Zendesk today introduced WhatsApp for Zendesk, a WhatsApp Business API connector that allows businesses to reach and respond to WhatsApp users.
WhatsApp for Zendesk is built on technology from Zendesk's recent acquisition of Smooch and marks an important next step in delivering connected conversations on additional channels, such as Facebook Messenger, LINE, WeChat, Telegram, Twitter DM, and more.
"WhatsApp for Zendesk marks the next phase of our integration with the WhatsApp Business API as a business solutions provider and reinforces our commitment to bringing brands and their customers modern messaging experiences on the apps of their choice," said Warren Levitan, vice president of conversational business at Zendesk, in a statement. "Ultimately, we're making it easier for companies and customers to communicate in a way that is faster, more convenient, and more natural."
With WhatsApp for Zendesk, businesses can do the following:
- Get up and running on WhatsApp in less time without new workflows or agent training;
- Engage with their customers over WhatsApp and manage messaging conversations in the same way as other support conversations;
- Take advantage of new WhatsApp features for agents to manage real-time conversations, such as a customizable auto-responder specifically for WhatsApp; and
- Stay on top of asynchronous WhatsApp conversations with a new, dedicated notification panel to alert agents to recent responses on WhatsApp.
Zendesk customer PayJoy recently implemented Zendesk. "Our customers were asking to reach us via WhatsApp, and with Zendesk, PayJoy reduced our WhatsApp response times from a full day to minutes or less," said the company's founder and chief operations officer, Gib Lopez, in a statement. "Before Zendesk, we had three to four WhatsApp numbers with phones sitting on the desk next to our agents trying to keep up. It wasn't scalable. We're now able to see and manage all our customer requests in one place and use the WhatsApp Business API integration to respond quickly."
WhatsApp for Zendesk is available for $5 per agent per month.