WhatsApp Flows Order Form: How to Take Orders Inside WhatsApp

Picture the last order you took in chat. "Apnar naam?" Reply. "Phone number?" Reply, with one digit missing. "Full address diben?" The address arrives in three pieces over twenty minutes. "Dhakar bhitore na baire?" Silence. The customer went to cook dinner and never came back.

WhatsApp Flows fix that part of the sale. Instead of six questions, the customer gets one form inside the chat, fills it in, and taps a button. This guide explains how Flows work, what you need to use them, and how to design an order form that Bangladeshi COD customers actually finish.

What is a WhatsApp Flows order form?

A WhatsApp Flows order form is a form that slides up inside the WhatsApp chat when the customer taps a button. They fill in fields and choices on one or more screens, tap submit, and the answers return to the business as structured data instead of loose messages.

WhatsApp Flows are Meta's feature for forms of any kind: sign-ups, surveys, lead forms, bookings. An order form is the most useful one for an online shop, because collecting delivery details is the slowest step of a chat sale.

What can a Flow order form collect?

A Flow is built from standard components defined in Meta's Flow JSON. The ones an order form needs:

There are also date pickers, checkboxes and images, useful for bookings or product choice, but keep an order form lean. Every extra field is a reason to stop.

What do you need before you can use WhatsApp Flows?

You need three things: a number on the WhatsApp Business Platform, a published Flow on that number's WhatsApp Business Account, and a system to receive the answers.

• The Business Platform. Flows do not exist in the free WhatsApp Business app. Your number must be connected through Meta's Cloud API. If you are still deciding, read WhatsApp Business app vs API.
• A published Flow. You build the Flow, test it in draft mode, and publish it. A published Flow cannot be edited, so to change it you create a new Flow, for example by cloning the old one.
• A receiver. When the customer submits, WhatsApp sends a webhook with the answers. Something has to turn that into an order.

How is a Flow sent to the customer?

Inside the 24-hour window, you send the Flow as an interactive message with a button such as "Fill order form". Outside the window, the Flow has to ride on an approved message template with a Flow button. For an order form this rarely matters, because the customer is chatting with you right now.

Static Flow or endpoint Flow: which does an order form need?

An order form can work either way. A static Flow carries its data from the moment it is sent, while an endpoint Flow asks your server for data as the customer moves between screens.

For a one-screen COD order form, a static Flow is usually enough, as long as you recheck prices, stock and fees when the submission arrives. A form sent at 10 am and submitted at 4 pm may show an old price.

How do you build a Flow order form yourself?

You can build a Flow by hand in five steps. It takes a developer a few days the first time.

1. Open WhatsApp Manager, go to Flows, and create a Flow in the Flow Builder, or write the Flow JSON yourself.
2. Add one screen with the cart text, a radio group for delivery areas, inputs for name and phone, a text area for address, and a footer button.
3. Preview it, then send it to your own phone in draft mode.
4. Publish the Flow.
5. Write the code that sends the Flow with the right cart and fees, receives the submission webhook, validates it, creates the order and replies with a confirmation.

Step 5 is where most of the work hides: validation, duplicate taps, price changes and error messages in Bangla.

What makes a good COD order form?

A good COD order form asks only for what the courier needs and shows the customer the exact amount to pay. Here is a layout that works for Bangladeshi shops:

Your order
1x Panjabi (White, L)        ৳1,850
1x Attar 6ml                 ৳350

Delivery area
( ) ঢাকার ভিতরে   Delivery ৳60  · Total ৳2,260
( ) ঢাকার বাইরে   Delivery ৳120 · Total ৳2,320

Full name        [ Rafiq Hasan          ]
Phone            [ 01712345678          ]
Full address     [ House, road, area, thana, district, landmark ]
Note (optional)  [                      ]

Payment: Cash on delivery
[ Place order ]

Design rules that make the difference:

• Show the total next to each area. The customer should never do maths.
• Pre-fill what you know. The WhatsApp number is already known; a repeat buyer's last address can be too.
• Validate the phone. An 11-digit number starting with 01 is the Bangladeshi mobile format. Reject anything else with a clear message.
• Prompt for a landmark. The placeholder text is a cheap way to get better addresses.
• Write the COD notice. "Cash on delivery" on the form prevents "I thought I paid already" confusion.
• Use the customer's language. Bangla labels for Bangla chats, English for English.

What goes wrong with Flow order forms?

Most problems come from what happens around the form, not the form itself:

How does SaleMag set up the order form?

SaleMag's WhatsApp order form is a ready-made Flow, so you skip the build:

• Click Set up form on your official WhatsApp number in the chatbot's order settings. SaleMag creates, uploads and publishes the Flow on that number's WhatsApp Business Account.
• The AI sends the form once the customer has chosen items. It shows the cart, your delivery areas with "Delivery ৳X · Total ৳Y", name, phone, address, an optional note and a COD notice.
• Fields are pre-filled from the WhatsApp number and the customer's last chat order.
• The server calculates the total. If the cart, a price or a fee changed before submit, the old form is rejected and a fresh one is sent.
• Messenger, Instagram, Telegram and QR-linked numbers get the same form as a signed link that expires after 24 hours and works for one order.

After Place order, SaleMag creates a numbered cash-on-delivery order and confirms it in the chat.

Next steps

Write down the exact fields your courier needs, and cut everything else. If you have a developer, build a one-screen Flow and test it on five friends. If you would rather not build it, start free with SaleMag and publish the form in one click, or see pricing.