WhatsApp Business Chatbots

Customer quotes and orders, and staff sales orders and stock takes, over WhatsApp at any hour.

A chatbot on your WhatsApp Business number that lets customers ask a price, request a quote and place an order outside office hours, and lets your own staff raise quotes, capture sales orders and record stock takes from a phone.

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Overview

A great deal of business conversation in Zimbabwe already happens on WhatsApp. A chatbot built on the WhatsApp Business API lets that conversation do real work. A customer can check a price, ask for a quote or place an order at nine in the evening without ringing an office that is closed. The same bot faces inwards too: a rep raises a quote standing in the customer yard, a storeman sends counts through as he works along a shelf. Where your business system supports it, the quote or order is raised there directly; where it does not, the detail reaches your team ready to action. Payment is not handled in the bot — that stays with whatever process you use today.

Who it is for

Businesses taking orders and enquiries outside office hours
Distributors and wholesalers whose reps quote and sell away from a desk
Operations that count stock across branches, vehicles or storerooms

Features

Enquiries and orders at any hour

Customers message your business number to ask what an item costs or whether it is in stock, and place an order. The conversation does not wait for the office to open.

Quotes requested in chat

A customer sends the items and quantities they want priced. The request becomes a quote with your pricing applied, ready for someone to check and send back.

Sales orders from the field

Reps capture an order against a customer account from wherever they are standing, instead of writing it down and rekeying it at the end of the run.

Stock takes from a phone

Staff count a shelf, bin or vehicle and send the figures through WhatsApp. Counts arrive as a sheet to be checked against the system, with no new hardware and nothing to install.

Connected to your business system

Item lists, prices and customer accounts come from your business system through a supported connection. Where that system allows it, quotes and orders are written back; where it does not, they reach your team with the detail already captured.

How it works

A typical sequence; the configuration is agreed for each implementation.

Map the conversations
Agree what the bot should handle for customers and for staff, and where a real person must take over.
Set up the number
Register the business number on the WhatsApp Business API and configure the message templates it needs.
Connect the business system
Establish the connection for items, prices and customer accounts, and confirm what may be written back.
Pilot, then widen
Run with one team or one customer group, adjust the conversation flow on what you learn, then extend it.

Reports

Conversation design

The agreed flows for each audience, including where a conversation is handed to a person.

Working chatbot on your number

The configured bot on your registered WhatsApp Business number, connected to your business system.

Conversation and transaction log

A record of what was asked, quoted, ordered or counted, and what reached the business system.

What to prepare

Scope depends on your business system and what it allows to be read and written, on the WhatsApp Business API approval for your number, and on which conversations you want handled automatically rather than by a person. Africube confirms the connection method, the message templates required and the handover points before implementation.

The business system holding your items, prices and customer accounts, and how it is hosted
A business phone number that can be registered on the WhatsApp Business API
Your price list structure and any customer-specific pricing rules
A decision on which conversations a person should take over, and who that person is

Discuss your requirements

FAQs

Does the chatbot take payment?

No. The bot handles enquiries, quotes, orders and stock counts. Payment stays with whatever process you use today and happens outside the conversation.

Can our own staff use it, not just customers?

Yes, and that is often where it earns its keep first. Reps raise quotes and capture sales orders from the field, and storemen record stock counts from a phone, without a separate application to roll out and train people on.

Do the orders reach our system automatically?

Where your business system supports being written to, the quote or order is raised in it directly. Where it does not, the request reaches your team with the detail already captured, ready to raise. Which of the two applies is confirmed against your system before implementation.