Icetrak Messaging for WhatsApp
Icetrak Messaging for WhatsApp is a set of tools and modules containing all of the relevant components required to enable WhatsApp Messaging functionality from within your current CRM system or Desktop Applications.
At Icetrak we believe that the simplest way to use Messaging is by enabling it within your native applications so we have included the tools to allow this. We haven't created a new messaging application for you to learn we're simply allowing you to add WhatsApp and SMS functionality to your current CRM and Desktop Applications.
No it's not. In fact if you already use us for SMS then you don't need to do any work whatsoever.
All you do is tell your recipients they can now receive your messages via SMS or WhatsApp. If they decide they want to receive your messages via WhatsApp they simply start a WhatsApp conversation with your Business WhatsApp Number using your https://wa.me/number link. We will then automatically send them your default greeting message, ask them to opt in and then our servers will record the fact that all of your messages going to their number need to be delivered via WhatsApp.
It really is that simple.
The WhatsApp Business Platform has been designed as a tool that allows Customers (the owners of the phones) to communicate with businesses. i.e. It is predominantly positioned as a Customer Services Tool.
To this end WhatsApp have weighted their procedures and processes to ensure Business Users only communicate with Customers using pre-defined rules and pre-authorised message templates and all Business Initiated Conversation do indeed need to start with a pre-configured template.
The only time that a non templated pre-approved message can be sent is during a "Service Window".
If you choose to use our Messaging Services you don't need to worry about any of this. You just send your message requests to us and we'll reverse engineer your messages in to a pre-approved template for you or open a "WhatsApp Service Window" so it can be delivered without modification.
The Icetrak Messaging Servers effectively act as a conduit between your Business Applications and your WhatsApp Business Account.
In it's simplest form you ask your business application whether it be a full blown CRM system or simply your email client to send a message to a recipient.
Your business application sends the message to our servers and then our servers deliver your messages to WhatsApp for you.
You don't have to worry about WhatsApp templates or what you can send within certain WhatsApp "Conversation Windows" as our servers will take care of all of that for you.
We think the key point here is not whether any one delivery mechanism is better than another. It's all about choice.
What we do believe is that busy Business Consultants don't want to, or have the time to decide what delivery mechanism to use when sending their messages. We have taken the unique aproach of giving that choice to the recipients.
The beauty of SMS is that it is free format and consultants have never needed to worry about what they were sending. With most WhatsApp implementations this free flowing/simple format of constructing and sending messages is impossible but we have made it possible. We have brought the flexibilty of SMS to the WhatsApp world.
We have also added in an incredibly easy way for Business Consultants to utilise some of the enhanced features that WhatsApp can provide without having to concern themselves with the technical complications.
Here's some cool features that you can use by simply typing a few special characters in to your free format WhatsApp Messages:
1) Easily add in Yes/No Reply Buttons.
2) Easily send maps to UK postcode locations.
3) Easily make location requests so a recipient can send you their phone location.
4) Easily receive documents and images.
5) Easily initiate a WhatsApp Flow. If you haven't looked at Flows yet take a look here. WhatsApp Flows We'll be happy to help you create Flows on a consultantcy basis if you need a little help.
Yes and No.
We have created a very simple way for you to send a Location Request to a WhatsApp Phone.
Once the Location Request hits the WhatsApp phone the recipient then gets the choice as to whether to reply with their Location or Not. If they choose to give their location you will receive their Longitude/Latitude co-ordinates.
i.e. You can make a location request easily but it is always the recipients choice as to whether to supply their location or not.
Firstly we'd suggest you get in touch with us so we can say hello and guide you through the relevant steps.
Once you decide to go ahead you need to link your Business Facebook Account with our Messaging Application and Servers. To do this you need to go through what Meta (The owners of WhatsApp) call their Embedded Signup Process by clicking the button below.
Please note WhatsApp is controlled and managed using a Facebook Account so you will need to log in to your Facebook Business Account
Unfortuanately not! WhatsApp is free to individuals for WhatsApp messaging between themselves however for businesses to send messages they have to use the WhatsApp Business Platform which is certainly not free to use.
At Icetrak we try to keep things simple but in this case we have failed miserably. It is far more complicated than we'd like it to be but please rest assured we wish it was simpler too.
There are 3 component parts to WhatsApp Pricing:
1) Facebook will charge you directly for sending messages via their WhatsApp Business Platform. You will pay for this seperately from our charges and it will be charged directly to your FaceBook Business Account. WhatsApp have a Conversation based charging model which is described and detailed here: WhatsApp Business Platform Pricing
If our servers determine you are outside of a Customer Service Window and we have to reverse engineer your message in to a template we will always endevour to do this with a Utility template.
2) Our servers will host an Auto Reply Robot (bot) for you. This bot will handle your recipients optIn/optOut preferenes, provide your recipients with a simple set of menu options and handle all of the complicated part of the WhatsApp template messaging rules that your organisations needs to adhere to in order to use WhatsApp as a delivery platform.
For this bot you will pay us a monthly service charge dependant on the number of recipients you want to have registered with the service.
3) For each message requested by a consultant/user/application within your business you will pay us a message transaction charge.
WhatsApp Messaging for ISVs
At Icetrak we believe in keeping things simple. Our Integration methods are kept as simple as possible and if you've already integrated our SMS solutions in to your product then you don't need to do anything else to include delivery to WhatsApp recipients.
The recipient decides how they want to receive messages. If the recipients connect to your Customers WhatsApp number and choose to OptIn then our servers remember that choice and we will always deliver any message requests to them via WhatsApp.
If you've already looked at WhatsApp then you'll know there are quite complicated rules as to what content you can deliver and when a pre-approved template has to be used. We take care of all of the WhatsApp rules for Customer Service Windows and Mandatory Message templates for you.
As part of our standard setup we will also provide the basic setup of an Auto Responder Bot and a default customer services menu.
We've also included some simple pattern matching AI so you can send simple text and we'll reverse engineer that in to WhatsApp templates for you.
Our unique approach is based around the premis of keeping things simple. Simple from your perspective that is. What we do is far from simple!
The first step is to let the recipients decide how they want to receive messages so you don't need to tell us how you want the messages delivered. Once they've chosen we route all of their messages via the delivery mechanism of their choice.
Then you can just send us simple plain text based messages as you would for SMS and we'll decide if we need to reverse engineer that plain text in to a WhatsApp template, open a WhatsApp Conversation Window or deliver it plain text during a Customer Service Window.
We've even added in the ability to put simple plain text patterns in to your old style SMS requests that our WhatsApp Delivery Agent will automatically interpret and add things like Reply Buttons, Location Requests and Maps etc for you.