How to Use WhatsApp Business API for Banking and Finance?

The banking and finance industry has undergone massive digital shifts in the last few years. Do you know that almost 8 out of 9 customers prefer chatting over waiting for calls? Why? 

Customers’ expectations – now they expect speed, personalization, security, and convenience at their fingertips. So what’s an ideal solution to meet those needs? With a user base of 2.8 billion globally, WhatsApp for Banking and Finance offers an effective way to connect and meet customer expectations. 

It enables you to send instant updates and reminders to grab the customer’s attention from the already familiar app. When implementing, WhatsApp business automation makes work easier when it comes to onboarding, customer support, and frequently asked questions, and provides a secure platform to make payments. Therefore, we are going to take a quick tour of how to use WhatsApp Business API in Banking and Finance. 

What is WhatsApp Business API for Banking & Finance?

WhatsApp Business API is a secure and scalable platform that helps banks and financial institutions manage and automate conversions. Being designed by Meta, the API enables banks to handle multiple conversations, automate responses, and offer personalized interaction, all within WhatsApp. It is an innovative solution for a medium to large audience looking to engage on a large scale. 

Through this, banking and financial institutions can: 

• Automate customer support with a chatbot. 
• Manage inquiries through a multi-agent shared inbox. 
• Send personalized payment updates and transactional alerts. 
• Integrate the banking system with CRM and payment platforms. 

In short, the Integrated API allows banks to deliver instant, secure, and more engaging financial services. Plus, customers can complete their banking needs while sitting at home. 

How Do Banking & Finance Industries Use WhatsApp API?

WhatsApp Business API is an amazing tool for several industries and sectors. Banking and finance are linked with thousands of customers and agents via API, and banking is used to control and boost business output manually and automatically.

In some cases, the banking industry works with third-party vendors to access the WhatsApp Business API. Third-party vendors provide a set of features and tools for WhatsApp that are available to their system; hence, the banks do not need to subscribe to them.

Adopting a formal third-party solution such as Getgabs makes it possible to skip operational hurdles while facilitating the advancement procedure. Also, the solution providers are aware of the basics that banks need to employ the WhatsApp API properly and securely.

Top 5 Benefits of WhatsApp Business API for Banking & Finance

Let’s check the benefits of WhatsApp Business API for banking and Finance.

1. Reach and Scalability

Being used by a vast number of people, banks can utilize WhatsApp to target more customers at a fast pace and with efficiency. Moreover, they can expand their conversation with the increasing demand, thus it becomes a perfect solution for customer conversation in the future.

2. Enhanced revenue

According to the research, WhatsApp banking and Finance accelerated revenue growth by 25% and lowered costs by 30%, which can be considered an upside for banks amidst intense competition. 

3. Security and Compliance

In the finance and banking sector, trust and security are the most vital things. This is where WhatsApp’s end-to-end encrypted feature enables them to share important documents, personal data, and banking information securely and privately. 

Phone tokens, biometric security, passwords, and a mix of both are methods of authentication that a user may perform. It makes sure that financial institutions remain in compliance and builds customer trust. 

4. Easy onboarding process

The onboarding process in some banks can be complex and frustrating for clients. WhatsApp can modernize the whole process for first-time clients. The use of WhatsApp API means that bankers can send other details in the form of rich media, as well as guidelines, to the customer during the process of onboarding process. 

5. Automation abilities

WhatsApp message templates for banking and Finance can be automated to boost customer response quickly. Organizations can arrange promotions and marketing campaigns and let them be set in motion automatically. Automated flows and auto-replies ensure that your business operates around the clock and reduces the need to do repetitive tasks manually. 

WhatsApp Banking & Finance Use Cases

From addressing customer queries to enhancing profit, WhatsApp helps institutions deliver secure and personalized services. Here are some of its use cases: 

1. Send Bill reminders

WhatsApp renders notifications to customers concerning one-click payments, outstanding payments, subscriptions, recurring payments, or due bills. 

2. Onboard customers

As per Deloitte, the traditional onboarding process can take up to 16 weeks and cost between $20,000 – $30,000, often leading to poor customer experience. With WhatsApp, banks can simplify this process with personalized guides. It eases the account opening, loan applications, and investments, making onboarding smoother and engaging.

3. Lead generation process

WhatsApp offers a click-to-WhatsApp and opt-in feature or direct connection with clients right from ads or website subscriptions.

Using these features, banks can streamline the critical customer data collection process. This helps to ease the lead generation process and create trust with the familiar and widely used WhatsApp interface.

4. Automate FAQs

Using WhatsApp Business API for banking and Finance enables customers’ frequently ask questions. For example, balances, where to get the ATM nearest, interest rates, and credit checks are to be automated. 

5. Offer account services

It allows the running of automated and automatic queries regarding bonus points, recurring payments, and transfer limits. This allows the customer to update account details and easily reset account passwords.

6. Lead follow-up

Check the prospects in need of banking services and make your sales funnel more effective with WhatsApp banking. To build credibility, make use of audio, video, and text appeals with an emphasis on personification. You may also provide relevant material, such as testimonials and demos, to the customers. Reach out using WhatsApp automation, with a 90% open rate and 25% engagement.

7. Document upload

The process of onboarding is accelerated since, through WhatsApp banking, a client can upload and validate the required documents easily. A leaf can maintain the conventional interface, which will help to minimize resistance and enhance the experience of the users. 

8. Payment and transfers

WhatsApp banking makes bill payments and fund transfers instant, secure, and more convenient. Using this, customers can make payments, check balances, and even get quick confirmation, all within a single chat window. It keeps both financial insulation and client updates regarding payments and bills, and improves the overall experience. 

Why is WhatsApp Effective for Banking?

Why would the users be interested in undertaking Banking and Finance marketing through WhatsApp as opposed to the many avenues available?  

So, here we explain the reasons why we chose WhatsApp marketing for banking services.

1. New constraints make the business more competitive

Regulations like open banking and PSD2 are some of the limitations. The conclusion is that Payment Services Directives influence the banking industry to become more competitive.

In this regard, the regulations make it easier to use open APIs such as the WhatsApp Business API. The business is going through a digital transformation that is digital and all this while new entrants are emerging into the competition.

These regulations are essential for banking to welcome change, which is also a downfall for incumbents who oppose it. 

2. Conversational banking is mainstream

Sending and receiving banking services via WhatsApp is not just a public relations stunt anymore. WhatsApp has various benefits for the banking sector.

According to the research, the global AI market in the banking sector will be worth $3.88 billion in 2020 and is anticipated to reach $64.03 billion by 2030, embodying a CAGR of 32.6% from 2021 to 2030. The competitive trend is driven in large part by WhatsApp Business API banking.

3. A leading platform for banking and Finance

Conversational banking is closely aligned with WhatsApp, the most popular messaging app globally, with more than 2 billion monthly average users.

The other leading platform with high potential for building engaging rich media experiences is through the use of WhatsApp. Some of its most significant benefits include button activation, quick replies, product sliders, voice notes, images, maps, and many other rich media.

Learning about this type of content enriches the interest that is taken in conversations. Customers do not have to type everything down, and this reduces the time taken to solve such complaints.

How to Get WhatsApp Business API for Banking & Finance

To get the official WhatsApp business API, go through these easy steps to leverage it for your business:

1. At the initial level, sign up or log in to the Getgabs panel.
2. Move to manual onboarding on the left side panel.
3. To create an app, a Facebook developer account is used.
4. Link a non-WhatsApp or new WhatsApp number to the API setup.
5. Upload the required documents, like GST and MSME, to verify your company account on Meta. Verify that the business number will be used for the API.
6. Move to the Getgabs app, and add needed details, including app ID, phone number, and display. Once details are added, your account status will be changed to Green.

Congrats, you’re done! Start message broadcasting now to your clients.

Conclusion

In conversational digital banking, the WhatsApp business API is an effective solution to engage with customers on time. It provides a secure and customized manner in which financial institutions can streamline onboarding, bill pay, and automate servicing. The platform helps them engage with their customers at every interaction, leading to an improved customer experience and lower operating costs.

Its reach, scalability, automation, security, and affordability are transforming the ways financial institutions engage with their clientele. To access all this, you have to partner up with a reliable solution provider such as Getgabs. It helps in realizing the full capabilities of WhatsApp API and enables you to deliver personalized and adequate finance experiences to clients. Connect with Getgabs today and elevate your banking communication.