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WhatsApp: messaging contractors and candidates on WhatsApp (asks, check-ins, stay-on asks, interview confirmations), switching it on, who agreed, the rules on who, when and how often, STOP, the buttons and replies, messages that did not arrive, what a message costs, connecting your agency's own WhatsApp number (renewing and disconnecting it), and linking your own WhatsApp to Ask Lovelio

Signed in? Ask Lovelio this question inside the app - it answers from this same page.

Lovelio can ask contractors if they are free, check in with them and ask if they want to stay on, and confirm interviews with candidates, on WhatsApp as well as by email. It is off until it is switched on, and it only ever messages people who agreed to it.

Switching it on

WhatsApp messages are off for every agency. Two switches have to be on:

  1. Lovelio switches WhatsApp on for your agency. Ask Lovelio support.
  2. A System Admin switches on what your agency wants in Settings > Integrations > WhatsApp: "Asks and check-ins", "Interview confirmations", or both. Interview confirmations only go for interviews booked after you turn them on.

Until both are on, every ask goes by email as before.

Who gets messaged

Only people who told you they agree to WhatsApp messages. Ask them, on a call or in person, and record it on their record: open the candidate, and next to their phone number under WhatsApp press "[Name] agreed to WhatsApp". "No longer agrees" undoes it. Ask Lovelio, Slack and connected apps can record it too ("Priya said yes to WhatsApp"). Lovelio never assumes it.

They also need a mobile number WhatsApp can use. A number written with its country code (+61 412 345 678) always works. A local number (0412 345 678) works when their country, or your agency's country, says which country it is from. Someone marked do not approach is never messaged. Client contacts are always emailed.

When

Only 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, in their own time zone. Outside those hours an ask cannot go on WhatsApp; the draft says so, and if they have an email it is drafted as an email instead. An interview confirmation booked in the evening goes the next morning.

At most one ask to the same person on WhatsApp each week. Their replies, and Lovelio's answers to them, do not count.

How

A WhatsApp message that starts a conversation has to use wording WhatsApp approved, so the words are fixed: their first name, you and your agency's name, and the dates. You see the message exactly as they will, buttons included, before you send. It cannot be edited; "Send by email instead" switches it to the email drafted alongside. It only goes when you press Send.

The asks and their buttons:

  • Are you free for contract work from Mon 17 Nov? (from a contract job, or a contract finishing): Yes, free then / No, not then / Call me.
  • How is the contract going? (a quiet contractor with no end date yet): Going well / Call me.
  • Would you like to stay on? (a contract ending with no plan): Yes, I'd stay on / No, I'll finish / Call me.

What their answer does

  • Yes, free then sets their free date to the date asked, marked as their own confirmation, and tells the consultant who asked.
  • No, not then: Lovelio asks them for the date, and their next message sets it.
  • Call me tells the consultant who asked to call them.
  • Going well is noted on their timeline.
  • Yes, I'd stay on / No, I'll finish answer the stay-on ask, the same as an emailed reply.
  • A typed reply ("not until January") is read the same way as an email reply. If it does not answer the question, it lands on their timeline and the consultant is told.
  • A YES to an interview confirmation confirms the interview.

Every message, both ways, lands on their timeline, and a WhatsApp reply counts as hearing from them for the check-ins list.

STOP

Anyone who replies STOP gets no more WhatsApp messages from Lovelio straight away, and it shows on their record. If they later tell you they want WhatsApp again, record it on their record.

Messages that did not arrive

If WhatsApp cannot deliver a message (for example their number is not on WhatsApp), the consultant who sent it is told why on the bell and on their timeline, so you can email or call instead.

What it costs

On the shared Lovelio number, each message Lovelio starts (an ask, a check-in, an interview confirmation) uses 17 AI credits from your plan. Their replies, and Lovelio's answers to them, are free.

From your agency's own number, messages use no AI credits. Meta bills you directly, on the card you added when you connected it.

Which number messages come from

Unless you connect your own, Lovelio sends from one shared WhatsApp number for every agency, and every message names your agency. Replies come back to the right agency and region on their own.

Your agency's own number

A System Admin can connect your agency's own WhatsApp number, so candidates and contractors see your agency's name and number instead of Lovelio's.

  1. In Settings > Integrations > WhatsApp, under "Your agency's number", press "Connect your own WhatsApp number".
  2. Meta's window opens. Sign in with Facebook, pick or create your business and WhatsApp account, add the number and verify it with the code Meta texts or calls to it, and add a card: Meta bills you for messages.
  3. When the window closes, Lovelio finishes the setup and shows the number in green.

Use a number that is not already on the WhatsApp app, or delete it from the app first. If the number has two-step verification on, turn it off in WhatsApp Manager before you connect.

From then on every WhatsApp message Lovelio sends for you goes from your number, and replies to it come straight to your agency: they land on the candidate's timeline, answer their ask, and STOP to your number stops messages from your agency only. Someone who is not in Lovelio yet shows up on the bell so you can reply. The two switches above still decide what goes out.

The connection lasts 60 days. From 14 days before it runs out, System Admins get a bell and an email, and the settings page shows "Renew". Press it, go through Meta's window again, and it is good for another 60 days. If it lapses, Lovelio cannot send from your number until you renew; it never falls back to the shared number without telling you.

"Disconnect" on the same page switches you back to the shared Lovelio number. Replies to your own number stop reaching Lovelio. Connecting the same number again later works.

Your own WhatsApp and Ask Lovelio

Separately, you can talk to Ask Lovelio on WhatsApp. This is just for you and has nothing to do with the agency switches above.

  1. In Settings > Integrations > WhatsApp, under "Your WhatsApp", press "Connect my WhatsApp".
  2. Send the 6-digit code to the number shown, from the phone you want to use, within 5 minutes. "Open WhatsApp with the code filled in" does it in one tap.
  3. Lovelio replies to say you are connected, and the settings page turns green by itself.

Once connected, message Lovelio like a colleague: "who is free for contract work next week?", "what interviews are on today?". "Disconnect" on the same page unlinks your number. If the code expires, press "Get a new code".