Create A WhatsApp AI Chatbot in 5 Easy Steps

In this article, we're going to show you how to create a WhatsApp AI chatbot with no code in just a few simple steps.  After you've completed the steps in this guide, your business will be able to answer you customer questions automatically using AI trained on your website content and product specs.  Now you can have one place where your customer service agents can monitor both website chats and your WhatsApp conversations and handle chats as necessary. 

A WhatsApp chatbot helps connect customers using WhatsApp to businesses through the WhatsApp messaging platform to automatically answer customer questions and escalate to human customer service agents when necessary. WhatsApp chatbots can handle a variety of tasks, from answering frequently asked questions and providing customer support to processing orders and gathering customer feedback. By using natural language processing and AI like ChatGPT, WhatsApp chatbots can engage in human-like conversations, making them effective in helping businesses offer instant, 24/7 support. Additionally, they can be enhance your customer engagement giving your customers and additional channel to contact you.

Here are features of your AI WhatsApp Chatbot

• Create an AI enabled WhatsApp chatbot to automatically respond to your customer questions using ChatGPT
• Answer inbound conversations right from your Social Intents dashboard on the web or your preferred collaboration tool
• Train ChatGPT on your website content, articles, files, spreadsheets, PDFs, and knowledge base to answer business specific questions in WhatsApp
• Setup Human Escalation Trigger phrases that will allow your customer service team to take over chats when needed
• Agents can answer chats from Microsoft Teams, Slack, Google Chat, and Zoom
• Send leads and transcripts to your CRM and ticketing systems automatically with your chatbot
• Direct your WhatsApp customers to products and services from your business using AI

Prerequisites

• OpenAI ChatGPT Account: https://platform.openai.com/signup
• Social Intents Account: https://www.socialintents.com
• A WhatsApp phone number registered to your Facebook Cloud.

High Level Steps

1. Create an OpenAI ChatGPT Account
2. Create a Social Intents free trial
3. Enable your ChatGPT Chatbot in Social Intents with your OpenAI Key
4. Connect your WhatsApp Cloud account to Social Intents
5. Test your integration by sending a WhatsApp message to your WhatsApp Business phone number

Step 1: Create an OpenAI Account

To get started, you'll need an OpenAI ChatGPT account. This will allow you to access the AI models that power your chatbot. Here’s how to set it up:

1. Sign Up: Go to the OpenAI ChatGPT signup page and create a new account. If you already have an account, simply log in.
2. API Key: Once your account is set up, navigate to the API keys section in your OpenAI dashboard. Generate a new API key, which you’ll use later to connect ChatGPT to your Social Intents account.

Step 2: Create a Social Intents Free Trial Account

Social Intents will be the platform where you manage your chatbot and integrate it with Facebook Messenger. Follow these steps:

1. Sign Up: Visit Social Intents and sign up for a free trial account.
2. In Social Intents, go to the Live Chat Settings by clicking on My Apps, then Edit Settings of your chat widget.
3. Click on the Chatbot Settings tab.
4. Name your bot, choose an avatar, and select Chatbot Type of 'ChatGPT with OpenAI'.
5. Copy your OpenAI API Key into the field called ChatGPT API Key.

Step 3: Enable Your ChatGPT Chatbot in Social Intents

With your OpenAI API key ready and your Social Intents account set up, it’s time to enable your AI chatbot.

1. Navigate to Integrations: In your Social Intents dashboard, go to the Apps select and select your Live Chat widget settings.
2. Add ChatGPT Integration: Look for the ChatGPT integration option and select it. You’ll be prompted to enter your OpenAI API key.
3. Configure Initial Settings: Set up your chatbot’s initial system messages, which will guide its responses. You can customize these messages based on your business needs, ensuring the bot aligns with your brand’s tone and style. 
4. Train on your Content: Now click on the Train your Chatbot button and enter your website data to train the AI on your business data, docs, and spreadsheets.

Step 4: Connect Your Chatbot to WhatsApp

Now, connect your chatbot to Facebook Messenger so it can interact with your Facebook Page visitors.

** The WhatsApp phone number assigned to your chatbot can only be used by the chatbot, and can't be used standalone in WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business. If you already use the phone number with WhatsApp, you must remove your account first.

1. Access WhatsApp Integration: In the Social Intents dashboard, locate the WhatsApp integration option in the integrations section.  Click Connect to set up the integration.

Login to your Facebook account and select Get started.

Next, create or select the Business portfolio to use for your WhatsApp number:

Create your Business Account and Profile you'd like to use.  This will include assigning your new WhatsApp number to your WhatsApp business account.

Click Finish to complete the integration.

Once the connection is done, you'll see your phone number that you registered with WhatsApp listed in your configuration.

Step 5: Test your WhatsApp AI Bot

Now send a test message from another WhatsApp number to the number you just set up to test your new WhatsApp AI Bot.  You should be able to see the message in the Social Intents Inbox and also see a response form the ChatGPT chatbot that you set up.  You can always answer as an agent at any time to barge into the AI conversation when you want a human agent in involved.

Thats it!  Your WhatsApp AI Chatbot setup is complete!

You've created your first ai chatbot for WhatsApp.  Your WhatsApp AI Chatbot integration allows you to manage all customer conversations—both on your website and WhatsApp—from a single Social Intents dashboard. With features like automated responses, escalation to human agents, and CRM integration, your WhatsApp AI Bot is ready to increase customer engagement, simplify support, and boost effectiveness in handling sales and support questions. Test out your setup and start engaging with customers on WhatsApp today!