Salesforce Marketing Cloud WhatsApp Integration Made Easy

Introduction:-

Salesforce Marketing Cloud now integrates with WhatsApp, the popular messaging platform. This enables businesses to use WhatsApp’s high engagement rates for personalized marketing, customer support, and sales. Here’s why WhatsApp is essential for your marketing strategy.

The Salesforce Marketing Cloud expands omnichannel engagement, connecting with customers through Contact Builder and Journey Builder by partnering with Sinch, WhatsApp’s official consulting partner. This partnership will revolutionize customer engagement, surpassing previous records.

This WhatsApp Salesforce Marketing Cloud Integration enhances the value chain for cross-selling, account creation notifications, live support, and after-sales services.

Why Choose WhatsApp for Marketing?

Only 17% respond to emails within 30 minutes, but nearly 90% respond to WhatsApp messages in that time. Integrate WhatsApp with Salesforce Marketing Cloud for high engagement.

WhatsApp integration with Salesforce Marketing Cloud boosts engagement. Send personalized, large-scale marketing messages directly to customers. This two-way communication enhances connection, driving lead conversion and sales.

Leveraging WhatsApp in Salesforce Marketing Cloud:

Salesforce offers two robust integrations for WhatsApp:

1.WhatsApp for Service Cloud:

Salesforce’s WhatsApp integration in Service Cloud enhances customer service via the popular messaging app used by over two billion globally. It facilitates real-time support, query management, and centralizes customer data within Salesforce. CRM and AI tools further boost service efficiency and effectiveness.

Click Here To Learn More: Set Up WhatsApp in Service Cloud

2.WhatsApp for Salesforce Marketing Cloud Engagement: 

• Integration Benefits: Salesforce Marketing Cloud links with WhatsApp Business for personalized, mobile-centric messaging, boosting customer engagement and sales automation.
• Messaging Capabilities: Enables businesses to conduct mass messaging for promotions, customer interactions, and commercial outreach.
• Industry Application: In the beauty sector, leveraging WhatsApp can enhance conversational commerce, deepen customer engagement, and deliver branded digital services seamlessly through Salesforce integration.

Level Up Customer Engagement with WhatsApp on Salesforce MC:

Salesforce offers two ways to integrate WhatsApp with Marketing Cloud Engagement, giving you flexibility to choose the best option for your needs.

WhatsApp Chat Messaging (via Sinch): 

This established option utilizes Sinch, a Meta partner, to manage your account creation and WhatsApp channel. You can download the necessary package from the Salesforce AppExchange.

WhatsApp-First Business Messaging (Direct Integration): 

This recently released option offers a direct cloud API integration between Marketing Cloud Engagement and Meta itself. This is the preferred method for the future due to its enhanced performance.

Focus on Salesforce Marketing Cloud Engagement:-

This article delves into Salesforce Marketing Cloud Engagement, emphasizing key aspects such as:

1. Message Types:

• Template Messages: 

  Template messages for business transactions encompass transactional messages (account and order updates, alerts), marketing messages (promotional offers, product announcements), and one-time password messages (verification, security codes). WhatsApp requires approval for each template, managed via Chat Messaging Setup, and accessible in Content Builder once approved.

• Session Messages: A session message is an immediate, template-free response to a user’s WhatsApp message. It allows brands to send personalized welcome messages, gather preferences, guide users to products, or ask about products directly.

2 . Account Provisioning for WhatsApp:

• Businesses can manage multiple WhatsApp accounts for different regions or brands, considering volume and geographic targeting.
• Pricing structures are based on feature access and messaging volumes, ensuring scalability and cost-effectiveness.
  

Opt-In Management:-

Businesses must obtain clear consent from individuals via SMS, WhatsApp, in person, or through physical documents to send messages on WhatsApp. Clear opt-in and opt-out processes are crucial to prevent users from blocking or reporting unsolicited messages, which can impact the business’s quality score and WhatsApp communication limits. Monitor unsubscribe rates closely when implementing new opt-in methods to maintain a high-quality rating.

Configuration Steps in Salesforce Marketing Cloud Engagement:-

Implementing WhatsApp integration involves:

Account Configuration: 

To establish Meta Business Accounts and configure essential details via Facebook Business Manager, begin by setting up a Meta Business Account if you haven’t already. Visit Facebook Business Manager to input key company details: name, phone number, website URL, and email address.

Verification of your WhatsApp account ownership is crucial at this stage. If you intend to manage customer communication through multiple accounts—for different brands or regions, for example—configure each account separately to ensure effective management.

Click Here to Learn More: Account Configuration

Channel Setup: 

Salesforce Marketing Cloud offers a powerful integration with WhatsApp, enabling seamless customer connection on their preferred messaging platform. Start by linking your WhatsApp Business Account to Marketing Cloud, leveraging its robust audience management features. Using Contact Builder, define exactly who receives your WhatsApp messages, targeting only those opted-in for this channel.

Marketing Cloud enables personalized WhatsApp campaigns. Design templates with dynamic content adapting to customer data. Outbound messages need Meta approval. Use Journey Builder to integrate WhatsApp into multi-channel campaigns, triggering messages based on interactions for an interactive marketing experience.

Click Here to Learn More: Channel Setup

Template Creation: 

Salesforce Marketing Cloud and WhatsApp integration revolutionize marketing communication with pre-approved templates, ensuring brand consistency and compliance with WhatsApp’s guidelines. Utilizing Marketing Cloud’s Content Builder, you create the core message, personalize it with tags, and enhance it with headers, footers, and media.

After crafting the template, it’s submitted for WhatsApp’s approval to ensure adherence to their policies. Once approved, these templates can be used across various marketing journeys and automation within the Marketing Cloud. You can further personalize these templates using your contact data, enabling targeted communication that resonates with each customer.

Click Here to Learn More: Template Creation

WhatsApp Audiences in Marketing Cloud:- 

WhatsApp Audiences in Marketing Cloud Engagement refers to the process of creating targeted groups of contacts who can receive WhatsApp messages through Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Here’s a breakdown of how it works.

Building your Audience:

Opt-in is Key:

WhatsApp requires users to explicitly opt-in to receive messages from businesses. This opt-in information needs to be stored and managed within Marketing Cloud Engagement through Contact Builder. There are best practices to consider when collecting opt-ins to ensure smooth communication.

Data Extensions:

Marketing Cloud uses Data Extensions, which are essentially subscriber lists, to manage your WhatsApp audience. You can either import contacts with existing opt-in information or create a new data extension to collect opt-ins through Marketing Cloud.

Engaging with Audiences:

Segmentation:

The power of Marketing Cloud lies in its segmentation capabilities. You can create targeted audiences based on various criteria like demographics, purchase history, or behavior, allowing you to send relevant and personalized WhatsApp messages.

Journey Builder:

This Marketing Cloud tool lets you design multi-channel campaigns that can include WhatsApp messages alongside emails, SMS, or other channels. You can trigger WhatsApp messages based on specific customer interactions or automate them within a pre-defined journey.

Compliance Considerations:

Template Messages:

For most marketing messages, you’ll need to create a template and get it approved by WhatsApp beforehand. This ensures your messages adhere to their guidelines.

Quality Score:

WhatsApp maintains a quality score for businesses based on factors like user feedback. Sending messages to unsubscribed users or irrelevant content can negatively impact your score and limit your ability to use WhatsApp marketing.

Overall, WhatsApp Audiences in Marketing Cloud Engagement empowers businesses to leverage the high engagement rates of WhatsApp for targeted marketing communication while staying compliant with WhatsApp’s regulations.

Enhance Your Intelligence Reports with WhatsApp Dashboards:-

Salesforce Marketing Cloud Engagement integrates WhatsApp into your marketing strategies, enabling the sending of bulk or personalized messages directly on WhatsApp, a widely-used communication platform. You can segment your audience, personalize messages for enhanced engagement, and design multi-channel campaigns that incorporate WhatsApp interactions. Additionally, it allows you to track metrics to gauge campaign performance. Though it doesn’t directly generate intelligence reports, this integration strengthens your marketing strategy by leveraging WhatsApp as a robust communication channel.

WhatsApp Intelligence Dashboard:

New tool for real-time insights into performance metrics, enhancing campaign optimization and customer engagement. Click Here To Learn More

Data Extract in Automation Studio:-

Marketing Cloud’s Automation Studio features a robust tool known as Data Extract, designed specifically for analyzing WhatsApp marketing campaigns. This tool enables users to generate downloadable files containing comprehensive data on WhatsApp messages dispatched via customer journeys or triggered sends.

What Data Can Be Extracted?

The data extract for WhatsApp messaging includes details like:

• Contact information (depending on privacy regulations)
• Mobile phone numbers
• Channel ID (associated WhatsApp channel)
• Activity name (name of the journey or send)
• Message status (delivered, failed, read, etc.)
• Unsubscribe details (if applicable)
• Inbound message details (if two-way communication is enabled)

Should You Implement WhatsApp in Salesforce Marketing Cloud?

Consider these factors before integrating WhatsApp:

Contact Strategy: 

     WhatsApp is a personal channel. Think about how you will segment your audience to ensure messages are relevant and avoid spamming. You’ll also need a clear opt-in strategy to comply with WhatsApp regulations and avoid getting blocked.

Use Cases: 

      WhatsApp is great for high-engagement campaigns where immediate response is desired. Consider using it for:

• Time-sensitive promotions or flash sales
• Customer service interactions where chat is preferable over phone calls
• Two-factor authentication or order confirmations

Compliance: 

     There are strict regulations around WhatsApp marketing. Ensure you get explicit opt-in from users and use templates approved by WhatsApp for transactional messages. Salesforce Marketing Cloud can help manage these aspects.

Summary :

Integrating WhatsApp within Salesforce Marketing Cloud enhances customer interactions, drives engagement, and ensures compliance with WhatsApp’s stringent regulations. By leveraging its capabilities effectively, businesses can achieve higher conversion rates and customer satisfaction in today’s digital landscape.