WhatsApp business API or WhatsApp marketing has become a critical tool for businesses , leveraging the immense popularity and engagement of the WhatsApp platform. With over 2.24 billion monthly users, WhatsApp offers a direct and effective communication channel for businesses to connect with their audience​​.  

For use cases like user authentication, SMS verification services are preferrable because of reach. But for promotional use cases, WhatsApp has basically become the primary channel.

This article provides an in-depth look at the various use cases of WhatsApp Business API, drawing insights from multiple sources.

1. Automated Customer Service

WhatsApp Business API's integration with chatbots enables automated customer service, reducing the load on customer service executives and providing instant answers to customer queries, thereby enhancing user experience and customer satisfaction​​.

The same is exemplified by the online fashion retailer Modanisa. They developed a chatbot named ‘Nisa’ to handle customer inquiries in multiple languages, improving response time and customer satisfaction. The chatbot resolves questions about orders, returns, deliveries, and more, leading to 70% of customer inquiries being completely resolved by the chatbot and a 36% cost savings in operating call centres.

2. Marketing and Promotions

Businesses can use WhatsApp Business API for marketing and promotions, sending personalized and relevant promotions to encourage conversions. Automated marketing campaigns can be turned into a WhatsApp broadcast to the right audience, effectively maximizing ROI on marketing spend​​​​.

Beauty brand Paragon Technology and Innovation used WhatsApp Business to offer personalized shopping experiences. They integrated WhatsApp into their website and social media channels, allowing customers to start personal shopping experiences and receive advice directly from skin experts. This approach led to a 600% increase in interactions through WhatsApp and a 98.9% customer satisfaction rating​.

3. E-commerce Integration

E-commerce businesses can significantly benefit from WhatsApp Business API through WhatsApp marketing messages. It can guide customers through their buying journey, improve conversions, automate sending of order notifications, payment requests, and shipping updates​​.
DIY store Hubo leveraged WhatsApp marketing software during the COVID-19 pandemic to offer remote DIY advice and receive orders. They used a centralized WhatsApp number for over 180 store locations, facilitating efficient customer interactions and leading to some stores generating 60% of their revenue via WhatsApp.

4. Order and Delivery Updates

Providing real-time order updates and delivery notifications is another crucial use case. You can even authenticate users with WhatsApp OTP. It keeps customers informed and satisfied throughout their purchase journey, enhancing the overall customer experience​​​​.

Parfumado, a perfume company, created a personalized customer journey through WhatsApp, using quizzes and exceptional customer service to sell perfumes that customers hadn’t smelled before. This approach significantly enhanced customer engagement and potentially increased lifetime customer value.

5. Appointment Reminders

For businesses like healthcare providers, salons, or service-based businesses, WhatsApp Business API can send automated appointment reminders, reducing no-shows and improving scheduling efficiency.

6. Travel and Hospitality

In the travel and hospitality industry, WhatsApp Business API can be used to provide a frictionless customer experience, offering destination-based recommendations and personalized services​​ through various WhatsApp marketing campaigns.

7. Education Sector

The API is particularly effective in the education sector for communicating with students, offering a platform for informing about events and educational opportunities​​.

Digify Africa utilized WhatsApp Business to educate African youth on digital skills. They built two distinct chatbots for their learning programs, enabling learners to start courses via WhatsApp, complete quizzes, and earn certificates. This initiative resulted in 136,000 people completing training in less than a year​.

8. Automotive Industry

In the automotive sector, the API facilitates customer inquiries and appointment scheduling, streamlining communication and managing high volumes of customer interactions efficiently​​.

9. Feedback and Reviews

WhatsApp Business API is also an effective platform for collecting customer feedback and reviews, enhancing customer engagement and brand loyalty​​​​.

10. Multilingual Support

For businesses operating in multiple regions like WhatsApp marketing in Malaysia, WhatsApp Business API offers multilingual support, providing a local touch and better personalization for customers across different regions​​.

11. Product Lifecycle Offers

Businesses can tap into product lifecycle opportunities by sending timely re-order prompts to customers, enhancing repeat sales​​.

Data-Driven Insights and Improved Engagement

One of the major benefits of using WhatsApp Business API is the enhanced customer relations through real-time interactions, streamlined conversations with message templates, improved workflow efficiency with automation and integration, richer customer engagement through multimedia, and data-driven decisions with advanced analytics​​.

Adoption and Impact: As of 2018, over 50 million businesses globally use the WhatsApp Business Application, with WhatsApp Business API addressing limitations of the basic app by enabling mass messaging and 24x7 customer support​​.

Engagement and Interaction: WhatsApp's message open rates are a staggering 98%, significantly higher than email or SMS APIs. This high engagement translates into conversion rates of 45-60%, and a similar percentage of abandoned carts and application dropoffs are recovered​​.

Chatbot Efficiency: By the end of 2023, businesses are expected to save 2.5 billion hours using WhatsApp chatbots. These chatbots are essential for automating customer service and managing repetitive queries.

Pricing Model Changes

Starting from June 2023, WhatsApp Business Platform introduced a new conversation-based pricing model, charging businesses as per 24-hour conversation, with different rates by conversation category. This change is expected to improve the quality of conversations and make businesses rethink their approach to using WhatsApp​​.

In conclusion, WhatsApp Business API presents a vast array of use cases across different industries, enabling businesses to leverage the platform for enhanced customer engagement, efficient service delivery, and improved marketing and sales outcomes.

WhatsApp Marketing with WhatsApp Now

With WhatsApp Now, you can simply sign up and start using WhatsApp marketing and other use cases like live chat support.  

With WhatsApp Now, you can: -

1. Send hyper targeted campaigns
2. Analytics and reports  
3. Live chat support
4. Easy broadcast