How to integrate WhatsApp with Shopify

WhatsApp is the silver bullet in sales.  Over 69% of consumers are more likely to finish a purchase from ecommerces that allow them to interact via WhatsApp.

If you haven’t started using a WhatsApp Shopify integration for your online store , SleekFlow is here to give you the ultimate how-to guide. 

What is the WhatsApp Shopify integration?

The WhatsApp Shopify integration is a powerful tool that enables Shopify store owners to connect their online stores with WhatsApp, allowing for seamless communication with customers. 

This integration leverages WhatsApp’s widespread usage and convenience to enhance customer engagement, improve support, and boost sales. Here are the key features and benefits of the WhatsApp Shopify integration:

• Real-time Customer Support:

Store owners can provide instant customer support through WhatsApp, addressing inquiries, resolving issues, and assisting with purchases directly within the chat.

• Order Notifications:

Customers receive automated notifications about their orders, including order confirmation, shipping updates, and delivery status, ensuring they are always informed about their purchase status.

• Personalised Marketing:

Businesses can send personalised marketing messages, promotional offers, and product recommendations to customers, leveraging WhatsApp's high open and response rates.

• Abandoned Cart Recovery:

The integration can send reminders to customers who have abandoned their carts, encouraging them to complete their purchases and thus reducing cart abandonment rates.

• Increased Sales and Conversions:

By facilitating direct and personalised communication, the integration can help increase sales and conversions, as customers are more likely to make purchases when they receive prompt and relevant responses.

Overall, the WhatsApp Shopify integration offers a seamless way to enhance customer experience, streamline communication, and drive sales, making it a valuable addition for Shopify store owners looking to leverage the popularity and convenience of WhatsApp.

What are the benefits of integrating WhatsApp with Shopify?

Integrating WhatsApp with Shopify significantly enhances customer support and communication. Businesses can provide real-time assistance, addressing inquiries and resolving issues promptly, which leads to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty. Automated notifications for order confirmations, shipping updates, and delivery statuses keep customers informed and reduce anxiety about their purchases.

This integration also boosts marketing efforts through personalised and targeted messages. Businesses can send promotions, product recommendations, and cart recovery reminders directly to customers' WhatsApp, leveraging the platform’s high open and response rates. The use of rich media, such as images and videos, further enhances engagement and provides a more interactive shopping experience.

Furthermore, the integration is easy to set up and manage, requiring minimal technical expertise. It also offers insightful analytics, enabling businesses to track customer interactions and campaign performance. This data-driven approach helps in refining marketing strategies, ultimately driving sales and fostering stronger customer relationships.

How to integrate WhatsApp in Shopify?

For start using a WhatsApp Shopify integration, you first gonna need a WhatsApp Business API account.

WhatsApp Business free application allows businesses to create a profile to display their company name, logo, website, location, working hours and product catalogue. It offers some basic tools to automate replies and check messaging statistics. 

Nonetheless, it was built with small business owners in mind and you may find the limitations below pretty annoying as your business grows:

• Only five agents can manage all conversations on multiple devices (1 phone + 4 additional devices) at one time.

• No way to send bulk personalised text messages - (if you want to use variables like name, you have to repeatedly copy and paste the same text and send it in different chat rooms.)

• Risk of being blocked or marked as spam by unpleasant customers and not being able to know why.

• Difficult to keep track of sent and reply rates for future analysis.

• You can’t create chatbots or use any other advanced automations.

• No integration with other apps and tools.

Medium to large companies often resort to the advanced paid solution - WhatsApp Business API. It is a developer tool to support business communications at scale. The main benefits include:

• A large team of customer service representatives can access one WhatsApp Business account at the same time.

• Develop marketing automation tools to broadcast personalised messages at scale. 

• Integrate with your existing e-commerce store to send targeted messages like order notifications and shipping updates.

• Green tick official verification and company name displayed on the profile even if the customer has not saved the business in their contact list, giving customers a confidence boost and reducing spam complaints.

• Create advanced chatbots with AI technology.

How to integrate WhatsApp with Shopify

Step 1: Create an Official WhatsApp API account through a WhatsApp Partner

Contact a WhatsApp Business API official provider like SleekFlow, and apply. You will need a valid phone number and a Facebook Business Account  to submit the application. The whole process could take up to 2 weeks.

Want to know more about WhatsApp Business API? Read our essential guide.

Step 2: Connect your official WhatsApp Business account to SleekFlow

Once your Official WhatsApp API account is approved and provisioned, connect it to SleekFlow and manage WhatsApp messages in the inbox. Other than being a WhatsApp manager, SleekFlow also allows you to connect to other channels, including Facebook Messenger, Instagram DM and your live chat widget to check incoming messages from all your existing channels in one place.

Step 3: Integrate Shopify to SleekFlow

Start Shopify integration on SleekFlow’s ‘Add Integration’ section. Here’s a checklist to complete a  successful integration: 

• An eligible Shopify account 

• Admin access to your linked Shopify page

• Permission of access to private apps

• Permission of read access to Products, Customers and Orders

• Link the private app with SleekFlow

Fill in your Shopify Shop URL and API Password to connect your Shopify store to SleekFlow. If you wish to see your customer’s abandoned cart and order history on Inbox, you can synchronise customer contacts and orders from Shopify to SleekFlow with just their email or phone number. 

After the integration, you can view Shopify order information, including the latest order items, fulfilment statuses and payment records right next to the customer’s inbox. This is particularly useful when customers enquire about their order status through WhatsApp, and you can track it at a glance. 

Step 4: Send Shopify order updates through WhatsApp

Use SleekFlow’s automation tools to send order updates to your customers using WhatsApp messages. Create an automation rule that runs based on event triggers, for example:

• Send order confirmation message once the customer has paid

• Send order shipping status update once the order is delivered

Step 5: Send abandoned cart reminder through WhatsApp

Remind your customers to check out the items in their abandoned carts. You can copy the order URL and approach them on WhatsApp to encourage them to place an order.

Why you should use the WhatsApp API Shopify integration

One of the biggest challenges of operating an online store is to convert casual browsers into real shoppers or even loyal customers. However, for Shopify store owners, you can integrate a WhatsApp and extend your sales effort beyond the e-commerce store. Some of the benefits include:

• Offer instant help to a potential customer’s question

• Get customers to react quickly to the solutions you provided 

• Offer good customer service by giving real-time post-purchase and fulfilment updates 

• Chat with end-to-end encryption to provide additional data security

• Learn about your customer’s purchase intent and habits to improve retention

What does WhatsApp Business API pricing model look like? Check out our pricing guide for details.

5 easy ways to use WhatsApp for Shopify

Need some inspiration to get more sales on Shopify via WhatsApp? Here are five easy ways to use WhatsApp to boost sales.

Send Shopify abandoned cart recovery alerts through WhatsApp

Set an event-driven automation rule to send check-out reminder messages after a customer abandoned a shopping cart for a while. Note that some of the common reasons for cart abandonment are unexpected extra costs, slow delivery time and complicated checkout processes. You can also set up chatbots to find out why they are hesitating and offer solutions, for example, send a time-limited promo code, just right away.

Send automated transactional update messages

Update customers about their order confirmation, “order is ready for dispatch” notifications and delivery statuses in a timely manner, especially at times when you have to delay or cancel orders to keep customers informed.

Share shopping cart details and send a one-click checkout link

Simplify the checkout process by helping your customers add items to their shopping cart and send the details with the payment link via chat. No new user account sign-up required means less friction to pay and a higher conversion rate.

Manage customer relationships through WhatsApp CRM

Customer relationship management can be a hassle, especially if you need to switch back and forth between different platforms to track order information and respond to your customers. A Shopify-WhatsApp integration allows you to view the customer’s WhatsApp chat room side-by-side with their Shopify purchase history and order status, so when an enquiry comes in, you can understand the customer’s situation at a glance and promptly attend to it.

Collect customer data and analyse spending behaviour

Segment your customers based on their Shopify purchase history and put them into different lists to broadcast retargeting messages. For example, you can upsell a customer (who wants to buy a phone) a similar product with higher value (a phone with better camera functions), or cross-sell a product that complements their previous purchase (a phone case).  Subsequently, you can dive into the causal relationship between your WhatsApp marketing effort and actual spending that had happened in the e-commerce store, turning messaging statistics into valuable sales data. 

Check out how the healthy meal delivery company Nutrition Kitchen uses SleekFlow to increase sales.

SleekFlow is definitely suitable for any direct-to-consumer business, or anyone who needs to have regular communication with customers.

Wilfred Belsey

Head of Retention & CX