It is a cloud-based solution provided by WhatsApp using which you can send broadcast messages like the one above and answer your customer’s questions using an automated chatbot or manual human support team
What are the Features of WhatsApp cloud API
You can send buttoned bulk broadcast messages, with attachments to thousands of people in one go.
Multiple support agents of your company can communicate from a single WhatsApp handle.
You can run 24×7 automated chatbots.
You can apply for the WhatsApp green tech verification for free.
You can message thousands of people without the fear of banning.
It’s super easy to use: if you follow the steps you can apply, get approved and start messaging within minutes.
Key Benefits of using WhatsApp’s Official Cloud API
Get close to 100% responses for all your marketing and transactional messages by using WhatsApp buttons.
Engage your customers and provide 24×7 instant, automatics support on their favorite channel (WhatsApp).
Automatically answer common user queries with trigger-based auto-responses and chatbot.
When you send a particular read the first message, easily give him an option to unsubscribe, so he can opt-out if he’s not interested.
Easily create and maintain a WhatsApp subscriber list, and automatically remove the people who unsubscribe so that they never get included in any future WhatsApp broadcast messaging list
Provide multi-agent WhatsApp support on a single WhatsApp number.
Get your entire sales and support team’s WhatsApp communication history on a single dashboard.
Who is eligible for WhatsApp Cloud API
Any business with
A website
A Facebook page
And A registered business entity
is eligible for the official WhatsApp API
Note: you can apply and get started with a limited version of the WhatsApp cloud API even without these things but you really scale it up to the next level you will need these things in place
How to apply/get started with WhatsApp Cloud API
Here’s the step-by-step process for signing up for a WhatsApp cloud API account.
Now scroll down and click on the add phone number.
Fill out the details about the WhatsApp business account (this is what will be visible to the users).
Enter a phone number and verify with OTP (you can only use a number that is not already in use on any other WhatsApp).
Once you do this, your number is registered with WhatsApp Cloud API and ready to send messages
The next step is to connect your WhatsApp Cloud API with TeleCRM to Start messaging. Watch this video to see how you can do that
Before you actually send the messages you can check the details of the different messaging teachers and how WhatsApp monitors tiers quality rating of your account. and the actual process of sending bulk WhatsApp messages.
What are the charges of WhatsApp Official Cloud API
There is no one-time setup or hosting charge. Plus at Telecrm we don’t levy any power message charge either.
But WhatsApp charges you a specific amount for every conversation!
UIC (User Initiated conversation): it is any conversation between the user and your WhatsApp API number that is initiated by the user i.e. where the first message is sent by the user to the business.
BIC (Business Initiated conversation): it is any conversation between our user and your WhatsApp API number that is initiated by the business i.e. where the Business sends the first message to the user.
What is a conversation according to WhatsApp’s cloud API charging system
When you send a message to a particular number it starts a conversation. The conversation gives you a 24-hour window. Any message sent or received during the 24 hours is considered to be part of that single conversation. You will not be charged any additional amount for those messages.
But if you send another message after the 24-hour window expires then it is considered as starting another conversation. This gives you another 24-hour window.
It must have a clear relationship with the business.
It must contain a minimum of 3 characters.
It may not be in URL format. Ex- telecrm.in
Do not change the spacing from the spacing used in your business name. Ex- Telecrm – Correct, Tele CRM – Wrong
4. Should be a new number
Don’t use a number that you have already used on WhatsApp or WhatsApp business. This delays the approval process.
5. Carefully and correctly enter the basic details
When you sign up for the Official WhatsApp cloud API, WhatsApp will ask you for 4 basic details
WhatsApp display name
Business website
Country
Business type
As long as you have a Live verifiable business website with the same name as your WhatsApp display name. your application for WhatsApp cloud API will be approved quickly.
Limitations of WhatsApp cloud API
Once upgraded to API, can’t use any other Whatsapp application on the chosen number
First, you have to signup and get verified on Facebook to use WhatsApp Cloud API
Every message template that you use to initiate conversations has to be pre-approved by Facebook.
WhatsApp does not provide a direct interface for this and you have to rely on tools like Telecrm for sending messages through the official API
Benefits of using Telecrm with WhatsApp Cloud API
Capture all your leads from different platforms and send them an automatic welcome message on WhatsApp.
Give your audience an option to unsubscribe and automatically remove the unsubscribed audience from any messaging list.
Easily check sent delivered and read statuses after sending messages.
Automatically capture their responses and segregate the leads based on their responses.
Easily run WhatsApp retargeting campaigns for all the people who reply with ‘interested’.
Run a WhatsApp chatbot, to provide 24 seven customer support and automatically answer common queries.
All this, with no additional per-message cost (other than what Facebook charges you directly)
Conclusion
This article gives you a quick preview of all the things that you can do with the official WhatsApp cloud API, how to sign up and how to start using it, what are the charges that you have to pay, and a few of the capabilities that you can have by integrating WhatsApp cloud API with Telecrm.
As CMO he makes sure that the Marketing team here at Telecrm aligns with the goals and vision of the company and stays on course to achieve the growth targets!
In his articles, he talks about empathetic value-driven sales that put deep care for the customer at the centre of selling.
