WhatsApp is a messenger people have been using for the last 10 years. In January 2018, WhatsApp had 1,5 million monthly active users. There are 60 billion messages, and 700 million photos are sent every day. The average number of downloads is 12 times per second. WhatsApp is very popular among sales departments, and it is often integrated with various CRM. It is not surprising, WhatsApp is so widely used by companies because it has a 99% open rate and 40% response rate. It has no other competitors on the market of messengers.

 

Why do 1,5 million people from all over the world use WhatsApp?

 

• Free phone calls and messages;
• The app is available on multiple platforms: iOs and Android, desktop and web version for computers;
• You can send any type of data: photos, videos, documents, voice messages, text messenger, contacts or location;
• You have group chats;
• You can send messages to the group of people;
• It is free of charge;
• You can see if your contacts are using WhatsApp.

Beginning from 2016, WhatsApp started to develop business services because sales were moving to online pretty fast. According to 2019 Yandex.Checkout research, WhatsApp took the first place in the number of sales among messengers. Yandex explored messengers like WhatsApp, Viber, Telegram, Facebook Messenger, Skype, Snapchat, ICQ и Mail.ru Agent. WhatsApp accounted for 4% of the total market. This 4% was equal to 3 billion American dollars per year. WhatsApp also attracted 8% of the total number of Internet users who shop online. There were 3,12 million customers who buy products and services through WhatsApp.

 

WhatsApp often integrates with CRM systems to automate business processes. WhatsApp with CRM integration improves the speed and quality of communication with customers. The CRM system stores all information about the client: what he bought or did not, what he asked, where he prefers to communicate with the company. These data can help to create a personalized proposition or discount to the customer. Thanks to WhatsApp with CRM integration deals will be created automatically in the CRM system, and the time of lead processing will decrease. This helps to reduce time costs and increase the company’s productivity.

How does CRM help to boost sales?

• You will have all data about customers in one place;
• You can better organize and manage the working process of employees;
• The CRM provides detailed reports on sales growth or decline;
• The CRM gives you information about the efficiency of each manager;
• You will always have access to message history between the employee and the customer;
• CRM integration with messengers, social networks, websites and telephony.

American company IDC Capgemini held research about predicting turnover of business within 2 years from the moment of implementing CRM. Research demonstrated:

 

Growth of turnovers	Percentage of companies participated in the research
More than 20%	24%
From 10% to 20%	44%
Less than 10%	32%

There are a plethora of services offering integration of CRM systems with sales channels. It is more difficult to do in the case of WhatsApp with CRM integration. WhatsApp has a closed API. However, you can use services such as Wazzup, Pact, Chat2Desk to integrate WhatsApp with the CRM promptly and easily.

Unofficial connection

Companies-connectors offer an alternative way of CRM and WhatsApp integration. They cost less than the official API. Integration through connectors is suitable for sales departments because all outgoing messages are free of charge.

 

The main disadvantage of WhatsApp and CRM integration is that it is not intended for mailing. Your account could be banned because of spam messages. You can learn more about how to avoid being banned on WhatsApp in our article.

Official connection

Official WhatsApp with CRM integration is suitable for the support service of large companies. All outgoing messages are paid. The price of one message depends on the country of API connection. In 2019, it cost $0.0477 per message. Although the response to the client’s request within 24 hours is free of charge. The main advantage of API integration is that you will not be banned for mailing.

 

Business API provides WhatsApp and CRM integration only for medium-sized and large-sized enterprises. Therefore, your company has to pass through a validation process. The initial payment for the purchase of WhatsApp integration with CRM will cost you about $2,700.

 

Before connecting WhatsApp to the CRM, you have to decide what your business needs. After making a list of goals, you should consider which integration functions are essential to your company. Thus, you will see what suits you best: the connector-company or the official API for integrating WhatsApp with CRM.