Using WhatsApp Bot API for Improved Customer Interaction

With more than 1.5 billion users and an above 40% market share in more than180 countries around the world, WhatsApp is truly an app that has become a favorite of many in less time. The app has brought old friends together, allowing them to stay in touch with each other at all times.

The focus on providing a better user experience and the no ads policy has made the app famous along with the simplicity of the operations and the user-friendly interface. WhatsApp has recently released a version exclusively for business enterprises to connect with their customers residing anywhere in the world.

From texting customers to sending them the pictures, videos, and documents about the products and services of a business enterprise, WhatsApp Business is very much similar to the regular WhatsApp. Small businesses have been actively using regular WhatsApp as a tool for customer interaction and marketing for quite some time.

WhatsApp Business is effective for medium and large scale enterprises. The app can be integrated with the system of an enterprise using an API. Many companies provide the WhatsApp Bot API integration services. They create and provide a cloud platform for the enterprise to send and receive messages from a web application instead of just a mobile phone.

Enterprises will have to create an account with the app using a valid phone number. Then they are to request early access to the app to be able to use the API platform. Enterprises can use the sandbox feature provided by the companies to use WhatsApp while waiting for permission.

The main purpose of using WhatsApp as a communication channel is to get closer to the customers and expand the market share by targeting a new audience. Enterprises can use chatbots to send automated replies and engage customers in a conversation to improve their customer service.

Enterprises will need to get explicit permissions from users to be able to send them messages on WhatsApp. If a customer texts them first, the enterprises can reply to the message without any additional permissions within the first 24 hours. If not, enterprises will have to wait for the customers to send them a message again. Chatbots will help keep the conversations alive by sending an instant response to the customer.

Using the WhatsApp Bot API integration services provided by the companies, enterprises can take advantage of the benefits bots offer. Bots are very useful in improving the customer service of an enterprise. Let us take a look at some of those.

• Send automated replies such as a welcome greeting.
• Send standard responses to generic questions and FAQs.
• Send a set of instructions in a pre-defined series of messages to newly registered customers.
• Respond to customer complaints.
• Ask a question based on the answer provided by the customer to know more about their query or complaint.
• Keep track of the messages received from customers.
• Substitute the support staff by interacting with users when the support staff is busy troubleshooting a problem.
• Keep the chatbox alive until the issue is resolved.
• Send replies to customers at any given point in time. The bots are active 24*7 until the support staff takes over the conversation.

Enterprises can use WhatsApp to send the following types of messages to customers and users from around the world.

• Notifications
  • Send timely notifications about orders booked, packaged, delivered, rejected, canceled, etc.
  • Let customers know about the payment dues and service schedules by sending reminders.
• Promotions
  • Promote a product or service by sending interactive messages with clickable links.
  • Allow customers to make purchases from within the conversation and finalize the purchase.
  • Cross-promote products by sending messages to users who use similar products.
  • Schedule campaigns to send recurring promotions to users of specified days.
• Secure Conversations
  • WhatsApp provides end to end encryption for private chats that offers complete data security to the users.
• Bulk Messaging
  • Send messages in bulk to users based on their product preferences.

Gupshup is a global market leader and has enabled numerous top brands to gain early access o WhatsApp Business.

About Keith :

Keith is a freelance writer, with years of experience, creating content for varied online portals. His content has been published on many national and international publications. he loves to write about Education, Business and law.

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