How to get a WhatsApp Business API to build seamless customer care and conversational commerce?
CBOT, as a WhatsApp Business Solution Provider (BSP), connects your brand to 2 billion WhatsApp users via seamless customer service and conversational commerce experience. In this blog, we will cover the questions many companies have in mind regarding WhatsApp Business API.
WhatsApp – the market leader
Before going into WhatsApp Business API, let’s have a look at the market position of WhatsApp. Messaging has become an indispensable part of modern communication and messaging platforms have been rising tremendously since the last 6-7 years. WhatsApp, with the mission of connecting the world through real-time communication, is the leader in this market. It is a simple, reliable, and secure way of communication and has been trusted by people both for peer-to-peer communication and their communication with businesses.
WhatsApp is the most popular messaging platform with 2 billion users in 180 countries. India is the biggest market in the world for the app, with 390 million users. The combined user base located in the top 3 WhatsApp countries exceeds half a billion, with 573.6 million monthly active users based in India, Brazil, and the US. Considering monthly WhatsApp users in 2021 as a percentage of total internet users aged 16-64, Turkey is the 8th country in the ranking with a 88% penetration according to Global Web Index’s 2020 Social Media User Trends Report. So, being “available” on WhatsApp is very important for businesses aiming to implement a multi-channel or omnichannel strategy for both customer service and conversational commerce. In order to be available for their customers on WhatsApp, businesses need a WhatsApp Business API. Here, we will summarize everything you need to know about WhatsApp Business API.
Why should I get WhatsApp Business API?
WhatsApp wants to enable any person to discover, communicate and transact with any business. People want to message with businesses across the customer journey – in pre-purchase, purchase and post-purchase phases.
- 89% of respondents expect a brand to respond to them within 24 hours. (SAP Hybris)
- 80% of respondents say that the experience a business provides is as crucial as its goods or services (Salesforce)
- 52% of respondents have switched brands/service provider because of poor customer service (Accenture)
People want to message with businesses across the customer journey
Source: “Motivations, Mindsets and Emotional Experiences in Messaging (vs. Feed)” by Sentient Decision Science (Facebook-commissioned survey of 8,156 people in BR, GB, IN and the US), Jun 2018.
WhatsApp Business API, launched in September 2018, enables the companies to build secure connections with their customers and empowers companies’ interactions with them.
How to get WhatsApp Business API and how to use it?
Companies need to get a WhatsApp Business API through a WhatsApp Business Solution Provider (BSP) which is licensed and authorized by Meta to provide this service.
CBOT is a WhatsApp Business Provider (BSP), please click here to submit your request and get your WhatsApp Business API.
You can use WhatsApp Business API in two ways:
– As a customer service channel:
You can respond to customer questions and requests through your WhatsApp Business account.
Within this scope:
- Human agents or a chatbot can respond the customer questions by chatting through WhatsApp
- Instant customer feedback can be collected
- Customer complaints can be solved through one-to-one interaction
- If it is an agent to answer customer questions you need a live chat tool and integrate it into your WhatsApp Business API to this tool. Then the agents can see the messages and easily answer them.
- If it is a chatbot that will answer the customer questions, then you need a chatbot and integrate it into your WhatsApp Business API to this chatbot. Then the chatbot answers them instantly.
- It is possible to use both ways to answer questions through WhatsApp Business simultaneously. Building a system where a bot welcomes the customer through WhatsApp, answers the question and when the bot cannot provide an answer, it hands over the conversation to the live agent. This system based on human & machine interaction would create a great value for companies to manage the customer service in an efficient way.
– As a tool to send alerts and notifications to the customers:
After getting the opt-in, it is possible to send notifications and alerts to make customers’ lives easier. Companies can also use template messages enriched with pdf documents, images, video, and location information. For this type of message, Meta has 10 predefined categories and the message needs to fit one of them. All templated messages need Meta approval prior to being sent to customers.
With this feature, a company can send templated messages that fits one of the following categories:
- Issue Resolution
- Reservation Update
- Ticket Update
- Alert Update
- Appointment Update
- Personal Finance Update
- Shipping Update
- Account Update
- Payment Update
- Transportation Update
How much is charged for WhatsApp Business API?
Companies who want to use WhatsApp Business API will have 2 kinds of costs. The first cost is paid to the Business Solution Provider (BSP) company for the API and the second cost is paid to Meta.
WhatsApp Business API Hosting Fee
Business Solution Provider (BSP) can implement a pricing model that it prefers such as based on the number of messages, a number of active users, or a fixed monthly / yearly cost.
The Fee that Meta Charges
Meta started to implement a new pricing model as of 1.2.2022 which is a conversationa-based model.
CBOT provides WhatsApp Business API as a WhatApp Business Solution Provider.
Please check out this link to fill the form and connect to CBOT to learn the pricing.
Build your new-gen, automated customer service with CBOT
You can build a new-gen, intelligent and automated customer service whether you are a small/medium business or a large enterprise through CBOT Platform, which allows you to get a virtual assistant/chatbot, a live chat module, and WhatsApp Business API.
Check out the following models to decide which fits your needs best:
1- You can get your WhatsApp Business API and connect it to your existing live chat system, CRM tool, customer message management tools, etc. CBOT provides you this WhatsApp Business API. You can use it by an unlimited number of human agents and answer an unlimited number of customers.
2- You can get your WhatsApp Business API through CBOT and connect to the CBOT Live Chat module. You can start answering your customers’ questions through WhatsApp with a user-friendly live chat interface empowered by our AI technology.
3- You can get your WhatsApp Business API, CBOT Live Chat module, and an AI-based virtual assistant/chatbot, all through CBOT. CBOT allows you to build a model that involves WhatsApp as a platform to engage your customers to your brand, human interaction, and automation by AI technology. In such a model, CBOT creates your virtual assistant and connects it to WhatsApp, your website, mobile app, or other channels that you prefer.
You can welcome your customer queries by a virtual assistant and answer them instantly, 24*7. If the question is something beyond the defined scope of the assistant or you prefer to handle it by a human, the conversation is directly transferred to your live agent. He /she can see it on the CBOT Live Chat interface and answer directly. You can connect as many agents as you want to CBOT Live Chat and allow them to answer questions received through your WhatsApp Business account. It is a model that increases your efficiency in customer service, augments your staff and enables them to focus on more value-added issues that require human judgment. A chatbot connected to your WhatsApp Business API can answer your FAQs, perform tasks, and even make suggestions to your customers.
Automation should be always involved to help you maximize efficiency, augment your staff and delight your customers
From a comprehensive customer service perspective, a successful virtual assistant should be part of your model. It can be already available on the company’s web page, Facebook Messenger or Google Assistant and WhatsApp can be an additional channel. Or it can be the first time you create a virtual assistant through WhatsApp. A well-designed virtual assistant enables the business to automate the FAQs, integrating the chatbot into the internal systems, and providing a seamless human handover. This is a very powerful value proposition for your company because your customers will not need to switch between platforms to perform a specific task or just to get information. They should start a conversation and complete it on WhatsApp, including product search, payment & purchase, and after-sales support. This helps the brands to engage their customers better and increase their sales and revenues.
Beyond WhatsApp Business API, CBOT offers all you need about customer service
CBOT is a leading cucstomer service automation platform that provides holistic customer service including platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Google Assistant,; artificial intelligence-based virtual assistants, human live chat interfaces, and conversational IVR. CBOT is a WhatsApp Business Solution Provider (BSP) as well, therefore companies can take the opportunity to have all the components of this model via one trusted partner.
CBOT offers pre-build chatbots for eCommerce, which means it will be ready on your WhatsApp Business account within 1-2 weeks.
Besides WhatsApp, CBOT develops AI-based chatbots functioning on the web page, mobile app, Facebook Messenger, Google Assistant, IVR, voice assistants, and even Google RCS. CBOT is one of the first 20 Google RCS partners globally.
By just contacting CBOT, companies can handle FAQs, basic tasks, payments & purchases through the most widely used platform and by the power of AI. CBOT is an internationally recognized conversational AI company that has been featured as one of the leading chatbot providers by Gartner.
To get your WhatsApp Business API, click here.
To learn more about CBOT’s solutions for customer experience, click here.
To check our CBOT’s client stories, click here.
Get your WhatsApp Business API now!
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