WhatsApp Chatbots The Ultimate Guide
By Joren Wouters • Updated on
This is the ultimate guide to WhatsApp Chatbots in 2021.
And I will cover everything.
What WhatsApp chatbots are.
What message rules apply on WhatsApp.
How you can build a WhatsApp Chatbot.
And even more.
So if you're looking to use WhatsApp chatbots in your marketing, you'll love this new guide.
Chapter 1: Intro to WhatsApp Chatbots
In this first chapter, I will provide an intro to WhatsApp Chatbots. So:
- What is a WhatsApp Chatbot?
- Whatsapp Chatbot Example
- Why use Whatsapp Chatbots?
- How does a WhatsApp Chatbot work?
Let's dive in.
What is a WhatsApp chatbot?
A WhatsApp chatbot is an automated conversation partner on WhatsApp.
It facilitates a conversation between a person and a computer.
Usually, you will have a conversation with another person on WhatsApp (for example, one of your friends), but with chatbots, you are talking to a computer, not a human.
WhatsApp Chatbot Example
Now a real-life example: the KLM WhatsApp Chatbot.
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is one of the biggest airlines in the world. They have over 30.000 employees and serve passengers and cargo to 145 destinations.
I’m originally from the Netherlands, so I really like the fact that KLM was the first airline with a WhatsApp chatbot.
KLM used the chatbot to send booking information, check-in notifications, boarding passes and flight status updates. Besides that, users could ask KLM questions in 10 different languages:
Why use WhatsApp Chatbots?
WhatsApp is one of the biggest messaging apps in the world, with over 2 billion users around the globe. It is available in more than 180 countries and 60 different languages.
Moreover, 1.6 billion WhatsApp users access the app on a monthly basis.
And this leads to 65 billion WhatsApp messages sent every day.
Overwhelming, right?
So basically, you should use WhatsApp because your customers are already there, they are just waiting for you to send them a message. Besides that, you can reach any potential client on WhatsApp, because it is used by so many users all over the world.
Now I hear you thinking “Okay, I should use WhatsApp. But why use a chatbot?”
Good one.
In fact, I made a complete post about why you should use chatbots, but here are the ten most important reasons:
- Save time and money on customer service
- Boost your sales
- Get more leads
- Reply in seconds, instead of days
- 24/7 available, everywhere
- Send real-time, tailored messages to customers
- Messenger apps (like WhatsApp) become more popular
- People are open to using chatbots
- You can use chatbots internally in your company
- Stand out from the crowd (aka, not many businesses use chatbots yet)
How does a WhatsApp Chatbot work?
A WhatsApp chatbot works really simple.
Someone can just send a message to the WhatsApp number of a certain business and the chatbot will try to answer that message, just like any normal person would do.
I will illustrate this by giving an example:
- A user starts a conversation with a WhatsApp chatbot of a wine company. The user asks “What red wine do you recommend?”
- The chatbot understands this message and recognizes the words “red wine” and “recommend”
- Based on those recognized words, the chatbot will look in the wine database for “recommended red wines”
- Finally, the chatbot will send a message back with all the recommended red wines in the wine database.
Pretty simple, right?
“But what about KLM? Nobody sent them a message and they automatically send someone’s boarding pass?”
That’s right. It’s also possible that the chatbot starts the conversation with the user. But this is only allowed in certain situations. We will talk more about that in the next chapter 😉
Chapter 2: WhatsApp Message Rules
Unfortunately, you can't just send any message to anyone with your WhatsApp chatbot.
There are certain rules that you must follow.
Why is this? So that businesses don't spam everyone on WhatsApp (which is really anoying).
So, what are these rules?
Let's jump right in.
Intro to WhatsApp Message Rules
Basically, there are two kinds of conversations with WhatsApp Chatbots:
- The user starts the conversation with the chatbot – WhatsApp calls this “Customer Care”
- The chatbot starts the conversation with the user – This is called WhatsApp Message Templates or WhatsApp Notifications
If you are only planning to provide Customer Care to your users, then don’t worry, because you won’t break any rules.
But if you want to do more, I recommend to read on.
So, every time a user sends a message to your WhatsApp chatbot, a 24-hour window will open. Within this 24-hour window, you can send any message to the user, with absolutely no constraints.
Please note that this 24-hour window will reopen, every time the user sends a message. Take this example:
- User sends message to chatbot *24-hour window will open*
- User says nothing for 8 hours *There are 16 hours left in the 24-hour window*
- After 8 hours, the user sends another message *24-hour window will re-open*
By the way, these message inside the 24-hour window are also called “Session Messages”.
But what about messages outside the 24-hour window?
WhatsApp uses Message Templates/Notifications for that.
WhatsApp Message Templates / Notifications
You can use WhatsApp Message Templates to send messages to users outside the 24-hour window.
But you can only send these message templates in really specific situations.
In total, there are 11 situations and I will go by them one-by-one.
Account update
You can use this category to send messages to users when their account is updated or changed. For example, you can inform customers when they have successfully created an account on your webshop.
Alert update
Send important updates or news to customers.
This category is more for general updates to users. For example, you can send an update to a user if he ordered a product at your webshop.
Appointment Update
The Appointment Update is used to send confirmations, reminders or other updates to users about their appointments:
Auto-Reply
You can use this category to send auto-replies to customers when your business isn’t online or available to respond right away.
To be honest, most business with WhatsApp chatbots don’t use this feature, because a chatbot is 24/7 available and can always respond.
Issue Resolution
With the Issue Resolution category, you can respond to questions or concerns from users about your business.
For example, when your website or service isn’t online at the moment, you can inform users that you are working on a resolution to solve the issue.
Payment Update
The Payment Update is meant to send messages to customers about their payment. For example, you can send a message when the payment has been succesfully received.
Personal Finance Update
You can use the Personal Finance Update to send messages to customers about their personal finances. This is especially useful for insurance organizations or financial institutions.
Reservation Update
This one is quite similar to the Appointment Update.
With the Reservation Update, you can send confirmations, reminders or other updates to users about their reservations.
Shipping Update
You can use the Shipping Update to send updates to customers about shipping their products. For example, you can send “You will receive your products within 24 hours.”
Ticket Update
This can be used to send ticketing information or updates to customers. It is especially useful if you solved a ticket outside the 24-hour window.
Transportation Update
This template is used for sending transportation information or updates to customers. For example, you could send a message when a flight has been delayed (Exactly what KLM used!)
Chapter 3: How to create a chatbot on WhatsApp
Now, we know the basics of WhatsApp Chatbots and the rules we need to follow in order to build one.
So, we got everything to build a WhatsApp chatbot ourselves.
Let’s dive in.
Choose your chatbot software
The first thing you need to do, is choose the chatbot software you are going to use to build your WhatsApp chatbot.
There are basically two options:
- Choose a chatbot builder that has WhatsApp inside their platform (such as Landbot)
- Go with a chatbot builder that has an integration with Twilio (like SilFer Bots)
The last option is the most common approach for chatbot builders that offer WhatsApp chatbots.
In the next chapter, I will show you all the different chatbot software companies that offer WhatsApp Chatbots, so stay tuned.
Apply for the WhatsApp Business API
After you’ve chosen a chatbot builder, you need to apply for the WhatsApp Business API.
The WhatsApp Business API is the system a WhatsApp chatbot uses to send messages to its users. But not everyone has access to this API, so you need to apply for it.
The reason why you need to choose your chatbot software first, is because the application for the WhatsApp Business API differs per chatbot software.
For example, if you use Twilio, you need to fill in the form on the Twilio website:
But, if you would code the chatbot yourself, you can also apply for the WhatsApp Business API through Facebook:
Once you have filled in the form to apply for the WhatsApp Business API, WhatsApp takes between 5 and 15 working days to handle your application.
Sometimes, you also need a phone number. With some chatbot builders (such as Landbot), you can just use your business number for your WhatsApp Chatbot. But with some other builders, they determine the number for you. So, this also differs per chatbot builders.
P.S. If you want a full guide on how you can get approved for the WhatsApp Business API, check out this post.
Build a WhatsApp Chatbot with Landbot
To show how simple it is to build your own WhatsApp chatbot, I am going to build one with Landbot.
First, go to Landbot and click on Sign up to get a free account:
Once you’ve created your account, log in and click on Build a chatbot:
Then, choose for “Messenger and WhatsApp” as channels for your chatbot:
I then quickly made a small flow inside Landbot using their Visual Flow Builder:
Now, we’ve created a small chatbot inside Landbot.
So, how are we going to use this in WhatsApp?
First, we need to apply for the WhatsApp Business API through Landbot (they also have their own form), but this takes 5-15 workdays.
In the meantime, we can use WhatsApp Testing of Landbot (other chatbot builders have similar features) that allow us to test our chatbot in WhatsApp (before we are approved to use the WhatsApp Business API).
To do this, go to Channels –> WhatsApp Testing and click on Create new channel:
Then, fill in your Channel Name, your own WhatsApp Number, link the chatbot you just created and click on Confirm:
Now, Landbot automatically sends you a message and you can test your chatbot inside WhatsApp!
This is how my WhatsApp chatbot looks:
Awesome, right?
Apply for Message Templates (Optional)
This last step is optional.
If you only want to give answers to users’ questions, you don’t need to apply for Message Templates.
But, if you want to start the conversation with your user outside the 24-hour window, you need to apply for Message Templates.
Note: You can only apply for Message Templates if you have been approved for the WhatsApp Business API.
And again, how to do this differs per chatbot software.
But here’s how to do it in Landbot.
Go to Channels –> Request new HSM:
Then, you will be taken to their HSM Template Request chatbot that will ask the necessary questions and will do the Message Template request for you:
If it gets approved, this is how it could like in Landbot:
Chapter 4: Which chatbot software for WhatsApp?
Now we’ve seen how you can build a chatbot ourselves with Landbot.
But Landbot is not the only chatbot builder for WhatsApp out there.
So, which chatbot builders can you use to build your WhatApp chatbot?
And how much does a WhatsApp chatbot cost?
How much does a WhatsApp chatbot cost?
The pricing of your WhatsApp chatbot depends on the chatbot software that you use.
As said before, some chatbot builders use a built-in WhatsApp integration, such as Landbot.
While others make an integration with Twilio, like SilFer Bots.
Because Twilio is the most common option, we first will go over their pricing.
Twilio pricing for WhatsApp Chatbots
For messages inside the 24-hour window, you will need to pay $0.005 per message. This is a flat fee per sent Twilio message.
The pricing of Message Templates is different. This consists of a WhatsApp Fee and a Twilio fee:
Moreover, if you send more messages with WhatsApp, you also get a discount on that WhatsApp fee:
So, let’s say we want to send 20.000 messages inside the 24-hour window and 5.000 messages using Message Templates, this would result in:
20.000 * 0.005 = $100
5.000 * 0.0135 = $67.50
So, in total $167.50 for sending 25.000 messages in a month.
From the chatbot builders below, SilFer Bots, Quriobot and SnatchBot are using Twilio to create WhatsApp Chatbots.
Cliengo Pricing for WhatsApp chatbots
Cliengo offers WhatsApp from their Premium plan, which is $90 per month. If you want to use WhatsApp with this plan, you also need to pay an additional cost.
Unfortunately, they don’t tell on their website what that cost is…
Engati Pricing for WhatsApp chatbots
Engati offers WhatsApp from their Enterprise WhatsApp Basic plan, which is $180 per month and comes with 10.000 interactions:
Landbot Pricing for WhatsApp chatbots
Landbot provides a WhatsApp integration from the Pro plan, which would cost €150 per month and includes 500 chats per month.
They also provide a Business Plan for €600 per month, which comes with 5000 chats per month.
Tars pricing for WhatsApp chatbots
Tars has a Professional plan that includes 5 chatbots and 1000 chats per month for $99.
WhatsApp Chatbot Builders
Here is a list of chatbot builders that offer WhatsApp as a channel:
Botmother
Pros
- Easy-to-use interface
- Many chatbot elements
- Put chatbot on 6 channels
- Built-in live chat
- Accept payments inside your chatbot
Cons
- Hard to set up a chatbot
- Cannot set welcome message
- Cannot determine default reply
- Keyword recognition does not work
- Minimal marketing possibilities
- Minimal analytics
Botpress
Pros
- Free open-source platform
- Easy-to-use visual flow builder
- Host your chatbot in-house
- Built-in, advanced AI & NLP
- Put your chatbot on 8 channels
- Built-in live chat
Cons
- Hard to set up a chatbot in the beginning
- No Zapier/Integromat integration
- Limited marketing possibilities
- Minimal analytics
Botsociety
Pros
- Easy-to-use interface
- Good overview of conversation with flowchart
- Integrations with DialogFlow and Rasa
Cons
- No live chat
- No marketing possibilities
- No analytics
- Not possible to collect user data
- Cannot use conditions in chatbot flows
Cliengo
Pros
- Built-in AI Engine
- You can put a chatbot on your website, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp
- Built-in live chat (Cliengo Live)
- Zapier integration
- Reasonable pricing
Cons
- You cannot create custom chatbot flows, you can only give answers to questions
- You only have two chatbot elements
- It is not possible to use custom fields or tags
- Cannot send broadcasts and sequences
- Not possible to use conditions in your chatbot flows
- There are limited marketing possibilities
- Minimal analytics
Crisp
Pros
- Easy-to-use visual flow builder
- Built-in AI
- Can easily translate chatbot to multiple languages
- Put your chatbot on 6 channels
- Built-in live chat + iOS/Android app
- Zapier integration
- Advanced native website widget
Cons
- Takes some time to fully understand interface
- Minimal chatbot elements
- Cannot send broadcasts and sequences
- Limited marketing possibilities
Dialogflow
Pros
- Easy-to-use interface
- One of the best AI & NLP
- Put your chatbot on 14 channels
- Free until 180 requests per minute
Cons
- Not possible to store contact information
- Cannot use conditions in chatbot flows
- Doesn’t have a live chat integration
- Limited marketing possibilities
Engati
Pros
- Easy-to-use Visual Flow Builder
- Many chatbot elements
- Add custom fields to users and segment them
- Built-in AI & NLP
- Supports 11 different channels to put your chatbot on
- Built-in live chat
- Direct integration with Zapier, Google Calendar & Google Sheets
- Good analytics
Cons
- Limited marketing tools
- Could become expensive if you want all the features
- No eCommerce integrations
Flow.ai
Pros
- Easy-to-use visual flow builder
- A lot of chatbot elements
- Add custom fields/tags and create user segments
- Send broadcasts & sequences
- Easily translate your chatbot to multiple languages
- Built-in AI Engine
- Put your chatbot on 10 channels
- Built-in live chat
- Zapier integration
Cons
- No eCommerce integrations
- Could be a bit expensive for smaller companies
- Not possible to automatically reply to Facebook comments
Freshchat
Pros
- Easy-to-use visual flow builder
- Built-in live chat
- Easily translate your chatbot
- Built-in AI
- Put your chatbot on 4 channels
- Advanced analytics
Cons
- Limited marketing possibilities
- Cannot use conditions
- Minimal chatbot elements
Landbot
Pros
- Easy-to-use interface in which you make a chatbot with their Visual Flow Builder
- Support multiple channels: Website, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Slack
- Extremely good builder for chatbots on landing pages
Cons
- Not possible to add tags to users and make user segments
- No AI built-in the software
- Minimal analytics
Pandorabots
Pros
- Easy-to-use interface
- Open source chatbot builder
- Built-in AI
- Put chatbot on 8 channels
- Built-in live chat
- Easily copy and share chatbot flows
Cons
- Need to code to build a good chatbot
- Cannot store custom fields
- Livechat only available on web chat and landing page
- Need to manually activate live chat per conversation
- Limited marketing possibilities
- Minimal analytics
Quriobot
Pros
- Easy-to-use interface
- Various chatbot elements
- Use conditions
- Translate chatbot to different languages
- Live chat integration
- Zapier & Integromat integration
- Advanced website widget
Cons
- Users cannot use free text input
- Cannot send broadcasts or sequences
- Cannot set tags and custom fields
SilFer Bots
Pros
- Easy to make your chatbot with the Visual Flow Builder
- Many chatbot elements you can use to make your chatbot
- Assign custom fields and tags to your users, so that you can segment them
- Put your chatbot on 4 channels
- Great eCommerce integrations with Shopify & WooCommerce
- Easy to attract users by using the Growth Tools
- Built-in live chat
- AI built-in the software and a DialogFlow integration (if you want more capabilities)
- Direct integrations with Zapier, Integromat and Google Sheets
Cons
- Not possible to have a native website widget
- Minimal analytics, but enough to improve your chatbot
SnatchBot
Pros
- You can add custom fields to your users
- Possible to send broadcasts
- Use conditions in your chatbot flows
- Built-in AI & NLP
- You can put your chatbot on 10 different channels
- Built-in live chat
- Zapier integration
- You can receive payments within your chatbot
- Low pricing
Cons
- Interface is hard to use and takes some time to understand it
- Cannot send sequences to your users
- Limited marketing possibilities
- Minimal analytics
Solvemate
Pros
- Sophisticated dynamic decision tree algorithm
- Put your chatbot on 3 channels
- Live chat integrations
Cons
- Interface hard to use and not easy to understand
- For many features, reliant on the company
- Limited marketing possibilities
- Expensive pricing
- Basic analytics
Tars
Pros
- Easy-to-use Visual Flow Builder
- Advanced native website widget
- Can put a chatbot on 2 channels: Websites and WhatsApp
Cons
- Cannot add custom fields to users
- Not possible to send broadcasts
- You cannot send sequences
- It is not possible to recognize keywords and provide a good answer
- No support for live chat
Trengo
Pros
- Easy-to-use interface
- Add custom fields and tags
- Easily translatable to multiple languages
- Dialogflow integration
- Supports 10 different channels
- Built-in live chat
- One of the best native website widgets ever seen
Cons
- Limited marketing possibilities
- Minimal analytics
- No eCommerce integrations
- No templates
Ubisend
Pros
- Easy-to-use visual flow builder
- Lots of validation options
- AI integrations with DialogFlow, Wit.ai & IBM
- Supports 5 channels
- Built-in live chat
- Advanced analytics
Cons
- Cannot send a broadcast to part of your audience
- No sequences
- Limited marketing possibilities
- No templates
Xenioo
Pros
- Easy-to-use interface
- Many advanced chatbot elements
- You can add custom fields and tags
- Advanced AI & NLP
- Put your chatbot on 9 different channels
- Native website widget
- Built-in live chat
- Decent pricing
Cons
- Can take some time before you understand the interface
- Minimal analytics
Now It's Your Turn
So that’s how you can use WhatsApp chatbots in your marketing.
Now I want to turn it over to you: Are you going to create a WhatsApp Chatbot?
Or are you already using one?
Let me know by leaving a quick comment below right now.
Awesome step by step explanation.
Thank you, Rijwanul 🙂
This is the BEST Review ever!! Thanks Man!
Thank you!
Hey this is a great guide!
A quick question, would it be doable to have the same chatbot running on different whatsapp phone numbers?
I’m looking to build a multilanguage chatbot for whatsapp for different stores in Europe, so would like to build one with translation capabilities but also have it running in different local telephone numbers.
How would you tackle that?
Adding to my comment…The reason why I’m looking at different local phone numbers is because the b2c brand of the store differs across countries..
Hey Anna!
I think this would be possible, but I think you would need to manually copy your chatbot flows (and settings) to multiple accounts. Then, each account is its own phone number. It is possible, but it would also lead to higher maintenance costs, because every time you change your chatbot, you need to do it on multiple accounts.
Does this help?
Great guide. Is it possible to save the replies and pictures taken into a sql database to be used?
I think it is, but then you would need to create a custom integration with your SQL Database.
there’s another software like Twilio called AIsensy , please give a review about it also it’s pricing is reasonable that’s what I’ve found good in it
Thanks, I will look into that!
Hey joren , I needed to know if we could use buttons in a WhatsApp Chatbot I.e. in which we can put an option like a yes or no and the user clicks on the option and the input is given . This helps to make a hasle free Chatbot as there is no problem with keyword triggering and all that
Hey Rehaan! Currently, it is not possible to use buttons on WhatsApp. So your only way to do this is by using keyword triggers.
Actually I’ve seen a company in India using buttons . Their name is lenskart , go to their official WhatsApp number and check out how their bot is .
Yes, I’ve just checked it out and found that WhatsApp recently did a release in which it is possible to use buttons in your WhatsApp chatbot. But not all chatbot builders are providing this functionality yet…