Salesforce is getting into bed with WhatsApp

Salesforce and WhatsApp have formed a new partnership that will bring instant messaging capabilities to the Customer 360 platform.
The partnership, announced during Dream Power 2022Will give businesses a new way to communicate with customers thanks to WhatsApp integration with multiple Salesforce customer relationship management application.
Salesforce said the arrangement will lay the foundation for “convenient, integrated and personalized experiences between people and businesses” and address the need for greater consistency across communication channels.
WhatsApp comes to Salesforce
Historically, businesses have had face-to-face or excessive interactions with customers e-mailbut Salesforce sees instant messaging as “the next great customer engagement frontier.”
Salesforce cites Kantar research showing that the majority (66%) of customers now prefer to interact with businesses through messaging platforms that allow conversational interactions.
By building WhatsApp messaging into its suite of products, Salesforce aims to help businesses cater to this new preference and build more personal relationships with customers.
Specifically, WhatsApp messages will be built into the Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Service Cloud and Commerce Cloud applications to support promotional and customer service use cases.
“Our customers are reaching audiences in the U.S. and globally, which requires them to continually find ways to improve the customer experience, connecting every customer touchpoint to one source of truth to create truly personalized experiences at scale,” said General Manager Michael Affronti on Salesforce’s messaging.
“WhatsApp-first business messaging enables every Salesforce customer to deliver a personal and conversational experience that increases sales, improves customer service, and engages customers no matter where they are.”
WhatsApp Messaging is coming to Salesforce Marketing Cloud in December, with further integrations to go into general availability in the next few months.