A guide to WhatsApp automation features

Dave Hitchins
Senior Content Marketing Specialist

According to our research WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app for B2C communication globally, and it is still trending upwards. The number of WhatsApp messages exchanged between businesses and their customers on our platform in 2023 grew by 62% compared to the previous calendar year.

The vast majority of these messages were automated interactions, including chatbot conversations, triggered messages, and commercial transactions where people actually bought items from our customers via WhatsApp.

In this blog we will take you through all the automation options available to businesses using WhatsApp to communicate with customers and prospects. We’ll also look at the ideal use cases for automation and showcase some of the brands using WhatsApp automation in exciting and engaging ways.

Interactive buttons can play a key role in automated WhatsApp conversationss

Understanding WhatsApp Business automation

WhatsApp business automation refers to the use of the platform’s tools and features designed to handle customer interactions and manage workflows on the app without manual intervention. This includes setting up automated responses to common queries, sending notifications, and managing scheduled tasks like renewal workflows and appointment reminders.

By taking advantage of the automation features that WhatsApp provides, businesses can ensure timely and consistent communication, improve response times, and enhance overall customer satisfaction.

This can be achieved through the WhatsApp Business App for basic automation or the WhatsApp Business Platform for more advanced and scalable solutions that can be integrated into a brand’s own tools and solutions via the API.

Note: If you would like to know more about the difference between the WhatsApp Business App and WhatsApp Business Platform, check out this blog which covers it in detail.

WhatsApp Business App automation options

The WhatsApp Business App offers several lower-tech automation features designed to help smaller businesses manage customer interactions more efficiently. For more advanced automation options like deploying chatbots or setting up customer journey flows, the business would need to start using the WhatsApp Business Platform.

With just the app they would get access to the following options:

Greeting messages: Automatically send a welcome message to new customers or when people initiate contact for the first time.

Away messages: Set up automatic replies to inform customers when you are closed or unavailable.

Quick replies: Create and save pre-written responses to frequently asked questions, which can be quickly accessed and sent with a shortcut.

Labels: Not exactly an automation, but labels enable a business to organize and categorize chats making it easier to manage and follow up on customer interactions.

WhatsApp Business Platform automation options

In addition to all of the features listed above, there are some more advanced options for users of the WhatsApp Business Platform that make it the most functionally rich and flexible messaging platform in the world for B2C communication.

In fact, WhatsApp is well on its way to becoming a super app which can play host to the entire customer journey from discovery to purchase and ongoing support, with automation playing a key role in the process.

The role of the WhatsApp API in scalable messaging automation

Designed for large and enterprise businesses, the WhatsApp API enables developers to integrate their systems or software with the WhatsApp platform. This allows them to build highly customized solutions for automating WhatsApp interactions between the business and its customers, where the app becomes a natural part of the family of communication channels that the business uses.

1. Send automated WhatsApp messages with Messaging Templates

Many businesses just want to be able to automate the sending of different types of messages to opted-in customers. This is where WhatsApp Business message templates can be used.

You can create different message templates, depending on your business needs. These include:

Text notifications such as purchase confirmations or appointment reminders.
Rich media messages such as welcome videos, tutorials, or tickets that include barcodes.
Interactve messages that prompt people to perform an action, for example leaving a review or scheduling an appointment.

You can of course use variables in your templates to personalize messaging using data points from your customer database, for example referencing specific products they have bought.

Finally, you can even use interactive buttons in automated messages. All these options are covered in our blog How to use WhatsApp Business message templates and interactive buttons.

2. Provide automated customer service with chatbots

When you think of automation on WhatsApp, you may not have realized that sophisticated conversational chatbots can be deployed on the channel.

Both rule-based chatbots and more advanced bots that use Natural Language Processing (NLP) to understand and reply to human language can be deployed on the channel.

Check out this blog which provides step by step instructions for building and deploying a WhatsApp chatbot.

Automated customer service with WhatsApp chatbots

3. Build structured customer journeys with WhatsApp Flows

WhatsApp Flows is a powerful and highly customizable feature that enables businesses to create structured, interactive customer journeys that guide users through multiple touchpoints to achieve a particular goal.

From initial contact to post-purchase support, WhatsApp Flows offer an engaging conversational experience.

Our blog WhatsApp Flows explained will tell you all you need to know about getting the most out of the feature.

WhatsApp Flows are a powerful automation tool for creating a guided customer journry

4. Sell products and services in chat with WhatsApp Payments

As WhatsApp moves towards super app status the ability to automate payments within a chat window is a crucial step. This ensures a complete and seamless experience for customers who can research, browse and pay for items without leaving the app.

Currently only available in Brazil, India, and Singapore the feature is hotly anticipated by many eCommerce brands.

Find all out all you need to know about WhatsApp Payments in this blog and keep an eye on this page for notifications about other countries where WhatsApp Payments will be made available.

Benefits of WhatsApp automation for businesses

If you have read this far, I’m sure that we don’t have to sell you on the benefits of exploring the automation features that WhatsApp offers. However, it is worth providing a quick summary as you may not have thought of some of them.

24/7 availability: Businesses can maintain continuous interaction with customers and provide support at any time. This leads to quicker response times, and more conversions.

Increased productivity: Automation increases staff productivity by reducing the manual effort required to manage high volumes of messages and tasks.

Personalized communication at scale: Automated workflows enable you to tailor messages based on user data, enhancing engagement and conversion rates.

Scheduled messaging: This ensure that time sensitive and time dependent messages are sent at just the right time. This could be to coincide with sociable hours or to hit a specific window, for example sending a check-in reminder for a flight or event.

Lead gen and nurturing: Automation helps in lead generation and nurturing, using interactive forms and follow-up sequences to engage a lot more potential customers than you ever could with manual messaging.

Examples of WhatsApp automation in action

Nivea

Nivea used WhatsApp automation as a key part of a successful campaign that utilized a chatbot to connect with consumers in their target market with a positive message celebrating diversity. The campaign was so successful that it achieved 207% of its reach target and is being used as a global case study for the brand.

As part of the Cocoa Shades campaign a WhatsApp chatbot was built that would encourage people to submit a photo of themselves to the chatbot to receive a stylized version of the image with their own personal skin tone.
To expose the Chatbot to as many people as possible, NIVEA promoted the number on social media, through influencers, and via QR codes on posters instore.
As part of the conversation, the chatbot would request consent for NIVEA to use the images on its own media platforms, but a high proportion of respondents also shared the images on their own social channels, exponentially extending the reach of the campaign.

LAQO Insurance

LAQO Insurance built a WhatsApp chatbot with generative AI capability using Azure’s OpenAI service. The digital assistant was designed to supplement the company’s customer service operation and was flexible enough to handle all sorts of common queries in a conversational way.

The chatbot was designed to only cover insurance claims and general information about LAQO to avoid providing misleading or off-brand information.
The chatbot can hand over to human agents for queries that it has not been trained to handle.
The chatbot now handles 30% of LAQO’s customer queries.

Unilever

Unilever experienced 14x higher sales after running an automated conversational campaign for its new product line via a WhatsApp chatbot.

This chatbot was all about product awareness and the aim was to be disruptive and impactful to generate interest.
The team put up 1,000 posters around Sao Paulo that displayed intriguing teaser messages, followed by a WhatsApp number.
Once interested consumers contacted the number, a chatbot called MadameBot would give advice on product care, and introduce the new products using rich media, such as audio and memes.
Customers who progressed through the interaction were rewarded with discounts off the new products and free shipping.

Nissan Saudi Arabia

Nissan Saudi Arabia saw a 138% increase in leads generated through a chatbot after introducing a verified WhatsApp channel.

This chatbot was aimed at providing 24/7 customer care and automating the nurturing of leads when the dealerships were closed.
The rule-based chatbot could provide all sorts of information by guiding customers through a set of menu options.

Flamingo

Flamingo grew its conversion rate by 11% and NPS score by 21% after implementing a self-service chatbot on WhatsApp.

This chatbot was designed to augment Flamingo’s customer service operation and take the strain off contact center agents who experienced a spike in calls during the pandemic.
Concentrating on financial service customers, it was key that the agents always had the full history of each customer’s interactions, and this was supported by the chatbot – with ongoing conversations and all chat history accessible in an instant.
The chatbot is multi-functional – in addition to servicing day to day requests like account balance checks and tax certificate generation, it can also facilitate purchases directly through chat using payment links or links to Flamingo’s eCommerce site.

Cardeko

Cardeko increased customer engagement for its car purchasing campaign with 15,000 conversations per day over WhatsApp.

As a research portal for car buyers it was crucial that the chatbot could provide the latest information on prices, discounts, options and dealers who stocked the cars that buyers were interested in. This was facilitated by API integrations with the systems that held this data.
It was also key that all conversation history was available so that sales staff could pick up where the chatbot left off with prospects and customers. This eliminated the need for repeat conversations and removed friction from the sales process.
With a car purchase often being a sensory experience for many buyers it was important that dealers could share rich content such as videos, images, links, and documents via WhatsApp – helping customers make decisions without actually laying hands on the cars.

Overcoming challenges in WhatsApp automation

Although the complexity of implementing WhatsApp automation features is far outweighed by the benefits they can bring, there are a few factors that should be considered in the planning phases of a project.

Integration complexity: Users of the WhatsApp Business Platform looking to integrate the channel into their own CRM system alongside other communication channels will require development resource and specialized knowledge.

Customization: Businesses that make the decision to use the WhatsApp Business App to save costs may quickly find that it doesn’t offer the levels of automation and customization that they require to meet their business requirements.

Platform dependency: We have already mentioned the trajectory that WhatsApp is on to becoming a super app that can do it all. However, putting all your eggs in one basket and relying completely on WhatsApp for customer communication can be a risky move. It is better to take an omnichannel approach to your communication as there will be many customers who prefer other channels, and you keep the flexibility if there are future changes to the platform that complicates your integration.

Data privacy and compliance: This should be a primary concern with every IT project but remember that in addition to regional regulations like GDPR, you also need to comply with Meta’s own rules about how businesses can use its platform to communicate with users.

Keeping the human touch: Finally, maintaining a personal touch in automated interactions can be difficult as customers may perceive automated messages as robotic and impersonal if not carefully crafted. Make sure your messages are always relevant and targeted and enrich them with relevant information from your customer data platform.