Frequently asked questions

chat.or.ke is an all-in-one customer platform for Kenyan businesses. It combines a shared WhatsApp, email and SMS inbox with an AI assistant, CRM lead pipeline, helpdesk tickets, broadcasts and a product catalog in one dashboard.

No. chat.or.ke is a WhatsApp Tech Provider, so we handle the WhatsApp Business Platform for you. There are no Meta tokens, phone number IDs or webhooks to configure.

Often, yes. A number already used on the WhatsApp Business app can usually be moved to the WhatsApp Business Platform. Talk to us first so we can check your number and explain what changes. Otherwise we connect a new business number for you.

You can create your account and explore the dashboard straight away. Going live on WhatsApp needs Meta to verify your business, which can take up to 14 business days, so send your documents early.

Register a .co.ke domain and set up business email with HostingKE, our Kenyan hosting partner, at hostingke.co.ke. Once they are ready, we use them for your Meta business verification.

WhatsApp lets businesses send free-form messages within 24 hours of a customer's last message. After that you need a pre-approved template. chat.or.ke tracks the window for every chat.

Templates are messages pre-approved by WhatsApp. They are required for broadcasts and for starting a conversation with a customer who has not written in the last 24 hours. chat.or.ke includes a template library and handles approval requests.

Any mailbox that supports IMAP and SMTP, such as the email that comes with your domain or web hosting.

chat.or.ke runs its own bulk SMS gateway, delivering to Safaricom, Airtel and Telkom numbers. SMS is paid per message from your prepaid wallet, and your own sender ID is a one-off fee. See the bulk SMS pages for current prices.

Choose a name of up to 11 letters or numbers with no spaces, then send us your business registration certificate and a signed authorisation letter on your letterhead. We file it with Safaricom, Airtel and Telkom. Safaricom reviews new sender IDs in twice-weekly batches, while Airtel and Telkom usually take 1 to 2 weeks.

Under the Data Protection Act, 2019, promotional SMS need the person's consent and an easy way to opt out, such as replying STOP. Safaricom also keeps promotional and transactional messages on separate sender IDs. chat.or.ke leaves opted-out contacts out of every future campaign.

Sign in to your SMS portal, top up with M-Pesa, import your contacts from Excel, write your message and send it now or schedule it. Delivery reports show which messages arrived and which failed.

You add your business details, website and FAQs once. The AI then drafts replies for your team, or answers customers automatically, based on your own knowledge base.

English and Kiswahili. Customers can write in either language and the assistant replies in the same language.

Yes. Use suggestion mode so agents approve every reply, pause the AI for a single chat, or switch it off completely.

You pay a one-off setup fee to go live, then a small amount per message from a prepaid wallet. Replies, updates and promotions are priced differently because WhatsApp charges them differently. There is no monthly fee.

Top up your wallet with M-Pesa from the Billing page in your dashboard. You get a prompt on your phone and your balance updates as soon as the payment goes through.

You see a warning in your dashboard. Promotions and updates pause when the balance cannot cover them, while customer replies continue for a short while so conversations are not cut off.

Yes. Our per-message prices include Meta's WhatsApp charges, so there is no separate bill from Meta. Prices exclude VAT.

Yes. Every workspace is isolated. Your contacts, conversations and files are only visible to people in your own team.

You do. You are the data controller for your customers' information, and we process it only to provide the service. You can export your contacts at any time.

chat.or.ke is built with the Data Protection Act, 2019 in mind: access by role, encrypted credentials, isolated workspaces and tools to honour opt-outs. Our privacy policy has the details.

Yes. Contact us to close your workspace and we will delete your data, apart from records we must keep by law.

Yes. Invite team members with role-based access: agents handle conversations and tickets, managers see reports and owners control everything.

Yes. Roles decide which modules and actions each team member can use, such as conversations, contacts, broadcasts or settings.