The introductory guide to building a chatbot on Whatsapp
Whatsapp is no wonder as one of the most popular mobile messaging apps worldwide. According to statista, as of March 2020, WhatsApp had two billion monthly active users.
How big is the user? Huge. The number of users of social media is incredibly large.
According to Facebook, the use of mobile messaging apps is skyrocketing every year, a 78% of the world’s smartphone users will message every month. Even in a recent study, there are 3.8 billion people use social media and 89% of people are using messaging apps on their phones.
According to this article, Whatsapp is not only dominated by a large number of active user but also it presents on most of the continent. There are only 25 countries in the world where WhatsApp is not the market leader. It so massive and cover almost 86% of the countries around the globe.
What is Chatbot
A chatbot is an artificial intelligence (AI) program that simulates human conversation through text, voice commands, or both. Most of the chatbot is on instant messaging platforms like Facebook Messenger, Line Messenger, Telegram, even WhatsApp. Instant messaging is a convenient platform to communicate.
Building a chatbot in an instant messaging
Important list before developing a chatbot:
- determine the goal or the purpose of a chatbot
- create a user journey that engaging to the users
- determine the channel you want to establish
Chatbot in WhatsApp
Since launching in August 2018, enterprise companies are using the WhatsApp Business API which allows the developer to build a chatbot in WhatsApp
What to consider when building a chatbot on WhatsApp
- Whatsapp message format basically is text. There is no fancy button or carousel.
- WhatsApp Chatbot cannot initiate itself, a user must first trigger to chat with the bot.
- The conversation can continue within 24 hours since the last message. Beyond that, you must create a template message.
- Template Message is a reusable message that can be sent over and over again. To use a message template, you must first submit it to WhatsApp.
Since WhatsApp is not compatible with button and carousel for navigation, creating a clear and concise text-based menu is crucial. Below is the text-based menu for Seabot, a chatbot for Sealand Maersk developed by Botika.
Since the button is not supported, the command that can be accepted via the WhatsApp channel is also text-based.
Before begin developing the Chatbot on Whatsapp, you basically need three things; Permission to Whatsapp Business API, Facebook Business Manager ID, and an active phone number. Whatsapp business promotes the security policy as Facebook and everyone should comply with their policy here.
Conclusion
A chatbot is simple to use and easy, however, developing a chatbot is considered to be a challenging task. Really careful how to design an interaction, flow, and dialogue, so users don’t get frustrated. Starts with something simple flow, sees how the user reacts, evaluates, and then enhances from there. With the popularity and accessibility of WhatsApp, companies, and brands have large opportunities for customer service and marketing.
