Capturing information from a user in a WhatsApp chat conversation

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated January 9, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Capturing information from a user in a WhatsApp chat conversation

    ServiceNow’s Virtual Agent Designer enables you to create interactive conversation topics for WhatsApp chat conversations, allowing you to prompt and capture information from users effectively. This integration leverages WhatsApp Cloud API to facilitate seamless communication between your virtual agent and users on WhatsApp.

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    User consent is mandatory before sending notifications; users can opt in by typing "Notification" in the chat or through subscription options configured via your portal.

    User Input Controls

    The Virtual Agent Designer supports various input controls tailored for WhatsApp conversations, enabling you to gather diverse types of information from users:

    • Text: Users enter plain text responses.
    • Static Choice: Users select from predefined lists.
    • Boolean: Yes/No style responses.
    • File Picker: Users can send files.
    • Dynamic Choice: Partial support for selecting from dynamic lists.
    • Date Time: Users pick dates, times, or both.
    • Carousel: Users select items from a carousel format.

    These controls help capture structured and unstructured data efficiently during chat conversations.

    Bot Response Types

    Your virtual agent can respond with multiple content types to enhance user engagement on WhatsApp:

    • Text: Plain text messages.
    • Image: Sending images to users.
    • Link: Web links for directing users.
    • Card: Compact content from records in your ServiceNow instance, including record cards, image cards with captions, and YouTube video cards with title and description.
    • Multi-response: Combination of text, images, links with interactive buttons.
    • Video: Video links with titles, descriptions, and interactive buttons.
    • Web UI Image Card Output: Record-based content with image and text.
    • Table: Displays information in tabular format.

    Note that HTML and script-based responses are not supported in WhatsApp conversations.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • Enable rich, interactive WhatsApp conversations to gather precise user inputs.
    • Ensure compliance by obtaining user consent before sending notifications.
    • Leverage diverse input controls to capture various data types relevant to your business needs.
    • Enhance user engagement with multimedia bot responses tailored for WhatsApp.
    • Manage and design conversation flows easily using the Virtual Agent Designer tool.

    Use the collection of input controls provided by the Virtual Agent Designer to prompt and capture information from a requester in a WhatsApp chat conversation.

    Virtual Agent Designer is a diagram tool for creating and managing topics, which are blueprints for conversations between a virtual agent and user. For more information, see Getting started with Virtual Agent Designer.

    User notification consent

    Users must opt in to receive notifications. No notifications can be delivered until the user grants consent.

    There are two ways for users to grant consent to receive notifications:
    • The user can enter Notification into the WhatsApp chat with your business. The user gets a bot response with the option to subscribe or unsubscribe from receiving notifications for your business on WhatsApp.
    • As the administrator, you can set up the option for users to subscribe or unsubscribe from notifications from your portal. See Subscription-based notifications for more information.

    User input controls

    The Conversational Integration with WhatsApp (WhatsApp Cloud API) application supports the following user input controls in Virtual Agent Designer.

    Table 1. Supported user input controls
    User input control Description
    Text User enters a plain text string in the conversation.
    Static Choice User selects an item from a predefined list.
    Boolean User enters a Boolean response to the bot. For example, the user can reply Yes or No in a chat conversation.
    File Picker User sends a file to the bot.
    Dynamic choice User selects an item from a dynamic list (partial support).
    Date Time User selects a calendar date, time (hours and minutes), or both.
    Carousel User selects a single item from the carousel.

    For more information about configuring user input controls, see Assistant Designer user input controls.

    The Conversational Integration with WhatsApp (WhatsApp Cloud API) application supports the following bot responses in Virtual Agent Designer.

    Table 2. Supported bot responses
    Bot response Description
    Text Bot sends a plain text string to the user.
    Image Bot sends an image to the user.
    Link Bot sends a web link to the user.
    Card Bot sends selected information from a record on your instance.
    Table 3. Supported bot responses
    Bot response Description
    Text Bot sends a plain text string to the user.
    Image Bot sends an image to the user.
    Link Bot sends a web link to the user.
    Card Record card: Bot sends content from a record in a compact format.

    Image card: Sends an image along with a caption.

    YouTube video card: Bot sends a YouTube video link with a title and description.
    HTML Not supported
    Script Not supported
    Multi-response Bot sends text, image, and link with an interactive button.
    Video Bot sends a video link with title, description, and interactive button.
    Web UI image card output Bot sends content from a record in a compact format, including an image with text.
    Table Bot response is displayed as a table.

    For more information about configuring bot responses, see Virtual Agent Designer bot responses.