Contrary to popular belief, conversational marketing wasn’t born amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. It is a marketing category of its own that has been around for a while and was popularized to convince companies they absolutely needed a chatbot on their website.
However, it makes more sense to talk about this marketing category in the context of messaging apps like WhatsApp. And it’s not me who says it — it’s the experts. Antony Chako, who is the founder of Alpha Marketer, an agency specializing in WhatsApp marketing, believes that WhatsApp, among all messaging apps, is where people actually have conversations, and is really making a difference, in particular, in the eCommerce sector.
So, after already having told you all about the advantages of instant messaging app marketing, let’s now dive deeper into WhatsApp marketing and the tools available out there to help you better reach your goals.
Why WhatsApp is the Conversational Marketing King
We’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again — WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app in the world. It boasts an impressive 2 billion daily active users, a presence in 180 countries and 60 languages; plus, it’s the market leader in 25 out of those 180 countries. No other social and messaging app has a comparable reach. What’s more, when compared to other platforms, WhatsApp users tend to be more active, exchanging over 65 billion messages on a daily basis.
For businesses, WhatsApp’s product catalog offers a lot to choose from, with specific goals, needs, and audiences in mind.
In the beginning, there was the WhatsApp Business App, which was designed and built with small and medium-sized businesses in mind. Some of its features include a business profile, the option to set up quick replies, greetings and away messages, and the ability to manage WhatsApp messages on a desktop. However, the Business App allows for just one single user to reply to customer requests via WhatsApp, which can be helpful on a small scale, but is not enough for bigger businesses, with a huge volume of messages coming in each day.
With the WhatsApp Business API, larger or enterprise-level companies can overturn this issue by connecting WhatsApp to their CRM of choice and, that way, handle bigger volumes of communications all under one roof. Not just that, but the API also allows for the true game changer in WhatsApp marketing — automation in the form of chatbots.
WhatsApp bots are what allows businesses to take their WhatsApp marketing to the next level. With them, businesses can communicate with current and potential clients 24/7, wherever they are in the world, using it for lead generation, lead qualification, and on-the-go personalization — they’re basically able to step in at all stages of the customer journey, leading to increased sales.
How to Pick a WhatsApp Marketing Tool
When talking about a WhatsApp marketing tool, we’re referring to a software provider that offers an interface where you can create, send, and manage your WhatsApp content. The reason for it is that the WhatsApp Business API doesn’t have its own interface; it merely connects WhatsApp to the CRM you use.
But what should you be looking for when searching for this type of software?
A quick Google search will reveal that most of the tools out there focus on sending bulk messages to users. While that is one of the advantages of WhatsApp marketing — reaching a bigger audience on a channel it spends a lot of time on — it’s not the only feature you should look for. Instead, go for a tool that also offers:
- Easy WhatsApp Business API integration: applying for the API isn’t an easy process. But luckily, some WhatsApp marketing tools, like Landbot, also double as a WhatsApp Business solution provider (BSP), acting as an intermediary and overseeing the application and setup.
- A user-friendly, no-code interface: look, life is hard enough as it is. Do you really want the tools you use at work to give you a headache? When choosing a WhatsApp marketing tool, go for one that provides an easy-to-use interface with a no-code chatbot builder, a testing channel, and a campaign manager. You want your marketers to use it, not engineers, so no-code is a must.
WhatsApp Marketing Tools to Choose From
That being said, let’s have a look at some of the WhatsApp marketing tools available in the market and what they have to offer.
Landbot
WhatsApp BSP: Yes
No-code chatbot builder: Yes
Plans and Pricing: Pro (150€/month) and Business (custom pricing)
Free trial: Yes
Landbot is an intuitive no-code platform that allows you to create any chatbot you can imagine and deploy it anywhere — including WhatsApp.
As a WhatsApp BSP, Landbot can act as a managing intermediary during the WhatsApp API application process, overseeing it as well as the later setup. Since signing up to the API directly is a laborious process, partnering with a BSP is the easiest route.
Once you’re done, you’ll be able to start leveraging Landbot’s no-code chatbot builder, testing channel, and campaign manager.
The chatbot builder is easy to use and understand, making it so that anyone in your marketing team will be able to set up chatbots for different marketing purposes. You just sign in, choose “WhatsApp” as your channel and either start building from scratch or select one of many pre-designed, customizable templates.
Even though it’s a no-code chatbot builder, Landbot allows you to design sophisticated conversation flows with conditional logic, formulas and rich media, all through its intuitive drag-and-drop interface. Additionally, Landbot’s free test environment lets you try your WhatsApp bot on your phone as you build it.
Finally, thanks to the recently launched “Campaigns” feature, you can reach out to subscribed users via WhatsApp HSM templates, send proactive messages to a specific audience segment, and decide which messages to send, when, and if they should trigger a WhatsApp bot to keep the conversation going.
Landbot’s pricing starts at 150€/month, which includes a 14-day free trial, for Pro accounts. Custom plans are available for Business accounts.
Twilio
WhatsApp BSP: Yes
No-code chatbot builder: No
Plans and Pricing: No subscription-based pricing (cost per message)
Free trial: Yes
Twilio is a software that offers API integrations for several communications channels, including WhatsApp.
With the WhatsApp Business API and Twilio, users can send notifications to their customer base, hold two-way conversations, and automate those interactions with chatbots. As a WhatsApp BSP, Twilio allows you to self-sign up to use its platform along with WhatsApp, as well as a Guided Signup.
Even though it offers a range of features, Twilio doesn't include a no-code chatbot builder. If you want to automate your WhatsApp marketing operations, you'll need either an in-house expert who will develop and implement your WhatsApp bots, or delegate that task to an external contractor. While it does provide a complex and sophisticated communication platform, Twilio is more suited for those with coding experience than for a marketing team.
As for pricing, Twilio doesn't offer a plan, instead charging per message sent.
MessageBird
WhatsApp BSP: Yes
No-code chatbot builder: Yes
Plans and Pricing: Startup (free), Pro (50$/month), Pro Plus (150$/month), Custom
Free trial: No
MessageBird is a communications platform that offers tools for WhatsApp messaging, SMS, email marketing, and other messaging options for different channels. It's an official WhatsApp BSP.
MessageBird's range of solutions includes a no-code chatbot builder called Flow Builder, where users can build a chatbot from scratch or start off from a customizable template.
Although MessageBird comes with a free plan, that option only allows you to have 50 active contacts each month, which, even for a small business, isn't a lot. To get the best out of WhatsApp with MessageBird, you'd need to upgrade to one of the paid plans. The platform also gives you the option to use the WhatsApp API separately and pay per message. It offers no free trial.
WATI
WhatsApp BSP: Yes
No-code chatbot builder: Yes
Plans and Pricing: Standard (49$/month) and Professional (98$/month)
Free trial: Yes
WATI is a WhatsApp focussed platform that positions itself as a WhatsApp partner for customer communications, including bulk messages and broadcasts. It is an official WhatsApp BSP.
It features a user-friendly, simple interface with a drag-and-drop builder, allowing users to create customized messages for WhatsApp campaigns as well as chatbots. WATI also gives more tech-savvy users access to its WATI API Gateway for further development needs.
WATI offers two plans with different pricing. The Standard plan goes for 49$/month and includes 1000 free conversations per month. Once the limit is reached, there is a fee per each extra conversation. The Professional plan is priced at 98$/month and also includes 1000 free conversations per month.
Among other differences, the Professional plan gives users access to the advanced chatbot builder, while Standard users can only create bots with the basic builder. WATI offers a free trial; however, the trial doesn’t include all of WATI’s features and does not allow you to build chatbots or any other automation flows.
Respond.io
WhatsApp BSP: No
No-code chatbot builder: No
Plans and Pricing: Team (€79/ month), Business (€249/ month) and Enterprise (custom pricing)
Free trial: Yes
Respond.io is a business messaging platform for SMS, WhatsApp, email, and other communication channels.
The platform isn't a WhatsApp BSP and it doesn't provide WhatsApp API access. To use Respond.io, you'll need to get access to the WhatsApp API through another partner and then connect it to your Respond.io account. As soon as your account is set up, you're able to send broadcasts and personalized messages to your WhatsApp audiences.
While you can build chatbots to use on Respond.io, the platform doesn't offer a no-code builder. To build and implement a WhatsApp chatbot, you'd need to integrate your account with a third-party such as Dialogflow.
You can sign up to Respond.io for free, but the WhatsApp API integration isn't free. The integration is subject to a monthly fee with additional fees for messages sent on WhatsApp. Depending on your business needs, you can upgrade to one of Respond.io's paid plans that start at 79€/month and include a free 14-day trial.
ManyChat
WhatsApp BSP: Yes
No-code chatbot builder: Yes
Plans and Pricing: Free, Pro (starts at 15$/month) and Premium (custom pricing)
Free trial: No
ManyChat is a chat marketing platform that allows users to automate interactive conversations on several messaging channels. WhatsApp is one of them, and ManyChat is an official WhatsApp BSP, which makes access to the API easy.
ManyChat’s features for WhatsApp include broadcasting to customers, customization through images, videos and other rich media, live chat, and conversation automation via chatbots. Building a chatbot with ManyChat doesn’t require coding knowledge and is achieved through the platform’s Visual Flow Builder.
At the free level, you can send up to 1000 messages each month; however, you won’t have access to key WhatsApp marketing features such as campaigns and analytics. The Pro plan starts at 15$ per month and scales depending on your number of subscribers. The paid plans don’t include a free trial.
Trengo
WhatsApp BSP: Yes
No-code chatbot builder: Yes, with limited uses
Plans and Pricing: Grow (15€/agent/month), Scale (25€/agent/month), Enterprise (35€/agent/month)
Free trial: Yes
Trengo is an omnichannel communication platform with messaging solutions for different channels. It is a WhatsApp BSP and offers its own WhatsApp business solution.
Among its WhatsApp marketing features, Trengo includes two chatbot building options: a chatbot and what it calls a flowbot. The chatbot option isn’t a no-code feature; instead, it is built on Dialogflow to then be integrated into Trengo. Flowbots are what you would call Trengo’s no-code chatbots. However, the bot building interface isn’t a visual drag-and-drop builder, and flowbots only allow users to automate certain processes within a workflow.
Trengo’s plans start at 15€ for the Grow plan, but WhatsApp isn’t included. For that, you need to sign up for the Scale plan. Using WhatsApp with the Scale plan is free for the first 1000 conversations each month, with further conversations being charged according to WhatsApp pricing. Automation and flowbots are not included in any plan. They’re an add-on to your chosen plan and start at 49€ each month, depending on the number of conversations.
There’s a free 14-day trial.
Conclusion
Choosing the best WhatsApp marketing tool for your business is entirely dependent on your operational needs and budget.
Before taking your pick, be sure to look into all available options, what they have to offer, and which features are included in each of the possible plans you can purchase. Also, don’t forget to double-check if free trials give you access to all the same tools you’d be using later on.
If you’ve made up your mind, just click below to get your WhatsApp marketing journey started!
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