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In Nigeria and most of Africa, WhatsApp is how people actually communicate — but delivery is less predictable than SMS, and some users have data off. The practical pattern: WhatsApp primary, SMS as automatic fallback.
WhatsApp Business API sending isn’t part of Robase’s core API yet — it’s on the Phase 4 roadmap. This guide shows the pattern using your own WhatsApp provider today (Twilio, 360dialog, Infobip), falling back to pm.sms.send when WhatsApp fails.

Why fallback, not one or the other

Send via WhatsApp first, watch for delivery, and fall back to SMS if it doesn’t deliver within a window.

The flow

Reference implementation

Tuning the fallback window

  • OTP: 30–45s. Users expect the code fast.
  • Ride ETA: 60s.
  • Receipts / non-urgent: 5 min. Most users read WhatsApp within 5 minutes; SMS is a safety net, not a duplication.
  • Marketing: Don’t fall back. If WhatsApp fails, the message isn’t worth $1 of SMS.

Two versions of the body

Keep your WhatsApp body rich (links, bold, emoji) and the SMS body tight (≤ 160 GSM-7):

Measuring the fallback rate

High fallback rate (say, >30%) usually means:
  1. Users disabled WhatsApp notifications — they’ll still receive the SMS, but your WhatsApp cost is wasted. Check opt-in quality.
  2. WhatsApp templates not approved — silent delivery failures. Check your WA dashboard.
  3. Network issues in a specific region — cluster by user location; route problem regions to SMS-primary.
Track both channels side by side; rolling 7-day fallback rate is the single most informative metric.