In the era of widespread digitization, communication with customers has become one of the most important aspects of business, not only in the e-commerce industry, and SMS or WhatsApp messages have become one of the primary communication tools. Those messages make it so much easier to know that a shipment is already waiting to be picked up or that a delivery man will arrive with food in 15 min.
Text messages are often opened and read almost as soon as they are received, making them high in receptivity. They are difficult to ignore when they appear as notifications, which can lead to higher customer engagement compared to other forms of communication, such as emails.
We will present you with the mechanisms and technologies behind sending notifications and describe the cooperation between Sii experts and Infobip.
The use of SMS and WhatsApp in e-commerce
SMS and WhatsApp messages can be easily automated, allowing you to send automated notifications and messages based on certain events, such as order confirmations, abandoned cart reminders, special offers for customers, etc. In addition, you can personalize messages based on customer data, such as name, order history, etc., and make them more effective and efficient. This can help build greater customer trust and increase brand loyalty.
Moreover, SMS and WhatsApp are popular means of communication that are widely used and accepted around the world. This means that e-stores can reach a wide range of customers regardless of their location, which is important for international trade. In e-commerce, where time is often of the essence, the ability to contact customers quickly is extremely important, such as when confirming an order, sending a delivery confirmation, updating order status, etc.
Sii specialists for Infobip
One of the leading global cloud communication platforms is Infobip. It is an international company specializing in providing business communication services through various channels, including SMS and WhatsApp.
Using OpenApi technology, experts from the E-commerce Competency Center created a module and library for integrating, managing, and sending messages for Adobe Commerce.
The challenge was to enable the sending of, for example, 1,000,000 notifications, and at the same time to receive confirmation of their dispatch. This was achieved using the queue mechanism and the asynchronous use of API communication. Such examples can be multiplied, e.g.: what if the phone number / WhatsApp is wrong? How to avoid looping and spam? Workshops and a description of business processes together with Infobip, edge case, helped here.
OpenAPI
OpenAPI is now the de facto industry standard for API definitions. This means that anyone can access services from the API out-of-the-box, without additional configurations.
OpenAPI, formerly known as Swagger (a separate project since 2016), is a framework for describing application programming interfaces (APIs) in a way that is independent of programming language and platform. It is a standard that enables APIs to be precisely defined, documented and managed, making it easier to create, test, deploy and maintain API-based applications.
The framework defines how to communicate with an API, what information can be requested and what can be returned. With OpenAPI, developers can ensure that their APIs comply with industry standards and easily integrate their applications with other services.
Benefits of OpenApi
OpenAPI technology enables e-commerce companies to quickly scale services to meet consumer needs. The best e-commerce solutions use API-first solutions and the trend seems to be toward Composable Commerce, which we described in the earlier article.
On GitHub and Packagist you can find a library created and currently developed by Sii Poland. The library also enables easy integration with the Infobip API, which allows for even greater automation of processes involved in sending SMS messages.
Shipping module
Let’s see how does the shipping module look like from the back end what does it offer:
- Order status – notifies customers when their order has been completed, put on hold, shipped, cancelled or returned.
- Product, available for sale again – notifies customers when the product is available again.
- Abandoned cart – encourages the user to continue shopping in the store when they leave products in the cart.
- Price drop – a price alert when the price of the product has changed and can be purchased at a more attractive price.
- Message templates – personalization, multilingualism and automation of notifications sent to customers who have given their consent.
- SMS and/or WhatsApp delivery and rejection reports with customizable views and breakdown by event type.
Summary
We receive SMS / WhatsApp notifications daily, they are part of our day due to its simplicity and intuitiveness. On the other hand, the mechanisms behind efficient communication evolve, changing at the level of technology (transmitters), operators (legal regulations) and applications.
Ultimately, leveraging these communication channels can help drive more sales and improve the customer experience, which is what the dynamic e-commerce industry is all about.
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