Looking for Wati alternatives that can manage complex business processes and support more messaging channels? You’ve come to the right place! In this blog post, we'll introduce you to respond.io, a powerful omnichannel Wati alternative built to enhance customer communication.
Wati Alternative: Wati vs Respond.io
Wati and respond.io are platforms that facilitate customer conversations for business. They have similarities like providing businesses tools to automate conversations, send broadcasts and get conversation reports.
However, they were built with different purposes and businesses in mind. Respond.io was built for businesses looking to consolidate multiple messaging channels and accounts in one place. It provides tools for large businesses to manage and drive conversations from these channels for marketing, sales and support.
Wati, conversely, is built specifically for the WhatsApp Business API, so businesses are only limited to one channel. If your business relies solely on WhatsApp to communicate with customers, you may assume that Wati is sufficient.
Unfortunately, this isn't true if you're in a region where WhatsApp is not the only popular messaging app, as you won’t be maximizing your reach. Plus, you’ll be missing out on opportunities to reach existing and potential customers if your businesses will benefit from social media channels like Facebook and Instagram.
Now, let's explore how respond.io’s ability to support multiple channels and more can better suit your business needs.
Wati Alternative: Is Respond.io a Better Choice for Your Business
Respond.io is a customer conversation management software designed to enhance the customer experience to build brand loyalty and increase business revenue. It has helped businesses globally gain more qualified leads, improve sales conversions and achieve a high degree of customer satisfaction.
In the upcoming sections, we'll look at some of the ways you can achieve success on respond.io.
Centralize All Messaging Channels for Seamless Customer Interactions
Relying on a single messaging channel comes with potential issues like losing the ability to communicate with customers if the channel goes down, limiting access to customers who are only active on that channel, and constraining customers to a single channel to reach you.
If managing multiple channels sounds daunting, centralize them on respond.io to receive all messages in a single omnichannel inbox.
Connect WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram DM and More
Respond.io allows you to connect all popular messaging channels that your customers prefer. This multi-channel approach increases the potential for capturing conversations and boosting conversion opportunities.
Because it is a WhatsApp Business Solution Provider, you can get official WhatsApp API access and use it along with messaging channels like Facebook Messenger, Telegram, Viber, Telegram and Instagram. It even supports traditional channels like email and SMS.
Additionally, you can manage multiple channel accounts like individual WhatsApp accounts or numbers for each branch or outlet. Respond.io supports native channel capabilities like sending emojis, voice messages and more to make conversations with customers more authentic and casual.
Integrate Custom Channels like In-app Chat, Chats from E-commerce Platforms and more
Another distinct advantage of respond.io is that if your company has its own messaging app or uses an e-commerce platform’s native inbox like Lazada chat inbox to communicate with customers frequently, you can integrate them on respond.io.
Respond.io’s custom channels integration lets you connect any channels with an open API to the platform. Centralizing both popular and business-specific messaging channels allows you to respond to messages from multiple touchpoints in one omnichannel inbox.
Merge Conversations from WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Other Channels in a Single Thread
Businesses that have a presence on multiple channels must provide an omnichannel experience. One way to do this is by recognizing returning customers on any channel.
With respond.io, businesses can unify customer profiles by merging conversations with the same customer from different channels into a single thread. If a customer messaged you previously on WhatsApp but decides to message you on Telegram next, merge the conversations to get context effortlessly.
While you can host multiple WhatsApp Business Accounts and phone numbers on Wati, it doesn’t have a tool to prevent siloed conversations across them. If a customer messages two different brand outlet WhatsApp accounts, Wati cannot recognize the customer as an existing contact.
Next, we’ll cover how you can utilize respond.io to send promotional messages and initiate conversations with your customers.
Send Promotional Messages on Multiple Channels
Limiting your business to one marketing channel can result in missed opportunities to expand its reach and generate more sales and revenue. This is especially true for businesses that generate customers mainly from websites, social media or other e-commerce platforms, as customers may have varying preferences for messaging channels.
To overcome this, businesses must embrace a multi-channel marketing approach that allows them to interact with customers across different platforms.
Generate Leads through Click to WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger Ads
Social media users spend a lot of time on the app, presenting a valuable opportunity for targeted advertising through click-to-chat ads. These ads enable businesses to encourage leads to start a conversation directly and engage with them when their interest is at its peak.
When a lead messages you through click-to-chat ads, respond.io shows you which ad a customer clicked on when they message you, giving agents useful context to respond intelligently. You can also automate these conversations to gain lead information and qualify them automatically.
Unlike respond.io, which allows direct identification of specific ads in your inbox, Wati merely shows that a conversation started from a click-to-WhatsApp ad. Extra steps are needed if agents want to pinpoint the exact ad the lead is inquiring about. Next, let’s look at using broadcast for marketing and remarketing.
Broadcast on WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Telegram and More
With respond.io, businesses can send broadcast messages on multiple channels, including SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, LINE and Viber. They also have the option to send broadcast messages on the last channel a customer has interacted with them on.
Businesses can personalize, schedule and send broadcast messages to target audiences on the channels customers are most active on, tailor messages to each channel's unique features and audience, and even confirm which channels their target audience is on.
Get Insights into your Marketing Performance with Broadcast Analytics
To measure your marketing campaign success, get insights and data to help improve your next campaign's strategy.
By analyzing the performance of previous campaigns, businesses can identify the best marketing approach for their business, understand their audience's behavior and preferences, and optimize their messaging, targeting and channels accordingly.
Trigger Promotional Messages from Customer Actions on Platforms like Shopify
With respond.io, you can trigger promotional messages based on customer actions on external platforms like Shopify. For example, if a customer adds items to their cart but doesn't complete the purchase, you can send an abandoned cart message on their preferred channel with a discount or other incentives.
Customers can select pre-determined reply buttons or send a response and be connected to an agent automatically. This way, customers can easily get what they want, enhancing the customer experience and satisfaction.
Now that you understand how respond.io offers an omnichannel experience, let's look at how to handle inbound conversations.
Manage Conversations and Tasks Effectively with Advanced AI and Automation Capabilities
Automating conversations is crucial, especially when businesses receive high volumes of messages from various messaging channels or accounts. However, customers still prefer human agents to handle complex issues.
As a solution, businesses need to determine which conversations are better automated, which require a human touch and ways to improve conversational efficiency both for customer satisfaction and agent efficiency.
Because automation and AI play a huge role in ensuring these processes work smoothly, businesses need a platform with powerful automation capabilities. Let’s look at what respond.io has to offer.
Streamline Processes in One Visual Workflow Automation Builder
Unlike many other platforms, including Wati, which have confusing automation setup processes, respond.io’s Workflow automation builder gives you one visual Workflow to automate complex business processes.
You can plan, design and implement your workflow from A to Z with any amount of complexity in one space. This includes automating FAQs, chat routing, case escalations and creating deals or tickets in CRMs.
Additionally, you can build an AI Agent to answer customer questions on its own before passing the conversation to a human agent. You can do all this from scratch or use ready-made templates.
Managers can also create Workflows for complicated tasks like shift transfer, case escalation, syncing data in external CRMs and getting customer feedback, then allow agents to launch them with a click while talking to customers.
Now that you know how respond.io’s automation works, it's important to highlight one of the critical components of improving customer satisfaction: Auto assigning conversations to agents quickly.
Note that Wati’s auto-assignment logic limits businesses to round-robin assignment, which is not natively integrated and requires technical expertise to set up.
Auto Assign Conversations Based on Team Function and Customer Needs
There are two ways for businesses to automatically assign new conversations on respond.io: Round-robin for equal workload distribution or assign them to agents with the least conversations open. Round-robin assignments ensure each sales agent has an equal opportunity to convert leads and earn their commissions.
Assigning agents with the least conversations lets businesses provide a better customer experience. This is because it connects customers with available agents quickly and reduces wait times and resolution times.
As for new conversations, businesses can assign them to a new agent and route returning customers with a history of interactions to the same agent who handled their case before.
This approach gives agents the context to address recurring or related issues and build long-term relationships with customers. Consequently, customers can receive a more personalized and efficient support experience.
To prioritize high-value customers who contribute substantially to revenue, businesses usually provide them with a dedicated agent as a primary point of contact for all their needs. These agents will work closely with the customer to understand their goals or desires. Then, provide guidance and support to help them achieve their desired outcomes.
Since high-value customers are crucial to the success of any business, it is important that companies minimize any difficulties or inconveniences they may face while interacting with their brand.
For instance, respond.io instantly identifies and directs high-value customers to their dedicated agent without needing any keyword input. This eliminates the need for the customer to spend extra time typing out specific keywords, as they would have to when using Wati.
Respond Quickly, Accurately and Professionally with AI
With respond.io, agents can leverage AI capabilities to answer inquiries promptly and efficiently. Respond AI Prompts allow agents to refine their messages, ensuring clarity and precision in communication. They can also translate messages into different languages, reducing potential language barriers.
Moreover, tools like AI Assist can be a game-changer for providing agents with quick replies based on customer context. This rapid access to information allows agents to respond quickly and accurately to customer inquiries, enhancing response times and contributing to a more satisfying customer experience.
Note that Wati does not have any AI features available as its Knowbot beta testing is closed. Hence, none of these AI capabilities that are available on respond.io are available on Wati. Now that we’ve shown how respond.io improves business communication, let's explore the benefits of using a reliable platform.
Achieve Great Success with a Reliable Platform and Customer Support
Companies rely on platforms such as Wati and respond.io to drive their business operations and customer communication. Hence, platform reliability and excellent customer support from these solution providers are crucial.
In this context, it is worth exploring how respond.io's dependable customer support and high uptime can benefit businesses.
Robust Platform Stability for Consistent Operations
Having a reliable platform is crucial for maintaining consistent operations, especially when businesses depend heavily on a platform for customer communications.
Unlike Wati, which famously tends to slow down when it receives high volumes of messages, respond.io can support them without downtime. This allows your operations to run smoothly, giving you time to promptly address customer queries and issues, increasing satisfaction.
Get Speedy Assistance with 24/5 Conversational Support
Respond.io provides customer support round-the-clock from Monday to Friday, so you can get help whenever you need it. Our support team offers assistance in various languages, including English, Spanish, Chinese and Arabic.
You can get comprehensive assistance that covers a range of issues, including platform navigation, billing queries, bug troubleshooting and more. With our efficient support, you can focus on growing your businesses with the confidence that any obstacles you face will be resolved quickly and competently.
It is important to mention that Wati is known for its below-average customer support, with availability from Monday to Friday, 9 am to 5 pm Indian Standard Time. It only provides support via email or WhatsApp.
Not just that, its WhatsApp support doesn’t let you connect to an agent easily, which is frustrating when dealing with complicated issues.
Get Dedicated Support from A Customer Success Manager
If your business has complex needs, getting the respond.io Enterprise plan automatically gives you a dedicated customer success manager to help you maximize the platform's potential.
These experts specialize in providing personalized support, including planning and setting up Workflows, integrating third-party tools through webhooks and APIs, and more.
With a dedicated customer success manager aboard, you can achieve success like many of our customers. Now that you're familiar with respond.io capabilities, let's explore how our pricing plans offer better value compared to Wati’s.
The Best Solution for Maximum Value
To assist you in determining which platform offers the greatest value, we will compare the most affordable plans by Wati and respond.io in this section.
Entry-Level Plan: Respond.io vs Wati
At first glance, Wati’s $39 plan may seem cheaper compared to respond.io’s $79 Starter plan. Both plans include 5 seats. However, businesses using WATI can only use WhatsApp to chat with customers. In comparison, respond.io lets you connect up to 11 messaging channels.
Lastly, Wati imposes around a 20% markup on WhatsApp’s conversation-based pricing and businesses are limited to 5 broadcasts per month. Next, we’ll look at how friendly the plans are for fast-growing businesses.
Value-filled Plan for Fast-Growing Businesses
Wati's pricing is based on the number of agents. The Standard plan costs $39 and the Pro plan costs $79, both allowing up to 5 agent seats. For more than 5 agents, extra seats cost $12 on the Standard plan and $24 on the Pro plan.
The differences between both these plans are that, with the $79 Pro plan, you get advanced and interconnected chatbots, WhatsApp Ad insights and more chatbot sessions. Note that these are all available and don't incur additional charges in the respond.io Starter plan.
Respond.io's Starter plan and Business plan give you access to 5 and 10 seats, respectively — which you can scale anytime. We provide custom plans that can be tailored to your specific business requirements.
To summarize, respond.io offers more comprehensive plans for mid to large businesses and fast-growing enterprises with more channels, advanced automation and more at a competitive price. Now that you know how Wati and respond.io pricing works, let's look at why you need respond.io.
Wati Alternative: Why Respond.io?
While Wati and respond.io have similar features at a glance, Wati’s capabilities revolve around one channel, WhatsApp. Respond.io, on the other hand, is one of the most versatile customer conversation management software in the market.
It supports the highest number of channels while preventing siloed conversations across channels. Its advanced AI and automation capabilities enable businesses to streamline their processes in one place, helping them achieve results quickly with significantly less effort.
Respond.io is particularly well-suited for large businesses or businesses that handle high volumes of messages, as it offers high uptime. It provides free high-quality support that is available 24/5, while Enterprise users have a dedicated customer success manager.
All these enable businesses to convert leads faster, create better experiences, build customer loyalty and ultimately increase revenue.
If you are thinking about migrating from Wati to respond.io, simply contact our support team for guidance on the migration process. You can migrate your WhatsApp API while retaining the same WhatsApp API number.
Connect all your customers’ favorite channels and use powerful automation to drive conversations and improve business processes today. Ready to start with respond.io? Sign up for a free trial to test it out.
Further Reading
Want to learn more about respond.io? Here are some readings that might interest you.
- Inbound Conversation Workflows: A How-To Guide
- Chat Routing: Contact Routing with the respond.io
- Auto Assignment: Automatic Assignment with respond.io
