The transition from voice to text messaging took nearly a century. It hardly took ten years for SMS, or text messaging, to lose ground to instant messaging as the main form of communication and marketing. More than service providers giving out one-time passwords or the traditional birthday greetings, who sends an SMS? To say that SMS has retreated as a channel for marketing and communication would be an understatement. They serve just as a fallback when the amazing 99.99% uptime of instant messaging is unavailable.
Businesses are always looking for new and effective methods to engage with their target audience in the ever-changing field of marketing. Innovative digital marketing strategies are increasingly being combined with conventional advertising techniques to optimize the effect on customer engagement.
WhatsApp Business API and SMS API are two popular options for businesses wishing to serve their customers with updates, notifications, and marketing messages. In this blog article, we examine the marketing benefits of the two channels and outline the aspects to consider when leveraging these resources to construct an effective marketing campaign. First, let’s review the WhatsApp Business API.
What is WhatsApp Business API?
WhatsApp is the most popular over-the-top channel out there. Additionally, WhatsApp Business API gives you a dependable, easy, and safe way to communicate with your clients. With users in over 180 countries, the app has over two billion individuals. It has greater open, conversion, and delivery rates than other channels. Moreover, WhatsApp offers a plethora of features that will improve and standardize your conversation.
Why is the WhatsApp Business API outperforming the SMS API?
New technologies occasionally emerge and overtake the leading position held by their predecessors. WhatsApp Business API is overtaking SMS API in the telecommunications space. Why WhatsApp API for marketing is outperforming SMS API is due to a few factors that are:
1.WhatsApp is Absolutely free
There are no carrier fees for instant messaging. WhatsApp requires a functional data connection or WiFi access in order to send and receive messages. WhatsApp texting uses very little bandwidth and does not incur expensive carrier fees. However, SMS fees still need to be lowered in most regions of the world. SMS is only provided as a free utility or at a lower cost for particular carrier contracts. Comparatively speaking, WhatsApp is indeed free. Millions of people are using the app and sending billions of messages every day because of the cost aspect.
2. One account for both video and phone calls
Prior to the advent of instant messengers such as WhatsApp, users were required to install various programs for different reasons. The default app offered by OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) handled SMS. One had to use programs like Skype, Zoom, Viber, and others for video calling. All those attempts come from a different era of history. WhatsApp has combined audio and video calling, text messaging, and even voice memos into a single chat window.
Additionally, users can utilize these functionalities without having several accounts. For voice and video calling, a single-user account that has been set up with a phone number is adequate. The cherry on top is that call credits don’t need to be renewed or maintained.
3. Features that are beneficial to businesses
For most firms, text messaging has been their go-to marketing platform. It left companies in the dark, though, due to a number of drawbacks. Businesses were first limited to sending text messages via SMS; sharing multimedia information was not possible. SMS also made use of a phone number that needs to be modifiable to look professional. WhatsApp offers a plethora of business capabilities that enable lead creation, outreach, prospecting, and customer support much easier than with SMS. Unlike with SMS, it allows businesses to interact as a group rather than as individuals.
Moreover, product catalogs and pre-written answers to frequently asked questions can be sent using it. Unlike SMS, which often becomes a one-way communication route, WhatsApp facilitates easy and engaging consumer contact. Even a WhatsApp chatbot that provides businesses with an excellent customer experience may be created.
Additionally, you can enjoy advanced features that will enhance your communication with clients in addition to WhatsApp’s benefits, like dependability, security, and convenience of use.
- Preview text and links: Don’t worry about character constraints when writing. Provide links to agreements, conditions of use, purchase confirmations, invoices, applications, and payment links with previews.
- Images and other Graphic Files: Incorporate pictures into your business-to-consumer correspondence, Discuss directions, tickets, and boarding cards in the same talk, Send all of your posts through one app; don’t send any more.
- Audio and other Sound Files: Send audio files using a WhatsApp conversation. You can communicate with those who are blind or visually challenged by using voice recordings. Utilize them to have more casual conversations by using audio thank-you and greetings, birthday wish recordings, and conversations with your advisors that are recorded and distributed to clients.
- Documents and other File Formats: Use WhatsApp to share documents and other file formats directly rather than delivering a download link. You may swiftly and securely transmit agreements, conditions of use, invoices, application forms, and instructions in this way.
- Animations, Videos, and GIFs: Show instructional clips and resources during a discussion. Make use of them to distribute birthday wishes, holiday greetings, product animation, tutorials, instructional movies that can assist clients in solving problems on their own, and thank-you videos, which are some examples of the content you may offer.
- Contacts: Contact sharing is made simple for you via the WhatsApp Business API. Send communications to the following people: personal trainers, teachers, coaches, bank representatives, insurance agents, travel agents, property managers, and cleaning companies. This functionality will come in useful for conferences, expos, and events.
- Live Location: You may point your consumers in the direction you want them to go by using the location-sharing tool. Point them to where something is on a map or tell them where a package, bus, train, or cab is right now. They’ll be able to get to your business, restaurant, motel, or workshop more quickly. The sharing of locations for delivery services will be valued. During a discussion, WhatsApp users may easily find out the precise position of a package or delivery. Additionally, you may use it to send reminders on the status of food deliveries or orders from online retailers.
The SMS API vs the WhatsApp Business API Marketing Impact
In the dynamic realm of marketing, companies are continuously seeking out fresh and efficient ways to connect with their target consumer. To maximize the impact on consumer involvement, creative digital marketing tactics are now being integrated with traditional advertising methods. Among them, WhatsApp Business API and SMS API have become well-liked choices for companies looking to provide their clients with updates, notifications, and marketing messages. Let’s now evaluate the marketing effects of the two channels and discuss the factors to take into account when utilizing these tools to create an effective marketing campaign.
● Customer service is available 365 days a year.
With WhatsApp API for Business, you can configure away messages or auto-replies to automatically reply to incoming messages with default replies. Furthermore, by utilizing AI and machine learning to comprehend user attitudes and questions and deliver contextually appropriate reactions, WhatsApp chatbots may be programmed to engage with users in a manner similar to that of a human agent. The good news is that they can work continuously, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. They are, therefore, the ideal partner for companies that operate in several time zones. On the other hand, SMS API lacks these advanced features.
● Client Engagement and Open Rates
WhatsApp Business API and SMS API both have amazing success rates in terms of client interaction and open rates. SMS marketing is superior to practically all other marketing channels, with an available rate of 98%.
On the other hand, WhatsApp Business API has an impressive open rate of 95% because of its user base and end-to-end encryption features, which guarantee protection and privacy. The clients are more likely to get in touch with brands using this platform.
● Rich Media Content
WhatsApp’s business API is winning over SMS API in many areas, including rich media support. Now, companies can communicate with their clients more engagingly by sharing voice notes, images, audio/video calling, and different file format options for exchanging documents.
SMS API, on the other hand, allows sharing of basic media types such as SMS and MMS.
● Cost and scalability
SMS API is a cost-effective marketing solution for all business models. Businesses can utilize SMS API to send mass promotional messages at lower prices than WhatsApp business API. Additionally, SMS API is a scalable marketing solution as businesses can send SMS to a wide range of networks and devices without building any large infrastructures.
It doesn’t cost the earth to set up a WhatsApp account for business communication. No further app development or integration is needed. Of course, connectors allow you to increase the functionality of the program, but they are not necessary to carry out fundamental tasks. Consequently, there are few expenses associated with utilizing WhatsApp for lead generation or customer service.
Conclusion
You must have realized by now that WhatsApp is here to stay and that SMS is somehow replaced. With its growing user base as the go-to instant messenger, WhatsApp has not even been impacted by competition from rival instant messaging applications. WhatsApp provides a straightforward and user-friendly communication channel for organizations. New software and more money are needed. It provides the most value for the time and money invested.
