AWS re:Invent 2025 - Scale Customer Engagement with WhatsApp Business on AWS (SEC101)

Scaling Customer Engagement with WhatsApp Business on AWS

The Evolution of Business Communication

• Business communication has evolved from face-to-face to various channels like mail, phone, websites, and apps.
• WhatsApp has become a dominant communication channel, with 3 billion monthly active users and 600 million daily conversations between customers and businesses.
• Using the channel customers are already using (WhatsApp) leads to higher read rates, interaction, and transactions.

The Customer Engagement Flywheel

• WhatsApp facilitates communication across the entire customer journey - from awareness, discovery, consideration, purchase, post-purchase, and re-engagement.
• WhatsApp supports various use cases beyond marketing, including authentication messages, utility messages, and customer service.
• Businesses that employ multiple message types (utility, marketing, authentication) see higher engagement and read rates for their marketing messages.

WhatsApp's Engagement Metrics

• WhatsApp boasts impressive engagement metrics, with an 80% read rate, 50% click-through rate, and 30-35% conversion/action rate.
• Data privacy and security are paramount, with end-to-end encryption and robust security protocols.

AI-Enabled Conversations on WhatsApp

• WhatsApp is an ideal channel for AI-enabled conversations due to its widespread usage, rich features, and partner ecosystem.
• AI agents on WhatsApp can leverage the platform's capabilities to communicate at scale with customers.

Types of WhatsApp Business Messages

1. Service Messages: User-initiated messages for customer service inquiries.
2. Utility Messages: Business-initiated transactional messages for order management, payments, appointments, and fraud alerts.
3. Marketing Messages: Business-initiated promotional offers and campaigns (with opt-in required).
4. Authentication Messages: Business-initiated one-time passcodes for account creation, recovery, and transactions.

Comparing WhatsApp to RCS and SMS

• WhatsApp offers advantages over RCS and SMS, including rich media support, longer character counts, and end-to-end encryption.

Integrating WhatsApp with AWS

• AWS End-User Messaging service provides a native integration with WhatsApp, allowing businesses to leverage AWS services to build WhatsApp-based applications.
• The integration enables event-driven automation, observability, and scalability for WhatsApp-based customer engagement.
• Businesses can connect WhatsApp with other AWS services like Amazon SNS and Amazon Connect to orchestrate their use cases.

Real-World Use Cases

1. Selim Hospitals (Indonesia): Increased appointment bookings by 8%, patient self-check-ins by 36%, and reduced customer service response time by 80% using WhatsApp for utility and marketing messages.
2. Pikpay (Brazil): Saw a 3.5% increase in customer onboarding and 6-12% increase in verification rates by using WhatsApp for authentication messages.

Key Takeaways

• WhatsApp is a highly engaging and trusted communication channel for businesses to reach customers.
• Integrating WhatsApp with AWS enables businesses to build scalable, secure, and observabile customer engagement solutions.
• Leveraging multiple message types (utility, marketing, authentication) can lead to higher engagement and conversion rates.
• Businesses can get started with WhatsApp Business on AWS in as little as 10-15 minutes.