In a conversation even in Mumbai, Meta announced a bunch of new features to enhance WhatsApp business experience for both companies and their audience. The event was held on September 20, where the platform introduced three significant features for WhatsApp: Multi-payment options, Meta Verified Badges, and WhatsApp flows, which will enhance its customer interaction experience with built-in chat abilities. Out of these three, two are very simple to understand. However, the confusion is born with the introduction of a third one named WhatsApp Flows. Let’s dig into the details to understand it clearly.
What is WhatsApp Flows?
“We’re launching flows so businesses can offer more experiences like quickly choosing your train set, ordering a meal, or booking an appointment- all without leaving the chat. With Flows, businesses will be able to provide rich menus and customizable forms that support different needs,” explained WhatsApp in a blog post.
Basically, WhatsApp Flow is an automation tool whose functionality is similar to that of Microsoft Power Automate or Salesforce Flow, but it works within chat. However, these automated chatbots were already in use, accessible through third-party apps on WhatsApp. It is highly possible that you may have already interacted with such chatbots while interacting with your bank, service provider or any other customer service to resolve your service-related issues. They have told you to click a few options until you reach the final service menu you want to avail.
However, with the introduction of WhatsApp flows, the need to use such less optimized chatbots will be eradicated. The chats will become much more interactive and will be able to feed more advanced responses from customers.
Also read:
WhatsApp Business: Mark Zuckerberg Announced New Features for Payments, Chats, Etc
How WhatsApp Flows Work?
This feature has not been witnessed by anyone in action yet. Moreover, it is being rolled out for large-scale usage very slowly. The majority of businesses have not yet utilized this feature for automation flows. So, it is very hard to tell exactly how the WhatsApp Flows work. But it is very likely to work as most automation tools work. Flows will help businesses create complex logic gates with ease to help record more interactive responses from customers.
