---|---|
| Phone Number | Recipient number for the template message |
| Full Name | Template placeholder 1 — the greeting |
| Item Name or Product | Template placeholder 2 |
| Quantity | Template placeholder 3 |
| Delivery Method | Template placeholder 4 — collection or delivery |
| Shipping Address | Template placeholder 5, used only on the delivery variant |
Variations worth knowing
Collection and delivery orders want different wording. Filter on Delivery Method and send a different approved template for each, rather than one that hedges.
Add a second WhatsApp step to your own operations number so the order lands with the people fulfilling it at the same moment the customer is reassured.
If something isn't arriving
The placeholder count in the Zap has to match the approved template exactly. Adding a field to the message text without resubmitting the template for approval is the usual cause.
Numbers entered locally — a leading zero, or spaces — are rejected. Add a Zapier Formatter step to normalise to international format, and set the field's placeholder text to show the expected shape.
Frequently asked questions
Can I take the payment in the form?
Yes. Add products and priced options to the form, then collect payment through secure hosted checkout with Stripe, PayPal, or Square. Payment status is tracked alongside the response.
Why does this need an approved template when the sales alert did not?
Because you are initiating a conversation with a customer. WhatsApp only allows free-form messages inside a 24-hour window opened by the customer messaging you first; outside it, an approved template is required.
What if the customer replies to the confirmation?
Their reply goes to your WhatsApp Business inbox, not back into the form. Nothing is written back into the submission — the integration runs one direction only.
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Build the form first
The automation needs somewhere to fire from. Publish a form, connect it once, and every submission from then on runs this flow.
Start free