💡3) Optional Settings

The optional configuration below can be skipped. Its related to third party functions that are not directly needed for the module to work, but can be handy/helpful for your business scope.

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🤖 Lead Automation Settings Tab

The Lead Automation Settings allow you to automatically convert WhatsApp chats into Leads within Perfex CRM. You can define the default lead status, source, and staff assignment for each new inquiry that originates from WhatsApp conversations.

Figure: Lead Automation tab in the WhatsApp Official Cloud API module for Perfex CRM

🧩 Field Descriptions

Field	Description
Lead Status	Default status to assign to new leads created from WhatsApp chats (e.g., Pending, New, In Progress).
Lead Source	Sets the source label for each lead (e.g., WhatsApp, Facebook, Referral).
Assigned Staff	The staff member who will be auto-assigned to each newly created lead.
Convert New Message to Lead Automatically	If enabled, every new WhatsApp message from an unrecognized number will trigger automatic lead creation.

⚙️ Automation Workflow

• When a new WhatsApp message is received from a number not yet linked to a client or lead, the system can automatically create a new lead entry in the CRM.

• The lead will inherit the status, source, and assignee defined in this settings tab.

• This enables sales staff to follow up faster and ensures no opportunity is missed from inbound chat inquiries.

✅ Recommendations

• Assign a dedicated staff member or team to handle leads from WhatsApp.

• Use a custom lead source like whatsapp to filter these leads in your reports.

• Enable automatic conversion only if your team can manage lead flow effectively.

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🧠 OpenAI Integration Settings

This section lets you connect your OpenAI API Token and control how AI responds to WhatsApp chats inside Perfex CRM. You can configure the AI to assist manually or respond automatically depending on your workflow.

Figure: OpenAI Integration settings (used for automatically replying to incoming chats with the help of OpenAI)

⚙️ Configuration Options

Field	Description
Enable OpenAI Integration	Defines how AI should participate in WhatsApp chats: Disable ❌ – AI support is turned off completely. Manual 🤖 – Shows an AI button in chat. Click it to generate a smart reply suggestion. Auto 🚀 – Automatically replies to all incoming chats using OpenAI responses.
OpenAI Token	Your API key fromOpenAI. Required to activate AI features.

✅ Best Practice Tips

• Use Manual mode if you want to review AI replies before sending.

• Auto mode is useful for 24/7 unattended customer interactions.

• Do not share your OpenAI Token. It is tied to your billing and usage.

• Check OpenAI token usage limits on the OpenAI Dashboard.

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⚙️ Advanced Settings Tab

The Advanced Settings tab includes optional and developer-focused configurations for optimizing chat performance, managing cron jobs, forwarding webhooks, and enabling advanced WhatsApp features like read receipts (blue ticks).

Figure: Advanced Settings (Optional settings for Chat Interface and forwarding of incoming Webhooks)

🧩 Field Descriptions

Field	Description
Cron Job Command	Displays the exact cron command needed to trigger automatic WhatsApp message sending from the queue. Copy and paste this into your server’s cron scheduler.
Reload Interval (minutes)	Defines how often the chat window should refresh for new messages (when not using real-time webhooks).
Load More Chats Limit	Controls the maximum number of past chats that can be loaded at once into the chat interface.
Enable Webhooks	Allows enabling or disabling webhook processing. If disabled, no incoming webhook events will be handled.
Webhooks Forward URL	If specified, all incoming webhook data (like message updates and delivery statuses) will be forwarded in real time to this external URL via HTTP POST. Useful for external systems or integrations.
WhatsApp Blueticks Status	Enable or disable the visual “blue tick” read status indicator for messages seen by recipients.

📌 Recommendations

• Use the Cron Job only if you’ve disabled real-time webhook mode or have delayed queue delivery.

• Enable Webhook Forwarding only when integrating with external systems (e.g. Node.js, Laravel, Zapier).

• Blueticks are cosmetic only and have no impact on message delivery or read confirmations.