Cell phone use is a reality for 87% of the Brazilian population who prefer to shop online, according to asurveyReleased this year by the National Confederation of Store Managers (CNDL) and the Credit Protection Service (SPC Brasil), in partnership with Offer Wise Research. Making this process even more convenient for users was one of the reasons why VaideBus, a company that recharges urban transport tickets, adopted WhatsApp Payments. Meta's new feature is now available in Brazil, and Infobip, a global cloud communication platform, is the first company to implement the technical integration and expand the feature, including PIX as a payment method for businesses. For the integrator, companies should sell above average with this new payment method and the automation of conversations.
What changes, in practice, is that payments for contracted services can be 100% processed via credit card, debit, or Pix through WhatsApp, natively, reducing obstacles in the payment journey.
As an example of the first service we have already integrated, VaideBus customers can purchase urban transport tickets via WhatsApp in a safe, convenient, and quick manner. It works as follows: the consumer types in a conversation with the company that they would like to make a recharge and the amount. In moments, they receive a confirmation request asking if they want to pay with a credit or debit card previously registered in their WhatsApp account, or via Pix. All of this is done in a very fast and automated way, making the transaction more convenient for both the consumer and the companies, explains Caio Borges, country manager of Infobip. VaideBus is the first company in the world integrated with WhatsApp Payments by Infobip — and so far, it has already seen excellent adoption results. In just one month, more than 150,000 bus ticket sales were transacted in this modality in some of the cities where the startup operates.
Brazil is a great example of success when it comes to tools that work through WhatsApp due to its great popularity. Just like in the national territory, with VaideBus being a pioneer, in India, another country where the app is popular, Payments has been in operation since the second half of 2023. "Brazil is a country where the population quickly adopts new technologies, making it an interesting place for these innovations. Additionally, Infobip's mission is to help companies improve their customers' experience. Making transactions faster, safer, and more convenient aligns with this goal and results in the population purchasing more with greater satisfaction, and businesses growing and gaining performance with their teams, since chatbots can interact 100% in this process of selling services via WhatsApp," explains Borges.
For the executive, small businesses will also greatly benefit from the innovation, as they will be able to transact via the app without the costs of card machines, offering the possibility of PIX, a transfer method without fee charges. "Furthermore, we will see growth in the sales of these small businesses, as the geographical barrier will no longer be an obstacle for something sold in a neighborhood or municipality to require the consumer to travel elsewhere just to make the payment, when they want to use a debit or credit card," he/she/it highlights. Another positive point is that with 100% automated interactions with the client, it will be possible to sell more without the need to invest in teams for this, which greatly helps smaller companies that do not yet have the funds for hiring staff.
The application operates through APIs, that is, mechanisms that enable more than one software component to communicate using a set of definitions and protocols. In this way, a logic and interaction are created for a chatbot to automatically make a service purchase after a brief exchange of messages with the consumer.
In the case of VaideBus sales, the transportation card credits become available immediately after payment. The company states that in 100% of all customer service interactions, WhatsApp Payments has been used as the payment method, with 92% of ticket recharge sales being completed with its users.
"Chatbots are able to provide excellent sales support through WhatsApp Payments. Without the need to speak with a human agent, customers make purchases by answering simple questions. The goal is to expand this technology to other companies and services to innovate and offer good shopping experiences for their customers. We are already in new negotiations to integrate this new payment format for various other sectors in Brazil, and in the coming months, we will see a rapid expansion of this modality," concludes Borges.
