We’ll explore how to set up an automated WhatsApp bot that listens for incoming messages using a webhook, sends those messages to an AI system for generating responses, and replies back to the same WhatsApp chat. This solution leverages automation platforms like Make.com (or Zapier), WhatsApp Business API, and a pre-trained AI system like OpenAI’s GPT to create a seamless, real-time conversational bot. By the end of this guide, you will have a fully automated WhatsApp bot that can respond to messages without human intervention.
WhatsApp has become a major channel for customer service, communication, and business messaging. However, responding to each inquiry manually can be slow and inefficient, especially for businesses that deal with a high volume of messages. Automating the response process is essential for improving customer engagement and reducing the burden on support teams.
In this blog, we will walk through the steps of creating an automated WhatsApp bot using a webhook to receive messages, an AI system to generate intelligent responses, and a setup that replies directly back to the user. This solution provides a way to automate customer interactions, enabling instant, personalized replies.
The need for fast, accurate, and scalable customer support or messaging systems is critical for businesses, especially those using WhatsApp as a communication platform. Manually handling every WhatsApp inquiry can be:
• Time-consuming and inefficient.
• Prone to human error and inconsistencies.
• Resource-intensive as the number of messages grows.
For businesses, especially small teams or solo entrepreneurs, an automated system capable of intelligently handling incoming WhatsApp messages would not only save time but also ensure that responses are consistent and instantaneous.
• The first step involves creating a webhook to receive new WhatsApp messages. If you’re using the WhatsApp Business API, you can set up a webhook URL that listens for incoming messages.
• Once the webhook is triggered by a new message, the system will receive the details of the message (e.g., sender, message content, timestamp) as a JSON payload.
• If you’re using Make.com or Zapier, you can configure the webhook as a trigger. Both platforms allow you to easily receive and process webhooks, ensuring that every new message is captured.
• The webhook response contains key details like:
• Sender’s Phone Number: The number from which the message is sent.
• Message Content: The actual text sent by the user.
• Timestamp: The time the message was received.
• After receiving the webhook payload, you can proceed to pass the message content to an AI system for generating a response.
• In this step, we use an AI system, like OpenAI’s GPT, to process the incoming message and generate a relevant response. Here’s how the integration works:
• After receiving the message text from the webhook, the system sends it to the GPT API via a simple HTTP request.
• The API call should include the message content as the input (prompt), and GPT will return a response based on the context of the message.
Example of an API call to GPT:
POST https://api.openai.com/v1/completions
Content-Type: application/json
Authorization: Bearer YOUR_OPENAI_API_KEY
{
"model": "gpt-4",
"prompt": "Reply to the following WhatsApp message: 'What's the price of your product?'",
"max_tokens": 100
}The GPT API will return a response that can be used as the reply to the user’s message. The AI system can be trained to respond to various inquiries, such as product queries, FAQs, customer support, or even casual conversation.
• Once we have the AI-generated response, the next step is to send the reply back to the user’s WhatsApp number.
• Using the WhatsApp Business API, we can send a message back to the user. This involves making an API request with the sender’s phone number and the generated message text.
Example of sending a reply via WhatsApp API:
POST https://graph.facebook.com/v12.0/YOUR_WHATSAPP_NUMBER_ID/messages
Content-Type: application/json
Authorization: Bearer YOUR_WHATSAPP_ACCESS_TOKEN
{
"messaging_product": "whatsapp",
"to": "SENDER_PHONE_NUMBER",
"type": "text",
"text": {
"body": "Thank you for your inquiry! The price of our product is $99."
}
}• This ensures that the user receives a prompt response directly in their WhatsApp chat.
• To streamline the entire process, we create an automated workflow using Make.com (or similar automation tools). The workflow is triggered by the incoming message (via webhook), sends the message to GPT for processing, and replies to the user based on the AI response.
• The steps in Make.com would look like this:
• Webhook Trigger: Capture the new message using the webhook.
• HTTP Module: Send the message to OpenAI’s API and capture the response.
• WhatsApp API Module: Send the AI-generated reply back to the user.
• Once the automation is set up, we can test the process by sending a WhatsApp message to the bot. The system should automatically capture the message, generate an AI-based response, and send it back to the user without any manual intervention.
• After successful testing, the system can be deployed to handle real-world customer interactions.
The end result is a fully automated WhatsApp bot capable of handling incoming messages, generating intelligent responses using an AI system, and replying instantly. Here’s what we achieved:
• Instant Responses: The bot ensures that users receive replies almost immediately, improving customer satisfaction.
• AI-Powered Conversations: By integrating AI, the responses are not only fast but also contextually relevant and intelligent.
• Scalability: The system can handle an unlimited number of inquiries without needing human intervention.
• Efficiency: Businesses save valuable time and resources by automating repetitive customer queries, allowing teams to focus on more critical tasks.
This solution is ideal for businesses looking to automate customer service on WhatsApp or provide quick, intelligent responses to users in real time.
Fill out the form and one of our consultants will reach out to you within a day! Or just drop an email at... contact@cloudifybiz.com
