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Christian Strauch
Managing Director & Co-Founder
Managing Director & Co-Founder
With Mateo, you provide your customers with an outstanding customer experience and gain loyal fans.
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With more than 2 billion users worldwide, WhatsApp is the most popular messenger. In Germany alone, over 60 million people use the messenger daily (source: Statista 2022). WhatsApp owner Meta Platforms, Inc. (formerly Facebook) has also been offering companies a way to use the messenger for customer communication for several years with its WhatsApp Business products and the WhatsApp Business API. But what are actually the main differences between WhatsApp Business and the WhatsApp Business API? What features do the two variants offer, what do they cost and how can companies use the WhatsApp Business API? You can find out more in this article.
What is WhatsApp Business?
WhatsApp Business is a free app available for Android and Apple smartphones, designed specifically for small businesses. WhatsApp Business simplifies interaction with customers by providing tools to automate, sort, and quickly reply to messages. The user interface and many features are similar to those of the WhatsApp Messenger app for individuals, making WhatsApp Business very easy to use for most businesses.
Compared to the app for individuals, a WhatsApp corporate account offers the following additional features:
- Company profile to list important information, such as a company's address, email, and website.
- Messaging tools to quickly respond to customer inquiries, such as text modules and automated responses
- Categorize customers and chats (e.g. new customer, prospect, service request, etc.) for better clarity
- Automated responses to customers (e.g. outside business hours)
- Creation of product catalogs
WhatsApp Business can be downloaded free of charge from the Google Play Store and the App Store. You can find all the setup info in our article"WhatsApp Business setup - detailed instructions".
What is the WhatsApp Business API?
To provide larger businesses with a secure, scalable, and GDPR-compliant solution tailored to their needs, Facebook launched the WhatsApp Business API in August 2018. This application programming interface (API) enables businesses to receive and reply to WhatsApp messages from their customers.
Unlike the WhatsApp Business App, the API itself comes without a user interface. The API connects WhatsApp with a professional messaging tool, such as Mateo offers. Companies integrate the WhatsApp API endpoint into the software of an official WhatsApp Business Solution provider. Mateo offers enterprise customers the corresponding integration in a clear user interface with its in-house software.
The main peculiarities and functions of the WhatsApp Business API
The WhatsApp Business API offers businesses significantly more features than the traditional WhatsApp Business app. There are also some important peculiarities that users need to keep in mind when using WhatsApp via the API interface.
WhatsApp Newsletter Marketing
With the WhatsApp API, companies can send WhatsApp marketing newsletters. This form of advertising is referred to by Meta as so-called "Promotional Messages". These are individually customizable message templates that must be approved in advance by WhatsApp. Customers can, for example, receive product suggestions based on their last order. Messages whose content violates WhatsApp's terms of use or sounds too promotional are not permitted. Important customer information such as order confirmations can, of course, be sent at any time.
WhatsApp newsletters require the consent of the recipient (opt-in): Promotional messages can only be sent to users via WhatsApp if the recipients have actively consented to receiving newsletters via an opt-in. This is done, for example, by entering a telephone number and activating a checkbox.
Reading tip: For more info on the opt-in and how to get it from your customers, see our article on WhatsApp marketing.
Integrations with other software applications
With the WhatsApp API, it is technically possible to integrate WhatsApp into other software applications. Whether you can actually use this feature depends on your particular WhatsApp API provider. With Mateo, you can connect to more than 6,000 applications via Zapier, without any programming knowledge. So, for example, you can send automated order confirmations when a customer has ordered something from your online store or send pre-written messages when a customer has filled out a form on your website. For tech-savvy users, Mateo also provides a REST API interface.
Zapier supports thousands of widely used business software and applications. With Zapier you can create automated workflows and connect your Mateo Inbox (including WhatsApp) with widely used applications, such as:
- HubSpot, Salesforce and Pipedrive
- Gmail, Outlook and Slack
- Google Sheets and Excel
- Shopify and WooCommerce
Here you can find an overview of all applications that can be linked to Mateo through Zapier. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us or book a free consultation appointment directly.
Service window for answers
If a user sends an inquiry to the company via WhatsApp, the answer must be provided within 24 hours ("customer care window"). This means that customer inquiries are answered promptly, which improves the user experience of WhatsApp users and prevents the company from contacting them (without opting in).
Within the service window, communication with WhatsApp Business API works the same way as with the application for individuals. Messages with text, web links and emojis can be sent and, of course, images, videos and attachments like PDF files can be shared in the chat.
Automation in the form of chatbots is allowed within the service window. However, the option to forward the user to a customer service representative must be available.
When the service window is closed, a special message template must be sent to ask the user to contact you.
Message templates
Message templates (called "template messages" by WhatsApp) can make customer communications very efficient for the business. WhatsApp business customers can use pre-written messages to send order confirmations, payment requests, and shipping information in seconds.
Technically, a message template is a text string that uses placeholders (for e.g. order numbers, dates and prices) to provide personalized information. In addition to the selection of frequently used templates provided by WhatsApp Business by default, custom message templates can also be created to cover all service situations for the individual use case. These must be approved before they can be used by WhatsApp. The approval process takes up to 24 hours. WhatsApp reviews message templates to prevent companies from sending unwanted content to consumers that violates the WhatsApp Commerce Policy. When creating message templates, it is important to make sure that the template is assigned to the correct category (Marketing, Authentication, Administration or Service). This is because different costs are incurred depending on the category.
Combined with a clear user interface like Mateo offers, these tools unleash their full potential and make WhatsApp Business API customer communications highly efficient.
Reading tip: In our article"15 message templates for automatic replies in WhatsApp Business" you will find many useful message templates for your business. We have also created a collection especially for message templates and newsletters that can serve as inspiration for you.
What is the difference between WhatsApp Business and the WhatsApp Business API?
To keep track of the two variants of WhatsApp, all important information is summarized in the following table.
Differences of WhatsApp Business and the WhatsApp API with the GDPR
The WhatsApp Business app, while designed for small businesses, is unfortunately not compliant with the GDPR regulations in many aspects.
Reading tip: In our article "WhatsApp Business GDPR"we have summarized all background information and explain why WhatsApp Business is not compatible with the GDPR.
Business owners are responsible for both the collection and processing of personal customer data. Communication via WhatsApp is end-to-end encrypted, but not GDPR-compliant in the foreseeable future, as WhatsApp Business still has access to metadata and contact lists, which makes its use questionable from a data protection perspective. Only the WhatsApp Business API can be used in the company in a GDPR-compliant manner.
The WhatsApp Business API has a simple opt-in and opt-out and does not access the user's private phone book. Contact data cannot be read by Facebook or other third parties. There is also a transparent privacy policy and order data processing agreement (AVV contract). Accordingly, only the WhatsApp Business API interface enables companies to use WhatsApp Business in Germany in a DSGVO-compliant manner.
Both the WhatsApp application for private individuals and WhatsApp Business, on the other hand, do not meet the high data protection requirements of the European legislator and are not recommended for customer communication.
Which companies can use the WhatsApp Business API?
The WhatsApp API is the perfect solution for companies that see WhatsApp as an important communication channel, comply with the applicable GDPR and want to use the messenger with multiple employees.
However, all businesses using WhatsApp Business must comply with the WhatsApp Commerce Policy. According to the Commerce Policy, the following industries and services are excluded from using all WhatsApp Business products:
- Alcohol, tobacco products and accessories
- Drugs and medication
- Illegal products and services
- Unsafe dietary supplements
- Weapons, ammunition or explosives
- uvm.
Accordingly, companies must check in advance whether they are authorized to use WhatsApp Business or WhatsApp Business API according to the commercial policy and whether they can comply with the terms of use when using the messenger.
How can I set up WhatsApp Business API for my business?
WhatsApp only allows very few large corporations direct access to its API. For most companies, the path to the WhatsApp Business API leads via so-called Business Solution Providers. These are official partners of WhatsApp owner Facebook that support companies in accessing the API. Accordingly, the setup of the API depends on the API provider.
Mateo's professional messaging tool offers not only the integration of WhatsApp Business via the API, but also a clear user interface and the integration of many other communication channels such as email, Instagram, SMS and Facebook Messenger. Mateo offers a fully comprehensive service with professional account managers when setting up the software including WhatsApp Business API.
An inventory analysis identifies how the software can best be integrated. Then, if not already in place, Mateo applies for company phone numbers and sets up the system. Now the communication channels are united in the user interface provided by Mateo and can be used directly. A dedicated contact person is always available to answer questions and provide additional tips for highly efficient customer communication. All details are discussed in a free consultation appointment.
How much does the WhatsApp Business API cost?
WhatsApp Business API offers significantly more features compared to WhatsApp Business and is therefore only available for a fee. The costs vary greatly between the official WhatsApp API providers. Therefore, it is worth comparing the costs. All info about the costs of the WhatsApp API can be found in our article"What will the WhatsApp Business API cost in 2023?".
Monthly fee
The monthly fee varies between the different WhatsApp API providers. Mateo is a cheap provider on the market and charges only 79 euros per month for the cheapest package, which offers many other features besides WhatsApp API.
Cost per maintenance
Although the prices Meta charges for messages via the WhatsApp API are publicly available, some WhatsApp API providers are not afraid to charge higher costs. Therefore, we recommend that you take a detailed look at the pricing structure of your WhatsApp API provider.
The first 1000 calls per month via the WhatsApp API are free when initiated by the consumer. After 1000 customer-initiated conversations, WhatsApp charges a small fee for each conversation started. Conversations started by the company are no longer free. The cost varies depending on whether the conversation is initiated by the customer or the company. If a customer initiates a conversation, the company is only charged once it answers. The charge in Germany for a "customer-initiated call," as in this case, is approximately 7 cents per conversation. Depending on the application purpose (administration, authentication or marketing), a company-initiated conversation will cost between 6.3 cents and 11.3 cents.
Reading tip: In our article "What will the WhatsApp Business API cost in 2023?" we have described all costs in detail.
What are the benefits of using WhatsApp Business API with Mateo?
Mateo's WhatsApp API interface offers many other benefits and improves your customer communication in dozens of aspects:
Central user interface
In addition to WhatsApp Business API, Mateo bundles many other communication channels such as email, Instagram, SMS or Facebook Messenger in a central inbox. On the intuitive and clear user interface, you will find various helpful tools for particularly efficient customer communication. A web widget with the message channels you support is available for your customers for particularly easy contact.
Custom Message Templates
Thanks to various message templates that can be created individually, the amount of paperwork is minimized and the efficiency of customer communication is increased. This means that personnel resources in the service area can be used elsewhere.
Newsletter
With Mateo's WhatsApp API solution, newsletters can be sent in a DSGVO-compliant manner. Due to the first-class open rate of 98% for WhatsApp messages, marketing can thus be carried out significantly better than via email or other channels.
More positive Google reviews
With Mateo, you create an outstanding customer experience. Mateo can automatically request online reviews from your customers. The more reviews you have, the better you will be found on Google, for example. Reviews also create trust in your company.
Privacy
Mateo's messaging tool is compatible with all German and European legally binding data protection requirements. If the law changes, the software will be revised accordingly. For absolutely secure customer communication, all messages are encrypted end-to-end. You can read all the info about the DSGVO when using WhatsApp in our article"WhatsApp Business and DSGVO". This will help you avoid the warnings, severe penalties and expensive legal costs that often occur in the event of non-compliance with the DSGVO (= use of the standard WhatsApp Business app).
Scalability for all company sizes
The scalability of the messaging tool has been confirmed by the large number of companies already using Mateo with high satisfaction. Whether customers have just a few employees or many hundreds, the software works smoothly and, depending on the package, with an unlimited number of end devices, users and phone numbers. The fact that Mateo significantly reduces the workload in the customer service area opens up new growth opportunities for many companies.
Low cost provider for WhatsApp Business API
With an entry-level price of just 79 euros per month, Mateo is a cost-effective provider of WhatsApp Business API solutions on the German market. Combined with the integration of additional communication channels and various helpful tools, Mateo offers excellent value for money. Mateo's personal customer support assists companies with every step of the integration, ensuring very low barriers to entry.
Arrange a free and non-binding consultation and we will show you how MATEO can meet your communication needs! Simply book here or write to us via our web widget.
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