WhatsApp Marketing Software: Use Cases, Key Features, and 7 Best Tools
By CloudTalk
| 8. October 2024 |
Call Center
By CloudTalk
| 8 Oct 2024 |
Call Center
    By CloudTalkCloudTalk
    | 8 Oct 2024
    Call Center

    WhatsApp Marketing Software: Use Cases, Key Features, and 7 Best Tools

    WhatsApp Business reached 200 million monthly active users in June 2023, a 4x increase from the 50 million reported in July 2020*. With an impressive open rate of 98%**, this accessible tool presents countless opportunities for creating conversations with your customers.

    The question is, how can you use the world’s most popular messaging app*** to cut through the noise — and what software do you choose to make it happen?

    So you can find the solution, we’ve selected the best tools and broken down their key features, top benefits, and pricing information. To further support your selection process, we also identify and discuss the five features you should prioritize in a solution.

    The top 7 WhatsApp marketing software tools at a glance:

    • CloudTalk
    • AiSensy
    • Infobip
    • Respond.io
    • Twilio
    • Wati
    • Zoko

    Transform your messaging strategy

    *Statista, 2023

    **WhatsApp, 2022

    ***Statista, 2024

    WhatsApp Marketing Software: Use Cases

    WhatsApp marketing software enables sales and marketing teams to get more value from their messaging strategy. 

    It can help you generate, qualify, and nurture leads by managing them through one scalable platform. This software has features that exceed basic messaging functionality to support a full-funnel approach, ensuring you engage customers effectively at every stage in their journey.

    Whether you’re managing inbound or outbound customer interactions, there are many practical applications for WhatsApp marketing software in the marketing process. 

    Here are some key examples that apply to multiple industries…

    • Customer Support and Service. Link your WhatsApp Business channels to your CRM systems to offer real-time support, answer frequently asked questions, and provide instant order tracking through automated chatbots or live agents. 
    • Customer Engagement. Use automated software tools to segment audiences and deliver interactive content that keeps them interested and informed about your products and services. 
    • Surveys and Market Research. Collect market research data to gain actionable feedback and create customized campaigns. McKinsey research shows that 71% of consumers expect companies to deliver personalized communications, so this capability is crucial to engaging and retaining customers.
    • Event Management. Harness marketing software to promote events (e.g. webinars, networking sessions, or workshops), send tickets, and follow up with attendees within the WhatsApp platform, helping to reduce ops team workloads.
    • Promotional Campaigns. Incorporate automation into your WhatsApp marketing strategy to send messages about your latest solutions and offers — from product launches to limited-time sales.

    Key Features to Look For in WhatsApp Marketing Software

    With dozens of WhatsApp marketing tools on the market, it’s important to identify the “must-have” capabilities you should prioritize.

    Here are five essential features to look for when choosing a software partner to ensure it can offer all the benefits and functionality you need…

    1. Automation

    Automation is transformative for maximizing the efficiency and impact of your WhatsApp marketing campaigns. Using message templates and chatbots, you can harness AI-powered automation features to streamline your contact centers and save time and money.

    As such, ensuring the software you choose offers functionalities that allow your teams to speed up messaging cycles and manage scheduling automatically is crucial.

    These capabilities should allow you to:

    • Send real-time reminders and alerts
    • Adjust message scheduling to different time zones
    • Automate appointment scheduling
    • Produce automatic replies to FAQs
    • Support self-service for customers

    2. Integration

    Most businesses use multiple marketing channels and software tools to speak to customers, develop strategies, and promote campaigns. 

    If that’s the case for your organization, you must ensure the WhatsApp marketing software you use offers seamless integration with existing CRM, ecommerce, and cross-channel automation platforms.

    This enables you to create consistent customer experiences and personalize messaging with centralized customer databases. Plus, it’ll help your sales, support, and ops teams streamline workflows and minimize the number of tech systems they need to navigate.

    Streamline WhatsApp campaigns

    Integrate CloudTalk with tools like Salesforce, Freshdesk, and Help Scout.

    3. Insights

    Comprehensive analytics will empower your sales teams with data-driven insights to make more informed marketing decisions. 

    Your chosen WhatsApp marketing software should support this through user-friendly analytics platforms, Real-Time Dashboards, and AI-generated reports. These highlight core performance metrics to help you understand your customer interactions and increase productivity across contact centers and support teams.

    Key performance indicators include:

    • Response times
    • Missed chats
    • Resolution rates
    • Return to campaign spend
    • Opt-out rates
    • Average order values
    • Open rates
    • Click-through rates
    • Ticket management
    • Agent availability

    4. Segmentation

    Successful WhatsApp campaigns are relevant and targeted to specific audiences. As such, segmentation is valuable within any great WhatsApp marketing software platform.

    This function should enable you to build lists based on the key demographics and behavioral data you’ve gathered through your integrated CRM systems. 

    By grouping audiences based on factors like purchase history and preferences, you can send customized campaigns that improve engagement. The more relevant and personal your content is, the better chances you have of getting a response — especially on WhatsApp, where customers are unlikely to put up with generic marketing noise.

    5. Compliance

    Before you make any new software investment, making sure it has the necessary security protections and processes to maintain your compliance with WhatsApp policies and local data privacy laws is essential. Not only is this important for protecting your customers’ information, but it’s also vital for defending your internal systems against bad actors.

    This is especially important for businesses in highly regulated industries with strict data management standards. So, make sure your WhatsApp marketing software solution of choice has at least some of the following built-in measures:

    The 7 Best WhatsApp Marketing Tools

    So, now you know what to look for. Next, you need to find a business solution provider with a WhatsApp marketing tool that’ll help you achieve your goals!

    Below, we’ve outlined seven trusted tools that tick all the boxes, starting with our very own WhatsApp SMS integration.

    1. CloudTalk

    CloudTalk is a cloud-based call center and business calling software designed to support your service teams with powerful automation tools. This omnichannel contact center solution supports integration with popular CRMs and helpdesk tools, offering advanced customer experience insights to help your agents do more with less. 

    On top of our other cloud communication solutions, CloudTalk Expert package offers two WhatsApp marketing software integrations:

    • WhatsApp Inbound Messages lets you instantly send and receive customer WhatsApp messages directly in CloudTalk’s mobile app.
    • WhatsApp Outbound Messages allows you to send out individual or bulk WhatsApp communications based on approved templates through our phone app.

    Top Features

    Key Benefits

    • Centralized CRM systems. Manage, archive, and access WhatsApp messages in one place.
    • Valuable data insights. Review past customer interactions and leverage trends to accelerate sales.
    • Increased engagement. Use photos and text messages to increase customer engagement.
    • Enhanced personalization. Deliver customized communications, complete with hyperlinks, to your customers.
    • Faster operations. Power up your sales and reach more customers with custom templates.

    Pricing

    Screenshot of pricing options for different CloudTalk packages, including Starter, Essential, Expert, and Custom.

    2. AiSensy

    AiSensy is a complete WhatsApp marketing software built on top of official WhatsApp Business Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). It allows users to broadcast messages to thousands of opted-in users at once and covers all aspects of marketing, CRM, and customer support under one user-friendly platform.

    Top Features

    • Multi-agent live chat
    • Free WhatsApp Business API
    • Click-tracking
    • Ecomm+
    • Click-to-WhatsApp ads

    Key Benefits

    • Easy chatbot-to-human transfers. Monitor conversations and get notified when to transfer.
    • Good audience segregation. Use smart auto-segmentation to run targeted broadcasts and campaigns.
    • Automated scheduling. Pre-set WhatsApp broadcasts ahead of holidays and launches across multiple time zones.
    • Unlimited broadcasts. Schedule and send marketing messages and campaigns to unlimited users every day.
    • Better lead generation. Use the Click-to-WhatsApp feature to drive more leads while reducing costs.

    Pricing

    Screenshot of AiSensy's different platform pricing plans, showing Basic, Pro, and Enterprise.

    3. Infobip

    Infobip is another multichannel marketing platform that allows users to engage customers and prospects with straightforward WhatsApp integration. With user-friendly automation and always-on support, this is a good option for any business that wants to maximize the ROI of their WhatsApp marketing spend.

    Top Features

    Key Benefits

    • Personalized promotions. Boost engagement at scale with high-performing, customized campaigns. 
    • User-friendly automation. Harness valuable data insights to improve customer interactions.
    • On-tap support. Get help building a WhatsApp engagement strategy to improve customer experiences.
    • Unified API. Integrate existing business workflows and create better WhatsApp campaigns. 
    • Drag-and-drop interface. Create workflows and customer journeys with no coding required.

    Pricing

    Infobip’s pricing model is based on three business-initiated conversation categories and one user-initiated conversation category. You’ll need to contact one of their experts to get a specific quote.

    4. Respond.io

    Respond.io is a popular WhatsApp marketing software provider that helps businesses easily connect with thousands of WhatsApp users. This is another omnichannel platform that offers WhatsApp integration, helping companies generate leads and build long-lasting customer relationships.

    Top Features

    • Lead qualification 
    • Response automation
    • Meeting booking
    • Inbox for sales
    • Integrations

    Key Benefits

    • Easy-to-use interface. Equip your sales and marketing teams with a tool they love to use.
    • Customer service functionality. Welcome new customers and ensure you’re responding to queries efficiently. 
    • Marketing insights. Assess the effectiveness of your digital marketing through advanced campaign analytics. 
    • Transactional notifications. Send automatic appointment reminders, receipts, and delivery updates through WhatsApp. 
    • Conversation analysis. Analyze the performance of your agents and gain visibility over their conversations.  

    Pricing

    WhatsApp fees aren’t included in a Respond.ai subscription, but you’re covered up to 1,000 monthly service conversations. Check out Respond.io’s WhatsApp Business API pricing calculator to estimate the cost of extra credits.

    Screenshot of Respond.io's WhatsApp marketing software calculator tool.

    5. Twilio

    Twilio is a customer engagement platform that offers flexible SMS and email APIs with data-driven features. It also offers WhatsApp integration through its Programmable Messaging API, allowing agents to send marketing campaigns at scale.

    H4 Top Features

    • Transactional messaging
    • Conversational messaging
    • Twilio Flex
    • Personalized communications
    • Account verification

    Key Benefits

    • Customized engagements. Use Twilio Flex to deliver highly targeted and personalized campaigns across WhatsApp.
    • Quick integration. Get support to integrate Twilio and WhatsApp quickly, effectively, and compliantly. 
    • Flexible messaging. Send one-way communications with an API for alerts and notifications. 
    • Mobile sales engagement. Build lasting customer relationships with mobile-first applications for your sales teams.
    • System security. Maintain secure marketing interactions with end-to-end account verification.

    Pricing

    Twilio calculates charges based on per-message and per-conversation fees, supported by data from Meta. Use the Twilio calculator to estimate your business’ costs.

    Screenshot of Twilio's WhatsApp marketing software calculator tool.

    6. Wati

    Wati is a purpose-built customer engagement and team inbox tool. This WhatsApp marketing software offers fairly simple functionality, supporting a small number of CRM integrations to help businesses drive more streamlined marketing efforts.

    Top Features

    • Shared team inbox
    • Bulk sending
    • Alerts and notifications
    • No-code chatbot
    • Click-to-WhatsApp ads

    Key Benefits

    • Custom notifications. Ensure continuity between your agents and customers with personalized alerts and notifications. 
    • Chatbot support. Use a drag-and-drop chatbot builder to answer simple questions and escalate to the right agents. 
    • Quality management. Collect regular feedback to improve your customer service functions.
    • Scalable support. Support your growing business without investing in additional agents.
    • Instant lead engagement. Deploy automated chatbots to start conversations as soon as a lead signs up.

    Pricing

    Screenshot of Wati's affordable pricing plans for a WhatsApp customer engagement tool.

    7. Zoko

    This is another WhatsApp BSP that offers bulk WhatsApp marketing software. It’s great for ecommerce businesses, offering an intuitive user interface that helps organizations of different sizes leverage WhatsApp as an effective customer service and marketing tool.

    Top Features

    • Abandoned cart recovery
    • COD confirmation
    • Chat automation
    • Broadcasting
    • Rules-based assignment

    Key Benefits

    • All-in-one system. Create a centralized hub to manage your sales, marketing, and customer support.
    • AI-driven analytics. Gain insights on customer interactions to make data-driven decisions to improve your services.
    • Quick replies. Use the built-in quick replies feature through WhatsApp to deliver fast and on-brand responses.
    • Customizable WhatsApp chatbots. Make a chatbot that suits your business needs to ensure your customers get relevant support.
    • ChatGPT integration. Deliver multilingual, 24/7 support by using GenAI within your WhatsApp business communications.

    Pricing

    Screenshot of Zoko's WhatsApp software pricing plans.

    Supercharge Your WhatsApp Marketing With CloudTalk

    Looking to supercharge your WhatsApp marketing and streamline your sales processes? Explore some powerful tools that can automate your efforts or discover top WhatsApp business alternatives that might fit your needs even better! Whether you’re aiming to boost efficiency or find a platform that clicks with your business, the options are endless.

    However, if you want to benefit from unbeatable integrations, advanced features, and real-time support, there’s none better than CloudTalk.

    Our user-friendly, comprehensive WhatsApp marketing software for inbound and outbound messages gives you the templates and insights you need to drive more effective campaign management. 

    So, your agents and support teams can better serve your customers, increase loyalty and engagement, and optimize their workflows — leading to a happier and more productive workforce.  

    Succeed with CloudTalk

    Explore our SMS and WhatsApp integrations