Official WhatsApp Business API chatbot for almost free

How to create an official WhatsApp Business chat bot for almost free? So, you are faced with the task of creating a WhatsApp chatbot, it is better if it is inexpensive, and even better - to find a free solution. Chatbots can really be a very useful solution for business, they can easily cover the following tasks:

Instant Customer Support:

• WhatsApp chatbots can provide real-time answers to frequently asked questions, reducing the need for a large customer support team and increasing customer satisfaction with swift responses.

Order Processing and Status Updates:

• Businesses can automate order confirmations, shipping notifications, and other transactional messages, ensuring that customers are constantly informed and reducing the number of inquiries.

Lead Generation and Qualification:

• Bots can initiate conversations with potential leads, gather necessary information, and even qualify these leads based on predefined criteria, thus ensuring that the sales team focuses on high-potential prospects.

Feedback Collection and Surveys:

• Automated surveys or feedback forms can be sent out post-purchase or post-interaction to gather valuable insights. This helps businesses improve their products and services based on real user feedback.

Promotion and Marketing:

• Chatbots can send out targeted promotional messages, offers, or news about product launches to subscribers. These personalized notifications can lead to higher conversion rates compared to broader advertising campaigns.

All this looks great, but what options exist to create a WhatsApp bot for free, or at least not overpay?

Unofficial WhatsApp Business API

One of the options you can theoretically use is to connect an unofficial WhatsApp API and create a chatbot based on it, this WhatsApp API is sometimes called a grey WhatsApp API. This approach may indeed be more successful from an economic point of view, because, as a rule, a bot based on an unofficial API can cost many times less. For example, connecting the official WhatsApp Business API can cost between $40 and $150. The price can increase even more if the API provider provides API connection and chatbot builder services separately from each other, then the price for working with the Official WhatsApp Business API can go up to 200 dollars and more. Connecting a grey API can cost you less than $30, almost free WhatsApp API if we compare the two approaches to work.

As you might guess, there are inherent challenges and risks behind such a low price. Here are some of them:

Security Risks:

• Unofficial APIs may not adhere to the same security standards as the official API. This can expose businesses to data breaches, unauthorized access, and other security vulnerabilities.

Limited Stability and Reliability:

• Unofficial APIs may not be as stable or reliable as the official version. This could lead to disruptions in service, message delivery failures, or inaccurate data retrieval.

Potential for Account Bans:

• WhatsApp has strict policies regarding the use of unofficial tools. Businesses using these could have their accounts flagged, limited, or even banned, disrupting their communication channel with customers.

Future Incompatibility:

• WhatsApp regularly updates its platform and services. Unofficial APIs might not keep pace with these updates, leading to potential compatibility issues or malfunctions in the future.

We wrote about connecting the Official WhatsApp Business API in this article: Attaching your WhatsApp number to WABA—detailed guide - 1MSG. Connecting may indeed seem more complicated and expensive, but it is a good investment for the future of your business, because you will be sure that your number will not be blocked, that the number will always be available, and your customers will always be able to write and find you on WhatsApp.

Official WhatsApp Business API from 1msg.io

If the unofficial WhatsApp API has such risks and the official WhatsApp API is quite expensive, why do we write that it is possible to create a WhatsApp bot for free? That's right, you probably won't be able to create a bot for free, or the price for using such a chat bot may be too high - loss of number. But 1msg.io has a lucrative offer, you can really create a WhatsApp chatbot almost for free.

We have written more about our pricing policy in this article: 1MSG.io — WhatsApp Business API Payment model. Usually, providers of the official WhatsApp Business API offer high tariffs and require additional fees for connecting advanced functionality, such as connecting chatbot builders. But in 1msg.io, you pay only for the connection of WABA number, and all other functionality: chatbot constructor, inbox chat, WhatsApp broadcasts, WhatsApp automation tools, WhatsApp mobile app and much more you get absolutely free.

That's why we say that with 1msg.io you can create a WhatsApp chatbot for free. You can read more about how to create a bot without programming skills right here: 1MSG.io — How create your own WhatsApp bot (No code).