Katie Ranaraja

Platforms

WhatsApp

<p>As a popular messaging app with over 2 billion users worldwide, WhatsApp has become an essential communication tool for people and businesses. In response to the growing demand for business communication on WhatsApp, Meta has created the WhatsApp Business API. This solution provides businesses access to the messaging app, allowing them to communicate more efficiently and effectively with their customers.</p>
<p>The article provides a comprehensive overview of WhatsApp Business API, including its features, benefits, pricing, and how to create an account.</p>
<p>Let’s begin with a brief mention started with what WhatsApp Business API is.</p>
<h2>What is WhatsApp Business API?</h2>
<p>WhatsApp Business API is a cloud-based solution providing businesses with a powerful communication channel as a WhatsApp business platform for customer service and messaging needs.</p>
<p>With WhatsApp Business API, businesses can provide customer service, send updates and notifications to their customers, and more. In addition, the WhatsApp Business API offers several features that can help businesses provide a better customer experience. These features include quick replies, reply buttons, and template messages.</p>
<p>Quick replies allow businesses to respond to frequently asked questions more efficiently. In contrast, reply buttons and template messages can be used to automate responses to common queries.</p>
<h2>Whatsapp Business app vs. WhatsApp Business API</h2>
<p>WhatsApp Business App is a mobile app designed for small businesses to communicate with their customers on WhatsApp. It is a standalone app that you can download and install on any smartphone. The app provides features such as quick replies, automated messages, and the ability to create a business profile.</p>
<p>On the other hand, WhatsApp Business API is a cloud-based solution that allows businesses to integrate WhatsApp with their existing customer communication tools. In addition, it provides more advanced features such as automation, chatbot integration, and the ability to send interactive messages in bulk. It also allows you to send a larger volume of messages, making it suitable for more extensive businesses with higher communication needs.</p>
<h2>How to use WhatsApp Business API?</h2>
<p>To start your journey with WhatsApp Business API, you will need to create an account (more about it below.) By creating an account, you will unlock a world of possibilities to send WhatsApp messages to your customers, set up communication channels, and connect with your customers in a more personal and efficient way. With this API, you can customize your messages to fit your brand, automate your responses, and even send messages in bulk.</p>
<p>Additionally, you can use the API to respond to customer inquiries quickly, provide real-time support, and send notifications. Integrating WhatsApp Business API into your workflow allows you to streamline your customer communications, increase engagement, and ultimately enhance your customer’s experience with your business.</p>
<p>Let’s look more closely at what you can do with WhatsApp Business API.</p>
<h3>Provide customer service</h3>
<p>One of the key benefits of using WhatsApp Business API is that it allows businesses to provide customer service and improve customer engagement through the messaging app. This can be done through live chat or by setting up quick replies to common queries. By providing customer service through WhatsApp, businesses can respond to customer queries more efficiently, resulting in a better customer experience.</p>
<h3>Send notifications and collect feedback</h3>
<p>Companies like yours can use WhatsApp API to send business-initiated messages, notifications, and updates to customers. For example, use the messaging app to send order confirmations, delivery updates, and other important information. Also, you can use WhatsApp to conduct surveys and gather feedback from your customers, allowing them to make data-driven decisions and improve your products and services.</p>
<h3>Access to a large user base</h3>
<p>Another benefit of using WhatsApp Business API is that it gives businesses access to a large user base. With over 2 billion users worldwide, WhatsApp is one of the most <a href="https://restoreprivacy.com/secure-encrypted-messaging-apps/telegram/">popular messaging apps</a>  worldwide. Therefore, by using WhatsApp Business API, businesses can reach a large audience and connect with customers more personally and directly.</p>
<h2>WhatsApp pricing</h2>
<p>WhatsApp Business API pricing is conversation-based, meaning businesses only pay for the messages they send. The cost per message varies depending on the country and the message volume.</p>
<p>However, WhatsApp Business API also offers conversation-based pricing, which can be a cost-effective solution for businesses that send a high volume of messages. With conversation-based pricing, companies can save money using WhatsApp as a communication channel.</p>
<p>In addition, WhatsApp Business API provides businesses access to various other communication channels, including SMS and Facebook Messenger. As a result, businesses can create a more comprehensive customer communication strategy by using these channels alongside WhatsApp.</p>
<h2>How to create a WhatsApp Business API account?</h2>
<h3>1. Apply for access</h3>
<p>First, you need to apply for access to WhatsApp Business API through your Facebook Business Manager. This process can take some time, as Facebook will need to review and approve your application. Once your application has been approved, Meta will require you to verify your business before setting up a WhatsApp Business API account. This verification process involves providing Meta with information about your business, such as your business address and phone number and may take several days to complete.</p>
<h3>2. Set up your WhatsApp business account</h3>
<p>Once your business is verified, you can set up your WhatsApp Business API account and start communicating with your customers. It’s important to note that even though creating a WhatsApp Business API account can be time-consuming, it is well worth it for businesses that want to provide their customers with a seamless communication experience.</p>
<p>You can start by adding your phone number and display name. Then, you can change them as many times as you want before completing registration. After that, you must wait 30 days between display name change requests.</p>
<h3>3. Get a WhatsApp Business API client</h3>
<p>At its core, the WhatsApp Business API client is based on Docker. This platform allows you to develop, deploy, and run applications in containers. Docker provides a consistent environment for the application, regardless of the underlying infrastructure.</p>
<p>If you prefer a less complicated solution, get a provider with a WhatsApp Business API option. For example, Meta’s official partner, <a href="https://dashboard.chatfuel.com/sign-up?utm_medium=whatsapp&utm_source=blog&utm_campaign=how_to_wa_business_api">Chatfuel</a>.</p>
<p>By using the WhatsApp Business API client, businesses can leverage the popularity and convenience of WhatsApp to communicate with their customers more efficiently and effectively. This can help improve customer satisfaction and ultimately increase sales and revenue.</p>
<h2>Use all the potential of WhatsApp for your business</h2>
<p>WhatsApp is a powerful tool that can help businesses improve their customer communication strategy by providing customer service, sending notifications and updates, accessing a large user base, and more.</p>
<p>While WhatsApp’s built-in features bring impressive results, businesses like yours can go beyond and equip their marketing communication with intelligent automation. <a href="https://dashboard.chatfuel.com/sign-up?utm_medium=whatsapp&utm_source=blog&utm_campaign=how_to_wa_business_api">Sign up</a> today with a free trial to start your journey with Chatfuel, Meta’s official partner and one of the biggest chatbot platforms.</p>

A comprehensive overview of WhatsApp Business API, its features, benefits, pricing, creating an account, and more.

What is WhatsApp Business API and how to use it

<p>WhatsApp is the most popular global mobile messenger app. It’s a messaging platform your customers use to communicate with family, friends, and your competitors. And in 2022, its audience grew to <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/258749/most-popular-global-mobile-messenger-apps/">2 billion</a> active users monthly.</p>
<p>Keep reading to learn more about the benefits of using WhatsApp for business, a marketing strategy, ideas, examples, tips, and more.</p>
<h2>What is WhatsApp marketing</h2>
<p>WhatsApp marketing is a part of social media marketing (SMM) that small business owners, medium-sized companies, and market giants use to promote their brands, reach out to an enormous audience, build and improve customer relationships, and increase sales.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/marketshare/2012/05/07/are-brands-wielding-more-influence-in-social-media-than-we-thought/?sh=5e0ce68471e1">80%</a> of consumers claim that social media, especially influencer content, significantly impacts their buying decisions. It takes business activities on social media, including WhatsApp, from a ‘why not give it a try’ thing to a powerful marketing tool for growing audience, brand awareness, and sales.</p>
<p>In 2022 WhatsApp <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks-ranked-by-number-of-users/">topped the list of the most popular messaging apps</a>, and businesses worldwide keep including WhatsApp in their marketing strategies. It’s an excellent platform, enabling people to share text, images, video, and voice messages and supporting voice and video calling.</p>
<h3>WhatsApp overview</h3>
<figure><div><img alt="WA strategy 1.png" src="/cms/static/blog/64112252c03d0b40a9f16680_3abbd6f782345867fd9db8aabadbda18f09bef3214bba4bd34696a29ca1b3d5829980f86a1a67a8de9d9838eb4b3f9936ba517aa559d767066d7b6ac47295b93916b1e251fcbfc585648e15b0beda4fb7cbab30304358d3b89d890276e14671444d8ad07.png" height="800" width="2080" blurDataURL="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAACCAIAAADwyuo0AAAACXBIWXMAAAsTAAALEwEAmpwYAAAAJUlEQVR4nAEaAOX/ACeUeJD/3wCshQAkAACl/+KE7MyG5cee5tCinQ4/ANiGSgAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==" placeholder="blur"></div><figcaption>WhatsApp overview based on Digital 2022 Global Overview Report.</figcaption></figure>
<p>Let’s take a look at what makes WhatsApp marketing beneficial.</p>
<h2>Benefits of using WhatsApp marketing</h2>
<p>Including WhatsApp in your social media marketing strategy can transform your approach to customer service, lead generation, and communication with existing customers, helping you create a memorable and positive connection with your brand.</p>
<p>Here’re the primary benefits for companies that use WhatsApp messaging for business:</p>
<h3>Staying in touch with the biggest audience</h3>
<p>As mentioned, WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app worldwide, with around two billion users. So you can’t overvalue being where your audience and leads are to promote your brand, engage with prospects, send relevant offers, and sell. Plus, WhatsApp’s interface is familiar to many people, making communication smooth for both sides — your customers and you.</p>
<h3>Improving customer experience and support</h3>
<p>Stay on the same page with your leads and customers when you promote and sell products or services — WhatsApp is a convenient platform to do so. Look at user answers about what they value the most about interacting with WhatsApp Business accounts:</p>
<figure><div><img alt="Benefits 1.png" src="/cms/static/blog/641122ce1714e44607d0bdbe_aac1fe38edb68fdcbe193736e858157c6dcbb2da58e9ec35c05cc32f8d9cdba220935206fc62774bf1f062500081ffa21a12cc4814c0640827143ebd1cfea3afa09c474b822559729c5f6f19e113e96d1b65d6f6aa47d8f7305aede025ab0b5a335a446e.png" height="1488" width="2080" blurDataURL="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAADCAIAAAA7ljmRAAAACXBIWXMAAAsTAAALEwEAmpwYAAAAMklEQVR4nAEnANj/ADuWfQBGJABjP5jhywAtpYYAIwAAlnbH/u4AVLaaSLSWy//yxf3tHwcSerBe+vMAAAAASUVORK5CYII=" placeholder="blur"></div><figcaption>Benefits of interacting with businesses on WhatsApp.</figcaption></figure>
<h3>Increasing profitability</h3>
<p>Customer service is vital and might be costly when not well-organized. On the other hand, its streamlined process cuts operating expenses significantly. According to Gartner, Inc., by 2025, 80% of customer service organizations will have abandoned native mobile apps in favor of messaging for a better customer experience.</p>
<p>These and other benefits take WhatsApp above just sending messages. Therefore, including WhatsApp is the most popular concert for improving business performance. And another impressive advantage for businesses using WhatsApp is the open rate of around 98%.</p>
<p>Let’s focus on setting up a WhatsApp marketing strategy so you can get started immediately and implement it.</p>
<h2>WhatsApp marketing strategy</h2>
<p>WhatsApp lets you build personal connections and long-term relationships with your audience. When there’s an emotional connection with the brand, leads convert to long-term customers seamlessly. Keeping it in mind, you can build a strong marketing strategy for WhatsApp:</p>
<ol>
<li>Set your goals.</li>
<li>Define your target audience.</li>
<li>Download WhatsApp Business App and set up your business account.</li>
<li>Create a contact list.</li>
<li>Set up your business profile, catalog, ads, and messaging in Tools.</li>
<li>Build a communicational flow with automated messages for better results.</li>
</ol>
<p>While the first five steps are standard for most messaging platforms, the last one deserves a closer look. Today, when we chat, buy, and sell on the go, setting up away, messages is a must. Use them to greet your customers, introduce your business, and let them know you’re away.</p>
<p>For your inspiration, below are some ideas and examples of marketing on WhatsApp.</p>
<h2>WhatsApp marketing ideas and examples</h2>
<p>WhatsApp gives businesses a space for creativity when it comes to marketing. So let’s look at some successful WhatsApp campaigns that you can get inspired by.</p>
<p><strong>1. Omay Foods — building trust and credibility</strong></p>
<p>Omay Foods is an Indian brand that uses an ancient process to create modern snacks for health-conscious eaters. To build trust and credibility from the very first interaction with a potential customer, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/business/success/omay-foods">Omay Foods used WhatsApp Business</a>features like catalog, business profile, and quick replies to help set expectations and turn questions into purchases.</p>
<p>As a result, Omay Foods got an x5 increase in customer inquiries and an x3 increase in repeat customers via WhatsApp.</p>
<figure><div><img alt="Omay Food.png" src="/cms/static/blog/63e061243f8612e5b28183af_0514d821ab739dc5743057d39e2ed465d1ba8f1d2fd255b3439dc806d548586caf49372ba2a18df059082dcda889d858174317a2097f8b0e9bf2171b30900345c703389013891540b8973e5217fc02198fc081a45b7242309c69c2c78731044558f25697.png" height="1054" width="628" blurDataURL="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAIAAAAECAIAAAArjXluAAAACXBIWXMAABYlAAAWJQFJUiTwAAAAJ0lEQVR4nAEcAOP/ALeyobKungAUGBHz9OYAY2pit7+vANXKwM3EucalDxBWbmepAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" placeholder="blur"></div><figcaption>Omay Food communicates with customers on WhatsApp.</figcaption></figure>
<p><strong>2. Netflix — engagement and personal recommendations</strong></p>
<p>As a streaming giant, Netflix pays lots of attention to engaging and re-engaging customers even after they cancel their subscriptions. While people can get personal recommendations on the Netflix mobile app, the company took a step toward implementing it on WhatsApp.</p>
<p>Those who clicked “I’m in” started receiving Netflix new show announcements, TV programs and film suggestions, and more. Initially implemented in India, this campaign showed such impressive results that Netflix launched the same one in the UK half a year after.</p>
<figure><div><img alt="netflix-your-whatsapp-contacts.png" src="/cms/static/blog/63e06124bb9f18c91a4d9419_5fa6f6316164d422ba414e6be6303f9bc267059f918c6ff5640eb6b74019fcb99ad1586fea52b646984a9bda3105996496f481c873e64cfef89295f3f666fdb40fa1ad62f501aa983c0637b2e306ab9708bd4ad6febdd1aaf240aee36fac464d23b97264.png" height="888" width="496" blurDataURL="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAIAAAAECAIAAAArjXluAAAACXBIWXMAAAsTAAALEwEAmpwYAAAAJ0lEQVR4nAEcAOP/AAAOBgAiHQD39PP//fkAsLqtyNK+ANDR0LbAuaxHDzZVmwMvAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" placeholder="blur"></div><figcaption>Netflix communicates with customers on WhatsApp.</figcaption></figure>
<p><strong>3. Klook — increasing customer satisfaction and retention</strong></p>
<p>Klook is an online travel platform that built its marketing strategy based on updates and bookings on WhatsApp as the most popular channel among its customers. The company offered the Klook website and app users to opt-in to their WhatsApp notifications to receive reminders and order updates.</p>
<p>The results speak for themselves: 63% higher opt-in rate for WhatsApp than for the app’s push notifications. And the customer retention rate grew by 40%.</p>
<figure><div><img alt="Klook.jpeg" src="/cms/static/blog/63e061248b60962c584bf24e_7320d438727609865122d7a339304e2a5bdfaf18fa54a25dc0fe7853b23fcb8a5044f1916a9fa05f48dabc64fddb4791cbc189b500b75ca16f71100b0cd521dd169bbedf4cb859999e2fef9a9fa4585c18245d67489840df6f6d71a7c156fcd2764ffff2.jpeg" height="1200" width="554" blurDataURL="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAIAAAAECAIAAAArjXluAAAACXBIWXMAAAsTAAALEwEAmpwYAAAAJ0lEQVR4nAEcAOP/AJ+go9bi4wB3f4Sbr7MAmaComKOmACMnLAkQF9KUDF1UrL5dAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" placeholder="blur"></div><figcaption>Klook communicates with customers on WhatsApp.</figcaption></figure>
<h2>WhatsApp marketing tips</h2>
<p>To take the most out of WhatsApp for your business, use some hacks:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Create broadcast lists and group chats</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>The goal is to simultaneously send the same messages to a certain number of contacts. It saves your time and other resources and brings better marketing results. But there’s a difference you should keep in mind while setting up and sending messages to broadcast lists and group chats. Group chat members can see each other, your messages, and other members’ opinions on them. In contrast, broadcast lists are a set of one-on-one chats.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Create a catalog of your products or services</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>WhatsApp displays it on your business profile. You can add up to 500 items in your catalog with the four primary fields for each item: price, description, website link, and product code. Also, your customers can share your catalog items with their friends, which helps you promote your brand and reach more potential customers. As an owner, you can send your entire catalog to existing customers and share it on social media and other platforms to invite more prospects to discover your business and message you directly.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Personalize communication</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>According to Zendesk, 70% of consumers spend more with companies that offer fluid, personalized, and seamless customer experiences. And WhatsApp is a perfect place to provide all of those to your audience. It corresponds with the primary marketing rules: listen to your audience, learn more about their needs, and provide value.</p>
<h2><strong>Unlock the power of WhatsApp for your business with automation</strong></h2>
<p>With its built-in features and global audience, WhatsApp is a great marketing tool for companies across industries. And automation lets businesses like yours use artificial intelligence (AI) to manage all messages instantly, providing customers with an outstanding experience. For example, you could take personalization to the next level and use not only customers’ phone numbers and other essential info but also their previous answers, preferences, order details, and other specific data.</p>
<p>As an official Meta’s partner and a platform for marketing automation with 7+ million users, Chatfuel makes it possible and easy to implement — so <a href="https://dashboard.chatfuel.com/">get started</a> today.</p>

In 2022 WhatsApp became the most popular messaging app. Learn about using it for business, a marketing strategy, examples, and tips.