Answer box
CBAMWorks is WhatsApp-first with email as fallback for supplier onboarding. Approved WhatsApp Business templates in English, Hindi, Punjabi and Gujarati reach the factory office where it actually works. Suppliers open one short link, no login, and land on a mobile form that reads bills by photo. Automatic reminders go out on day 3, 7 and 14. The result: response rates English email alone cannot touch.
Why email alone fails
An English spreadsheet attached to an email reaches a factory in Ludhiana or Rajkot where:
- No one on the shop floor reads English email at CBAM-request speed.
- The owner’s assistant reads it, not the person with the fuel bills.
- The attachment renders as a broken table in their Excel version.
- Nothing in the ask tells them why they should do it.
Supplier onboarding is a channel problem, not a data problem. Fix the channel, the data follows.
What’s in the feature
Multi-channel invites
- WhatsApp Business Cloud API as the primary channel, with pre-approved Meta templates per language.
- Email sent in parallel for suppliers whose business number isn’t on the WhatsApp Cloud API, or as a backup if a WhatsApp send fails.
- SMS fallback for the long tail where neither works (planned 2027).
Four languages at launch
- English — the fallback and common denominator.
- हिंदी (Hindi) — the biggest Indian export cluster language.
- ਪੰਜਾਬੀ (Punjabi) — Ludhiana fastener and forging cluster.
- ગુજરાતી (Gujarati) — Rajkot casting cluster.
Mandarin and Turkish are planned for 2027.
Approved templates for every message
- Invitation template per language.
- Reminder templates for day 3, 7 and 14.
- Change-requested template when a buyer wants a value revised.
- Submission confirmation template when the supplier submits.
Every template goes through Meta’s standard template-approval flow — no risk of rate-limiting from unapproved content.
Automatic reminder cadence
| Day | Message |
|---|---|
| 0 | Invitation (WhatsApp + email) |
| 3 | Reminder — “did you get a chance to look?” |
| 7 | Reminder — second nudge, deadline in sight |
| 14 | Last-chance reminder — mentions default + mark-up fallback |
Importers can adjust the cadence or disable auto-reminders per supplier.
One short link, no login
Invitation links use a signed, scoped token. The supplier opens the link, confirms their language, and lands directly on the mobile form. No sign-up, no password, no app install. The token can be revoked by the importer at any time.
Delivery and read receipts
Where WhatsApp Business API supports it, the importer sees delivered / read status per message. All mapped to the funnel view: Invited → Opened → Started → Submitted.
Opt-out handling
Suppliers can reply STOP; CBAMWorks honours it and switches them to email-only or disables outreach entirely. Everything is logged for audit.
What the supplier sees
A short WhatsApp message with one link. Opening the link loads a mobile-first web form:
- One screen at a time.
- No login.
- Photograph-the-bill upload with AI number extraction.
- Confirm-every-value flow.
- Big tap targets, Indic script support.
Submission is one tap. See the supplier portal page for what happens once they’re in.
What the importer sees
- Live funnel per supplier: Invited → Opened → Started → Submitted.
- Delivery/read status per WhatsApp message.
- Reminder log per supplier.
- Language stat per supplier so you know which template fired.
- Response rate across the whole supplier list vs. your previous method.
Compliance basics
- All templates approved by Meta before use.
- First-touch to a new supplier uses an approved template, not a free-form message.
- 24-hour customer-service window applies to free-form replies.
- Opt-out is honoured; STOP replies disable messaging to that number.
Pricing
Supplier onboarding is included in every plan — Starter, Pro and the Exporter Pack. Underlying WhatsApp Business API message costs are absorbed up to a reasonable fair-use limit per plan. Large supplier bases on the Pro plan should talk to us about volume.