WhatsApp Automation: Benefits + Use Cases + How To Do It?

Is there anyone who’s not using WhatsApp today? Connecting with others is seamless with texting, voice, or video calling with WhatsApp. But today, we will talk about the use of WhatsApp in Business, with a dedicated application called WhatsApp Business.

Since WhatsApp is a very popular messaging app, connecting with your prospects and customers through WhatsApp is easier than other platforms. Due to its user-friendly interface and people spending most of their time on the day on WhatsApp, messages have a 98% opening rate.

The above are very strong reasons why businesses are opting for communication and marketing through WhatsApp. Let’s discuss how you can scale your business with WhatsApp Business and automation.

What is WhatsApp Automation?

WhatsApp automation means automating your communication and marketing strategy using the WhatsApp Business and WhatsApp Business API. Since there’s a limitation to the in-built features, you can take support of different 3rd party WhatsApp marketing solution tools like SendWo. Since WhatsApp is a messaging application, businesses can announce any new offer or send recurring promotional messages to customers and prospects with a dedicated CTA button.

For example, if you want to do WhatsApp marketing and send messages in bulk without getting banned, Sendwo has curated a bulk WhatsApp sender tool to reduce manual work and maintain all of the data through a dashboard. And if your customers have queries and it’s outside your business hours, WhatsApp chatbot is available 24*7 to help them out with chat support.

Let’s look at the benefits of WhatsApp automation in detail.

5 Benefits of WhatsApp Automation for Businesses

While there are multiple WhatsApp automation benefits, we have covered the top 5 of them for you to make a conscious decision and try it yourself.

1. Automate Engagement: Through WhatsApp automation, you can engage with your customers, share promotional updates with CTAs, and greet them occasionally.
2. Customer Support: You can provide chat support to your customers, 24*7, via chatbot about inquiries on your product/ services instantly.
3. Feedback: Through WhatsApp automation, you can collect feedback from your customers and improve your service/ product or change the WhatsApp marketing strategy.
4. Catalog: WhatsApp Business allows you to create product and service catalogs with pricing that helps your customers make instantaneous decisions, with the full information displayed in front of them. And even if they have some queries, their message can be answered instantly with the chatbot.
5. Marketing: WhatsApp automation enables you to run marketing campaigns personalized to individual preferences. Since it is hard to track these customers manually, automation collects their past preferences and curates offers, which leads to higher buy rates.

Key Components of WhatsApp Automation

The following components can transform the communication between your brand and customers. With these automation tools, conversation rates go high, and you can offer instant responses, etc. 

• Chatbots: Once you place a WhatsApp chatbot icon on your website, the rate of engagement increases subsequently. With this feature, you can automate communication with customers in a context-specific manner. The chatbots can handle routine tasks and guide customers with FAQs and transactional processes.
• Autoresponders: This helps in instant response to incoming messages so your customers are always attended, even when you aren’t available. You can program the answers to commonly asked queries. Instantaneous responses build brand trust.
• Integration with CRM: The best part about WhatsApp automation is the flexibility of integrating a CRM with your WhatsApp Business. Access to customer data enables automation tools like Sendwo to customize the profiles based on purchase history and preferences. It allows targeted offers and better problem resolutions and, hence, a better customer experience right on their regular messaging app.
• Drip Campaigns: You can automate message deliveries at a scheduled timeline using a drip marketing campaign. Drip campaigns make it easy to nurture leads, share updates on products and offers, and trigger user engagement with a strong CTA.

How To Use WhatsApp Automation Using WhatsApp Business App?

WhatsApp Business comes with various useful business tools, which include two automated messaging features. The first one automatically sends a greeting message whenever someone texts you after a gap of 14 days. You can customize the message as well as the recipients list. The second feature sends an away message depending on how you schedule it to work. Mostly, it is used to reply to incoming messages after the business hours set by you.

Fortunately, both of them are free. So, if you are new to automation, these will help you understand how beneficial WhatsApp automation is to your business communication.

Steps of Using WhatsApp Business to Automate Messages

Let’s look at how you can automate messages with WhatsApp Business:

1. Go to the WhatsApp Business application and fire it.
2. Tap on the three dots in the top-right corner.
3. Check the Business tools.
4. Tap on the greeting and away message option.
5. Click to turn on the option.
6. You can use the default message on it or customize the message by clicking on the pen icon.

You are all set to use the built-in automated messaging tool of WhatsApp Business.

Limitations of WhatsApp Business

Although these features are great and amazing for small business owners, there are a few limitations to using the built-in feature.

1. You have a broadcast messaging cap of 1,000 messages in a 24-hour cycle.
2. The auto-reply works only when a customer sends you a message after 14 days of gap, or they have messaged after your business hours.
3. There is no option to track the analytics of how the automation tool is performing.
4. You can’t integrate a chatbot, third-party tools, or CRM to access your customer’s purchase details and preferences.
5. There’s no CTA; hence, even if you try a marketing strategy with WhatsApp Business, it won’t be automated, and you have to do lots of manual work.

But if you have a medium to large size business, it’s wise to get WhatsApp Business API and integrate it with third-party tools.

WhatsApp Automation Using WhatsApp Business API

Getting WhatsApp Business API isn’t tough. If you already have an account, follow the steps to launch your automation journey. If you are yet to get WhatsApp Business API, Go through these requirements and follow the next steps.

Alternatively, we can help you get your WhatsApp Business API account and integrate it with our user-friendly interface.

Launch the tool on your computer, enter all the credentials, and go to the dashboard.

Follow these 3 simple steps and launch your WhatsApp automation effortlessly.

1. You can set up greetings and messages for non-business hours with more control of customization.
2. Now, set up the off-hours according to your time zone and business closing time.
3. You can create different API or broadcasting campaigns and use message templates to send promotional content.

However, we offer support for two different APIs - official and unofficial. While the official one is expensive, it is more secure than the unofficial one, which is prone to getting banned.

How Businesses Can Leverage WhatsApp Automation Using Sendwo?

There are multiple ways you can use Sendwo to leverage WhatsApp automation.

1. Depending on your business size, you can opt for different plans serving your automation purposes. The coolest feature is bulk messaging, which is a big option for WhatsApp marketing.
2. You can use it to scrap the location of your customer through Google Maps and customize different offers based on zip codes, which gives your business an authentic touch.
3. Every business deploys a chatbot nowadays, but what’s better with Sendwo’s chatbot is the media integration in the tool.
4. Specific messages that have a product or service ad can have a CTA that can help you close such clients with the button options in the message.
5. Another useful feature is exporting the contacts into a group, which helps you with the segregation of customers and the messages sent to them.  

You can set up the automation tool in very easy steps:

1. Open the Sendwo tool on your PC. 
2. Fill your WhatsApp Business Account ID and your access token. 
3. Write down the promotional message in the message template. 
4. Submit the message template for approval via WhatsApp.
5. Once you receive the approval, move to Campaigns and create a campaign by adding your target message and necessary information. 
6. Add your contact list for  
7. Schedule the time for sending the messages.

Sendwo sets up your WhatsApp Business API with the tool with absolutely zero cost and also gives you the choice of going with the official API or an unofficial API. The difference is simply that one is more expensive than the other, but the cheaper one, i.e., the unofficial one, is prone to be banned.

WhatsApp Automation Using Sendwo With Official API

We have previously discussed the benefits of using WhatsApp automation in brief. Let’s talk about what are the things you can do with the official WhatsApp Business API from Sendwo in detail.

1. Lead Generation with WhatsApp Automation

Utilize Sendwo's WhatsApp Business solution to automate lead generation processes, engaging potential clients and capturing valuable information seamlessly.

2. Sales Management with WhatsApp Automation

Boost your sales efforts by automating personalized product recommendations, order confirmations, and follow-ups, ensuring efficient sales management and improved customer satisfaction.

3. Abandoned Cart Automation with WhatsApp

Combat cart abandonment effectively by implementing automated messages on WhatsApp, encouraging customers to complete their purchases, and providing instant assistance.

4. Campaign Management with WhatsApp Automation

Send targeted promotions, event invites, and updates directly to your audience's WhatsApp, ensuring higher open rates and better campaign management.

5. Performance Marketing Ads Automation with WhatsApp

Optimize your advertising strategy by automating performance marketing ads on WhatsApp, reaching potential customers with tailored content, and driving conversions.

6. Chatbot Automation with WhatsApp

Enhance customer experience with intelligent chatbots that provide instant responses, answer queries, and guide users through various stages, all powered by Sendwo's WhatsApp Business API.

7. Website Chat Support with WhatsApp

Offer real-time website chat support through WhatsApp, enabling visitors to connect with your business instantly, enhancing customer satisfaction, and building trust.

WhatsApp Automation Using Sendwo With Unofficial API

If you have a tight fund to start, we also offer an unofficial WhatsApp Business API on Sendwo for you.

1. Auto Responders

Automate quick responses to customer inquiries, ensuring immediate acknowledgment and improving engagement even without the official WhatsApp Business API.

2. Chatbot

Implement basic chatbot functionalities to handle frequently asked questions and provide automated assistance, enhancing user experience and saving time for both customers and your team.

3. Bulk Schedule Messaging

Leverage the power of bulk scheduled messaging to reach a wider audience, promoting your products, services, or events efficiently, all within budget, using the unofficial WhatsApp API.

Sign up on Sendwo API-based WhatsApp marketing software to leverage WhatsApp automation

7 Use Cases for WhatsApp Automation

We have previously discussed the benefits of using WhatsApp automation in brief. Let’s talk about it in detail.

• Customer Support: With the automated tool, you can support your customers 24/7, even when you are outside business hours, with programmed messages.
• Sales and Marketing: You can run your marketing campaign with WhatsApp.
• Reminders: You can remind your customers about upcoming events, sales offers, or subscriptions if you have a service-based business.
• Feedback: Through automated messages, you can ask for periodical feedback and reviews from your customers, and this will help you better your services and products.
• Order Confirmation: Customers receive instant order confirmation. This improves the trustworthiness of your business, and this also keeps you track of business done through WhatsApp and goes to your CRM for better profile management for the future.
• Payment Updates: This helps your customer with payment updates and transactional history.
• Lead Qualification: Since you can keep track of your automation tool and its performance, you can qualify leads among the broadcast messages and send promotional messages to your customers.

7 Best Practices for Effective WhatsApp Automation

While we are talking about automation tools, it still needs the correct setup and best practices to get the optimum output.

We have listed down the 7 most effective practices to follow.

• Specify Automation Goals: The first step is to identify your automation goal. Once you know why you are going for WhatsApp automation, it will be easier to track the performance and get the best result from automation.
• Categories Customer Base: Separate your customer base into different categories like demography, age, and gender to compose more personalized and targeted messages.
• Schedule Auto Response: Schedule and auto-response will make your customers feel more valued with instant replies to their queries. Schedule the messages according to timezone while broadcasting, so you know you are shooting the messages when they are active on WhatsApp.
• Add Human Touch: Humanize the responses whenever and as much as possible because it’s always merrier to support your customers with real-time information.
• CRM Integration: Integrate your CRM with the WhatsApp Business, as it will help you get a more detailed overview of what sort of message works and their preferences.
• Use Templates: Templatize most of the work so as to save time and let the automation do most of the work.
• Analyze Performance: Monitor and check the performance of the tools and intervene whenever there’s a scope for improvement.

Wrapping It Up

WhatsApp has emerged as one of the most important business communication tools. Customers can get in touch with the business without even opening the actual shopping app. Hence, businesses can capitalize on using WhatsApp Business, integrating it with other third-party tools, and staying in constant touch with their customers.

We can hope that business and marketing with WhatsApp are going to be even better with the addition of more built-in features that can help small business owners operate without resorting to other third-party tools.

Until then, use WhatsApp Business and integrate the API with our Sendwo automation tool to get the best out of your business with WhatsApp Business and marketing journey.