WATI alternative for better customer engagement on WhatsApp and omnichannel commerce growth

WATI is a customer engagement tool built on WhatsApp's Business API. It has a shared team inbox, broadcast management, chatbot builder, and other WhatsApp engagement features. This WATI WhatsApp review shows the software's strengths and weaknesses. Additionally, it compares WATI alternatives in terms of scalability, customization, and ease of integration.

WATI WhatsApp review: pros and cons

WATI.io review: pros

1. Self-service and minimal setup: WATI is a WhatsApp Business Solution Provider (BSP), meaning Meta has authorized and vetted its services. A WhatsApp BSP uses embedded signup to let businesses sign up for WhatsApp Business API from their website. It is the fastest signup method - taking about 15 minutes and doesn't require Facebook Business verification. You can buy a plan, set up your account, and send outbound messages immediately.

2. Help desk and ticket organization: WATI turns WhatsApp into a help desk where customer requests are categorized as tickets. You can delegate tickets to bots or selected human agents. The conversation status is best for customer support use cases. Team members can mark the ticket as Open, Pending, or Resolved. It also has a reporting dashboard to compare agent performance by resolution time and total tickets solved.

3. Chatbots and conversation flows: WATI provides a no-code chatbot with a drag-and-drop interface for creating conversation flows. It automates FAQ responses and offers immediate responses to common customer requests.

WATI.io review: cons 

1. Single channel: WATI is a platform for WhatsApp Business only. You must purchase an additional CRM tool to provide multi-channel marketing and support.

2. No sales-enablement tools: WATI does not have tools that can prompt a purchase decision and push sales to close more deals in chat, such as a product sharing function, a payment feature, and sales performance tracking.

3. Not suitable for scaling business: In each instance, WATI only hosts one WhatsApp Business account (WABA). There is no way to connect more phone numbers to the platform and consolidate the communication of different teams/stores on the same plan as your business grows. Besides, the multi-agent dashboard gives every user access to view all messages. It is not ideal for a sales management use case.

4. Sandbox free trial only: WATI only offers a pre-made sandbox account during the trial. Trial users can only use a single number to test the platform.

WATI alternatives for omnichannel customer engagement: SleekFlow 

Looking for WATI alternatives for WhatsApp Business API? SleekFlow is an omnichannel social commerce platform that enables complete customer journeys across WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, SMS, live chat, or whatever your customers prefer. SleekFlow’s customers speed up sales, marketing, and customer service workflows using smart routing rules, targeted campaign messages, and no-code chatbots.

SleekFlow is a WhatsApp Business Solution Provider.

What makes SleekFlow one of the best WATI alternatives?

1. Omnichannel inbox: On SleekFlow, even a basic sales and customer service plan offers integration for five messaging channels, including WhatsApp, Viber, Telegram, WeChat, Facebook Messenger, Instagram Business, SMS, LINE and Live Chat. Engage your customers through all major digital channels, not just WhatsApp. In SleekFlow’s shared team inbox, collaborators can be added to the same chat to receive shared notifications and write internal notes.

2. Multiple WhatsApp Business channels: SleekFlow can host multiple WABAs. Each WABA can connect to a maximum of 25 phone numbers. A centralized and scalable communication hub saves your team’s time by grouping information from different stores/ teams for midsize companies. For example, an F&B group can set up a phone number for general inquiries and route conversations to a specific restaurant’s phone number, effectively managing leads while ensuring all communication is transparent to the HQ.

3. Multiple broadcast channels: Send bulk messages via WhatsApp at Meta’s predetermined rate. You can also broadcast via Viber, Telegram, SMS, LINE, WeChat, and Facebook Messenger and track your broadcast result using SleekFlow’s campaign analytics.

4. Commerce features: SleekFlow has all the features you need to convert customers in chat, such as payment gateway integration, sales attribution dashboards, the ability to build an in-app product catalog (or sync a product catalog using API), customize shopping carts and share payment links.

5. Salesforce CRM, Marketing & Commerce Cloud integration: Send messages to Salesforce contacts. SleekFlow automates Salesforce contact filtering, mapping, and exporting. We match Salesforce account owners to SleekFlow users and provide two-way contact sync to mirror any contact information updates on the platform, allowing you to keep a single source of truth on Salesforce.

6. Native Shopify integration: SleekFlow automatically imports Shopify catalogs, contacts, and orders and shows them next to the inbox. You can automate abandoned cart recovery and transaction messages to customers. Getting sales in the chat is even simpler when you use Shopify integration with the payment-link sharing feature. Once a customer has paid, we automate fulfillment updates on Shopify, saving you time from having to gather contextual information and switch between platforms.

WATI WhatsApp review: comparing with SleekFlow

The table below includes the details supporting the WATI.io review above. Omnichannel customer engagement on WhatsApp means customers' interactions with the team will be tracked regardless of how they contact the team. All of the data your agents require to provide a personalized and consistent customer experience is at their fingertips, whether the interaction begins on Instagram and ends on WhatsApp.

WATI’s pricing is affordable, but SleekFlow offers more advanced business messaging experiences. SleekFlow is an omnichannel platform for sales, marketing, and customer support; WATI is a WhatsApp platform for customer support only. 

When you only need a contact center for handling customer inquiries and complaints on WhatsApp, WATI does the job well. But if you are looking for WATI alternatives that provide a chat solution that works across different messaging channels and functions in your organization, go for SleekFlow.

How to use SleekFlow for customer engagement on WhatsApp?

Here's a real-world example of why choosing WATI alternatives that offer multiple WABA management is essential for your business.

Bimbo Concept is an omnichannel family concept store. The business has three locations: K11 MUSEA, Central Hollywood Road, and Lee Garden Two. Since transitioning from e-commerce to retailing, the brand has received numerous online queries from previous walk-ins. Each store had its WhatsApp number at the time, and the free WhatsApp Business app saved all customer conversations on a single phone. The management and operations teams did not have real-time access to what customers asked and how frontline employees responded. It was difficult to maintain consistent sales service across stores. 

Bimbo Concept uses SleekFlow's omnichannel retail solutions to manage multiple WABA phone numbers on the cloud. In-store employees, back-office staff, and management can view customer queries from all locations in one shared inbox. The operations team can help sales associates with inventory, logistics, sales and marketing alignment, etc. With SleekFlow, providing accurate product information, maintaining a consistent voice and tone, and responding quickly to customers is easy. 

The company also uses Shopify integration as a social CRM tool. SleekFlow displays customer purchase profiles like order statuses and purchase history in the chat room, allowing them to label their customer segments and always make relevant product recommendations.

How to sign up for WhatsApp API on SleekFlow?

SleekFlow is a WhatsApp BSP, and we can onboard customers to the WhatsApp Business Platform within 5 minutes. We also use the embedded sign-up process, which you can connect to your Facebook Business Manager account, create a new WABA and verify your WhatsApp Business phone number in a single flow. Due to the complex technicality of WhatsApp API integration and Meta's extensive terms of service, not all WATI alternatives have this capability.

Sign up here, start messaging customers immediately, and reach up to 250 unique contacts in 24 hours. Upon verifying your Facebook Business Manager account, you can increase your messaging limit and send up to 100,000 messages daily.