Get started with interactive WhatsApp messages

Communicating simply and efficiently with your customers is the number one priority when it comes to business. What better way to do this than to use the most popular messaging service in the world? 

With so much of our digital footprint being about clicking buttons, WhatsApp has made buttons an effective business tool through interactive messages. 

Creating WhatsApp Message Templates

We all want our interactions to be as quick and painless as possible - whether they are digital or face to face. At a time when we tend to prefer digital options, WhatsApp messenger has come to the party and created templates to communicate with customers.

These notifications are templated to show various pre-approved messages and encourage fast, accurate, and immediate responses. Based on the needs of your business, you can choose from a few different options:

• Text-only messages – simple messages such as account statuses or delivery notifications.
• Rich media notifications – these can be notifications such as boarding passes or e-receipts. 
• Interactive notifications with buttons – these direct customers in a certain direction or action such as visiting a web page or making appointments. 

It is vital to note that these kinds of massages can only be sent out to customers once they have given their permission. All must pass the strict WhatsApp pre-approval standards, so this is a prudent place to start before you start creating your templates. 

Also bear in mind these options are only available to companies using the WhatsApp Business API. If you are still using the free WhatsApp messaging service, you will not be able to access the interactive templates. (Check out the difference between these two here.)

You can look into upgrading to WhatsApp Business API if you are interested in these templates and interactive messaging, as well as the host of other benefits that come along with it. 

Benefits for Your Business

Depending on the needs of your business, you can integrate text with media such as PDFs, videos, or locations. No matter your preference, the results are all shown to be beneficial and direct when it comes to communicating with your customers. 

No one likes to be shunted from pillar to post, and these templates can make conversations with customers so much simpler and to the point. Using these templates can save your business a lot of time and effort. With less input needed from both the business and the customer, they offer a seamless tool of engagement while offering more information. 

WhatsApp Buttons Explained

WhatsApp offers interactive messages along with standard messages and media templates. We all want the simplest quickest option to get where we are going – faced with a complicated array of options, customers are likely to be put off responding to your business or services. (Decision fatigue is a real thing!) Using simple interactive buttons is the ideal solution to this.  

There are two predefined options when it comes to the buttons: call to action and quick replay. These are an easy way to guide a customer in a certain direction, as well as receive feedback from them for the future. 

Quick Reply

The quick reply button is a response to a user-initiated message. Upon making an inquiry, you have up to three choices to choose from. Options such as confirming details, tracking parcel deliveries, account balances, and placing orders are just a few of the options that you could use.

It is also a great tool to track customers' responses. For example, if you are looking to offer a new service you can use options such as 

• Not interested
• Tell me more
• Schedule an appointment

This way you can easily see which customers would be interested in a new product, and where to target your marketing strategies. 

Call to Action 

There are two “Call to Action” (CTA) buttons available, each with two or three types of capabilities. The purpose of these CTAs, is that they enable customers to take a specific action.

• Call phone number – this allows the customer to make a call to a predefined number
• Visit Static Website – a static link that the customer can follow to get to the website
• Visit Dynamic Website – allows the customer to view a website customised for them (i.e. the /mycart portion)

You may only have one website option, with the possibility of linking to a static or dynamic website from there. 

WhatsApp Interactive Message Templates

While these interactive WhatsApp messages may seem like a small thing, they are incredibly beneficial to a business. Having a direct and simple way of communicating with your customers can make a great difference to how your business is run, and how happy your customers are. 

There are four main reasons that these tools are changing the way people work with WhatsApp Business:

1. Human Error

By using interactive WhatsApp messages, customers have to enter less information; no more arduously typing in numbers or words where there is a risk of typing errors. You can simply select the option that you want instead. This way the chatbot does most of the work and there is no derailing of automated programs when data is incorrectly entered. 

2. The Predefined Path

Customers can be directed along a predefined pathway when using interactive messages. Even the most complex of customer interactions can be dealt with simply. From start to finish, there is less room for the confusion which leads to a better customer experience all around. 

3. The Path of Least Resistance

When a conversation flows smoothly, there is less room for customer friction. Interactive buttons help identify bottlenecks in the processes, and these can be addressed quickly and painlessly. They can also be modified to offer a path of least resistance for a customer. Queries and issues that are dealt with quickly and efficiently are an asset to your business name and bottom line.

4. Consistency

Some customers are happy for their entire transaction to be handled through one app or system. Others prefer to be able to be in communication with the brand at all times. By using interactive WhatsApp messages, you can offer all customers an experience that they can get behind. 

Personalised Communications Platform

More and more businesses around the world are seeing the benefits of using WhatsApp messages as a beneficial communication tool. With two billion worldwide users, this is where you want your conversations to be happening as a company. 

With their ever-evolving and improving tool for business use, it is easy to see why WhatsApp has gained so much popularity in the business sector. When you as a business owner are offered an opportunity to offer your customers a personalised avenue of communication on a trusted platform, what’s not to love? 

On the Business End

If you are looking for an updated tool to communicate with your customers, interactive WhatsApp messages and an upgrade to WhatsApp Business API is the way to go. With so much happening on digital platforms these days, why not jump onto the biggest communication platform around, and make use of it to your advantage?

Streamlining customer interactions and improving communication is a great way to save time and improve your business. Definitely something worth looking into, don’t you agree?

Contact our friendly team and let’s get started.