Braze x WhatsApp integration: how to do it with charles

Want to integrate Braze and WhatsApp? The best way is with a dedicated WhatsApp marketing platform like charles. Here's why and how to get started.

Looking for a Braze x WhatsApp integration? 

This is a smart business move. WhatsApp is known for its excellent open rates (85-90%), high engagement (with unique interactive functionality), strong retention powers and huge revenue potential.

It's no surprise that so many brands have added  WhatsApp CRM to their mix – like our customers.

In this article we tell you the benefits of integrating Braze with a specialist WhatsApp marketing platform like charles.

Learn:

• Benefits of a WhatsApp x Braze integration
• Why you need a specialist WhatsApp marketing platform
• What you need in WhatsApp marketing software
• Why charles' WhatsApp integration sets you up best for success
• Case study: how BRAINEFFECT benefited from charles' WhatsApp CRM integration
• How to integrate WhatsApp and Braze with charles 
• Next steps: let's get Braze and WhatsApp integrated

Benefits of a WhatsApp x Braze integration

More customer data

Uniting email and WhatsApp and orchestrating cross-channel CRM brings you valuable additional customer information – that can inform your marketing campaigns.

Cross-channel orchestration

Benefit from the unique interactivity of WhatsApp while complementing it with your other CRM channels – like email and social media. Be there for your customers how and when they need you.

Higher loyalty
and CLV

Our customers (leading consumer brands) that have both email and WhatsApp details for customers see customer lifetime value (CLV) uplift of as much as 25%.

Why you need a specialist WhatsApp marketing platform

WhatsApp is a very unique channel.

It offers interactive and rich 2-way formats. But with this come Meta costs per conversation and a rapidly changing WhatsApp API.

To ensure success and ROI, businesses require dedicated software and expertise.

Right now, most existing (email) engagement platforms don't offer WhatsApp – or if they do, they do it in a limited/non-dedicated way.

To make the most of the WhatsApp opportunity, you need to find great WhatsApp software – that offers rich features, automation, analytics, GDPR compliance and expert support – and integrate it well with your existing email/CRM platform.

Success is not guaranteed if you go it alone. Worse, you may find you need to find software anyway later on down the line, causing disruption to your business and your customers.

But working with a trusted partner from the beginning, even if it takes some initial investment, will give you the best chance of success.

A specialist WhatsApp marketing software like charles may need a little extra investment at first, but it's more than worth it in the long run

What you need in your WhatsApp software

There are some essential elements of a specialist WhatsApp marketing platform that, when integrated with Braze will set you up for success in this powerful CRM channel:

• Rich functionality: good software will use the full capabilities of the WhatsApp API so you can profit from the full benefits of WhatsApp Business. It should support all WhatsApp template types and offer advanced WhatsApp automation so you can send out entirely automated WhatsApp flows and campaigns.   
• Further integrations: in today's omnichannel world, all your platforms should work together for smooth customer journeys, workflows and revenue generation. As well as CRM, you'll need to be able to integrate with your service platforms, messaging apps like Facebook and Instagram and shop systems like Shopify. Syncing data and workflows will ensure you maximize sales opportunities and ensure you give your customers a great experience. 
• GDPR functionality: businesses in the EU need to comply to the General Data Protection Regulation, in WhatsApp as in any other channel. To ensure you stay compliant and avoid fines and/or upset customers, you'll need both GDPR advice and software features – which a dedicated platform (especially if based in the EU) should offer.
• ROI focus: WhatsApp is more expensive than email because of Meta's costs per conversation. This means you'll need to think about cost savings more than you might with email CRM – for example by keeping sendout lists small but highly tailored and relevant, so higher performing. Specialist software and support will help you make maximum profit from every campaign, while minimizing costs. (See 7 WhatsApp cost-saving tips.) 
• Dedicated support: WhatsApp is new to many businesses but software experts like us have been in business for years. Through a software partner, you'll receive advice and expertise to help you start off in the right way and maintain your success into the future. 

In fact, some of our customers are brands that initially chose a WhatsApp function already available in their CRM platform.

They ended up switching to us when they found they didn't have the right functionality or support to navigate WhatsApp successfully.

See a WhatsApp CRM case study from our customer, skincare brand Dermalogica 

Why choose charles' WhatsApp integration over others?

As a 2-way, personal, private space, customers are more sensitive in WhatsApp than perhaps any other channel. The revenue potential for business is great, but you need to make sure you approach it in the right way, with high-quality software and support – like you'll get from charles.

We were one of the first WhatsApp marketing platforms developed in Europe.

Founded as a clothing brand selling clothes on WhatsApp, we became a software company in 2019, when our founders Artjem Weissbeck and Andreas Tussing realized the huge potential of WhatsApp as a marketing channel. 

We've been steadily pioneering this space and are now a leader in conversational commerce in Europe, with customers like Jack Wolfskin, adidas, Dermalogica and MediaMarkt.

1. Play a long-term game: 5 years' WhatsApp expertise

charles is well established, well tested and has always been, totally WhatsApp focused.

This concentration on one messenger app – with 2.78 billion users, the most popular in the world – has enabled us to become one of the leading WhatsApp marketing platforms in Europe. 

With us, you can draw on 5 years of working closely with brands to succeed in WhatsApp – through a dedicated success manager, regular webinars, proactive creative ideas, seasonal WhatsApp strategies and more.

2. Earn more revenue: tireless ROI focus

Our platform is laser focused on generating a return on your investment. This doesn't just mean short-term fixes. Our north star is to earn you the highest revenue per conversation (RPC) possible. 

We're experts in achieving WhatsApp KPIs and think long-term, creating a strategy together with you that will maximize both revenue and retention far into the future. 

We give you tips to save WhatsApp costs, ideas for how to optimize marketing campaigns, best practices for customer retention and much more.

The analytics dashboard in the charles platform gives a comprehensive overview of WhatsApp KPIs so brands can continue monitoring and improving performance

In terms of our WhatsApp integration, we help you keep your WhatsApp messages targeted and relevant – for higher engagement, lower costs and increased sales:

• Look deep into different use cases, so you can do more segmentation and create smaller and more specific audiences 
• Enable more event-driven communication (last purchase, email clicked...) to ensure the right message at the right time to the right person

We regularly share knowledge about how to maximize revenue in WhatsApp, like this webinar about how SNOCKS became our first customer to earn €1 million in WhatsApp alone

The result is that our ROI on average among our customers is 10-12X.

See our case studies for more ROI numbers.

3. Do more than CRM: service, shop and messenger integrations

Successful CRM these days involves a coordinated, cross-channel effort.

WhatsApp CRM is great, but you need to go further than that for maximum sales and customer relationship opportunities.

At charles, we aim first to ease your entry into WhatsApp marketing, then to expand your reach through all the WhatsApp integrations you need.

In particular, we work with enterprise brands, to ensure they get maximum value from their existing tech stack, even when adding a new tool like WhatsApp.

We offer comprehensive integrations with popular service, shop and messenger platforms so you can connect customer support activities, shop systems, and connect social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram with WhatsApp to:

• Triage service tickets, which can come in through your CRM activities
• Solve service tickets directly in service platforms like Zendesk, Freshdesk and Gorgias
• Create and send prefilled shopping carts in WhatsApp
• Drag and drop products into WhatsApp chats

charles offers WhatsApp integrations with all your favorite platforms – plus custom integrations

The key WhatsApp integrations we offer are:

• CRM: Emarsys, Klaviyo, Salesforce, Hubspot
• Service: Zendesk, Gorgias, Freshdesk
• Shop systems: Shopify, WooCommerce, Shopware 
• Messaging apps: Facebook Messenger, Instagram
• Custom integrations: our tech experts aim to integrate WhatsApp with whatever tool you use

See all our integrations here.

4. Enjoy stable WhatsApp revenue: with Journeys

Some tools offering WhatsApp integrations don't offer a WhatsApp automation feature. Few offer a tool as advanced as charles Journeys. 

Journeys is a powerful open canvas where you can automate complex WhatsApp flows

5. Stay GDPR compliant: with our software and support 

As a SaaS company based in the EU, GDPR is central to everything we do.

We offer software features – like a double opt-in check – and support to ensure you can stay compliant with GDPR.

Ultimately, it's your responsibility to protect and manage customer data and permissions in compliance with the law, but we go to great efforts to make sure you know the right steps to take.

See more on WhatsApp and GDPR.

Customer story: how BRAINEFFECT benefited from charles' WhatsApp CRM integration

Next steps: let's get Braze and WhatsApp integrated

With WhatsApp CRM gaining momentum in Europe, now is the time to get started with WhatsApp. The quickest and most powerful way is to integrate a specialist WhatsApp platform like charles with Braze.

If you'd like some help and advice with this, we're here for you. 

Just fill out our demo form, mention you're interested in a Braze x WhatsApp integration, and we'll get back to you soon. 

Note: the GDPR logo above stands for our commitment to provide a product that can be used in line with GDPR (e.g. with built-in privacy features, data hosting in the EU). It does not stand for any specific GDPR certification.