Why is the customer name in my inbox not the name I saved?

You saved a customer as "Mrs. Rina. Catering" on your phone, but when she messages you, the inbox shows "rina 🌸", or just her number. Why?

Where that name comes from

WhatsApp delivers the name the customer set for themselves (their own WhatsApp profile name), not the name you saved on your phone. No WhatsApp Business API platform can read your phone's address book. So what you see is the customer's own version: sometimes a nickname, sometimes emoji, sometimes nothing at all.

The fix: save them in Contacts

WACO shows names from your WACO Contacts book. When a saved customer messages in, their name in the inbox is updated automatically to the name you saved, nothing else to do.

1. Open the Contacts menu in the dashboard.
2. Add your customers: import from a spreadsheet (columns named number and name are picked up automatically), full walkthrough in the contacts guide.
3. Done. As soon as that customer messages you, the inbox uses your saved name.

Good to know

• It applies when the customer messages in. Names update as chats arrive from that number, not in bulk at import time.
• Your team's manual edits are safe. A name is only updated when it changes in your Contacts book, if an agent tidies a name directly in the inbox, the system won't overwrite it back.
• You can turn it off. Prefer the customer's own WhatsApp profile name? There's a switch at the top of the Contacts page.