3 min read

Businesses today need to provide convenience for their customers through every step of their journey – right from how their product/service makes their life easier to the ease of reaching out to the business when needed. Through WhatsApp Business API, companies can provide end-to-end support for their customers. 

WhatsApp Business API

With over 1.5 billion users across 180 countries, WhatsApp Business API is what businesses need. The API offers several useful features that can make it easier for customers and businesses to get in touch with each other. Businesses can now communicate with their global customers one-on-one to provide all necessary information and solve each query instantly.

WhatsApp Business API allows companies to safely and securely message customers directly within the WhatsApp platform. Moreover, it is tied directly to a single phone number and shows up as an official business profile when customers receive communication, rather than an unknown string of digits. This allows customers to immediately know who they are chatting with. 

Types of Messages

Using WhatsApp Business API, companies can send two types of messages:

Customer care messages

These messages can be sent within a 24-hour window of a customer initiating a conversation with the business.

Notifications

These messages serve to update customers with information on their transactions with the business, for example, messages about gate changes, package delivery notifications, 2-factor authorization codes, etc.

WhatsApp also offers businesses the convenience of using pre-defined templates for generic scenarios across industries. Businesses can send templates with content to a WhatsApp Business Solution Provider like Kaleyra, post which that provider would take care of the approval process. By approving the content before it’s sent, all messages sent through WhatsApp remain end-to-end encrypted.

The Need for WhatsApp Business API

Businesses need to employ WhatsApp Business API in order to remain competitive. Here are a few reasons why companies should consider using WhatsApp Business API for their customer communications:

Connecting customers to the brand

With WhatsApp Business API, companies can create a ‘Business Profile’ – a unique, fully-branded business identity. They can provide details like email, phone number, social media links, address, website URL, and other suitable business details. In this way, businesses instill their brand personality with every conversation they have with their customers.

Reach customers where they already are

Successful companies realize that to communicate with customers, it is important to reach them on a channel they already use. By using a customer-preferred channel like WhatsApp, businesses can convey messages to customers at their convenience. This makes them more likely to see the message, read the content, and further interact with the business.

Secure platform

Businesses can only have official accounts on WhatsApp after they have been verified. Moreover, with end-to-end encryption and two-factor authentication (2FA), both businesses and customers are safe from fraudulent attempts. This eliminates fake accounts, fraudulent attempts using another company’s name, and so on. When a business has a verified account on WhatsApp, the customer trusts them more and is, therefore, more likely to respond to them.

Types of Opt-ins

To avoid spamming customers, WhatsApp enforces guidelines when it comes to using the API. In order to be able to message customers on WhatsApp, businesses need them to opt-in. Businesses cannot directly get in touch with their customers on WhatsApp.

To help navigate customers towards the opt-in process, there are several approaches that businesses can use in their strategy to make the experience smooth and simple, while still abiding by the guidelines. 

Ad-based opt-in

To help customers discover a  business and existing customers know that the company now provides communication on WhatsApp, businesses can post advertisements on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or even their own application. By including a WhatsApp CTA button in these ads, businesses can direct customers to an opt-in form that lets them explicitly permit businesses to message them on WhatsApp.

Business-initiated opt-in

Businesses can leverage their existing channels of communication with their customers to receive opt-in. For instance, they can use SMS to offer a simple, one-click opt-in option, so their customer gives their immediate consent for using WhatsApp as a channel for future notifications. Businesses can also use their websites to enable an opt-in. For example, this can be done after an online transaction or a sign-up.

Some Food for Thought

Using a provider with cross-channel expertise can also help a business to gather opt-in through missed call campaigns. The business can take opt-ins by setting up a business-initiated missed call with an option to opt-in, where ideally, this call service would be of no cost to the customer.

Users increasingly want to talk to businesses the same way they talk to their friends and family.  They want to engage in more personal and genuine conversations. That’s why businesses all over the world have turned to message to send notifications, verification codes, and use it as a channel for customer support.

WhatsApp Business API is here to power business communication with customers around the globe, so companies can connect with them on WhatsApp in a simple, secure, and reliable way. With its extensive reach, highly engaged user base, and rich media capabilities, WhatsApp has become one of the most powerful customer engagement channels out there. And this is exactly where businesses want to be.

WhatsApp Business API can be used by companies across industries to manage their business communication and engage their customers. Companies can send appointment reminders, shipping details, order tracking, QR codes, boarding passes, product demonstration videos, surveys, support messages, and more.

Read our WhatsApp e-Book to find out everything businesses need to know about leveraging this powerful channel of communication. It covers the following and more in it:

• What WhatsApp Business API is
• Advantages of using WhatsApp Business API
• Messages businesses can send through WhatsApp Business API
• Industry-specific use cases
• Types of Opt-in

WhatsApp Update – With more consumers turning to chat with businesses on WhatsApp, the instant messaging service provider recently announced updates to the WhatsApp Business API that will make it quicker for businesses to get started and for people to easily chat with these businesses. As per the latest update received from WhatsApp, all the existing businesses on the WhatsApp Business API from the following countries, i.e., Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Israel, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Germany, Nigeria, Egypt, Brazil, Colombia, Jamaica, USA, Indonesia, and Mexico will be able to send non-transactional notifications to their opted-in customers.

With this new update, businesses can drive many new use cases on the platform, such as sending product recommendations, promotional offers, and most importantly, re-engaging with their users by sending regular reminders and updates related to their products and services. All the businesses that belong to one of the countries listed above as the country setting in Business Manager can send non-transactional notifications. There won’t be a need for any additional integration.