How to use WhatsApp Business API for Notifications: 5 easy steps

1. Reservation update

Brands can send reservation notifications to their customers including all the booking details.

“Hi [name],

Thank you for booking your stay at Hotel Radisson, London, for Wed, 18 Jan 2023, with MakeMyTrip. We are looking forward to welcoming you.

To manage your booking, visit the following link: [link].”

2. Appointment Update

WhatsApp Business push notifications are great for sending appointment updates, meeting confirmations, reminders, and other related messages.

“Hi [name],

We would like to inform you that your appointment with the orthodontist has been scheduled for 8th January at 11:30 am. Please let us know 24 hours in advance if you cannot make it to the appointment.”

3. Shipping Update

You can update your customers with information regarding their orders through Whatsapp Business too. Below is an example of a shipping update for a cosmetic order.

“Awesome news, [name],

Make space because your order has been shipped from our warehouse. It will reach your doorstep within two working days. 

To track your order, please visit this link: [link].”

4. Account Update

You can send notifications to customers when there have been changes in the account settings and account details. This ensures that the customer can take quick action if there’s something fishy about the account changes.

“Hi [name]. We have updated your account with a new password. If this was not you, reach out to us quickly.”

5. Payment Update

You can also send payment updates to your customers through these notifications. You can use it to remind customers about unpaid invoices, missed payments, etc.

“Hi [name]! Your payment of [Amount] for [Product] has been completed. Thank you for shopping with us. Your order will reach you within seven business days.”

Requirements to send WhatsApp Business notifications via the WhatsApp Business app

WhatsApp lets businesses send push notifications only with a broadcast message. To send it, you’ll need the WhatsApp Business app which has been specifically designed for individual entrepreneurs and small businesses. Naturally, for larger enterprises, it poses several limitations.

1. You can only send a broadcast message to people who saved your number in their phone, which is rare since people don’t usually save the contact numbers of businesses.
2. You can send it to a maximum of 256 people at a time. This is OK for small businesses, but mid to large-sized companies will find this problematic.
3. The Whatsapp Business app is limited to five devices. You can install it only on one smartphone and not more than four other devices. These devices must be linked to the same number.
4. The app is not completely GDPR compliant. It can read the phone numbers of all the stored contacts which poses serious security issues.

Requirements to send WhatsApp Business notifications through WhatsApp Business API

Since the above limitations make it difficult for medium to large-size businesses to use the WhatsApp Business app, they can use the WhatsApp API instead.

The WhatsApp Business API doesn’t have an interface, unlike the business app. So to use it, you’ll need a professional customer engagement platform.

The WhatsApp Business API not only overcomes the limitations of the WhatsApp Business app but also offers more professional features. This means that now you can:

1. Automatically send notifications to up to 800 recipients a day. However, don’t forget that WhatsApp holds the right to increase or decrease the limit and pricing accordingly.
2. Be ensured that you are completely GDPR compliant. Don’t forget to ensure that the business solution you choose is also GDPR compliant. Trengo lives up to that standard.
3. Reach customers who haven’t saved your contact number. This doesn’t mean that you can spam the inboxes of customers who haven’t opted-in for the business notifications.

Now that you know the requirements to send Whatsapp Business notifications, let’s understand how to send them.

Manual WhatsApp push notifications (via a WhatsApp Business template message)

You can only initiate a conversation with your customer if they send you a message first (called a user-initiated conversation) or by sending them a WhatsApp Business message template.

This is because WhatsApp doesn’t want businesses to spam its users. Hence you’re not allowed to use a generic message to converse with customers.

Apart from initiating a conversation with the end user, you can use a message template in situations where you fail to reply to a user-initiated message within 24 hours.

A message template needs to be approved by Meta. It can have a maximum of 4096 characters, including text, emoji, and structured variables.

Automated WhatsApp push notifications via broadcasting

The broadcast feature lets businesses send a WhatsApp push notification to multiple contacts at the same time. While there is no limit on the number of broadcast lists you can create, you can only add a maximum of 256 contacts on each list. Moreover, as mentioned before, your customers must have your contact number saved on their phones.

However, you can overcome this limitation by using a Whatsapp Business API along with a messaging software solution. It lets users:

• Automate replies to incoming messages with quick replies, auto-replies, and chatbots.
• Add multiple users to manage incoming WhatsApp messages.
• Send messages to 800 people every day.