WhatsApp Messaging Implementation with SFMC in a Nutshell

Why WhatsApp Messaging:

SFMC has increased WhatsApp's capabilities by connecting with customers through its Contact Builder and Journey Builder by collaborating with WhatsApp’s official consulting partner, Sinch.

The opportunity for omnichannel engagement has been extended through the Salesforce marketing cloud. As per the latest data, it has been proven that customers interact more on chats, and officially, there is more than a 70 percent engagement rate for WhatsApp. It is one of the most popular OTT apps, with the capability to handle messages, voice calls, and video calls.

Introduction to WhatsApp Chat Messaging (Sinch):

WhatsApp wants their customers to work with an official solution which provides WhatsApp Business API. Marketing Cloud has partners with Sinch, an official WhatsApp partner, which helps customers in creation and approvals for WhatsApp account and channel. Chat Messaging Setup app by Sinch is now integrated and available inside Marketing Cloud AppExchange portal.

Features of WhatsApp Messaging :

• Improved customer Engagement: Marketing Cloud could improve customer engagement for organizations by keeping their customers engaged by establishing regular communication through the frequently used WhatsApp channel.
• Personalizing Experience: WhatsApp enables businesses to prompt a personalized customer experience with intelligent promotions, recommendations, and sharing relevant information.
• Effective Reach of Communication: Since WhatsApp is a trending chat platform available to almost all prospective leads and customers, businesses can extend their reach to a lot more customers by interacting and getting more involved with customers through a well-known channel, i.e., WhatsApp.
• Multimedia Communication Support: WhatsApp provides multimedia support which makes it the most feasible option for an organization to accelerate its marketing strategy and enhance the user experience throughout the journey.

Prerequisites for using Whatsapp messaging with SFMC:

1. You must create and set up a WhatsApp business account to send WhatsApp messages. Setup steps will be included in this blog in the following paragraphs.
   
2. For integrating Salesforce Marketing Cloud, we need to connect the marketing cloud account with the Sinch Chat messaging setup app and create a WhatsApp business account and WhatsApp Business channel.
   
3. For template messages to be sent It is a requirement from WhatsApp that you have an explicit customer opt-in.
   
4. Opt-in information must be managed, updated, and stored by the respective organizations.
5. The report or block message feature should be provided to the users who don’t wish to receive these types of communications anymore.

Connecting SFMC with Whatsapp:

WhatsApp has officially partnered with SINCH, allowing it to be used in conjunction with Salesforce Marketing Cloud to connect or integrate with WhatsApp.

Here are a few steps for connecting WhatsApp with SFMC:

• Install the package in your Marketing Cloud account through AppExchange.
• After the package is installed, click Chat Messaging Setup, then select Accounts.
• For creating a WhatsApp Business account, you need a legal company name, an account name, and a Facebook Business Manager ID.
• Facebook Business Manager can only verify your official account.
• Click "New Account," enter all the details, and then click "Submit."
• Your business account will appear in the Accounts section of your Marketing Cloud account. Refer to the screenshot below:

• Now set up your WhatsApp business channel once your business account is approved. Once approved, the account status will change to Onboarded.
• On the left side of the navigation tab, click on "Channels" in the available tab.
• WhatsApp display name and phone number in Journey Builder are referred to as a channel. Customers can see the display name and number whenever you send a message from your approved business channel.
• After adding all the details for your channel, kindly authenticate it with two-factor authentication and complete it all by submitting your request.

Creation and Setup of WhatsApp Messages:

There are two types of messages that can be sent through WhatsApp:

1. Template Messages - Payment receipt confirmation, order confirmation, abandoned cart reminder, etc. are all included in transactional messages. Any event-based messages which include notifications or order confirmation can be termed template messages. Example of approved template messages – Hello {{1}} your doctor’s appointment is confirmed for {{2}} . In this example {{1}} and {{2}} are the are personalization fields

There are two types of template messages:

• Transactional messages— if you want to share important information with customers, we can use this type of message, as it consists of sending the latest account updates, order updates, alerts, etc.
• Marketing messages: These types of messages can be used to increase engagement with products or services, including sending promotional offers product announcements, etc.
• OTP Messages – Any verification code, security code, or authorization code can also be sent as One-time password messages through WhatsApp.

Point to Remember - These messages are approved by WhatsApp before you can send them to ensure that they should not have any promotional content in them. Also, remember that Approval flow and creation of templates appear in Marketing Cloud Content Builder.

2. Session Messages :

Any session message is designed to reply to incoming messages, and it may take some time to wrap your head around all the possible scenarios in which somebody might send a message. No approval from WhatsApp is needed to use these kinds of messages. Customers can use session messages as auto-reply to users with any welcome message also it can used for asking questions about product

Personalize Your WhatsApp Template Messages:

Inside Content Builder you can create and personalize your messages by following the below steps:

1. In Content Builder, click Create.
2. Select Chat Messaging from the dropdown, and then select and click on WhatsApp Template Message.
3. Click "Browse" to see your approved templates.
4. Select any language you want to use and click “Next”.
5. Also, select all the variables you want to use in your message.

NOTE – WhatsApp makes sure that any personalization or variables don’t exceed the 60-character limit for headers and the 1,024-character limit for message templates and headers that are approved. Facebook can reject messages that exceed these limits. Button text can be added with up to 20 characters.

After following above mentioned steps, your template messages will be ready to be sent through a journey in Journey Builder.

Sending Whatsapp Message Using Journey Builder:

Follow below steps to configure WhatsApp activity into journey builder canvas:

A sample Journey canvas screenshot is shown below for your reference:

Wrapping Up - If you plan to provide your customers with a different yet personalized experience, connecting and Integrating WhatsApp into enterprise customer journeys can take the potential of marketing cloud account capabilities to a whole new level.

Sources for Blog –

https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sf.mc_jb_whatsapp_chat_messaging.htm&type=5