WhatsApp Business was designed to be used by enterprises in simple and practical ways. Although WhatsApp Business has been popular when it was first released by WhatsApp, it has the drawback of being accessible only from one device, making it limited for multiple users. Then comes WhatsApp Business API, a software released by WhatsApp developers to solve all the pain-points that come with WhatsApp Business.
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WhatsApp Business
Before that, it would be important to understand the main difference between WhatsApp Business and WhatsApp Business API. WhatsApp Business has same main function as a traditional WhatApp account, allowing real-time communication, but the main difference lies that WhatsApp Business is used by the customer service or customer relation deprtments of enterprises and companies to communicate with customers and consumers. Since its release in 2018, WhatsApp Business has been downloaded more than 100 million times on the Google Play Store.
The large number of downloads proves that WhatsApp Business is popular and has proven beneficial with its users. With the many features that WhatsApp Business has, it becomes natural that businesses turn to WhatsApp Business to catch consumers on a channel that they are familiar with i.e. on WhatsApp. Agents are able to reply to messages from consumers immediately but for larger businesses with enquiries twice as large, there is a need for more than one agent to quickly respond to all incoming messages.
Unfortunately, WhatsApp Business cannot be accessed from more than one device, which is the device linked to the registered mobile number. Hence, if an enterprise has more than one agent, each agent will have to take turns holding onto the device – they will not be able to do so simultaneously. For smaller companies, it may not matter that customer enquiries are only managed by a single customer service agent. But for bigger businesses with an avalanche of enquiries, this will prove to be a huge problem and response time will be highly affected.
With customer demands of quick responses in this digital era, there will bound to be many complaints from consumers because they feel their messages were not responded to quickly enough. Additionally, WhatsApp Business also has other disadvantages, such as not being able to integrate with other systems due to access limitations on the back end system. There is also no comprehensive dashboard system in WhatsApp Business that can give an accurate sense of what is going on.
To cover the shortcomings from WhatsApp Business, the WhatsApp Business API was released to offer a more customized, intuitive and convenient alternative.
WhatsApp Business API
Application Programming Interface, or API for short, is a software system that allows connecting two or more systems or applications. WhatsApp Business API allows businesses to integrate their WhatsApp accounts into other systems so that when these are connected to Qiscus Multichannel Chat, it can be accessed from more than one device at a single time. There are also plenty of other nifty features such as analytics or embedding with other compatible software which makes it a powerful tool to benefit users.
In addition, API is also a technology that is categorized as back-end development (server-side) which means that there is no front-end interface and application that can be seen by the user.
WhatsApp Business API and WhatsApp Business are similar but not the same. WhatsApp Business API is definitely different from WhatsApp Business, especially in terms of extra features and services for each user. If you are a business with a large number of consumers, WhatsApp Business API will be highly beneficial to make things efficient for you and your customers.
Manage Multiple Agents with WhatsApp Business API
The importance of customer service in every business is one of the reasons why a lot of thought must be put into it. Constantly ensuring that each customer enquiry is responded to as well as quality control of customer service must come together to ensure customers’ needs are met appropriately.
The freedom to gain access to a WhatsApp account on more than one device will certainly will help businesses who are inundated with a lot of customer requests and enquiries. You can also connect unlimited agents that will make your customer service more optimal and up-to-date. In other words, you will worry about lesser complaints about your business being less responsive to incoming questions or messages since you will always have agents on standby to receive them.
Not only that, through WhatsApp Business API, you can also view and control the quality of your customer service agents instantly. It allows you to track every conversation and monitor the agents’ responses for you to give them feedback. WhatsApp Business API provides analytics that can be used to measure the quality of your customer service.
Another advantage of using the WhatsApp Business API is the opportunity for your business to receive a Green Tick official account. These green tick proves that your business account is a verified one.
Complementing Other Systems
WhatsApp Business API also allows you to add on other systems that can support your needs together with your current communication channels, such as the following:
1. Supervisors and Admins to monitor agent performance
Supervisor and Admin functions are available under the WhatsApp Business API. These roles serve to monitor and review the performance of all agents in the form of performance agent metrics. These roles can help to ensure the quality of every answer given by the agent. This feature is not available on WhatsApp Business because it does not allow for shared devices and there is no split indicator and performance analytics from each agent. Keep in mind that you will only receive this feature if you use the WhatsApp Business API via Qiscus Multichannel Chat
2. Implementation of Chatbot System and Message Templates for Businesses
The use of Chatbots and Message Templates in the WhatsApp Business API can make communication more efficient and effective. Chatbot systems that rely on Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology serve to convey a variety of predetermined information, such as product specifications, product prices and its features. Chatbots can also minimize operational costs because the need for many agents can be reduced.
The Message Template system, on the other hand, is a series of text messages that have been approved by the company WhatsApp to make it easier for agents to answer similar messages faster as they only need to type in the template that has been made previously.
3. Auto-Respond System for Faster Communication
With the auto-respond system in the WhatsApp Business API, agents no longer need to spend time responding to incoming similar messages. However, to use this system, you must determine the type of messages that are applicable and the response to it during setup. In any case, this makes it easier to redirect the questions which are frequently asked.
Get WhatsApp Business API for Your Business
WhatsApp Business API has many extra features and services that are useful for businesses especially for customer service. However, the WhatsApp Business API cannot be obtained for free and cannot be downloaded online. To use the WhatsApp Business API, you must first connect with a third party who is an official WhatsApp Global Business Solution Providers (BSPs). Each provider will offer different prices so in this case you have to be selective and precise in choosing the provider that best suits your business needs.
To find out what services and features suit your business, you can contact Qiscus which is one of the WhatsApp Global Business Solution Providers (BSPs) providing WhatsApp Business API under our in-house Qiscus Multichannel Chat. Ensure your customer experience is stellar with Qiscus today!
