If you’ve come this far, it’s because you want to know what the WhatsApp API is for. Over time, this messaging application stopped being a simple chat tool. Today,businesses need it to be closer to their customers and thus increase their loyalty. For this reason, in this article you will discover why you should apply theWhatsApp API in sales strategyand customer service.
In this space we will cover the reasons why you should use the WhatsApp Business API in your business, the importance of knowing more about what the WhatsApp Business API is and what functions are the most important for any company. So that you have all this information, I recommend that you readour guide on the WhatsApp API.
Also, you should be clear that theWhatsApp API is designed for companies of any size. However, access to this tool is limited and requires the help of technology providers to access it. In this way, you save the long months of approval that Facebook requests.
Therefore, below, you will learn what the WhatsApp API is for and why you should implement it in your business. In addition, you will get key information on the positive impact of WhatsApp on businesses in different parts of the world. Finally,you will be able to get the WhatsApp Business API at zero cost. Let us begin!
What is the WhatsApp API for?
This tool allows businesses to provide advanced customer service with WhatsApp. Likewise, it facilitates communication with users because the account can be accessed from different devices, a different experience from WhatsApp Business, which depends on a mobile device.
The main use that can be given to the WhatsApp API is the integration of chatbots within the platform. This allows you to create a very powerful chat channel whereyour customers can be served 24 hours a day without the need for a human agent. In addition, it allows you to accompany all your clients in any of the phases of a sale in which they are.
As we mentioned at the beginning of this subtopic, the WhatsApp API means that the accountdoes not depend on a cell phone, as happens in WhatsApp Business, but rather is attached to a platform in which several service agents can access it from their own devices wherever they are.
So, if we want to summarize the question in two sentences, what is the WhatsApp API for? We can say that it allows a WhatsApp Business account to have optimized functions such as chatbots, attention with multiple agents, integrations with other platforms and that it also eliminates the need to rely on a cell phone to access the WhatsApp business account.
5 reasons to buy the WhatsApp API
Before you know what the WhatsApp API is for, it is important that you keep in mind that this tool does not have a front interface, that is, it belongs to an application open to everyone.
That is why you need to rely on official providers, since theycreate specializedand easy-to-use omnichannel software for digital customer service. In this way, the acquisition of the WhatsApp API becomes less tedious.
Below, learnabout 6 main reasons to use the WhatsApp APIin your business.
Provides quality information from customers
In strategies to increase sales, data capture is essential. With the WhatsApp Business API, the interaction history between the user and the agent is stored in an orderly manner. This information is crucial to know what are the most frequent questions from your users or what products or services are the ones that are generating the most doubts.
Therefore, make sure that theproviders that offer the WhatsApp APIallow you to generate a history of your users’ conversations. In addition, that within the provider’s platformyou can unify other digital channelssuch as Facebook Messenger or SMS. In this way you can cross WhatsApp information with the other service channels.
Contacts can be verified and imported
It is important that you really know what the WhatsApp API is for because this tool hides many functions. For example, it allows you to importthe contacts you have in your CRMand verify each one by means of a code. In this way, you will no longer lose your customer data before a sale.
This function is important because to sell by WhatsApp or offer service, it is necessary that the numbers of your clients are enabled and verified. In this way,you will prevent your users from referring you to spam, a very dangerous action for the status of your WhatsApp account.
Customize the WhatsApp conversations of your business as you prefer with the WhatsApp API. Add labels or create custom fields to your liking.
Rate all customers
One of the tricks to sell on WhatsApp is to know your customers perfectly. With the WhatsApp APIyour clients will be classified according to your criteria. This classification is made under the color scale, for example. Usually red, yellow or green is used. Three basic colors but that gives us a complete vision of what type of client we are facing.
Imagine that a customer wrote to your company WhatsApp account to ask about a product. Based on the conversation you can make the following rating:
If you didn’t find what you wanted. If you made a promise to buy. If you made an actual purchase.
As we mentioned, this rating depends on the criteria you set. Youcan also qualify your customers depending on the stages of the sales process in which they are.
In addition, this qualification is not only useful for your phases of a sale, it also helps you during customer service or a collection campaign within your business. The qualification adapts to what you are looking for.
Ensure the scalability of your business
From chatbot to agent, from agent to chatbot! WhatsApp fully understands that not all users like to solve a problem with chatbots alone. For this reason, the WhatsApp API allows you to transfer attention from a chatbot to an agent if the customer so wishes. In this way,you reduce the abandonmentor frustration that a user may have.
This scalability between agent and chatbot is optional by the tool. Therefore, make sure you offer fixed business hours in which users will know when they can come when the agents are online.
You use templates with automated responses
The WhatsApp APIallows you to send message templates to start a conversation with your customers. Also, you can handle automations under the options system. Depending on the actions of your users, they will receive personalized messages depending on the option they have chosen.
Without a doubt, it is a very easy and intuitive way of interacting with your users since you will save time in resolving their queries. However, there are some restrictions that the platform has.
One of them is that if you send a template to a user and you don’t get a response, you shouldn’t send another one immediately, this action could be punishable. However,you could do it after 24 hours, in case the user has not responded. On the other hand, the templates must be approved by WhatsApp. If you want to know what the rules are, we leave you official information .
Now that you know what the WhatsApp API is for, it is important that you know what the impact of WhatsApp is on the life of companies.
3 facts that reveal the power of WhatsApp in business
As of 2020, WhatsApp led the world of messaging apps with 2 billion active users. This app shows no sign of a debacle and is meant to be on our phones for years to come. For this reason, we present some specific statistics about this tool and its impact on users with businesses.
Chatbots + WhatsApp
Since you already know what the WhatsApp API is for, you will understand that chatbots can work perfectly within this application. In recent years, the presence ofchatbots in messaging channels is increasingto offer adequate digital customer service.
Their importance is so great thatchatbots are being included in the strategies to increase salesof businesses in any field. This trend increased dramatically with the onset of covid-19.
Therefore,the first group of statistics will be related to chatbots:
- Nearly 67% of online consumers globally have interacted with a chatbot for customer service.
- According to the Business Insider Intelligence portal, it is estimated that the implementation of chatbots will allow annual savings of US$11 billion by 2023 in the health, banking and commerce sectors, due to the reduction in the cost of administrative tasks.
- With chatbots, businesses and consumers will save 2.5 billion hours by 2023, according toFinances Online.
You already know what the WhatsApp API is for and the facilities that this tool gives you toimplement a chatbotin this important messaging channel. Without a doubt,the combination of chatbots and WhatsApp is very powerfulto be closer to your customers and keep them happy with your business.
Now let’s go through the users and theiruse of WhatsApp before and after the pandemic.
The covid-19 confirmed WhatsApp as a high-loyalty channel through which customers want to talk with companies, whether for service or sales.
Whatsapp takes off due to the pandemic
WhatsApp had already been gaining ground over the years. An important fact is that, in 2015, an average user spent about 195 minutes on the application every day. This demonstrates the great potential of the application andstrategies must be drawn up to sell through WhatsAppand offer good customer service through this means.
On the other hand, a more recent report highlights that the use of WhatsApp has seen an increase of 40% since the pandemic began (March 2020). Likewise, it is reported thatWhatsApp has been the second preferred platform to receive customer supportduring the pandemic.
As you already know what the WhatsApp API is for and what the impact of WhatsApp is for businesses and their users, we will help you to have this tool in a simpler way.
How to use WhatsApp Business API with Ticker?
You’re lucky! 💫 If you want to get the WhatsApp API, the easiest way to do it is with Ticker. Next, we tell you the main reasons.
You will forget about the paperwork:The Ticker team saves you a lot of waiting time for the approval of the WhatsApp Business API. In this way, you will have access to this tool in a much faster and cheaper way.
You only pay what you consume:Ticker only charges for the messages that you are going to use. Communicate better with your customers without worrying about spending more.
Add chatbots:When you already have access to the WhatsApp Business API, with Ticker you can create your first chatbots to add them to this messaging channel. Everything from a single platform.
The best investment you have just made is to learn what the WhatsApp API is for. You could already understand what benefits it has for business and the trends that exist in users with this tool.