Expanding our Partnership with WhatsApp

Expanding our Partnership with WhatsApp

Millions of developers around the world can reach billions of WhatsApp users across the Twilio Customer Engagement Platform.

From the beginning, we’ve focused on democratizing the world of communications, enabling developers to abstract away the complexities of the global telco ecosystem. It started with voice, and quickly expanded to the world of messaging. A simple text message communicates meaning, but for a global audience, a conversation on WhatsApp can mean so much more.

Since launching the WhatsApp Business API on Twilio, we’ve seen hundreds of thousands of developers start building and deploying applications. As one of the largest partners in the ecosystem, we connect Twilio’s millions of developers to billions of WhatsApp users, with just a few lines of code.

We’re just getting started.

Today, we’re expanding our partnership with WhatsApp, redoubling our commitment to WhatsApp as a key channel across the Twilio Customer Engagement Platform, whether you are building in Twilio Flex, Frontline, or the Conversations API.

Critical to that journey is allowing developers to start sending WhatsApp messages more quickly. Through Twilio’s integration with the new WhatsApp onboarding beta, you can start sending messages from your account in as little as five minutes. Over the coming year we are partnering with WhatsApp to allow developers to deploy instantaneously – making onboarding as frictionless as provisioning a phone number to send an SMS on Twilio.

"Messaging is fast becoming the way people prefer to chat with businesses -- more than 175 million people message a business on WhatsApp every day -- and an efficient way for businesses to answer questions, provide support and improve customer satisfaction," said Matt Idema, chief operating officer at WhatsApp. “Twilio laid the groundwork for a developer-first experience building on WhatsApp with their best-in-class documentation and reliable APIs. Our partnership plays a critical role in expanding WhatsApp Business messaging through Twilio’s global network of over 10M developers.”

Improving the developer experience

You know that sending the first SMS is easy with Twilio, but navigating the complexities of international regulatory frameworks and sender types and functionality can be complicated. WhatsApp makes that simpler for businesses – a single branded profile accessible anywhere consumers have data or wifi access.

In addition to streamlining onboarding, we’re committed to enabling and highlighting WhatsApp as a key engagement channel across the Platform. Developers can now rely on WhatsApp to send requested notifications with the Programmable Messaging API or power cross-channel conversations with the Conversations API. You can also launch your app in minutes with chatbot templates in Twilio Studio, or using the Twilio CLI. Lastly, you can track approvals of Message Templates in Console as well as delivery and read status in Messaging Insights.

The next chapter for WhatsApp on Twilio

More than just a channel, whether fielding customer inquiries in Twilio Flex or responding to customers on the go with Twilio Frontline, businesses can rely on WhatsApp as a critical tool in their multi-channel offering. We believe international engagements should start with WhatsApp. With branded profiles, read receipts, and investments WhatsApp is making in commerce, WhatsApp is a natural conversational tool. As part of the partnership Twilio is leveling up our internal WhatsApp team with specialists to support conversational messaging applications globally, in markets such as Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, South Africa where users expect you to be on WhatsApp. These specialists bring expertise and best practices to our customers around the world.

We’re constantly awed by how developers use the power of the Twilio’s APIs and the reach and features of WhatsApp to solve critical communication challenges. Organizations like the International Rescue Committee (IRC) turned to WhatsApp to connect with refugees while The Netherlands Red Cross has relied on a WhatsApp bot to reach those displaced by natural disasters.

And we’ve also seen how WhatsApp has played a vital role during the COVID-19 pandemic. QVC used a WhatsApp and Twilio Flex powered contact center to provide messaging-based customer care, allowing them to launch a new channel that supported consumers and a newly remote workforce – in days.

We’re thrilled to continue this journey with the millions of developers building with Twilio, and we can’t wait to see what you build next, with WhatsApp!

Simon Khalaf is the SVP and GM of Messaging at Twilio.