Overview

Do you want to connect with hundreds & thousands of users on WhatsApp instantly to drive 3x more sales & conversions from Day 1? 

WhatsApp Business API is the best means for you to seamlessly connect with global audiences at scale officially on the platform where they are most active—WhatsApp.

What is the WhatsApp Business API?

WhatsApp Business API is a programmable API launched by Facebook in 2018. It allows businesses to Broadcast and receive Unlimited messages to a Global audience and drive better customer experiences on WhatsApp. 

In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about WhatsApp Business API, including – 

Discover WhatsApp Business API, explore its features, learn how to obtain WhatsApp API, and understand how you can leverage WhatsApp API for your Business.

Does your Business need WhatsApp Business API?

Do you really need to take your Business’ Marketing & customer support on WhatsApp?

Why? Well, you should be marketing on WhatsApp because:

1. WhatsApp has 2.2 Billion Monthly Active users
2. WhatsApp Notifications have a 98% Message Open rate
3. 45-60% Click-through Rate/ Engagement Rate
4. An average user opens WhatsApp 23 times each day. 
5. It’s the perfect place to provide Personalized Customer Experiences.

To give you a perspective, Emails only have a 22% open rate & 3-6% Click-throughs. 

Difference between WhatsApp Business App & WhatsApp API

WhatsApp Business App is a Free application for individuals and small businesses. It allows them to create WhatsApp Business Accounts, connect with customers, and drive sales. 

But, the major problem here is that you can’t use WhatsApp Business App to engage with an audience at a large scale because of multiple downsides, including:

1. WhatsApp Broadcast Limit of 256 users
2. Only users who’ve added you to their contacts will receive the Broadcast.
3. There’s no option to track analytics
4. You can’t integrate WhatsApp Chatbot to automate customer support.
5. You can’t send messages with Clickable Buttons or Quick Replies

You can use WhatsApp Business API for multiple users to counter these limitations.

Here’s how WhatsApp API compares to the WhatsApp Business App:

WhatsApp Business API is more powerful than WhatsApp Business APP as it allows you to:

Broadcast to Unlimited Users (opted-in users)

Use WhatsApp Business on Multiple Devices

Automate Notifications

Install WhatsApp Chatbots

Get Verified Green Tick on WhatsApp

Send Messages with clickable buttons

How do you send Messages on WhatsApp using WhatsApp Business API?

If a user initiates a conversation, the Business can respond with any message within 24 hours of the user’s latest message.

However, if a business wants to initiate a conversation by sending a WhatsApp broadcast or notification, it needs to get the messages approved by WhatsApp. 

WhatsApp verifies the message you want to send to users, ensuring that it’s free of errors and complies with WhatsApp Commerce Policies. 

These messages you need to get approved from WhatsApp are known as WhatsApp Template Messages.

Businesses send template messages to:

• Initiate a conversation,
• Send transactional messages (payment, orders, delivery alerts etc).
• Send discount vouchers & promotional offers on WhatsApp

So, how do you create WhatsApp template messages?

You can create & approve Template Messages quickly from Troika Tech Dashboard.

Usually, WhatsApp Template messages take 15 minutes to 3 hours to get Facebook’s approval for the Troika Tech app.

Once the template messages get approved, you can send them to your audience through a WhatsApp Broadcast.

Who can apply for WhatsApp Business API?

There are two pre-requisites you must fulfill to apply for WhatsApp Business API:

1) A Business Website & Business Email

A business website/email ID is a must to access the WhatsApp API. 

Make sure your website footer includes your official Business name. 

2) A Fresh Phone Number

You need an active phone number that isn’t registered with any WhatsApp account.

You can use an old phone number, too, but you’ll have to permanently delete the WhatsApp App or account active on it. Here’s how to delete your WhatsApp Business App or account.

Once approved for the WhatsApp API, you can send messages to 50 people in one go. 

You must verify your Facebook Business Manager to increase the Broadcast Limit and use all WhatsApp API features. 

How to apply for WhatsApp Business API?

There are two ways to apply for WhatsApp Business API:

Directly from Meta

Meta now provides businesses directly to the WhatsApp APIs with WhatsApp Cloud API.

WhatsApp Cloud API is the cloud version of WhatsApp Business API, which allows businesses and developers to build on top of WhatsApp, customize their experiences, and respond to customers quickly and easily. 

But, there are a few significant downsides of WhatsApp Cloud API, including:

1. Meta doesn’t provide a platform to use WhatsApp Cloud API
2. Meta isn’t allowing Indian Businesses to pay for WhatsApp Conversations. 
3. Limited support provided by Meta (only via email)

WhatsApp Business Partners are intermediates that help you get quick access to WhatsApp Business API. 

Earlier, Meta didn’t provide direct access to WhatsApp API. So, businesses took help from WhatsApp partners like Troika Tech to get access to & as well as get a platform to use WhatsApp API.

Benefits of Choosing a WhatsApp Partner for WhatsApp Business API

While Meta has opened WhatsApp to businesses with WhatsApp Cloud API, they don’t provide a platform to use WhatsApp Cloud API. Also, Meta isn’t allowing Indian Businesses to make payments for WhatsApp Conversation Credits. 

By taking help from WhatsApp Partners like Troika Tech to get WhatsApp API, you’ll get:

1) Fast & Free Access to WhatsApp Business API 

You can apply for free WhatsApp Business API with Troika Tech. Your WhatsApp API account will be approved in 10 – 24 hours. 

2) Complete Onboarding & Support

Another significant benefit of choosing a WhatsApp Business partner is that they provide complete onboarding and support if you get stuck at any point. 

3) Platform to use WhatsApp API

WhatsApp Partners provides a no-code platform with robust features and an easy-to-grasp UI to make the most of WhatsApp Business API. 

What is the WhatsApp Business API Pricing?

There are two types of charges for WhatsApp Business API:

1) WhatsApp charges (for Conversations)

WhatsApp charges for each 24-hour conversation businesses have with their users. A Conversation occurs when a business messages a user (thus initiating the Conversation) or replies to a user’s message. 

There are two types of Conversations – 

User-Initiated Conversations (UIC)

Whenever a business replies to a user within the 24-hour customer service window, that message initiates a user-initiated conversation. For Indian recipients, UIC costs ₹0.35

Business Initiated Conversations (BIC)

A conversation initiated by a business sends a user a message outside the 24-hour customer service window. Messages initiating a business-initiated conversation will require a template. For Indian recipients, BIC costs ₹0.35 User Initiated, 0.35p/Conversation, and Business-initiated Conversation, 0.55p/Conversation.

2) WhatsApp Business Partner charges

This is a variable cost. Each WhatsApp partner charges differently for providing a platform to make the most of WhatsApp Business API.

If you go ahead with Troika Tech as your WhatsApp Business partner, you can choose from 2 plans:

• You can start with the Troika Tech Platform for as low as Rs xxxx/ monthfor the Basic Unlimited users’ plan. You can send messages to unlimited users by paying only Rs xxxx/ charged monthly. You get ten tags & 5 Attributes with this plan. 
• There’s also a Pro-plan that costs Rs xxxx/ month, which includes all features of the essential pan & offers additional features like Broadcast Scheduler, Click-tracking (upcoming), Campaign Budget & up to 100 Tags & 20 Attributes.

Check out Troika Tech Platform Pricing

Use Case Scenarios of WhatsApp Business API

You can’t do anything by only having access to WhatsApp Business API. 

To use your WhatsApp Business API account for your Business’s marketing and customer support, you need to integrate it with a platform like Troika Tech. 

Troika Tech is an official WhatsApp Marketing Platform built using WhatsApp Business APIs. It helps businesses scale their sales with WhatsApp Marketing. 

Here are some critical WhatsApp API Use Cases you can implement with Troika Tech:

1) Broadcast Promotional Messages to Unlimited users 

Since October 2021, WhatsApp has allowed businesses to send promotional messages on WhatsApp. 

You can send messages like discount offers, promotions on festivals, product launch messages, season-end-sale & much more to boost their sales & conversions. 

You can only send these messages to users who’ve opted in to receive WhatsApp notifications from your Business. 

2) Automate Notifications via Integrations

You can automate Notifications for Orders, Delivery, Payments, Abandoned Cart Reminders & more on WhatsApp.

With Automated Notifications enabled, the Business can send automated notifications on WhatsApp for every order. 

Troika Tech Platform allows users to connect with third-party apps like Hubspot, Shopify, WooCommerce, Razorpay, and more to facilitate this.

3) Provide Live Human Chat Support on Multiple Devices

WhatsApp Business API allows businesses to manage customer support, boost conversions, and grow their businesses on WhatsApp. With the Business API, businesses can provide Live Chat support on Unlimited Devices using the same Phone Number. 

4) Integrate WhatsApp Chatbot to automate support & sales

A WhatsApp Chatbot is a Chatbot that functions on WhatsApp, answering customer queries, completing sales, and collecting user attributes. 

It works just like a customer support agent, delivering a human-like experience.

5) Send Messages with Clickable Buttons to boost conversions

WhatsApp Business API allows you to send messages with clickable CTAs and Quick Reply Buttons, making them highly actionable. 

6) Send Messages with Rich Media to enhance Personalization

Using WhatsApp API, you can send personalized messages to hundreds & thousands of users in one go. 

WhatsApp allows you to send messages in multiple fun formats with rich media, including Images, Videos, PDFs, GIFs, and much more. 

7) Send Payment Reminders, Links & Updates

WhatsApp Business API allows you to send Payment & Subscription reminders, payment links, and Event updates to instantly drive users to your payment portals and events!

You can automate Razorpay payment links on WhatsApp using Troika Tech to collect 3x more payments faster. 

We’ve covered more amazing WhatsApp Business API usage scenarios. Check them out by clicking the link below. 

WhatsApp Business API Usage Scenarios for Different Teams

There are multiple use cases for WhatsApp Business API for different departments across your Business. 

Different teams can use WhatsApp API for various purposes. Here’s how:

1. Sales & Marketing Team —WhatsApp Marketing is a boon for your Sales and marketing team as you can Broadcast promotional messages to Unlimited users and boost your sales and conversions. 
2. Support Team –WhatsApp is the best platform to provide live one-to-one customer support. WhatsApp Business API allows your support team to provide Live Chat support & answer customer queries instantly across multiple devices. 
3. In-house Communication –An enterprise must maintain a proper communication channel. WhatsApp Business API allows you to Broadcast essential updates and announcements & more easily across the team. 

Now, Before you leave

Here’s a summary of all that you read in this blog:

• WhatsApp Marketing is 6x more effective than emails & SMS with 97% message open rate & 48-62% click-through rates.
• WhatsApp Business API is the best means to make the most out of WhatsApp Marketing for your Business. 
• While WhatsApp Business App is suited for small businesses, WhatsApp API meets the needs of SMBs, Startups & Enterprises.
• To get WhatsApp Business API, you need a Business Website & a Fresh Phone Number not registered on any WhatsApp Apps.
• You can get access to the WhatsApp APIs via two means: WhatsApp Cloud API & WhatsApp Business API. 
• WhatsApp Cloud API doesn’t allow Indian Businesses to pay for Conversations. That’s why getting access to the APIs with a WhatsApp Business Partner like Troika Tech is recommended. 
• Whatsapp API allows you to Broadcast messages to Unlimited Users, automate notifications, integrate Chatbots, provide Live Chat on Multiple devices & much more. 

If you’ve read this far, you’re obviously serious about using WhatsApp Business API to boost your business revenues.

WhatsApp Marketing with WhatsApp API has a fantastic future! Businesses aiming to provide robust customer support and enable high-converting campaigns can use Troika Tech to up their marketing and customer support game on WhatsApp.