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WhatsApp, apart from being the #1 messaging app in the world, is also a powerful tool for businesses. WhatsApp Business API powers customer communication, customer support, up-selling, and much more.
SMS has traditionally been the most used medium for business communication. However, it is one-way communication and doesn’t offer much scope for interaction. Enter WhatsApp Business APIs!
In this article, we’ll discuss the advantages of WhatsApp over SMS & how the BFSI sector leverages the power of WhatsApp communication via WATI to boost their customer engagement, support & overall business.
Table of Content
Drawbacks of SMS
In the era of information overload, reading is often passive when there isn’t an element of interaction.
Think about how often you open your SMS app if it is not to check your OTP. Let’s see the other problems with SMS communication.
1. Spam and Promotional SMS fills up the inbox- It’s everyone’s story. Despite regulations that are in place, we all receive a lot of spam and unrelated messages. This makes it very hard to even find relevant SMS.
2. Fraud and phishing via SMS are other huge problems. Checking the authenticity of a text message received in the SMS app is not easily possible for an average smartphone user.
People receive a ton of texts from random banks & financial services. That certainly decreases the overall credibility & the chances to bring some attention to your texts.
3. Lack of Interactive communication – There is no way for a customer to reply to or show interest when you send an SMS. It is one-way communication and hasn’t kept up with the changing times where interactivity plays a huge role.
4. Inability to send media files- If a bank wants to send their customer a PDF of their account statement, the only way to do so is to send it via a link. It adds unnecessary steps and makes the process longer than it needs to be.
Text messaging is not bad. It’s just us who have been upgraded to be more interactive & engaging in conversations. WhatsApp Business API Solution not only solves the above problems but also comes with additional useful features for BFSI to engage & communicate with their customers on WhatsApp.
WhatsApp Business API For BFSI Powered by WATI: The Solution
Since its inception in 2018, WhatsApp Business API has become one of the most desired communication channels for banks and financial companies.
WATI.io, built on top of WhatsApp Business APIs, empowers BFSI companies to build a great customer experience on WhatsApp.
With the WhatsApp Business API, the financial sector can not only establish interactive communication with customers on their favorite chat app but also power customer service with real-time account balances, mini statement reports, latest transaction records, real-time alerts, and even payment transfers.
As online engagement becomes more conversational, using WhatsApp to facilitate financial updates for customers makes perfect sense.
Let’s dig deep into how WhatsApp Business API facilitates business messaging for BFSI.
WhatsApp Messaging: The Most Engaging Communication Channel
Being the most engaging communication, WhatsApp makes your customers actively interact with other people on their App. If you broadcast a personalized policy or finance offer, rarely, people will not interact with that message.
You can use WATI’s interactive dashboard to send WhatsApp broadcasts, create chat automation & WhatsApp Chatbots, manage a Multi-Agent Team Inbox, manage contacts, personalize using APIs, and use third-party integrations.
Let’s understand how using the WhatsApp Business API solution solves the problem that SMS communication has.
- Interact with verified businesses through WhatsApp Business Verification– WhatsApp, having the entire service in control, verifies business to build authenticity among business users. The green badge shows that this is the official company account — where customers can ask questions of any kind.
It provides additional contact information, such as their website, phone number, and other company details. Having a verified profile means that customers can trust this channel and communicate without any worry regarding their banking & financial services.
- User Opt-In & Spam Protection- Fraud & spam protection are crucial while serving customers in the financial services sector. User opt-in plays an important role in setting up your service on WhatsApp.
An end-user must first consent to receive financial messages or transactional updates through your WhatsApp Business solution by opting into them via a third-party channel such as your website, app, email, physical form.
WhatsApp verifies each business initiated message(called message templates) before allowing businesses to send them to their customers. This significantly reduces the chances of spam & fraud messages.
WATI dashboard also shows the Quality Rating that may go down when a business tries to spam its customers. Poor Quality Rating may lead to a permanent restriction on using WhatsApp API Solution. - End To End Encryption – Security comes first when it comes to financial communications. WhatsApp Business API messages are encrypted from WATI to the device and secured over HTTPS.
This means financial institutes can share and receive sensitive information in business-to-customer communications, such as payment requests, addresses, etc.
- Interactive & Engaging Messaging: Financial institutes can not only share media such as images, documents, videos but they can also use list messages, CTA buttons.
List Messages– These messages can be used as a menu, showing options for certain services.
CTA Messages– These interactive messages can be used to make customers call or visit your website or in personalized campaigns that are part of WhatsApp Marketing.
- Real-time Customer Support: WhatsApp Business API allows banking & financial services to set up multi-agent support on a single WhatsApp Business Number. WATI has a dedicated team inbox that allows you to easily bring your customer support on WhatsApp. Support on WhatsApp is highly efficient & reliable.
- WhatsApp Chatbot & Automation: You can easily automate the responses for FAQs and general queries related to loans, credits, transactions by enabling a WhatsApp Chatbot on your WhatsApp Business number.
WATI offers a free no-code chatbot builder that makes you build and integrate a chatbot on your WhatsApp Business account. You can design chatbot flows with list messages, CTA messages to make conversations highly engaging & efficient.
Financial services can also integrate their WhatsApp Business with third-party CRMs or Apps they use to manage their business. For example, a user will receive an instant onboarding message once his banking details are verified. - Catalog On WhatsApp: BFSI & FinTech can showcase their product or service catalog directly on their WhatsApp Business number. That allows end-users to make purchase decisions faster.
It’s quite clear that feature-rich WhatsApp Business API communication is far more engaging than traditional SMS communication. Financial services need to set up their WhatsApp business account in a way that serves their customers with personalized messaging.
Get WhatsApp Business API with WATI
WATI has helped some of the leading BFSI companies such as Ditto, MoneyTap in defining their communication strategies.
To get WhatsApp Business API, Please watch the video:
In case of questions, make sure to join a demo with our team.
