Shopify WhatsApp integration: the ultimate guide

High numbers of traffic to the webshop sound like a dream. But whenever the checkout process is slow, there’s poor support, your team sends incorrect orders or a lack of personalised experience this traffic won’t convert to any sales. No matter how high the volume.

Unfortunately, we’re not talking in extremes. Your team doesn’t have to encounter all of the above-mentioned stumbling blocks. Because even when just one of the pain points occurs you’ll lose a customer.

But what if you can easily solve these pain points, all by integrating one (very) useful channel with your webshop? Some things in life are just no-brainers, and integrating WhatsApp with Shopify is one of them. In order to show you (and maybe we need to convince you a little first) we’ve accumulated all the information you need on the Shopify WhatsApp integration.

In this Shopify WhatsApp ultimate guide you’ll find:

• WhatsApp statistics
• Where and how to use WhatsApp for Shopify
• What you can expect after integrating WhatsApp with Shopify
• How to set up the WhatsApp Shopify integration
• How to add a WhatsApp chat button on Shopify
• How to (automatically) send Shopify notifications via WhatsApp
• And, inspiring stories from e-commerce stores that use WhatsApp

The most valuable channel for any webshop: WhatsApp

WhatsApp ended 2022 on a high note. With 2.4 billion WhatsApp users on its platform. And with 1 out of 4 people using WhatsApp to communicate and sending 100 billion WhatsApp messages daily, the platform shows no signs of slowing down this year.

Businesses are becoming more and more prominent on the social messaging platform. And users see the benefits of that. 64% of WhatsApp users agreed that the platform fosters personal connections to businesses. While 68% of users also call WhatsApp the easiest method of contacting a business.

This opens up great opportunities for webshops to engage via the platform their customers think best. Because WhatsApp is a preferred channel and an easy way to communicate, customers won’t think twice about replying to the message your team sends about the upcoming sale. Or the notification that the item they showed interest in is back in stock.

And it’s not just engagement, the WhatsApp statistics are equally in favour of conversion. 83% of customers use messaging apps like WhatsApp Business to contact businesses to learn about products, and 75% of them actually purchase.

Where and how to use WhatsApp for Shopify

Yes, the open rate of a WhatsApp message (90%+) is 4.5 times as high as that of an email (20%+). While 65% of customers also feel more confident messaging businesses versus sending an email. Yet, we’re not saying that you need to choose. Any webshop can and should utilise both channels.

Where you previously sent seasonal sales campaigns via email, SMS etc. you’ll now also send them via WhatsApp and can be sure to expect a boost in engagement and conversion.

What you can expect after integrating WhatsApp with Shopify

There are immediate benefits you and your customers will experience when using WhatsApp for your webshop. So let’s quickly run through them.

Immediate attraction and easy engagement

With almost 70% of users saying WhatsApp is the easiest method of contacting a business, they will be relieved to see your webshop supports this channel.

But not only will WhatsApp allow customers to easily reach you, but your team can also easily reach out. Whether it’s via automated messages that serve a warm welcome, or outbound re-stock updates. WhatsApp allows businesses to build a customer journey that’s highly personal, based on customer behaviour, and effective, remembering the high engagement rates.

A full overview of customer needs

Once you integrate WhatsApp and Shopify your teams will see all the customer information they need while handling a conversation. So no need for your team members to click back and forth between CRMs or tabs to find out what the customer is talking about. Because with the right order number, delivery times, previous contact moments etc. at the tip of their fingers they can answer straight away. So no more customer annoyance of having to explain everything thrice to different support members while waiting for answers.

And ultimately this will make for…

Fast service and relevant support

When your team members have all the info they need, replying fast is 100% doable. Did something break during delivery? The customer can reach out via WhatsApp with a picture of the broken item. While your team member in the same view sees that the item was bought yesterday, delivery was made today, there haven’t been previous contact moments and the item luckily is still in stock.

Within a few clicks, your team member sends a new item and tells the customer about it. Without having to phone the warehouse for stock info first, or having to redirect the customer to a colleague that was on shift yesterday. Really any WhatsApp interaction can be very swift and easy, for both sides of the conversation!

Great reviews

And all of the above will result in great reviews. As said people tend to waver when the checkout process is slow, there is poor customer support, lack of personalisation or orders are processed incorrectly. But these annoyances can be solved by communication via WhatsApp. And not just that. These pain points can be avoided entirely by integrating this favourite channel into the webshop, via the Shopify integration.

Where should your team add and use WhatsApp first

Add a WhatsApp chat to your website

Adding a WhatsApp chat to your website can help both existing customers and potential ones. So it’s really not surprising that this is our recommended first step.

When customers land on your webshop with a question, you want to be swift in picking that up. If they see a chat and get redirected to email it might feel like a hassle. But sending a quick WhatsApp message will feel a lot easier.

Secondly, you can attract and engage potential customers via a WhatsApp chat on your website. Whenever prospects are window shopping you can engage them in conversation. Let them know via chat that this particular collection they like is going on sale, or that they can enjoy a first-buyer discount code.

📚 Pro tip: Show off that your business is on WhatsApp. As with each feature, WhatsApp is becoming more of a social commerce platform. Instead of browsing on WhatsApp via the Yellow pages and then leaving the platform, they can now directly purchase your products via WhatsApp. A real one-stop-shop experience. Be sure to add this channel, so you’re still reaching your customers even when they don’t visit your webshop.

💡 Want to know how to set up a WhatsApp chat? Scroll down.

See order info from your customer while you’re chatting with them

It’s only possible for your team to answer swiftly and with relevant answers when they know what’s going on. And whoever interacts with your team doesn’t have to wait. A big plus. Nowadays, customers expect to be assisted instantly, and response times need to be lower than ever.

The WhatsApp Shopify integration will pull data from your webshop and show it next to the conversation. A must for any CS team that wants to excel.

Automatically send order notifications etc. via WhatsApp

Next to quick answers, people also enjoy effective communication. So let customers know when their order has been shipped. And while it’s very useful to avoid impatient reactions, this is also an excellent opportunity to get people excited. About their purchase and about the quality of communication coming from your business.

📚 Pro tip: With added integrations (think of the marketing automation platform Klaviyo) you can set up webshop triggers that will personalise communication via WhatsApp. Did a prospect leave their shopping cart filled with items but never made it to purchase? Send them a WhatsApp message to nudge them towards conversion.

💡 How do you set up automated messages? Scroll down.

How to set up a Shopify WhatsApp integration

Now that you know the statistics and benefits of adding Whatsapp to your webshop, of course, you’d like to know how too. We’ll walk you through the steps, so your team can easily set up the WhatsApp Shopify integration.

1. Set up a connection to the WhatsApp Business API

Any WhatsApp integration, whether this is with Shopify or with your marketing automation platform requires the use of the WhatsApp Business API. And because the API doesn’t have its own interface it’s easiest to let a WhatsApp Business Solution Provider create this connection for you.

The API is geared towards the use of big teams (any team larger than four) and helps businesses make use of the WhatsApp Business features. In order to allow for professional customer support and service, marketing, sales and more.

With the API your teams can:

• Send automated messages: create WhatsApp Business templates to automatically send notifications to customers about orders, events, shipping, payment etc. Including, welcome messages and outside-of-office-hours replies.
• Create chatbots and flowbots: let your team skip repeatedly answering frequently asked questions by setting up chat- and flowbots. Let the bot automatically answer these questions based on pre-written answers from your database.
• Work from one smart platform: because of the API it’s possible to connect your Whatsapp channel directly to your inbox. And because you won’t have the restrictions of the WhatsApp Business app you can use the automation that your engagement platform support via the WhatsApp channel too. For instance, applying labels to incoming WhatsApp messages, or directing conversations to the right teams via automated workflows.

💡 Don’t yet have a customer engagement CRM? Try Trengo for free.

📚 More about the difference between the WhatsApp Business app and API?

2. Next up, integrate Shopify with your engagement platform

Now that you’ve connected the WhatsApp Business API to your platform, you can integrate your Shopify account too (if you haven’t already). Check out the seven easy steps to set up the Shopify integration here.

3. Then create WhatsApp templates

After gaining access to the WhatsApp API, via your engagement platform, and integrating Shopify the next step is to create WhatsApp Business templates. This is where the WhatsApp Business API for instance differs from the app. Because Whatsapp Business wants to ensure quality control for the high volume of engagement via the platform all conversations require pre-written templates.

A WhatsApp Business template can look like this: ‘Hi! Thank you for contacting us, unfortunately, we are closed at the moment and unable to answer your question right now. If you still want an answer from us once we’ve opened, please respond with a thumb (👍)! And we’ll get back to you asap!’

You can create as many as you like. Just make sure you have all the relevant templates that you’ll need ready. Because they will have to be approved by Meta (luckily this won’t take long).

💡 Important: Because of quality control, WhatsApp also has a 24-hour rule. Where a conversation via the API will close 24 hours after the last inbound message. Luckily, with templates, you can reach out and keep in touch with your customers even after a conversation is closed.

📚  Check out everything you need to know about creating WhatsApp Business templates.

4. Have conversations via WhatsApp

Once everything is set up your team can talk to customers via WhatsApp! So where will they start? They can:

• Send a WhatsApp broadcast to a large segment of your customer base
• Send a message via the inbox to a customer’s phone number
• React to messages coming in from customers via WhatsApp

💡 Make sure your team uses the popular messaging platform to the fullest of its ability and read on.

How to add a WhatsApp chat button on Shopify

Adding a WhatsApp chat button to Shopify will make difference for your webshop. Not in the least because WhatsApp is a preferred channel by many. But also because 1.4 billion people are on messaging apps and willing to talk to chatbots, and 65% of shoppers say they want to buy from a business they can message directly. While in addition, chatbots are projected to save consumers and businesses over 2.5 billion customer service hours this year alone.

A small change like adding a WhatsApp chat button to your existing chat or setting up a WhatsApp chat will bring on a big boost in conversion. So let’s not beat around the bush, but let’s show you how to add a WhatsApp chat button to your Shopify-powered website chat.

There are 3 ways to set up the Shopify WhatsApp button:

1. Via a click-to-chat
2. Via a QR code
3. On the multichannel widget

Check out the step-by-step guide here.

How to (automatically) send Shopify notifications via WhatsApp

We didn’t list automated Shopify notifications via WhatsApp among the benefits for fun. They are a real game-changer.

Whether we’re talking about reservation or shipping updates, order or back-in-stock notifications, customers like to be kept updated on their purchases. We’re showing you how to create these opportunities for engagement.

There are 2 ways for sending notifications via WhatsApp:

1. Manual push notifications via WhatsApp Business templates

We spoke about WhatsApp’s quality control. And this is exactly why WhatsApp is led by customer initiative. After customers have sent a message or saved your number in their phone, you can continue the conversation via templates. Ensure these conversations are highly personalised and have a maximum of 4096 characters (including text, emoji, and structured variables). This way you know you’ll get swift approval from Meta.

Reaching out to prospects or customers at the right time, via the right channel is every CS, sales and marketing team's dream. These will all mean a boost in relevant engagement.

💡 So how to set up push notifications manually

Within Trengo your team can send customers notifications in 2 steps.

1. Go to Inbox > Start a conversation

2. Set up all the preferences and send out the right WhatsApp Template

Fill out:

• From / To: start with the WhatsApp channel you’d like to send your WhatsApp Template from, and find the right contact in the contact list. Or simply type their phone number.
• Default message / Template message: templates are the way to go when it comes to initiating a conversation via WhatsApp. So select ‘Template message’.
• Template: Select the WhatsApp template that fits the message.
• Personalise: does the WhatsApp Template contain variables? Then don’t forget to fill these out.
• Send: last up, click the button and send your template.

There will be a conversation created. Once the customer answers your team is able to pick up the conversation. And don’t forget about the 24-hour rule!

Important: for any additional costs regarding templates, check out the accurate and up-to-date overview of WhatsApp’s conversation-based pricing here.

2. Automated push notifications via broadcasting

Via the broadcasting feature, your team can send outbound messages to a list of 256 contacts in one go. This offers a great opportunity for your teams to reach out to segments of customers, that for instance are interested in re-stocking. And because of the high engagement rate of Whatsapp, this outbound effort will bring an immediate boost to any marketing campaign.

💡 How to set up automated broadcast messages

When in Trengo, you’ll only need to go through 3 steps to go from setting up a broadcast message to sending it. Let’s have a look.

1. First go to Trengo > Broadcasting > New Broadcast

2. This is where you can set up your broadcast message

For this step fill out:

• Broadcast name: give your message a title you’ll team recognize. Whenever left empty, Trengo will fill the name with the type of broadcast and the date automatically.
• Sender: WhatsApp, SMS, or other, where would you like to send your broadcast? Select the right channel here.
• Message: what will your message look like? You can fill out your message here.

Important for WhatsApp: as mentioned, when sending a broadcast via WhatsApp you’ll need to use WhatsApp Templates. Does this template contain variables (as seen below)? Then don’t forget to personalise!

For SMS: broadcasting via SMS won’t ask for templates. Just type in your message. And add tags like ‘[contact-name]’ to personalise the message.

• The send date: send your broadcast instantly or have your team schedule it for a later time and/or date.
• Recipients: of course, add the segment of customers you’d like to broadcast to. Select individual contacts, and a contact group, or enter their phone number(s) manually.
• Check the total cost: at the bottom, you’ll find the estimated cost of the broadcast you’re about to send or schedule.

3. Send: your team is ready to broadcast! After clicking send your customers will receive your outbound message. Once sent, you’ll be directed to the broadcast overview.

📚 Pro tip: don’t forget there are a couple of limitations for WhatsApp broadcasting and limitations for SMS broadcasting. Keep these in mind so your team doesn’t have to face surprises before sending out the broadcast.

Inspiring stories from e-commerce stores that use WhatsApp

Hubo

Back in 1933, Hubo was still a small woodshop in Utrecht. Currently, they have over 180 different store locations and various franchisors throughout The Netherlands.

Challenge: streamline communication across multiple locations

Whenever Hubo franchisors wanted to engage with customers, it was too much of a challenge to streamline conversation to the right store location. Because via one phone number on the Hubo webshop, every message had to be redirected to the right store location.

Solution: location finder via WhatsApp

Via Trengo’s location finder Hubo and its franchisors can make personalised communication with customers happen. Customers start a WhatsApp conversation with their preferred location, and each individual Hubo location can provide personal advice. All the way down to customers placing orders and stopping by the store.

"A while ago, I spoke to a Hubo owner who currently gets 60% of his revenue via WhatsApp."

Now Hubo receives around 700 WhatsApp messages a day via Trengo. And all those messages are a point of conversion.

The Polar Company

The Polar Company has reinvented deodorant. And via their webshop and online subscriptions they want to ensure customers can keep their cool in every situation.

Challenge: efficiently processing high volumes of personalised conversations

Once the volume of engagement started to increase, The Polar Company had to invest too much time into personalising every message. Working from a huge spreadsheet that contained all types of customer data, they quickly realised that they couldn’t keep this up and keep growing at the same time.

The solution: a scalable engagement platform that supports all outreach channels

Via the engagement platform Trengo, The Polar Company was able to combine all communication channels into one view. All their preferred customer channels, from WhatsApp to email and from Voice to Instagram. There’s no longer a need to switch tabs or between apps as now they’ve consolidated everything. While in addition to making the most of the WhatsApp Business API features.

“Back in the day, we had to share a device to be able to use WhatsApp. Now we have multiple native speakers who can work together on helping customers from different countries. All at the same time, from one number.”

Currently, The Polar Company is able to handle about 100 tickets per hour. They are ahead of the curve and make efficient use of communication on all their channels. Creating more time to be personal with customers.

Parfumado

Parfumado is an online perfume store, that through subscriptions aims to deliver customers the best scent experience possible.

Challenge: creating personalised online customer experiences through preferred channels

Selling perfumes online is not easy, and everyone can understand why. It’s impossible for prospects and customers to experience perfumes through their screens. Hence, Parfumado needs to step it up when it comes to offering customer experiences that win people over. So how is this e-commerce shop able to create personalized customer journeys online that convert?

Solution: meeting customers where they are for optimal engagement

In order for customers to really bond with the Parfumado brand, they need to experience a journey that speaks to them. But in order to set this up the company needs to interact with people via their preferred channels. That’s why Parfumado decided to connect all major communication channels, including WhatsApp Business, to one inbox.

“Because of Trengo we at Parfumado have personal contact with the customer in the most efficient way." - Sanne

Receiving all engagement in one place, and working from that place together meant that the Parfumado Customer Happiness team was able to spend time on personalisation. And to think of omnichannel personalised journeys. Now they have 4,000 to as many as 5,000 conversations a month with customers.

Let customers connect with you via WhatsApp

Webshops benefit greatly from adding Whatsapp as a channel. Because it’s the most popular messaging platform worldwide, and a big part of your customer base uses it. Customers will know how and where to find you. While your team can get ahead of the curve.

The Shopify WhatsApp integration creates one overview for your inbox, channels, webshop data and automation. This creates a smooth customer journey and will leave less room for mistakes. Allowing your teams to meet and exceed expectations.

Want to get ahead of the curve? Trial the integration for free.