b2b.store CTO Dale Jefferson's guide to why tackling WhatsApp’s API alone might be harder than people imagine
If there’s one question we hear more than any other when talking about the WhatsApp Business Platform, it’s ‘why can’t we just do it ourselves?’.
And it’s a fair question. Pretty much all of us have WhatsApp on our phones, we all understand how to send a message and it’s easy to grasp the general idea of the technology, so there’s no need to include a middleman, right? Hold on, not so fast.
I can run off a long line of analogies to compare this to. For example, how having a camera on your smartphone doesn’t mean you’ll nail the perfect shot in the way a professional photographer can; or that if you barged into the kitchen of a top restaurant and started rustling up the dish you wanted, it just wouldn’t taste the same.
But there are several less emotive reasons I can point to as well.
First and foremost, there’s a significant technical barrier to businesses running the WhatsApp Business Platform themselves. The technology is only accessible using WhatsApp’s API, so needs to be integrated into a system to even function and while it’s possible to make and operate in-house, it will take a substantial time and financial investment.
It's in the back-end dashboard where extra layers of functionality will need to be developed. This can change depending on how it’s built, with the b2b.store version we currently work from focused on reporting and scheduling, so we’re providing the best possible business tools to monitor and use.
Once that architecture is in place, developers will still have to be on hand to unlock the WhatsApp Business Platform’s full potential, as they’ll need to create the bespoke message templates you’ll be sending out. Each template needs to be approved by WhatsApp to ensure it adheres to their guidelines, so can take a little bit of negotiating if it’s your first go.
This isn’t to say that the entire process is going to require hand holding, though, and it can be pretty seamless.
Because of our prior experience with WhatsApp Business Platform, b2b.store can support the setup process and get you up and running in a relatively short time – after all, we have established infrastructure and pre-approved templates in place already. So with an induction to show you how our dashboard works, you can be set free to start sending out communications before you know it.
A similar comparison would be to using an email client, such as Mailchimp, instead of creating an internal solution. It’s now a no-brainer to use a third-party solution to run email campaigns and it’s basically the same principal for the WhatsApp Business Platform.
Finally, this is the part where I blow b2b.store’s trumpet because, ultimately, you’re paying for our expertise. Our teams are working with WhatsApp Business Platform on a daily basis and have been for months, so our knowledge can be a valuable addition to help grow your WhatsApp channel and make sure it’s maximising your investment.
It’s the nature of working with APIs that they’ll regularly roll out updates and new features, so moving with the trends and keeping on top of any developments is important – and we’re constantly on top of all that.
We can provide that guiding hand to help you at the front of the queue, especially as one of few providers that specialises in the wholesale and retail spaces, and have tailored our B2B WhatsApp module to work best for those businesses.
Service providers rule, ok?
