Glossary
Plain-language meanings for the terms you'll meet in AIM Automate and in WhatsApp Business.
A
AI reply: A workflow step that answers the contact's latest message with AI, using what's in your knowledge base. If there's no question to answer or the AI is unavailable, it sends the fallback text you set instead.
API key: A secret key that lets your own software (a CRM, an app, an internal tool) send messages and read data in your workspace. You create and revoke keys on the API Access page, and each key is shown in full only once.
Assignment: Giving a conversation to one teammate so it's clear who replies. You can assign chats by hand in the inbox, or switch on round-robin assignment for new chats under Setup → Conversation Defaults.
Attribution window: The number of days before an order during which a WhatsApp message can earn credit for it in Marketing Reports. It's 7 days unless you change it under Reports → Preferences.
B
Broadcast: One message sent to many people at once: a single number, a segment or your whole list. To reach anyone who hasn't messaged you in the last 24 hours, a broadcast must use an approved template.
Business Account (WABA): Your WhatsApp Business Account, the container Meta keeps for your business. It holds your phone numbers, message templates and catalog link.
C
Catalog: Your product list in Meta Commerce Manager, linked to your WhatsApp number. It lets you send products that customers can browse, add to a cart and order in the chat.
Chat widget: An AI assistant you add to your website. It answers visitors from your knowledge base, can collect their details as leads and lets them ask for a person.
Click-to-WhatsApp ad (CTWA): A Facebook or Instagram ad whose button opens a WhatsApp chat with you. Chats that start this way are tracked under Reports → Marketing → CTWA, and Meta doesn't charge for the messages in the 72 hours that follow.
Credits (balance): The prepaid balance your workspace uses to pay for messages and AI features. A paid message is charged once it's delivered, and one that fails is refunded automatically. Check it under Usage & Billing in your account menu.
CSAT: Customer satisfaction score. When a support ticket is closed, the customer can rate the help Great (5), Okay (3) or Poor (1).
Customer (contact): A person in your contact list, identified by their WhatsApp number. Each one has a status: subscribed, unsubscribed or blocked.
Customer service window (24-hour window): The 24 hours after a customer's last message to you. Inside it you can reply with any message; outside it, WhatsApp only lets you start the conversation again with an approved template.
D
Display name: The business name shown on your WhatsApp profile. Meta reviews it before it goes live, and you can follow its status under Setup → WhatsApp Accounts.
Drip campaign: A series of messages sent automatically on a schedule over days or weeks, such as a welcome series after sign-up. You'll find drip campaigns next to broadcasts.
E
Entry point (trackable link): A short link or QR code that opens a WhatsApp chat with you and counts every click or scan, so you can see which poster, page or campaign brought each contact in. Create them under Links & QR Codes.
I
Internal note: A private note on a conversation in the shared inbox. Your team can see it; the customer never does.
K
Keyword: A word or phrase that starts a workflow when a contact sends it, for example "MENU" or "PRICE". Set it on a workflow that uses the WhatsApp keyword received trigger.
Knowledge base: The articles, FAQs and website pages you give the AI so its answers about your business are accurate. The AI reply step and the chat widget both answer from it.
L
Label: A tag you put on a conversation in the shared inbox, such as "support" or "follow-up", to sort and filter chats.
Lead: A potential customer you're tracking through your sales process. A lead is created automatically when someone new messages you on WhatsApp; leads also come in from the website chat widget, and you can add them by hand.
Lead status: The stage a lead has reached in your pipeline, such as New. You set up your own stages under Manage Leads → Lead Statuses.
M
Messaging limit (tier): How many business-started conversations Meta lets your number open in a rolling 24 hours, for example 1K or Unlimited. Meta raises it as you message more people while keeping your quality high.
O
Opt-in: A person's permission to receive WhatsApp messages from you. Collect it before sending marketing, for example with a form, a welcome popup or a tickbox at checkout.
Opt-out: A person's request to stop hearing from you. Set them to unsubscribed on their customer record and segment broadcasts will skip them.
Q
QR code: A code people scan with their phone camera to open a WhatsApp chat with you, often with a first message already typed. Each one you create under Links & QR Codes counts its scans.
Quality rating: Meta's rating of how people respond to your messages: high, medium or low. Lots of blocks and reports lower it, and a low rating can pause templates or stop your messaging limit from growing.
S
Segment: A saved group of customers, such as "VIPs" or "New leads", that you can target with broadcasts and workflows.
Service conversation (session): A conversation the customer starts by messaging you. Replies you send inside the 24-hour window are service messages, and Meta doesn't charge for them.
Shared inbox: The WhatsApp Chats screen, where your whole team reads and answers conversations together.
Step: One action inside a workflow, such as send a message, wait, check a condition or add a tag.
T
Template: A message layout Meta approves in advance. You need one to message anyone outside the 24-hour window, and it can include variables (like the customer's name), images and buttons.
Template category: The type Meta gives each template, which also sets its price. Marketing is for offers and announcements, Utility for order updates and reminders, and Authentication for one-time login codes. Service is the name for free replies inside the 24-hour window.
Ticket: One support request on a chat, opened automatically when a customer writes in and closed by your team as solved or unsolved (or automatically once the chat goes quiet). Tickets feed the Reports → Support report.
Trigger: The event that starts a workflow, such as a new customer, a keyword, a form submission, a store order or a missed call.
Two-factor authentication (2FA): A second login step using a code from an authenticator app on your phone. Every AIM Automate user must turn it on, and should keep their recovery codes somewhere safe.
W
WhatsApp Business Platform: Meta's official way for businesses to send and receive WhatsApp messages through software rather than a single phone. AIM Automate connects to it for you.
Workflow: An automated journey. A trigger starts it, then its steps run in order and can branch on what the contact does.
Missing a term? Contact support and we'll add it.
