WhatsApp chatbots for small business
Where an assistant on WhatsApp helps, how the 24-hour window and opt-in rules work, and what to set up so customers trust it.
Dieser Beitrag erscheint auf Englisch. Der Rest der Seite ist übersetzt, die Beiträge sind es nicht, weil ein maschinell übersetztes fachliches Argument schlechter ist als eines in der Sprache, in der es geschrieben wurde.
What can a WhatsApp assistant do for a small business?
It can answer the questions you get every day, ask a few qualifying questions, book an appointment, and pass the conversation to you with the answers attached. It works at any hour, so a customer who writes in the evening gets a reply straight away instead of waiting until morning.
Which businesses benefit most?
Businesses that get repeated questions by message: clinics, salons, agencies, real estate teams, tutors and shops. If your team answers the same ten questions all day, an assistant takes that load and leaves the conversations that need a person.
What are the rules I should know?
WhatsApp's business platform separates two kinds of conversation. When a customer writes to you, you can reply freely during a 24-hour window that restarts with each of their messages. Outside that window you can only send pre-approved message templates, and only to people who have agreed to receive messages from you. Check the current policy before you design a flow, because the details change.
Should the assistant say it is an AI?
Yes. Say so in the first message and make it easy to reach a person. It builds trust, and in many places it is also a legal requirement. Keep the assistant to approved content, and have it say when it does not know instead of guessing.
What should I prepare?
- The ten most common questions and the answers you want given.
- The details you need to qualify a lead, such as the website, the service and the budget range.
- The tools it should connect to: a calendar for bookings, a CRM for contacts.
- A rule for when to hand over to a person, such as complaints, prices and anything sensitive.
What are the privacy points?
Collect only what you need. Do not ask for sensitive details in a chat, tell people how their information is used, and follow the data rules that apply where your customers live, such as GDPR in Europe and the UK.
How do I know it works?
Track how many conversations end in a booking or a qualified lead, how many are handed to a person, and which questions the assistant could not answer. Use the unanswered ones to improve the answers each month.