A step-by-step tutorial: How to build a WhatsApp Chatbot for business?

WhatsApp marketing is now one of the fastest-growing forms of digital marketing, and almost every brand has a certain percentage of its budget dedicated to this strategy.

Companies can interact with customers via greeting messages, quick replies and business profiles by simply by using WhatsApp Business. Some may even partner with one of the WhatsApp Business API providers to access bonus features such as chatbots and CRM integrations.

Further reading: A quick read for understanding the WhatsApp Business API

Interested in developing a WhatsApp Chatbot but don’t know where to start? In this tutorial, we are going to show you how easy it is.

What is a WhatsApp Chatbot?

A WhatsApp Chatbot is a software program automated by artificial intelligence and baked-in data. It is specifically designed for businesses that are interested in adopting conversational commerce on the encrypted WhatsApp platform.

Other than being able to realistically mimic human conversational patterns, the chatbot is also capable of keeping a consistent tone and brand identity throughout the conversation. This is especially important in e-commerce as the bot can effectively engage with customers and save a lot of hassle in terms of customer support, marketing and sales.

Why do you need your own WhatsApp Chatbot?

1. Enhance customer service

A WhatsApp Chatbot can help simplify the customer support process as it can automatically take over the simple and repetitive tasks while transferring complicated questions to human agents smoothly.

2. Establish a strong brand identity

The WhatsApp Chatbot is in fact very flexible for customization. Businesses can design greeting messages, quick replies and icons according to their unique persona. Unlike humans, bots don’t have any emotion or personality, meaning they can always stick to the brand personality under whatever circumstances. 

By adding color and tone to the scripts, your WhatsApp Chatbot will be able to leave customers with a positive impression, improving their loyalty towards your brand. More importantly, Emerald’s research discovered a clearly distinguishable brand identity can remarkably accelerate customer engagement as well as sales. 

3. Improve marketing campaigns

With a “more leads, more sales” mindset, today’s businesses are all about lead generation. However, to be blunt, driving prospective audiences to follow you on social media and sign up for your email list is a tough game. It is therefore of utmost importance for businesses to optimize each customer touchpoint of the target audience in the conversion funnel.

For example, when launching a “Click-to-Messenger” campaign, you should never leave the customers hanging. According to ringDNA, the optimal lead response time is 5 minutes or less. In other words, businesses should get back to the customers as soon as possible. Still, an instant response might be a bit difficult for a single person to handle or too pricey for live chat agents to achieve.

Fortunately, the WhatsApp Chatbot can shoot the senders a quick note easily, offering solutions to their queries in a flash, resulting in higher conversion rates.

The ultimate step-by-step guide

Step 1: Apply for WhatsApp Business API

The very first thing you need is to apply for the Official WhatsApp Business API.

You have to submit your company name, website URL, together with the name and contact details for a company representative. The verification process might take up to 4 weeks, but once your application is approved, you can start to dig deeper into various functions of the Official WhatsApp Business.

Step 2: Think about the dialogues

To make sure the WhatsApp Chatbot can address your business needs, you then need to customize the conversation flow. Since a chatbot is supposed to give quick replies, it is recommended to include a list of responses to the frequently asked questions that are brief and cut to the chase. Don’t forget to prepare a smooth transition message in case a human agent needs to jump in and carry on the conversation thread.

There is no recipe for chatbot design as every business has its own style, so just keep your customer’s journey in mind when you map out your conversation elements and diagram.

Step 3: Find a Chatbot Application

For inexperienced users, building a chatbot from scratch can be quite troublesome. Thus, to avoid unnecessary blockers, it is highly suggested to get help from a bot builder.

For instance, SleekFlow offers simple automation rules that allow you to quickly set up the most effective conversation flows. Even with no programming skills, you can still manage to draw up a comprehensive roadmap for your customers. While automation is the ultimate goal, SleekFlow is also programmed to qualify leads and centralize information without the need for human staff.

Step 4: Test

Never roll out a new feature until you have confirmed that everything works. 

Test your bot to check if it behaves well in WhatsApp. Remember to review it carefully as it affects your final customer experience, you can check up on integrations and catch possible errors before the official launch.

Of course, there is no such thing as the perfect chatbot. Thanks to useful tools like SleekFlow, editing and modifying your chatbot is no longer a daunting task. So let’s get your head down and keep exploring! 

WhatsApp limitations

While WhatsApp Chatbot has been a great messaging solution for businesses in many countries across the world, it also has its limitations. For instance, WhatsApp for business is not recommended in certain countries such as Germany. Based on the data protection act being implemented in Germany, businesses must refrain from using Whatsapp Chatbot for transactions. Thus, if you are planning to extend your business there, you must assign a backup messaging solution.

Moreover, WhatsApp can be a good messaging app for small businesses and that has been proven for years. With the business communication being accessible through your phone, every reply is a click away. However, for larger corporations with a whole department of customer service employees, using a single account can be difficult.

Summary

WhatsApp Chatbot can do wonders for your online business. It helps many startup and small business owners to provide customer engagement even with a small company size. Therefore, understanding this software as well as learning its features and how to use it effectively will level up your online business in the long run.