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WhatsApp Interactive Message 101: A step-by-step guide (2024)

WhatsApp Interactive Message Feature

Do you know that there is an inseparable relationship between online shopping and social messaging platforms such as WhatsApp? How? Basically, it is because all online shopping platforms have their own inquiry and ordering methods provided to customers. Since WhatsApp is the most popular communication platform in the world, almost all e-commerce merchants will opt for WhatsApp Business to integrate with e-Commerce shops, launch marketing campaigns, and handle customer service.

“The total turnover has increased significantly in Hong Kong, the increasing rate was more than 100%.”

- Online shopping platform SHOPLINE

According to WhatsApp Official data, currently, there are more than 50 million merchants using WhatsApp for their business.

“There are 5.35 million active WhatsApp users in Hong Kong every month, which accounts for 83% of all active social platforms users.”

WhatsApp Business Interactive Message Template is absolutely indispensable for e-commerce merchants because Interactive Message Template enables smoother conversations between merchants and customers and optimizes customer service.

“To seize each online business opportunity, you must first seamlessly bridge your social media and online stores, and you must never miss any customer’s inquiry.”

-SleekHack

Read more: How Singtel leverages WhatsApp Business to drive Customer Experience 3.0

What is an Interactive Message Template?

WhatsApp’s Interactive Message is exactly one type of message that can increase the interactions between you and your customers. This function makes good use of a chatbot, which is extremely convenient for customers to reply with just one click.

There are two types of Interactive Messages,: List Messages and another is Quick Reply Buttons.

Here are some points to note when using Interactive Messages:

  • Your customers can only choose one option from either List Message or Quick Reply Buttons, and they can go back and reopen the previous message.

  • Interactive Messages can only be sent within 24 hours from the last message from your customer, otherwise, an error exists.

  • iOS, Android, and Websites all support Interactive Messages.

View the comparison of normal text messages and interactive messages:

text messages and interactive messages

List Message

Each list message can contain up to 10 options. You can customize the content of each option, including title, menu content, etc.

It is super convenient for customers to choose and reply instantly with only a simple click. What’s the benefit for you, merchants then? Of course, List Message helps too! For merchants, you are able to reply to the customer with the same text content every time, no more copy & paste!

Quick Reply Buttons

Quick reply buttons function allows you to provide up to 3 options under each message.

For example, for the question “Welcome! What language do you prefer”, you can use the quick reply buttons to add three options “Traditional Chinese”, ” “Simplified Chinese” and “English” for customers to choose from.

You can also customize the picture, title, option name, etc. in the quick reply button function.

Want to know more about the auto-reply function: The quickest reply you can get. WhatsApp Chatbot Autoreply.

Why is an Interactive Message necessary?

Better user comprehensiveness

Interactive messages provide us with a more concise and consistent message format, rather than long-text messages. Thus, customers can ask and choose what they want from a business through interactive message buttons. Customers would be more familiar with this feature and have higher comprehensive levels over time.

Increase sales and marketing results

Chatbots using Interactive Message features can automatically reply to the customer’s choice, which achieves significantly higher response rates. It would probably provide the customers with a better and more satisfactory shopping experience. We believe that it would bring higher conversion rates as well!

Flow Builder operations use case

For instance, you can use Flow Builder to create a flow that automatically sends a confirmation message to a customer on WhatsApp when their order has been shipped. Other than that, you can create records in your CRM or ERP system when certain events occur, such as when a new customer signs up or when a new appointment is scheduled. By automating these processes, you can save time while serving customers with precision.

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Personalization means being closer to your customers

Interactive Messages can be populated in real-time and so can be personalized to customer needs or situations. For example, you can show a List Message including available time slots for reservation, or use the Quick Reply Buttons to display previous delivery addresses.

No templates required

Interactive Messages do not require any templates or pre-approval.

When can we use Interactive Messages?

List messages

List Messages are most suitable for the following situations:

  • FAQ menu

  • Selection of nearby shops and locations

  • Available reservation time slots

  • Choosing a recent order to repeat

Chat buttons

Your customer can reply to you with just one click. There are two button types exclusive to SleekFlow users:

Quick reply buttonCall-to-action CTA button
Up to 3 buttons can be embedded into one message.Only one can be embedded into one message.
The buttons are generally short answers. It aims to trigger some “quick replies” to cater to the FAQs.The button will be a link. The action in this “call-to-action” button is to direct your customer to a specific website.
Example use case: It can be the first greeting message to your customer. For example: “Hi, thanks for contacting us! What’s your preferred language?” Then two buttons, “Chinese,” “English”, could be the answer choices. or “What’s the expected campaign started date?” The answer could be “immediately,” “in a month,” “in a quarter.” It is instrumental in qualifying/ prioritizing leads and handling the primary inquiry. The above gif is an example of a quick reply.Example use case: It can be an abandoned shopping cart reminder. The link, of course, will be redirected to the checkout page! Yes. The use case is as simple as that.

Trust me; the chat button is the best tool to convert a lazy customer. It works for us. It will work for you too!

Further examples for quick reply questions:

  • Supplementary questions

  • Changing personal information

  • Re-order

  • Requesting a return

  • Choosing the payment method

Believe me, only a WhatsApp Business account is far away from satisfaction if you want to scale up your business, but with SleekFlow, you can do all that I mentioned above! You can add Quick Reply Buttons via SleekFlow. When chatting with customers, attach buttons below the message for them to choose. Once customers click the button, you can not only automatically reply with corresponding information within seconds but also save manpower!

Want to create your own Quick Reply Button? Contact us!

We must provide considerate customer service in both traditional and online stores and fast response is a must.

Man Leung

CityLink Administrative Director

Want to know how CityLink, a traditional electrical appliance company, successfully connects to online shops seamlessly? Just take a look at CityLink X SleekFlow Story

Examples of Interactive Messages

No matter if you are from the beauty industry, education industry, traditional retail, or online shops, as long as you have to interact with customers frequently in social messaging Apps, Interactive Messages can be very useful. Have a look at the simple use cases below:

Cases
Demonstration in the beauty industry: Booking beauty treatmentsYou can add a List Message function in the greeting message which includes all the store addresses; After the customer chooses the store, you can provide Quick Reply Buttons for the customer to choose the specific date and time slot for the appointment. When the selection is completed, the appointment system connected with SleekFlow can automatically send a confirmation message to customers via WhatsApp or WeChat, or other preferable social communication Apps.
Education industry demonstration: Inquiry for course detailsYou can add a menu-style message function to the greeting message, and set several categories such as course price, course schedule, etc. for customers to choose. Send the corresponding answer according to the customer’s choice, such as the course price list and so on. It can even be a link to a related page on your website.
Retail and online shopping demonstration: Query store addressYou can attach the “sale address” option at the bottom of the greeting message for customers to choose from; After the customer presses it, WhatsApp will automatically reply to the store address details.

How to set up WhatsApp Interactive Message Template using SleekFlow?

Setting up a WhatsApp interactive message template on SleekFlow is a relatively straightforward process:

  1. Go to settings.

  2. Look for the template manager for WhatsApp templates.

  3. Create a new template.

  4. Fill in the fields, including Template name, Category, Button Type, Message and Button text.

  5. Save and publish the template.

To get a more detailed tutorial on setting up WhatsApp interactive message templates on SleekFlow, I recommend referring to the video tutorial or reaching out to SleekFlow's support team for assistance.

Almost 100% of our customers contact us via WhatsApp, the rest of them will contact us via Instagram and Facebook. With the help of SleekFlow, we can handle all the conversations from different social media and hand over some inquiries between colleagues well.

Cheuk Ying

Beauty Salon Weirdo Beauty founder

How to drive customers to WhatsApp by adding WhatsApp widget on your website?

Believe it or not, every online store website must have an information column containing all the contact information, such as WhatsApp number, etc. Customers first need to type and save merchants’ phone numbers by themselves. Most customers will hesitate and give up enquiring or even buying, as this step is tedious and is not user-friendly at all!

Then, how do you seize each lead? If you have the same question, don’t miss the following information!

Without getting a programmer, you can embed a Live Chat button on your website with SleekFlow(just have a look at the lower right corner of our website).

WhatsApp Widget Button

Afterward, WhatsApp will automatically pop up a greeting message, customers no longer need to store numbers and type the content. Pop-up messages save all these steps!

When a new customer WhatsApp you, the SleekFlow platform will auto-save this number. And of course, you can also clearly see existing customer information.

Want to outcompete your peers with SleekFlow's help?

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