Top 5 Wati alternatives

WATI, a marketing automation solution, remains one of the fastest-growing official WhatsApp API business solution providers. But, the platform is not 100% perfect for e-commerce. The high costs and lack of support, to name a few cons, might impede your store's growth.

If you are looking for WATI alternatives for any of the above or other reasons, you must know what to look for. The capacity to send abandoned cart notifications and marketing campaigns is key to scaling customer outreach.

This article is a review of the top five Wati alternatives. Let’s dive right in and see how these platforms differ and which is most suitable for you.

BusinessChat.io

BusinessChat.io is one of the fastest-growing marketing automation solutions, especially in the Middle East.

Pros:

• It offers an easy-to-use platform with marketing campaign capabilities.
• It offers unlimited monthly messages; you don’t have to worry about scaling outreach.
• It has an easy automation builder and requires no technical expertise. You can build automation with events or segment-based triggers, such as cart abandonment notifications.
• It natively integrates with Shopify, Zid, and Sella to allow you to keep track of your orders and send transactional notifications.
• The e-commerce chatbot supports Arabic and English and acts as a sales assistant. It allows customers to browse the catalog and order from within the app.
• It offers ready-to-use marketing and automation templates.
• It offers advanced campaign analytics, such as click reports and UTM tracking, to help you understand performance.
• It offers a user-friendly shared inbox with team routing and conversation assignments.
• The platform does not charge for user-initiated messages. And it has suitable plans per the needs of different stores.
• Prices start from 0$, and you pay as you go. It perfectly suits all business sizes and doesn’t enforce a fixed price.

Cons:

BusinessChat doesn’t provide advanced customer support using an NLP-based chatbot, especially since NLP has proven deficient in Arabic.

Interakt

Interakt is one of the most affordable marketing automation solutions on the market.

Pros:

• It offers a shared team inbox to handle your WhatsApp messages and assign them to the right agents.
• It natively integrates with Shopify to allow you to keep track of your orders and send transactional notifications.
• It offers marketing and automation templates you can edit and start with.
• It offers an easy-to-build chatbot with basic features such as FAQs.
• Prices are cheap; the starter plan is at 15 USD only, with unlimited team members and live chat messages.

Cons:

• The chatbot is not multilingual and lacks advanced e-commerce features.
• It offers basic and limited attributions.
• It also offers limited automation; you must upgrade the plan to enjoy the predetermined automation.
• Team roles and permissions, essential to organizing customer services, are unavailable in the starter plan.
• It charges for both business and user-initiated conversations.
• It lacks UTMs tracking and click reports.
  

Trengo

Trengo is a multichannel communication tool. It allows you to bring email, Facebook messenger, SMS, and live chat in one place. This can be helpful if you still use those traditional channels; otherwise, it will only disrupt your budget.

Pros:

• It supports marketing campaigns.
• It has an easy-to-set-up platform.
• It offers a multilingual chatbot with basic features.
• It offers a shared tea inbox and supports team routing and conversation assignments.
• It has an easy-to-use interface and requires no technical knowledge.
• It offers unlimited messages in the starter plan.
  

Cons:

• The platform doesn’t offer ready templates.
• It lacks UTM tracking and click reports.
• It offers very basic attribution and segmentation.
• It lacks native integration with e-commerce shops.
• It lacks the archives for closed complaint tickets.
• To use WhatsApp broadcasting, you must upgrade to the third growth plan.
• You need to pay extra for the add-ons, which can be expensive.
• It charges per user, which can be costly if you have multiple agents team. For a minimum team of 5 agents, you have to pay 343 dollars per month.

Respond.io

Respond is one of the top Wati alternatives, especially if you are a large enterprise. It offers a user-friendly interface and different plans according to the company size.

Pros:

• It offers one of the easiest ready-to-use platforms.
• It offers an easy chatbot with basic features such as FAQs.
• It offers a shared team inbox.
• It supports team routing and conversation assignments.
• Offers segmentation and attributions.
• Offers support on WhatsApp

Cons:

• It lacks UTM tracking and click reports.
• It doesn’t offer ready-to-use templates.
• It doesn’t offer unlimited monthly messages.
• Offers only basic triggers for automation.
• Lacks native integration with e-commerce shops.
• You have to start with 299 dollars per month to get all the features you need. Plus, you will pay per user above a certain limit.
  

Twilio

Twilio offers various products. The one product labeled as a Wati alternative is Twilio Flex, an omnichannel platform that supports different channels such as WhatsApp, email, and phone calls.

Pros:

• Integrates with different applications and platforms.
• Suitable for businesses of all sizes, with significant customizations.
• It offers an omnichannel inbox.
• It offers push notifications.

Cons:

• The user interface is overwhelming.
• Technical expertise is a must since the product is built for developers.
• Certain requirements apply if you wish to use your own WhatsApp number.
• There is no flat rate, you need to pay per product as your business grows and you need to scale.
• The API has limited features compared to other WhatsApp APIs on the market.
• It lacks UTM tracking and click reports.
• Twilio has no fixed price, as you have to pay for each product or tool you need on its own.
  

As an e-commerce owner, integrating your conversation management platform with your e-commerce shop is essential. It lets you synchronize your catalog for automatic inventory, receive e-commerce events like cart abandonment, and generate a payment link when a customer orders from WhatsApp.

To achieve this, it's important to have native integrations that are easily set up. For instance, having a plugin readily available in the Shopify marketplace can simplify the process. This ensures that the integration is seamless and requires little technical expertise.

Integrating your conversation management platform with your e-commerce shop is crucial to improving your customer experience and streamlining your operations. Therefore, it's important to select a platform that offers native integrations with popular e-commerce platforms like Shopify or local platforms such as Zid or Sella, making the integration process effortless.

On another note, it’s essential that you have an easy-to-use automation platform. Wati has a complex builder, whereas Respond and BusinessChat have convenient and accessible builders.

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