WhatsApp lets you run two-way, real-time conversations with your customers — and some of the most valuable ones start when the customer messages you first. A Customer-Initiated Journey is a real-time flow that begins the moment a customer sends your WhatsApp number a keyword such as "join" or "bonus."

When a customer starts the conversation, WhatsApp opens a 24-hour Customer-Initiated window. Inside that window, you can reply with a Session Message instead of a Meta-approved Template Message, so you can build fast, two-way journeys without waiting on Meta template review.

This guide will walk you through how to set up a Customer-Initiated WhatsApp journey, from building the journey to connecting it to a keyword trigger.

Note: This article covers Customer-Initiated conversations only. For general WhatsApp Template Message creation, see Creating a WhatsApp Template. For general real-time trigger setup, see Creating Event-Triggered Campaigns.

A Customer-Initiated Journey relies on three building blocks:

A WhatsApp journey that opens with a Session Message.
A real-time trigger built on the whatsapp_received_incoming_message event, using the message_body field to match your keyword.
A real-time triggered campaign that connects the trigger to the journey.

How to Access Customer-Initiated Journey Setup

You will work across two areas of your Optimove instance, both under the Plan tab:

Campaign Builder — to create your WhatsApp journey.
Realtime Triggers — to create your keyword-based trigger.

How to Set Up a Customer-Initiated WhatsApp Journey

Build your WhatsApp journey

Create the journey that runs when a customer messages you.

Navigate to Plan → Campaign Builder.
Build your journey and set the first message to a Session Message rather than a Template Message. For example, a welcome flow that fires after a customer texts "join."

For details on creating a Session Message, see Creating a WhatsApp Template.

Create your real-time trigger

Navigate to Plan → Realtime Triggers and create a new trigger.
Select the whatsapp_received_incoming_message event.
Set message_body to "Contains" and enter the keyword you want to listen for, such as "join."

Please note: The message_body "Contains" match is not case-sensitive and supports all languages — customers can type "JOIN," "Join," or a non-English equivalent and still trigger the journey.

Protip: Keep keywords short, specific, and distinct from one another. Because matching is based on message_body, similar keywords across different triggers can send customers into the wrong journey. You can also narrow a trigger further using optional fields like Platform, OS, or optimove_brand_id.

Create your real-time campaign

From Realtime Triggers or Campaign Builder, create a new real-time triggered campaign.
Select the keyword trigger you created in Step 2.
Select the journey you created in Step 1 (with the Session Message as its starting template).
Click "Create Campaign" to finalize.

For a full walkthrough of scheduling a real-time triggered campaign, see Creating Event-Triggered Campaigns.

Note: Because a customer starts the conversation, implicit consent applies for 24 hours — you do not need to pre-verify explicit WhatsApp consent for this Target Group the way you would for a Business-Initiated campaign. See Consent Management for SMS WhatsApp for details.

How Customer-Initiated Journeys Work

No Meta approval for the opener: Because the journey opens with a Session Message, it does not require Meta template approval — only Template Messages need approval.
24-hour window: The Customer-Initiated window starts the moment the customer's message triggers the campaign.
Route by intent: You can create multiple keyword triggers pointing to different journeys to route customers by intent (for example, "join" vs. "bonus").

Key Elements to Keep In Mind

To change the keyword after launch, update message_body on the Realtime Trigger.
To change the opening message, edit the Session Message directly in Campaign Builder.
You can narrow which customers trigger a journey using optional fields like Platform, OS, or optimove_brand_id.