Integrate WhatsApp with Inbox
WhatsApp for customer utility
Have you ever been on a business's customer care hotline for an annoyingly long time? Have you been on the other side as well, as a business representative, and found it difficult to manage the never ending calls? As messaging platforms become increasingly popular, expectations for customer service continue to grow as well. Businesses need to make it easy for customers to reach the right person to help them. Customers want their online conversations about issues, questions, or order updates to be as easy as talking to a customer support executive in person.
Messaging platforms like WhatsApp have made this process simple for customers and businesses alike, easing one-on-one communication and providing instant support all days of the week.
WhatsApp for marketing
WhatsApp has taken over the communication between brands and consumers and has bridged the gap between households and stores. Each business a consumer has already interacted with, purchased from, or received a service from has become a personal chat on their phones.
Businesses can leverage this space and make use of an existing contact list by reaching out to them with news about exclusive deals and discounts, promotional messages, or product launches. With the familiarity that these consumers have with your brand, the rate of conversion of this method of marketing is higher, while being cost-efficient.
With the WhatsApp integration in Zoho Social, you'll be able to manage your WhatsApp interactions directly from the Inbox module by viewing and responding immediately. You can also make your chat screen more interactive by enabling call-to-action buttons and quick responses that your customers can choose and set the flow of the conversation.
Feature availability
You can integrate WhatsApp with Zoho Social if you're on the Premium, Agency, or Agency Plus pricing plans.
You have to pay to WhatsApp to use the WhatsApp API via any third-party social media management tools like Zoho Social. The charges are incurred based on conversations, which is defined as a message thread that lasts for 24 hours between a business and the end-user/customer. The payment is calculated according to the number of credits you wish to buy, and can be done via Social.
To integrate a WhatsApp account with Zoho Social
To connect your WhatsApp account to Zoho Social, you must have a Facebook account. This is because Meta requires your WhatsApp account to be connected to Facebook.
- Go to Settings -> Integrations.
- Click Connect WhatsApp.
- Enter the credentials of your Facebook account and click Login.
- Authorize Zoho Social to access your Facebook and WhatsApp business account by clicking Continue as <username> in the first pop-up and Get Started in the next.
- Fill in your business information by choosing an existing business portfolio or creating a new portfolio to add your WhatsApp profile and number and click Next.
- Authorize Zoho Social to manage your WhatsApp account and conversations by clicking Continue.
- Click Finish to complete the setup.
- Select the phone number you want to link to Zoho Social and click Choose.
To enable or disable WhatsApp in Social
This setting can be changed only by admins in your Zoho Social account.
- Go to Settings -> Integrations.
- Click the toggle next to WhatsApp to enable or disable the account in Social.
The enable/disable toggle only enables or disables the interactions inside Social's Inbox. You will still keep receiving interactions on your WhatsApp account even if you disable the WhatsApp account inside Social.
To buy credits for using WhatsApp API in Social
- Go to Settings-> Integrations.
- Click Buy Credits next to the WhatsApp icon, or hover over it and click Show Details to buy credits.
- Enter the number of credits you want to buy and click Calculate Price.
- Verify the price and click Make Payment.
- Complete the payment via any of the available payment options.
WhatsApp templates for prompt replies
WhatsApp templates give you the freedom to set up and respond to users immediately by creating pre-made responses and saving them according to their purpose in specific categories like utility and marketing to use in chats whenever required. You can also create groups to categorize them and save the responses within Zoho Social.
For example, you can create a group, name it 'Thank you responses', and save all the responses related to thanking a customer for making a purchase or dropping an enquiry. You can personalize the message by adding a header with text or media, a footer message, and a call-to-action or a quick response to make the conversation more interactive.
Starting April 1, 2025, you will no longer be able to send WhatsApp marketing template messages to users with a United States phone number (starting with +1 and a US area code).
This is in alignment with a recent announcement from WhatsApp aimed at limiting marketing messages and enhancing user experience. Read moreTo create a WhatsApp template
- Go to Settings -> Integrations.
- Hover over the WhatsApp integration and click Show Details.
- Click + Create Template
- Select the category in which you want to create the template from the drop-down.
- Add a name to identify the template.
- Select an existing group from the drop-down or create a new group and add it.
- Select a header if needed, then add text or media.
- To add text, enter the content in the Text field.
- To add media, select the Media option and click Upload Image to upload an image either from your Desktop or Media Library in any of the supported formats displayed.
- Enter the message content.
- Enter the footer content in the text field.
- Add additional options, such as a call-to-action button or quick reply button.
- Select the call-to-action button you wish to add from the drop-down, enter a name and phone number(with the country code) or a website URL in the respective fields.
- Select the quick reply button and add the response in the text field. Click Add to add more responses.
- Check the preview of the template and click Save.
- The templates you save for WhatsApp are specific to the platform and can't be used for other networks.
- Every new template added needs to be approved by WhatsApp before you use it in your messages. This approval happens within an hour by WhatsApp, and the template is reviewed based on the category you choose, so choosing the appropriate category while creating the template is important.
- An existing template that's already been approved can only be edited once in 24 hours.
- Your message template will be approved based on the category you choose, so make sure to choose the appropriate category for your message.
- You can enable or disable a specific template by clicking the toggle next to the message. A disabled template won't be available as a saved reply until enabled again.
- If a WhatsApp message from a user goes unanswered for 24 hours, you can only continue the conversation by sending one of the approved WhatsApp templates as a response. You won’t be able to draft a new message and send it unless the user responds again.
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