-1.png)
Introduction
Integrating WhatsApp chatbot into the eCommerce tech stack isn’t a new trend. Around 50 million companies use WhatsApp as one of the main marketing channels.
In fact, Meta’s study found that WhatsApp is one of the four most popular channels customers often use to explore new products.
Despite that, a lot of businesses are not aware of the benefits of WhatsApp chatbot or don’t know how to start exactly. That’s why, in this guide, we’ll explore how businesses can integrate WhatsApp chatbots into their day-to-day activities.
Let’s start with the basics.
What’s a WhatsApp chatbot?
A WhatsApp chatbot is an automated software designed to communicate with customers in real-time - just as two people interact with each other on WhatsApp.
This WhatsApp chatbot has especially been introduced to enhance customer interaction, stay in touch with them 24/7, and solve their queries instantly.
Think of those marketing messages you get on WhatsApp after scrolling through your favorite online store. Or, take into consideration those shipping updates you get when your order is in transit. These are all examples of WhatsApp chatbot-driven communication.
But How Does WhatsApp ChatBot Works?
Typically, a WhatsApp chatbot leverages Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) models to understand customer queries and continue communication.
When your customer asks any question via WhatsApp, it analyses the intent, context, and other entities within the text. Then, based on some predefined criteria and logic, it determines the most appropriate response to better meet customer needs.
Nowadays, these chatbots can even support multimedia content like images, videos, and documents to provide the best possible answers, which directly improves customer experience (CX).
If the chatbot gets any complex questions it isn’t familiar with or trained for, it forwards those queries to a human agent.
However, throughout the process, it keeps learning and improves the responses with thorough feedback.
Why Should eCommerce Businesses Consider WhatsApp Chatbot Integration?
WhatsApp chatbots have significantly revolutionized the way eCommerce businesses approach marketing and customer interactions.
According to a recent study by ThriveMyWay, around 42% of B2C businesses have embraced WhatsApp chatbots - and for good reasons. In this section, we’ll look at some major ones among them.
1) 24/7 customer support
In a situation where your competitors are constantly luring your potential customers, it’s super important to stay accessible to them whenever they need you.
But, it’s not humanly possible for your customer support team to stay available for every window shopper and scroller - until you have invested a significant sum in building a huge customer support team.
WhatsApp chatbot eliminates this issue. It stays active all the time, irrespective of time zones and geographical regions. As a result, it can assist them and stay engaged with them throughout the buying process.
2) Secure communication gateway
Modern eCommerce customers are highly concerned about their data privacy. One of Datagrail’s studies found that three out of four consumers will dump their favorite eCommerce store if they find their data isn’t secured.
However, WhatsApp stands out as one of the most secure communication gateway available in the market.
It uses end-to-end encryption, provides a two-factor authentication system, and regularly updates its security measures.
This means if you use WhatsApp chatbot to interact with your customers, it’ll make them feel safe and build a loyal customer base.
3) Direct interaction with customers
Unlike those traditional communication methods (for example, emails or web forms), your customers can directly chat with your brand and solve their problems in real-time.
This direct one-on-one conversation provides you with insights into your customers’ behavior, needs, and concerns. You can further use these insights to cater to individual needs in a better way.
4) Value for money
Integrating the WhatsApp chatbot doesn’t require a huge budget to obtain it. Within a few hundred dollars, you can make it up and running.
In fact, if you set up a WhatsApp chatbot for your eCommerce business, you can significantly save on cost. Juniper’s research proved the same, mentioning that businesses can save $8 billion per year by integrating chatbots into their operations.
5) Improved customer experience
When you stay in touch with your customers, eliminate their queries in real time, and provide an extra layer of security, it improves their shopping experience. This creates a sense of satisfaction and makes them long-term retainers.
How Can You Use WhatsApp Chatbot for Your eCommerce Business?
Apart from solving customer queries, there are a number of ways you can use WhatsApp chatbot to support your eCommerce business growth. Here, we have mentioned a few:
1) Automated marketing campaigns
Think of pitching your product or service to a single potential customer instead of casting it among a wide range of people who don’t even know about your brand.
Chances are high that this personal interaction will lead to more fruitful outcomes than those generic messages.
The same happens with WhatsApp chatbot communication. When you send them customized marketing messages through the platform they use for personal communication, it increases the chance of hitting their eyeballs quickly.
That’s also what Cooby’s study found. It said WhatsApp messages from brands have an open rate of around 70%.
This means you can send any marketing messages (be it for lead generation, upselling, cross-selling, or recovering abandoned carts) via WhatsApp to get better responses.
Myntra, an Indian retail marketplace, has adopted the same approach to nurture its potential customers.
2) Customized product recommendations
Product recommendations on the website itself are good. But what’s even better is to send personalized recommendations via WhatsApp. It almost feels like a shopping buddy giving suggestions for the best products to buy.
This one-on-one communication makes your customers feel prioritized, which wins the buy-ins faster. Nykaa, a beauty retail marketplace, has adopted the same approach to grab scrollers’ attention.
3) Instant order placement
WhatsApp chatbot has become more advanced than before. When it was first launched, it was only limited to sending marketing messages and solving customer issues, but now, you can also use it as a sales channel.
From the moment WhatsApp introduced its “Cart” feature, eCommerce businesses can allow their customers to place orders on the chat itself without visiting the store. In fact, within the chat, they can ask different questions and edit the shopping items.
This benefit of the WhatsApp chatbot not only helps potential customers shop instantly but also wins their impulse buy-ins.
Ajio (an eCommerce marketplace), for instance, adds a “Shop on WhatsApp” button to their marketing messages that help customers buy the products immediately.
4) Shipping updates
After placing an order, the main thing the customers care about is their items. Oftentimes, eCommerce brands use emails and SMS to send tracking updates.
Unfortunately, most of the time, customers don’t visit these channels until something urgent happens.
So, to be on the safer side, most brands use WhatsApp chatbots to keep customers informed regarding their orders.
Here, note that you need to add a top-notch shipping solution to the backend system to ensure a smooth flow of tracking information.
However, thousands of solutions are available in the market, and not all of them provide granular-level notifications. That’s where ClickPost comes in.
From order placement to last distribution hubs to fetching NPS scores, it helps you keep the customer in the loop at each milestone, which further enhances your brand loyalty.
5) Failed Delivery Management
WhatsApp chatbot is an awesome tool to improve your delivery rate and reduce RTO%. Compared to other platforms, using WhatsApp chatbots and fetching customer responses on this channel becomes easier because of its widespread usage and multimedia capabilities.
This further bridges the gap between the brand and the customer and, finally, helps make each delivery successful.
But you need an exclusive NDR management software solution to make this happen. ClickPost has your back! All you have to do is integrate your WhatsApp business account with ClickPost’s backend system.
And that's it! It’ll automatically coordinate your customers with the delivery agent to ensure each delivery is a success.
Below, we have shown how:
6) Return and refund updates
Like other marketing messages and shipping notifications, you can also send time-to-time returns and refund requests to your customers via WhatsApp chatbot communication.
Consequently, it eliminates unnecessary misunderstandings and fosters transparency between you and your customers.
How to Integrate WhatsApp Chatbot: A Step-by-Step Guide
Now that you have a detailed picture of how WhatsApp chatbot can uplift your business growth, it’s time to take some practical steps. Let’s see how you can integrate a WhatsApp chatbot into your business operations.
Step 1: Set up a WhatsApp Business account and access WhatsApp Business API
If you want to integrate a WhatsApp chatbot, the first thing you require is a WhatsApp business account. The process is quite easy.
First, install the WhatsApp business app. Then, add your business number and other details like your business logo, business hours, and address. Once done, verify your account.
Next, you need to access the whatsApp business API. A WhatsApp business API provides various advanced functionalities like a chatting interface, chatbot, automated replies, etc, and helps you reach customers at scale.
But you can’t directly obtain a WhatsApp business API. You have to connect with one of the meta-chosen Business Solution Providers(BSPs). Some of them are Haptik, Gupshup, Wati, Verloop, etc. Contact any of them and apply for API access.
Step 2: Select a chatbot platform
Now, you’ve to choose a WhatsApp chatbot platform and integrate it with the business API. As there are tens of thousands of chatbot platforms available in the market, it’s quite a hectic task to choose the one that will fit your bill.
So, before choosing a platform, ensure that it offers an easy integration process, provides advanced features like a top-notch interface, advanced pre-built templates, and most importantly, is scalable.
Considering all the above criteria, here are our top choices:
- Gupshup
- Limechat
- Haptik
- Yellow.ai
- Verloop
💡 Pro tip: Most of them are Business Solution Providers (BSPs) themselves and easily integrate with ClickPost. This means you can achieve every task seamlessly.
Step 3: Design conversational flows and responses
After setting up the WhatsApp chatbot, you’ll have to craft engaging dialogues and responses to engage with your customers. Identify user intent, map out the customer journey, and then create a conversational flow to better satisfy user needs.
Step 4: Test your WhatsApp chatbot
Once done, provide the chatbot with different scenarios and figure out if it’s responding correctly. In this process, if you find any loopholes, rectify them and test again for smooth interactions.
Step 5: Promote the WhatsApp Chatbot
Your responsibility doesn’t end after just creating the chatbot. You must make your existing and would-be customers aware of the WhatsApp chatbot launch and its benefits.
So, promote it on different social media platforms, mail your customers about the chatbot, and add a WhatsApp widget to your site or create a dedicated support page for it.
Lenskart, for instance, created a page on its website, where it has provided all the details you need to connect with them on WhatsApp.
5 Best Practices to Get the Best Out of Your WhatsApp Chatbot Integration
WhatsApp chatbot isn’t a new term. It’s been a while since eCommerce brands have been leveraging its benefits. Now, what can you do extra to get the best out of it? Let’s see.
1) Enhance Personalization
Providing the same generic messages to each customer turns off their expectations and interests. In fact, McKinsey’s study also found that around 71% of customers want personalized interactions from brands.
So, try to craft the conversational flow in such a way that it sounds humane. Here are some of the best tactics:
- Address customers by their names.
- Use simple and digestible language.
- Add interactive elements like buttons and quick replies.
- Add humor if it matches your brand voice.
- Ensure the chatbot has a Natural Language Understanding (NLU) system embedded into it to better understand user intent.
2) Provide customer data security
Today’s customers are way too serious regarding their data. So, it’s your duty to make them feel secure on all fronts.
Though the chatbot platforms already offer in-built security measures, you can still take a few extra steps.
For instance, you can practice a data minimization approach, conduct regular security audits, and implement access control policies.
If your customers get to know about these practices, it’ll increase their trust in your brand.
3) Regularly update conversational scripts
Marketing strategies and customer expectations are constantly evolving. To keep up with these trends, you need to frequently refresh your conversational scripts to provide a better customer experience.
Let’s say any hot sale is around the corner. So, you must customize the script based on different holiday seasons, sales, customers’ post-purchase data, etc.
4) Offer multilingual support
If you want global reach and enhance your customer base, you need to implement multilingual support to your WhatsApp chatbot.
This feature will interact with your customers in their native language and solve potential queries.
On the one hand, it’ll delight the shoppers and, on the other hand, eliminate a significant burden from your customer support team.
5) Monitor the performance of the WhatsApp chatbot
You can evaluate the WhatsApp chatbot’s performance by looking at 2 main areas. The first one is user behavior metrics. Fortunately, these WhatsApp chatbot platforms already come with in-built analytics features.
They help you visualize the user journey, get actionable conversational insights, and measure other KPIs like conversion rate, message open rate, customer acquisition rate, etc.
Second, you should also consider checking your chatbot efficiency like response time, accuracy rate, and so on. Doing so will help you figure out the areas you need to work on.
Leverage WhatsApp Chatbot Integration to Fuel Your eCommerce Business Growth
WhatsApp chatbots, when integrated and redirected in the right way, can benefit you from all fronts - from reducing costs to increasing operational efficiency to eliminating unnecessary burdens from your team.
So, adopt the WhatsApp chatbot platform, go for ClickPost to better communicate regarding all things shipping and returns, and create a long-lasting impression in your customers’ minds.