Start with a business number, not your own
If members message your personal number, three things go wrong over time: you cannot hand the front desk to anyone else, your phone is the only record of who said what, and you never get a day off. Get a separate SIM for the space on day one and put it on the website, the signboard and every invoice.
You then have two choices for the number:
- WhatsApp Business app (free, on one phone). Fine for a space with under 20 members. You get a business profile, quick replies, labels and a basic catalogue.
- WhatsApp Business Platform (the API, via Meta directly or through software). Needed when you want automatic invoices and reminders, more than one person replying from a computer, and messages tied to member records. Charges apply per conversation.
You can move a number from the app to the API later, but the chat history does not come across, so decide early if you can.
Set up the profile properly
Fill in the business name exactly as it appears on your invoices, the address, opening hours, website and a short description with your prices. Add a logo. A profile that says "Spellbound Coworking, Malkajgiri, cabins from ₹6,000" answers the first question before it is asked. Apply for the verified tick once you have a registered business; it helps with the next section too.
Templates and the 24-hour window
This is the part that confuses most operators. On the API, there are two kinds of messages:
- Free-form replies, which you can send only within 24 hours of the member's last message to you. Any text, any time, inside that window.
- Template messages, which you need to start a conversation when the window is closed, such as a rent reminder on the 1st. Templates are approved by Meta in advance, with fixed wording and variables for the name, amount and link.
So a rent reminder, a receipt, a booking confirmation and a renewal notice all need templates. A reply to "is the printer working?" does not. Write templates in plain English, keep them short, and avoid anything that reads like a marketing blast if you want them approved as utility messages, which cost less.
Three templates cover 90% of a coworking space's needs:
- Invoice: "Hi {name}, your {month} invoice for {cabin} is ₹{amount}, due {date}. Pay here: {link}."
- Reminder: "Hi {name}, a reminder that ₹{amount} for {cabin} is due {date}. Pay here: {link}."
- Receipt: "Thank you, {name}. We received ₹{amount} on {date} for {cabin}. Receipt: {link}."
Add a booking confirmation and an agreement-to-sign template once rooms and e-sign are in use.
Reminders that get paid, not muted
WhatsApp reminders work because they arrive where the member already is. They stop working if they feel like nagging. A schedule that keeps the balance:
- Invoice a few days before the due date, with the payment link.
- One reminder on the due date.
- One reminder three days after, with the amount and the link, then a personal call rather than a fourth message.
Always include the amount and a one-tap link. A reminder that makes the member open the invoice, find the UPI ID and type the amount loses a day every time. Send receipts the same day the money arrives; a quick receipt is the best advertisement for the next month's prompt payment.
Broadcasts and groups: etiquette
A member who gets a "Happy Diwali, 20% off meeting rooms" broadcast at 11 pm will block the number, and a blocked number cannot receive the rent reminder either. Some rules:
- Use broadcasts for things members need: a power shutdown, a holiday closure, a new facility. Keep promotions to one a month at most.
- Send between 10 am and 7 pm on working days.
- Marketing templates need the member's opt-in. Put a line in the agreement or a sign-up form so you have it.
- Prefer broadcasts over a members' group for announcements. A group is good for community, but every complaint in it is public and every member sees every other member's number.
- Honour "stop" immediately. Keep a list of who opted out.
What Meta charges
On the API, Meta charges per message or per conversation depending on category, billed in rupees for Indian numbers. Utility messages (invoices, reminders, receipts, confirmations) are the cheapest, a fraction of a rupee to a few rupees each; marketing messages cost noticeably more; replies inside the 24-hour window after a member writes to you are free. Pricing changes from time to time, so check Meta's current rate card. For a space with 50 members sending an invoice, a reminder and a receipt each month, the bill is usually under a few hundred rupees, well below the cost of one late payment.
If you use software that sends on your behalf, check whether it bills Meta's charges at cost or marks them up, and whether the number stays yours if you leave.
Keep conversations beside the records
The real cost of WhatsApp is not Meta's fee; it is the twenty minutes spent scrolling a chat to find whether Rahul said he would pay on Friday. The fix is to have the conversation live next to the member's record: their cabin, their invoices, their deposit, their agreement, and every message in one view, with any team member able to reply from a computer and the next person able to see what was said.
Coworking OS does this with its own WhatsApp inbox on your business number: invoices, reminders and receipts go out as templates, replies land beside the member, and the front desk answers from the app. If you stay on the WhatsApp Business app instead, at least use labels (Paid, Due, Lead, Notice) and quick replies so the phone is not the only memory.
Leads on WhatsApp
A WhatsApp button on your website and Google Business Profile will become your biggest source of enquiries. Reply within minutes during working hours; most lost enquiries are lost to the space that answered first. Have a quick reply with prices, photos and a line asking for a visit time, and record every enquiry somewhere with a name, source and status so it can be followed up in two days if they go quiet.
A first reply you can copy
Hi! Thanks for reaching out to Spellbound Coworking. Cabins start at ₹6,000 per seat a month and hot desks at ₹500 a day, with Wi-Fi, power backup and 10 free meeting room hours for cabin members. Would you like to visit tomorrow between 10 and 6? I can hold a cabin for you to see.
Checklist
- Separate business number on the website, board and invoices.
- Profile filled in with prices, hours and address; verification applied for.
- Invoice, reminder and receipt templates approved.
- Reminder schedule fixed and written into the agreement.
- Broadcasts for information, rarely for promotion, working hours only, opt-in on file.
- Chats visible beside member records so anyone on the team can pick up.