With almost 3 billion users worldwide, WhatsApp has established itself as a dependable platform for businesses to connect with their customers. Its ease of use, widespread accessibility, and real-time messaging capabilities make it a go-to choice for handling customer queries, providing updates, and resolving issues quickly.

Pairing this functionality with automation takes things even further.

A chatbot transforms WhatsApp into a customer service super-tool. These bots provide personalized, real-time assistance, tackling everything from FAQs to appointment bookings.

Want to take your customer support to the next level in record time? Stick around—we’ll show you how to make a WhatsApp bot in just five minutes.

Prerequisites for creating a WhatsApp chatbot

You must have the two essential prerequisites below to get started with a WhatsApp chatbot.

1. WhatsApp Business account

When integrated with a business account, the WhatsApp chatbot gets all the essential features to manage customer interactions, enhancing overall credibility. All you have to do is:

• Download the WhatsApp Business app
• Complete the setup by verifying your phone number
• Provide accurate business details

Also Read: How to Create a WhatsApp Business Account in 5 Minutes

2. WhatsApp Business API

WhatsApp AI chatbots operate via the WhatsApp Business API to effectively connect and communicate with your customers.

So, once you have a WhatsApp Business account, you need to set up the WhatsApp Business API. The API ensures that your WhatsApp chatbot can respond to common queries and deliver quick and effective customer interactions.

The API supports customer relationship management (CRM) integrations and allows the bot to access customer data (on approval) for personalized communication. You can use the API to incorporate advanced features like timely notifications, promotional messaging, and seamless 24/7 availability for global customer engagement.

One of the standout features of the WhatsApp Business API is its ability to keep your chatbot active on WhatsApp around the clock, supporting your customers' different time zones.

WhatsApp chatbots' use cases extend beyond customer service. It can be leveraged for lead generation, appointment scheduling, and more.

Plivo simplifies the process of how to create and optimize your WhatsApp chatbot by offering:

• Easy WhatsApp Business Accounts (WABA) onboarding
• Support for WhatsApp green tick verification applications
• Tools to create WhatsApp message templates

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Step-by-step guide: How to make a WhatsApp bot

Now that you’ve checked off the prerequisites, let’s dive into the process with four easy steps.

Step #1: Sign up for a chatbot builder

Selecting the right chatbot builder is essential to build a WhatsApp bot efficiently.

Platforms like Wotnot, Landbot.io, and Flow XO offer tools tailored to various business needs to help you design WhatsApp chatbots. Here’s a list of recommended chatbot platforms to consider.

To simplify the process, opt for a no-code chatbot builder. This allows you to design a bot without technical expertise or programming skills, making it accessible to anyone.

Plivo provides a no-code WhatsApp AI chatbot that uses ChatGPT to handle customer service automation. This solution helps businesses deliver instant, AI-driven responses to customer inquiries while eliminating the need for technical expertise.

You can use Plivo’s AI-Powered Chatbot for WhatsApp to set up a chatbot that aligns with your business and improves customer engagement.

Now, let’s explore how to create a WhatsApp bot using Plivo. Make sure to sign up first.

Step #2: Design the flow for your WhatsApp bot

With Plivo’s Customer Service Suite (CX), configuring the flow of the WhatsApp chatbot is simple and sleek. This step helps you customize the bot’s functions to meet specific business requirements.

Design a well-structured flow to create a WhatsApp bot that handles inquiries, schedules appointments, or generates leads. All you have to do is:

• Start by adding a main menu to offer clear navigation options.
• Add reply buttons and button lists for simplified customer responses.
• Use Plivo’s advanced auto-reply feature for a personalized experience tailored to the user's needs.

Plivo CX’s no-code tool makes it easy to design your chatbot with just a drag-and-drop component.

For example, Plivo’s Send WhatsApp and Await Reply components enable you to create branching flows that define each step of the WhatsApp conversation.

Step #3: Connect your WhatsApp Business API

As you’ve read, WhatsApp chatbots are powerful tools for scaling communication. However, to enable its full potential, you need to connect it with the WhatsApp Business API.

Unlike the standard WhatsApp Business app, the API can handle high messaging volumes; companies can build their WhatsApp chatbots to align with business needs.

With Plivo, getting access to the API is simple. Use the integrated signup system to verify your numbers quickly and start sending messages without delay. When paired with the WhatsApp Business API, your chatbot becomes scalable, responsive, and effortless to manage and meet the growing demands of customer engagement.

Learn more about getting started with WhatsApp API.

Step #4: Go live with your WhatsApp chatbot

After creating a WhatsApp bot flow and gaining access to the WhatsApp Business API, it’s time to let your WhatsApp bot go live.

In this final step, you’ll connect the WhatsApp Business API (Step #3) with the chatbot you built in the second step. The WhatsApp chatbot is now ready to be configured and tested. Once everything is set up, simply hit ‘Deploy’. The bot will go live, engaging with your customers directly in the app and providing seamless customer support.

Why use a Whatsapp chatbot for your business?

With a WhatsApp bot, you can resolve up to 90% of customer queries using AI, offering fast, scalable, and cost-efficient solutions for your business. Consider the following three scenarios that illustrate its use cases:

Scenario 1: Fast-growing businesses

What happens when your business grows faster than your support team can manage? Your customer inquiries pile up, and you need a solution that scales along effortlessly. Without it, you risk:

• Long wait times for your customers.
• Overwhelmed support agents.
• Inconsistent service quality.
• High costs of hiring and training.
• Low customer satisfaction scores (CSAT).

Here, a WhatsApp chatbot acts like an expert team member without the time or expense of training a team member. AI-powered WhatsApp chatbots handle 95% of routine support tickets, provide 24/7 customer support, and reduce operational costs.

Scenario 2: Small businesses with limited personnel

As a small business owner, you’re wearing many hats—customer support is one of them. The result? No dedicated support team, lost sales opportunities, inconsistent response times, and limited availability for customer needs.

A WhatsApp bot is like hiring a professional support team at a fraction of the cost.

With WhatsApp chatbots, you can focus on growing your business while offering excellent service through your chatbot. AI automation allows you to manage multiple channels, such as chat, email, and WhatsApp, without increasing headcount. Your AI chatbot works tirelessly, delivering efficient, professional support around the clock.

Scenario 3: Established businesses with seasonal peaks

For businesses that experience seasonal fluctuations, support challenges include:

• Understaffed teams during peak seasons.
• Overspending on staff during slow periods.
• Low support quality from temporary hires.
• High error rates, damaging company reputation.

AI-powered WhatsApp bots effortlessly handle spikes in demand without the need for seasonal hires. Deploying the WhatsApp chatbot ensures consistent support quality throughout the year, reduces costs associated with seasonal staffing, and delivers reliable service regardless of the season.

Plus, with automation, you can be assured that your customers receive timely, accurate responses without overburdening your team.

Use Plivo’s ChatGPT-powered no-code WhatsApp chatbot

Fortunately, with Plivo, you don’t need to build your chatbot from scratch.

Plivo CX comes with an AI-powered WhatsApp chatbot builder that allows you to automate tasks and facilitate customer interactions, improve lead engagement, and deliver personalized user experiences — all while stepping into modern sales processes.

This solution easily connects with your business tools, making WhatsApp bots a powerful addition to your sales toolkit. Here’s what it offers:

• Omnichannel support: Deliver seamless customer service across multiple channels from a single dashboard for easy management.
• Quick integrations: Connect Plivo CX with your existing tools to gain a unified view of the customer journey and comprehensive data insights.
• Automated workflows: Design personalized customer journeys on WhatsApp and other platforms with a visual workflow builder.
• Real-time analytics: Track and analyze customer interactions to improve the WhatsApp bot’s performance over time.
• Agent coaching tools: Enhance customer support with features like call recording, barge, and whisper, ensuring your bot provides the best experience.

Ready to set up your chatbot? Book a demo for Plivo CX today and see how the WhatsApp chatbot can fulfill your customer support needs.

More than 50% of customer service agents face burnout due to overwhelming queries. This leads to reduced service quality and customer dissatisfaction. 

These days, customer service is paramount to the success of a business. In fact, 32% of customers will walk away after just back interaction.

The solution? Smart IVR. This AI-powered tool handles routine queries so you only divert important or complex queries to your agents, saving them burnout.

The best part? It works 24/7 to solve customer queries so it’s no surprise that 70% of service organizations already use intelligent service assistants.

In this blog, we’ll explore what Smart IVR is and how you can build smart IVR with Plivo to elevate your customer support. 

Let’s dive in.

What is Smart IVR?

Smart IVR (Interactive Voice Response) is an advanced customer support technology that uses artificial intelligence (AI), contextual awareness, and data-driven insights to deliver a more intuitive and personalized caller experience. 

Unlike traditional IVR systems, smart IVR goes above and beyond rigid menus and predefined options and adapts to the unique needs of each caller. This approach makes customer interactions faster and more efficient. 

Here’s how smart, AI-powered IVR compares with traditional IVR:

How does smart IVR work?

Smart IVR runs on advanced technology such as AI-powered voice agents and audio streaming to understand human output and deliver seamless conversations over various channels.

Here’s how it works:

1. AI-powered functionality: Smart IVR, when combined with voice agents uses natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning to understand spoken or typed inputs. This allows users to interact in conversational language rather than pressing buttons.

2. Contextual awareness: AI-powered IVR tracks the history of previous interactions, to pick up any conversation where the customer left it to avoid unnecessary repetition.
3. Data-driven operations: Smart IVR integrates with customer relationship management (CRM) systems and databases, to provide relevant, real-time information during the interaction.
4. Personalized call flow: By analyzing caller data and preferences, the system dynamically adjusts the call routing and response pathways, creating a tailored experience for every customer.

Benefits of Smart IVR

Now that you know what Smart IVR is, let’s dive into its key benefits for your business. On top saving time for your customer service agents, it can help you with a lot more:

Personalized and intuitive conversations

By integrating customer data or using IVR scripts, Smart IVR systems tailor interactions based on individual histories and preferences. 

24/7 customer service availability

Smart IVR systems provide round-the-clock support, so your customers can resolve their queries, regardless of time zones or business hours. This continuous availability enhances customer satisfaction as they always get timely responses to inquiries.

Reduced operating costs

Automating routine inquiries through Smart IVR systems decreases the need for live agents, leading to significant cost savings. Handling simple tasks like order confirmations or account balance inquiries via IVR reduces the overall number of support tickets and operational expenses.

With Plivo’s audio streaming features, you can build a smart IVR starting as low as $0.003 per minute - 40% lower than competitors. 

Enhanced customer insights

Smart IVR systems collect valuable data from customer interactions and provide insights into common inquiries and areas for improvement. You can use this information to improve service protocols, and address emerging customer demands.

Improved customer satisfaction

Smart IVR systems effectively address customer issues and lets them enjoy self-service for surface level queries. You can optimize your IVR for self service resolved quickly without the need for multiple interactions.

Using Voice Agents to Build AI Powered IVR Solutions

Unlike traditional IVRs that rely on static menus and human intervention, AI-powered voice agents introduce intelligence, efficiency, and adaptability to the IVR experience.

Here’s why you need to integrate your voice agents for your IVR systems:

Scalability without the overhead costs

As businesses grow, the demand for customer support increases. With human agents, this growth requires hiring and training additional staff, leading to higher costs and operational complexity.

AI voice agents handle customer queries 24/7 without requiring additional human resources. They can instantly scale to accommodate a surge in call volumes, making them a cost-effective solution for growing businesses.

For example, during seasonal sales or peak times, voice agents can manage thousands of simultaneous calls without delays, ensuring customers get instant responses.

Less training, more customer service 

Training human agents is time-consuming and can involve a significant learning curve. Human performance also varies due to fatigue or lack of knowledge about complex scenarios.

AI voice agents don’t require traditional training. They leverage machine learning models that can quickly process past customer interactions and data to provide context-based resolutions. Updates or improvements can be implemented instantly across all interactions, ensuring consistent service quality.

For example, if a new product is launched, AI agents can be updated instantly with FAQs or key information, unlike human agents who may take days or weeks to fully adapt.

Plivo, a voice API platform can help you supercharge your voice agents and build smart IVR for customer service. Here’s how Plivo does it:

1. Capturing Input: Plivo captures the customer’s audio input (e.g., spoken queries or commands).
2. AI Bot Processing: This audio input is transmitted to the business’s own AI bot, where advanced algorithms analyze and process the request.
3. Generating AI Responses: The AI bot generates an intelligent, context-aware response.
4. Delivering Output: Plivo transmits the AI’s response back to the customer in real-time.

How Smart IVR Improves Customer Support for Your Business?

Enhancing traditional IVR systems with AI and audio streaming can create more intuitive and efficient customer interactions.

For example, instead of navigating through multiple layers of options by pressing keys (e.g., "Press 1 for refunds"), users can simply state their query (e.g., "I want to talk about a refund"), and the system understands and routes the call appropriately. This makes the interaction more natural and reduces customer frustration.

Here’s why you need smart IVR for customer service:

Proactive customer engagement

Smart IVR can automate reminders for medical appointments, service visits, or delivery schedules. It can send real-time updates about account activity, payment deadlines, or service outages. It can also collect customer feedback immediately after interactions to gauge satisfaction.

Dynamic call routing

Direct callers to the most appropriate agent based on their query type or customer profile. Or, transfer calls to agents with complete context, including caller history and ongoing concerns, ensuring seamless service.

Real-time call analysis

Analyzing live calls to extract actionable insights such as customer sentiment, intent, or key entities mentioned.

For example, during a customer service call, Smart IVR performs real-time transcription and records keywords like "refund," "complaint," or "order status" are recognized. The system can then provide live prompts or assistance to the agent or automate responses.

Real-time transcription

Smart IVR transcribes conversations so you can use the text to update customer records or assist agents with relevant information.

Speech recognition

Smart IVR systems can understand and process spoken language by converting it into text. This allows the system to interpret what the caller is saying and respond appropriately without requiring them to press buttons.

For example, if a customer says, "I want to check my account balance," the speech recognition technology converts their words into text. The Smart IVR then processes the request and provides the relevant information automatically. This makes interactions faster, more natural, and user-friendly, enhancing the overall customer experience.

Automation of voice channel operations

AI powered IVR can automate functions traditionally performed by human agents, such as answering routine queries, recording information, and providing real-time assistance.

Data collection and analytics

Smart IVR can collect data during IVR interactions to analyze customer preferences and behavior. You can also measure the effectiveness of customer support through call resolution times, customer satisfaction, and IVR usage rates.

Enhance the functionality of Your IVR with Plivo-Powered Voice Agents

IVRs already manage twice the volume of customer interactions compared to live agents. 

You can double down on these benefits by transforming traditional IVRs into smart IVRs using Plivo-powered AI voice agents. 

Plivo helps you launch AI-powered voice agents that can interact with customers and solve most of their queries without human intervention.

There are two ways launch a voice bot with Plivo:

Using Speech-to-text and Text-to-speech integration

Get started in 3 easy steps:

• Sign up for Plivo to purchase a number through the Voice API or Plivo console.
• Once you have your number, link it to an application equipped to accept voice calls, transcribe speech, and forward this text to your WebHook.
• You can plug in Plivo's Voice API with any LLM model, like ChatGPT, to launch your bot

Using OpenAI's real-time API for live customer interaction

Launch AI voice agents and voice agents with Plivo using just a few lines of code!

• Log in to your OpenAI Account: Secure your API key and RealTime API access.
• Log in to your Plivo Account: Sign up and get a voice-enabled number.

Launch Plivo-Powered Voice Agents to Build a Smart IVR for Your Business

Now you know, it’s that easy to integrate with Plivo to launch your voice agents. Plivo-powered AI voice agents can handle more complex customer queries 24/7 as we promise:

• Superior voice infrastructure: to deliver get crisp call quality across 220+ countries 
• Low latency: Our PoPs are located in seven locations (California, Virginia, Frankfurt, Mumbai, Singapore, Sydney, São Paulo) across five continents. 
• High availability and uptime: With a redundant infrastructure across multiple geographies and at least three local carrier connections across countries, Zentrunk promises 99.99% uptime
• Full redundancy: Redundant links reroute traffic over backup networks in less than two seconds in case of backbone failover

With Plivo and OpenAI’s RealTime API, you can create voice agents that don’t only talk but empathize and engage with your customers. 

‍Request a trial to Plivo today to get started.

Every customer call holds valuable information about what they really want and how they feel about your company. Now that we can improve customer experience with artificial intelligence (AI), manually reviewing hundreds of sales calls to analyze the most or least effective talking points is a thing of the past.

Analyzing phone calls with AI reveals what resonates with customers and what doesn’t. If your call center AI tools highlight frequent inquiries about billing issues or service plans, you need to refine your service plan documentation and improve billing transparency.

The global AI market in the call center segment is projected to exceed $4 billion by 2027. This means many businesses are using AI call analysis to save time and improve customer experience. Whether you’re new to AI call analysis or looking to improve your existing strategies, this blog offers valuable insights to help you succeed.

How does AI call analysis work?

You can use AI to analyze phone calls and find valuable insights into customer needs and preferences. Here are some key approaches:

Transcribe audio to text

An AI call analysis tool transcribes conversations from audio to text in real time. This lets you search through call transcripts for specific sentences or phrases without listening to every call.

Say you notice a sudden spike in complaints about a product or service. You can quickly surf through call transcripts and search for specific words to pinpoint customer complaints. This way, you derive meaningful insights from customer calls in less time.

Sentiment analysis

An AI-based call analysis tool goes beyond words. It finds trends in conversation, including repeated keywords, speech patterns, and even customer sentiments and tone.  

The tool extracts emotions from various sources, including customer emails, chatbot histories, customer service call transcripts, comments on returns and refunds, and customer feedback or surveys.

Keywords and topic detection

Phone call analysis with AI automatically identifies key topics and keywords discussed during calls. This helps you spot trends, like recurring questions about a particular feature or a product, allowing you to update FAQs, training materials, or even product documentation.

The benefit? It significantly reduces call handling times and pushes agents to provide accurate and timely responses, automatically improving customer service.

Predictive analysis

AI call analysis has the power to analyze past interactions and predict future behaviors. So if a customer frequently asks about a product upgrade, you might proactively reach out with customized offers or share new product updates with those customers.

Using AI for customer service also facilitates market segmentation. Analyzing data on customer behavior, preferences, and demographics helps you identify segments that are likely to be the most profitable. 

This approach lets you focus on high-value customer segments, leading to lower costs for acquiring new customers.

Benefits of using AI to analyze phone calls

Analyzing phone calls with AI offers numerous advantages that can transform customer service operations, including:

Learning customer sentiments

Talking to hundreds of customers each day, it’s easy to misinterpret a good call for a bad one and vice versa. An AI-powered sentiment analysis helps understand how customers feel during interactions. It assesses the tone and emotion behind their words for you to pinpoint areas of frustration or satisfaction and tackle them head-on.

For example, if AI detects a high level of frustration in calls about a specific service, it prompts you to inform your marketing team or provide additional training to agents who may lack the necessary information to effectively address customer concerns.

Identifying trends

AI for customer service uncovers emerging trends in customer inquiries and concerns. Analyzing call data over time reveals recurring issues or topics, such as a rise in questions about a new product feature.

Use this insight to adapt your offerings, enhance marketing strategies, or update training materials to better equip your team.

Improving training and development initiatives

AI call analysis also identifies common challenges agents face. You can apply these insights to tailor training sessions for addressing specific skills or knowledge gaps.

For instance, if calls reveal that agents struggle with handling billing-related inquiries, you can help them understand the pricing structure and discount options to improve their confidence.This ultimately leads to a more competent team.

Step-by-step guide to implementing AI for call analysis

Here’s a step-by-step guide to using AI to analyze phone calls.

1. Choose an AI-powered communication tool

When it comes to AI call analysis, several popular options stand out. These are a few platforms and key features to consider when setting up your audio streaming platform:

• Gong: Provides an in-depth analysis of sales calls.
• CallRail: Focuses on marketing analytics and monitoring call performance and customer interactions.
• Telldesk: Offers real-time call analysis and helps identify trends and customer sentiment.

Depending on your objective, choose a platform that best suits your business. Consider these features when making your choice for an AI-powered communication tool:  

• Ease of integration with your existing CRM system
• Detailed analytics and visual dashboards
• Real-time call analysis
• Sentiment analysis
• User-friendly interface

2. Categorize calls

Choose call centers AI tools that categorize calls in real-time based on issue types, product inquiries, and customer satisfaction levels. This feature provides managers with better insights into common customer concerns and agent performance, making it easy to identify trends and training needs. 

For example, Plivo creates an AI-driven call summary within a few seconds, as opposed to manual note-taking, which could take minutes or more, depending on the complexity of the call.

Plivo segments calls by:

• Subaccount
• Geo-location
• Hangup details
• Carrier network
• Device metadata

3. Speech-to-text transcription

Choose an AI call analysis tool that captures user input with real-time transcription to perform sentiment analysis.

Plivo, for instance, offers support for speech recognition in 27 languages and their regional variants. It also offers pre-built use-case-specific IVR models with pre-answer that lets you specify what happens after a call is transferred but before it’s picked up.

Additionally, it filters profanity, detects and masks inappropriate content in transcriptions, and improves speech recognition accuracy with a list of hint words expected from the speaker. These features lead to better AI call analysis and save your business from legal risks and penalties due to profanity in content.

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4. Perform qualitative call analysis

Poor call quality directly impacts sales and customer satisfaction. When customers can't effectively communicate with your team, you risk losing sales opportunities and existing clients.

The solution is to choose a platform that performs — Plivo.

Tools like Plivo’s call debug UI quickly find the root causes of these issues, helping businesses mitigate these risks, improve overall call quality, and enhance customer experience.

With this feature, you get answers to:

• Who initiated the call?
• How and from where was the call initiated?
• Where did it terminate?
• Which device, operating system (OS), browser, and mic was used?
• Who hung up the call and why?
• What other legs were involved in the call flow?

Moreover, it collects feedback from end users using the Call Quality Feedback API. This process determines the root cause through correlations between audio quality metrics and various attributes, including network conditions, geolocation, and device metadata.

5. Generate comprehensive reports

A detailed summary of key call quality indicators such as latency, MOS, and packet loss makes complex data more accessible. You can tailor reports to suit different stakeholders, ensuring the information is relevant and easy to understand.

Plivo lets you access all or any of the call insights data within the console using existing views, or even push data to third-party AI tools/platforms.This makes the call not only more accessible but also actionable.

6. Implement continuous KPI performance monitoring

Key metrics provide insights into customer satisfaction. Regularly collecting feedback will help you stay in tune with customer needs and expectations.

Keep an eye on the following metrics:

• Net Promoter Score (NPS): Measures loyalty by asking how likely customers are to recommend your product to others on a scale from 0 to 10.
• Customer Effort Score (CES): Assesses how easy or difficult it is for customers to interact with a company.
• First Contact Resolution (FCR): Indicates the percentage of customer issues resolved during the first interaction.

For example, tracking NPS reveals how likely customers are to recommend your service, while CES measures how easy it is for them to get their issues resolved. 

Incorporate Plivo’s VoIP solution for improved customer experience

Plivo easily integrates with existing AI tools/systems. It’s really a simple five-step process:

1. Sign up: Create an account on Plivo.
2. Purchase number: Acquire a number through the Plivo console or API.
3. Attach number: Link the number to your application.
4. Establish connection: Use the following XML instruction to start streaming:

<Response>
<Stream bidirectional="true" keepCallAlive="true">wss://yourstream.websocket.io/audiostream</Stream>
</Response>

‍

5. Send audio back: Stream audio back to Plivo using the websocket connection for real-time conversational interactions.

Once integrated, you can facilitate real-time call analysis and action on live audio data. With automated call transcriptions, you can easily dive into sentiment analysis, allowing you to understand customer emotions instantly. This capability ensures that you maintain high-quality calls, even during peak times, so your customers consistently receive top-notch service.

Plivo also offers a feature called Queueing, which enables AI analysis to capture and process all calls in the queue. Combining detailed debug logs with AI insights helps identify recurring call patterns and issues to encourage proactive problem-solving before escalation.

All of these powerful features come at a competitive price of just $0.003 per minute per stream for VoIP and audio streaming. Use AI to analyze phone calls with Plivo and improve your customer service experience.

Contact us today to learn more about how Plivo can improve customer experience with AI.

Twilio and Vonage are among the most well-known Communications Platforms as Service (CPaaS) providers. Gartner reviews highlight Vonage's robust, user-friendly features, which make it a reliable platform for businesses of all sizes. In contrast, Twilio stands out for its developer-focused, highly customizable APIs, appealing to businesses seeking more control and flexibility.

However, for businesses seeking the best of both worlds, Plivo offers a compelling alternative. It blends Twilio’s developer-friendly interface with Vonage’s comprehensive features, making it an ideal choice for scaling businesses looking to keep their communication costs in check.

In this blog post, we’ll compare Twilio vs. Vonage, and look closely at Twilio features, integrations, Vonage capabilities, and pricing. We’ll also explore how Plivo offers a strong middle ground for businesses seeking a balance between Twilio’s and Vonage’s unique offerings.

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Twilio vs. Vonage: A quick comparison 

The table below focuses on comparing Twilio and Vonage, providing a brief overview of their functionalities.

Read on for an in-depth analysis of Twilio features, Vonage capabilities, Vonage API features, and pricing structures.

Twilio vs. Vonage: Detailed features comparison 

Both Twilio and Vonage offer powerful APIs and tools to enhance messaging, voice, and video capabilities, but they differ in key areas that could impact your decision. Here’s a detailed comparison of Twilio and Vonage features to help you find the best fit for your business.

Twilio SMS API features and use cases

• MMS support: Drive two-way engagement with cross-channel messaging for MMS and more using a single API.
• ‍Screen-sharing and live chat: Add live chat, share screens, and create custom video players.
• ‍Personalized messages: Customize messages for reminder notifications, delivery updates, and more.

Use cases

• Appointment reminders
• Delivery notifications
• Emergency alerts
• Send marketing messages
• Account notifications
• Verifications and OTPs

Vonage SMS API features and use cases

• Fraud Defender: Protect your revenue and reputation with real-time alerting and automatic blocking of suspicious traffic.
• Two-way messaging: Allow your customers to reply to messages for an interactive, chat-like experience.

• Call queuing: Automatically queue high-volume traffic to the carrier networks under each carrier’s regulations.
• Message concatenation: Split and seamlessly reassemble longer text messages according to carrier specifications.

Use cases

• Automated notifications
• Missed appointments
• Failed delivery attempts
• Order status updates and shipping alerts
• Promotional campaigns with detailed offers
• Service outage or maintenance alerts

Twilio Verify API features and use cases

• Actionable insights: Access dashboards showing conversion and success rates by region and channel, along with SMS fraud trends to optimize fraud prevention.
• Silent network authentication: Authenticate securely without user interaction, protecting accounts and transactions seamlessly within your app.
• Improved compliance: Build compliant healthcare and financial applications without requiring personally identifiable information (PII).
• Route optimization: Verify and use premium telephony routes on Twilio's Super Network to prioritize deliverability and speed.
• Multiple delivery channels: Deliver OTPs through SMS, WhatsApp, voice, and email, all via a single API.

Use cases

• Login protection
• Signup verification
• Improve message deliverability
• Personalize messaging and voice calls
• Stop SIM swap fraud
• Enrich data and risk models

Vonage Verify API features and use cases

• Pre-designed templates: Customize message templates, pre-record voice calls, and configure retry intervals for optimal user experience.
• Multi-channel authentication: Authenticate users across WhatsApp, email, Silent Authentication, SMS, and voice channels.
• Dynamic code generation: Generate unique verification codes in real-time to improve security for logins and transactions.
• Customizable workflows: Set up tailored verification workflows to match specific user journeys and security needs.

Use cases

• Fraud prevention during high-risk activities (e.g., large transfers)
• Protection for subscription sign-ups and recurring services
• Age verification for restricted content or purchases
• Secure access to financial or healthcare applications

Twilio Voice API features and use cases

• Interactive Voice Response (IVR): Build a self-service auto attendant menu that customers can navigate in multiple languages.
• Call transcriptions: Record and transcribe call conversations for live captions and future reference.
• Speech recognition: Use speech-to-text to enable voice forms, surveys, and lead qualification.
• Call tracking: Track caller details, call time, and integrate data into your CRM.

Use cases

• Self-service customer support
• Real-time call transcriptions for compliance
• Voice-based lead qualification
• Automated call tracking in CRM systems
• Customer surveys through voice forms

Vonage Voice API features and use cases 

• Automatic speech recognition: Add voice control and enable easy-to-use self-service with automatic speech recognition in over 120 languages.
• Call forwarding: Direct calls to different numbers or devices based on predefined rules or conditions.
• Real-time call control: Provide businesses with the ability to manage and control calls in real-time, including muting, recording, or transferring calls.
• Call recording: Record incoming and outgoing calls for future reference or compliance purposes.

Use cases

• Automated phone menus for customer self-service
• Compliance recording for financial and healthcare services
• International businesses establishing a local phone presence

Twilio customer engagement applications suite

Twilio Flex

Twilio Flex allows you to manage interactions with customers across channels such as phone calls or emails. You can:

• Use your current voice carrier and phone number with Flex.
• Surface responses to customer questions to save time.
• Gain insights on customer conversations, track KPIs, and configure custom dashboards.
• Augment existing solutions with a custom IVR.
• Customers can engage via SMS, WhatsApp, voice, Facebook Messenger, WebChat, and more.

Twilio Engage

Twilio Engage makes it easy to launch email campaigns quickly and effectively. It helps you create emails with AI-generated headings, text, and images—cutting down hours of work. Built on clean, reliable data, it ensures your messages reach the right audience with greater impact.

The platform also provides tools for automating tasks, helping teams run effective campaigns with less effort and better results.

Vonage contact centers

Vonage offers a powerful omnichannel contact center solution that lets agents handle all kinds of customer interactions, both internal and external.

The platform combines everything you need to keep your team productive, from team collaboration tools and workforce management to call routing and real-time analytics. This makes it a great fit for a variety of Vonage use cases, whether you're in sales, customer support, or even remote team management.

With Vonage, you can route calls to the right agents based on their skills, making sure customers are connected to someone who can help. The dynamic IVR system understands customers in dozens of languages. The AI-powered features support:

• Live sentiment analysis
• Call monitoring
• Whisper
• Barge

These features help coach agents in real time and ensure quality support at every step.

Here’s a quick breakdown of company sizes based on G2 data for both CPaaS providers:

• Twilio: 50.2% small businesses, 30% mid-market, 19.8% large enterprises.
• Vonage: 67.2% small businesses, 23.3% mid-market, 9.5% large enterprises.

Twilio vs. Vonage customer support

When it comes to customer support, both Twilio and Vonage offer distinct approaches to assist businesses and end-users. This comparison highlights the key differences in their customer support plans.

Twilio customer support plans

• Developer plan: Provides basic support with API status notifications and web support, but no guaranteed response times.
• Production plan: Offers more robust support, with guaranteed response times for priority issues (3 hours for P1, 6 hours for P2, and 9 hours for P3), live chat support, and phone support, with a minimum monthly cost based on usage.
• Business plan: Delivers faster response times and higher-touch support, including phone and live chat. The pricing scale depends on monthly spending, starting at a minimum of $250 for the production plan.

Vonage customer support plans

• Standard plan: Caters to simple, non-critical Vonage use cases that require reliable support (8 am-5 pm) with best-effort response times. It includes access to the online knowledge base, email support, web support, and chat support, but doesn’t offer phone support.
• Priority plan: Offers 24/7 support with a service level objective for response times and phone support. It also includes service status notifications and a 99.99% platform availability service level agreement (SLA), starting at $750 per month.
• Premium plan: Caters to high-volume, mission-critical use cases, offering 24/7 support with guaranteed SLAs for response times, phone support, and access to the same platform availability SLA.
• Premier plan: Provides top-tier support, including a designated support engineer, customer solutions management, best practices guidance, quarterly roadmap webinars, and regular health checks and business reviews.

Twilio vs. Vonage: Pricing

Let’s compare Twilio pricing vs. Vonage pricing to get a clear view of how their cost structures compare.

Twilio pricing

Vonage pricing

Twilio vs. Vonage: Pros and cons

We’ve outlined the pros and cons of Twilio vs. Vonage to understand which solution provider better suits your business.

Twilio pros and cons

Pros

• Users appreciate Twilio's user-friendly setup, with clear instructions and an intuitive interface that makes integrating applications quick and easy, saving time and effort during onboarding. (Source)
• Several users have specifically enjoyed Twilio's feature that converts MMS messages to SMS. (Source)
• Some users have praised Twilio's developer documentation as thorough and immensely helpful. (Source)

Cons

• Some users have complained about poor customer support and that they had to resort to the community to solve a problem. (G2, TrustRadius)
• The cost gets high, especially for high-volume messaging requirements (Source)

Vonage pros and cons

Pros

• Several users have praised Vonage for its extensive feature set and wide range of integrations, stating that it covers almost every feature and integration imaginable. (Source)
• Users also enjoy its high-quality voice and video calls and easy configuration. (Source)
• Users have complimented Vonage Business Communications for its user-friendly interface, particularly when making changes to user profiles, voicemail passwords, and other settings. (Source)

Cons

• Some users have complained about frequent call drops due to a technical glitch. (Source)
• Several users have expressed frustration with the extension limit of three devices in Vonage, as it restricts their ability to work efficiently across multiple locations. (Source) 
• Users have also reported the software being complex and confusing, particularly when trying to find specific contacts or navigate certain features. (Source)

Introducing Plivo: A reliable API solution

As the best communication platform for businesses, Plivo offers reliable coverage in over 220 countries and territories, ensuring your messages and calls reach users worldwide. 

In addition to global coverage, Plivo stands out among the three providers for its user-friendly interface, transparent pricing, and a well-rounded combination of customizable features. It has earned strong reviews from users on platforms like G2.

Moreover, Plivo’s user base predominantly consists of small businesses, with 79.1% of its users coming from this segment, 16% from mid-market companies, and 4.8% from large enterprises. This makes Plivo an ideal choice for growing businesses that need a scalable, cost-effective CPaaS solution.

Here’s a quick rundown of Plivo’s API solutions.

• SMS API: Plivo’s SMS API lets businesses send and receive text messages globally. Whether you're sending promotional offers, appointment reminders, or verification codes, Plivo makes it simple to integrate SMS into your application.

• Voice API: Plivo's Voice API allows you to make and receive high-quality voice calls, automate workflows with IVR (Interactive Voice Response), and even build custom call centers. It’s great for businesses looking to add voice functionality to their apps or improve customer service by handling calls efficiently with auto attendants.

• Verify API: Plivo’s Verify API streamlines user authentication with two-factor authentication (2FA), using SMS, voice calls, or email for businesses that need to securely verify users, or add extra layers of security during sign-ins.
• WhatsApp Business API: With Plivo’s WhatsApp Business API, you can engage with customers on the world’s most popular messaging platform. Plivo simplifies the integration of WhatsApp into your business’s communication strategy, enabling you to send order updates, customer support messages, and promotional content.

Audio streaming: Plivo’s audio streaming feature gives you access to the raw audio stream of your voice calls by transmitting live audio to your backend. Your sales team can use it to:  

• Build voice-based AI applications that respond to support queries.
• Get real-time transcription or sentiment analysis.
• Create IVR systems with conversational support to handle customer requests. 

It stands out for its robust customer support options, especially for premium users, who prefer 24/7 access to assistance. From getting started to scaling, Plivo's support team provides assistance with troubleshooting, guidance, and solutions.

Plivo’s API solutions provide businesses with flexible, scalable communication tools, whether for global SMS, voice calls, secure verifications, or WhatsApp messaging. Their reliable network coverage and responsive support ensure your business stays connected and efficient, no matter where your customers are.

Book a demo to see for yourself.

One-time password (OTP) scams are a growing threat to businesses and consumers alike.

In 2021, US consumers lost a staggering $13.9 billion to fraud, with OTP scams accounting for a significant portion of these losses. This rising trend poses serious financial and reputational risks for businesses.

But what exactly is OTP fraud, and how do scammers exploit it? Let’s see.

What is OTP fraud?

An OTP is sent to individuals by mobile phone or email. It’s used to authenticate transactions, such as logging into accounts or making payments.

Fraudsters, however, exploit this security feature through various tactics. These include SIM swapping, phishing emails, fake tech support calls, and social engineering. They design each of these methods to trick individuals into revealing their OTPs.

How does OTP fraud work?

OTP fraud takes place when an attacker uses the OTP system to gain unauthorized access to someone’s financial accounts or online profiles. Here’s how it works:

1. Targeting victims: Fraudsters often select targets based on their online behavior, weak points in communication methods like SMS or email, or publicly shared information on social media.
2. Launching the attack: They employ phishing techniques to impersonate legitimate organizations, such as banks or e-commerce platforms. They focus on creating a sense of urgency through emails, SMS, or phone calls to trick targets into taking action.
3. Collecting personal information: The phishing messages lead to fake websites that look like trusted ones. Here, targets unknowingly provide personal details like usernames and passwords.
4. Trapping with OTPs: The fake website triggers the OTP and sends it to the target’s phone. Fraudsters then use various methods to steal the OTP, such as:

• Social engineering: The attacker may try to convince the individual to share the OTP, claiming it is for account verification.
• Malware Interception: If malware infects the individual’s device, it intercepts and captures the OTP without the user’s knowledge.

5. Taking over the account: With the user credentials and OTP, the fraudster can access the account. This allows them to perform unauthorized transactions, steal data, or take control of future OTPs.

Common methods used by scammers

OTP phishing attacks take many forms, each targeting different vulnerabilities in users.

Below are some common OTP fraud tactics:

Smishing

Smishing is a term that combines “SMS” and “phishing.” Here, fraudsters use fake text messages to trick individuals into downloading malware or sharing sensitive information, like OTPs.

Smishing attacks have become more common. In 2023, 75% of organizations reported facing these types of attacks.

Scammers often hide their identity by spoofing phone numbers or sending texts from email accounts. For example, smishing texts often include links or attachments that seem safe but lead to fake websites.

These imitation sites look like real financial or service provider portals, where users may unknowingly enter their login credentials and OTPs. This gives scammers access to real accounts.

SIM swapping

SIM swapping occurs when fraudsters trick a mobile carrier into transferring a victim's phone number.

Here’s how it works:

• Attackers gather personal information like names, addresses, or answers to security questions, often through phishing, data breaches, or dark web purchases.
• This information is used to impersonate the victim and contact the mobile carrier, claiming that the scammers lost or damaged the SIM card. They then ask the carrier to transfer the victim's phone number to a new SIM.
• If the carrier fails to verify the request, the fraudster takes control of the number. From there, they intercept calls, texts, and verification codes, allowing them to bypass security and access sensitive accounts.

This growing problem has had a significant financial impact.

In 2023 alone, SIM swapping fraud caused over $48 million in losses, targeting both individuals and companies

So, to protect your business from SIM-swapping attacks, combining the right technology with a proven approach is essential.

Using Plivo, you can validate phone numbers smoothly, ensuring fraudsters can’t take advantage of SIM swaps.

The Plivo Lookup API helps detect SIM swaps in real time. It offers phone number validation and key analytics to assess risks. Some of the critical data it provides includes:

• Current and original network details
• Roaming status and network changes
• Risk scores and unusual patterns that indicate fraud

Businesses can spot suspicious activity and take action before any harm occurs with these insights.

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SMS pumping

SMS pumping, or artificially inflated traffic (AIT), is a cybercrime aimed at businesses that rely on SMS for sending OTPs or app download links.

In this type of attack, bots fill out a company’s online forms with fake phone numbers controlled by attackers. Believing these to be real requests, the business sends out SMS messages to these fake numbers.

For businesses, SMS pumping increases messaging costs, wastes resources, and can overwhelm systems.

Plus, if customers see too many unnecessary OTPs, it may damage their trust in the company.

Fraud Shield, part of Plivo’s Verify API, offers a strong defense against these losses. It helps businesses reduce SMS pumping by more than 95%.

With geo permissions, you can control which countries receive your SMS messages using an approved list based on factors like past fraud cases and local regulations.

Fraud Shield also includes fraud thresholds, which limit the number of messages sent per hour to these approved countries. Plivo frequently updates these thresholds to reflect the latest risks, ensuring your business stays secure.

If a threshold breaches, Fraud Shield lets you choose how to respond — by blocking the message, sending an alert, or notifying specific team members.

Voice phishing (vishing)

Vishing, or voice phishing, is a type of scam where fraudsters use phone calls to trick people into sharing sensitive information, like login details, credit card numbers, or bank account info. Scammers exploit this data for identity theft and financial fraud, making vishing widespread and costly.

In 2023, over 56 million U.S. adults — about 21% of the population — fell victim to phone scams, resulting in losses totaling $25.4 billion.

In vishing scams, attackers often impersonate trusted organizations and use phone calls to create a sense of urgency and trust. They also build a personal connection over the phone, reacting to what the victim says and using emotional cues.

How OTP scams impact businesses

Here’s how scammers misuse OTPs and why this should be a major concern for businesses:

Account takeovers

Stealing or tricking users into sharing their OTP allows fraudsters to bypass security, gain control of accounts, and access private information or funds.

This can harm trust and cause legal problems for businesses, especially those handling sensitive data or finances.

In fact, the average cost of a data breach in 2023 was $4.45 million, underscoring the serious financial impact of such security failures.

Unauthorized transactions

With OTPs, scammers can authorize fraudulent transactions. If they gain access to a customer’s account, they can make purchases, transfer funds, or exploit stored payment methods.

As a result, businesses may face chargebacks, financial losses, and increased scrutiny from payment providers due to such fraudulent activities​.

Fake account registration and spamming

Some scammers use stolen OTPs to create fake accounts on business platforms, taking advantage of promotional offers or testing one-time passcode security.

Fake registrations can distort the numbers, affect data accuracy, and lead to spam, resulting in unnecessary management overload.

Spreading malware or phishing attacks

If scammers access your business email or social media accounts, they can send phishing messages or malware links to your contacts.

Scammers make these messages look authentic, so recipients are more likely to trust and open them. This spreads the scam further and damages your reputation. It also puts your clients, partners, and employees at risk.

Practical tips for protecting against OTP fraud

To effectively protect your business from OTP fraud, it's important to take a proactive approach. Implementing strong security measures can significantly reduce risks.

Here are some practical tips for businesses to safeguard against OTP fraud:

Implement 2FA with fraud prevention

Two-factor authentication (2FA) adds an important layer of security by requiring both a password and an OTP.

However, despite its effectiveness, many organizations are still not fully adopting this security measure. In fact, a recent survey found that 64% of organizations haven't fully adopted multi-factor authentication (MFA).

This is concerning because research shows that MFA can block over 99.9% of account takeover attacks. Without MFA, businesses are leaving their accounts — and their customers — vulnerable to fraud.

Plivo's 2FA/OTP capabilities can help overcome OTP verification vulnerabilities. Adding these extra layers of security prevent account takeovers, reduce fraud risks, and secure high-value transactions.

Additionally, Plivo provides several advanced features to further enhance security:

• Geo permission management: Control which countries your Plivo account can send SMS or make calls to, blocking high-risk areas.
• International toll fraud protection: Manage connections to premium numbers and set blacklists to prevent toll fraud.
• Pattern-based alerts: Get notified about unusual SMS or voice activity, like sudden drops in delivery rates, to detect potential fraud early.

Given the growing risk of cyberattacks, it’s more important than ever to implement 2FA. By doing so, you can better protect your business and customers from fraud.

Monitor and track OTP delivery effectiveness

Delays or failed OTP deliveries can frustrate users, damage trust, and open doors for attackers to exploit system weaknesses.

With Plivo’s real time delivery reports, businesses can monitor OTP performance globally. This helps track delivery rates and identify potential issues. 

Businesses can use this data to quickly address problems and ensure they deliver OTPs promptly and securely.

Limiting OTP validity and attempt frequency

Setting a time limit for OTP validity and limiting the number of attempts helps prevent misuse and reduces fraud risk.

Businesses can also lower the chances of attackers guessing or intercepting valid codes. This ensures that only legitimate users can complete the authentication process within the allowed time.

Regularly update your security protocols and stay compliant

Staying compliant with security standards ensures that businesses are using the latest practices to protect data. This helps guard against new fraud techniques and reduces the risk of breaches.

Choose a OTP service provider, such as Plivo, that ensures continuous compliance with security standards. Plivo designs its OTP solutions to adhere to regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

With advanced security features and detailed reporting, Plivo makes it easier for businesses to stay compliant and protect sensitive user data.

Choose a secure algorithm

Use strong algorithms like HMAC-based one-time passwords (HOTP) or time-based one-time passwords (TOTP).

These options are reliable because they generate unique and hard-to-predict OTPs. Their cryptographic methods help protect against common attacks, ensuring secure authentication.

Provide multiple delivery options

Flexibility is important for OTP delivery. Offering choices like SMS, email, or voice ensures users can receive their OTPs in the way that suits them best. 

This also improves user experience and offers a backup if one method doesn't work.

Educate users on security best practices 

Teaching users about security best practices for OTPs reduces the risk of fraud and strengthens overall protection. Encourage users to create strong, unique passwords, avoid sharing OTPs, and recognize phishing attempts.

Regularly remind them about the importance of safeguarding their accounts and following secure authentication processes to prevent unauthorized access.

Prevent OTP fraud with the help of Plivo today

When selecting an OTP provider, it's important to choose one that offers both robust security and user-friendly features. Plivo provides a secure and adaptable OTP solution, designed to fit your unique needs.

Plivo’s OTP services simplify the authentication process, offering global SMS delivery, instant reporting, and customizable templates for easy implementation.

Whether it's safeguarding transactions, verifying users, or securing sensitive information, Plivo’s OTP services offer the reliability and flexibility necessary for your security needs.

Want to see how Plivo can assist in preventing OTP fraud? Contact us today.

A voice API is a tool that software developers use to make and receive phone calls programmatically. With a voice API, they can use various channels, phones, browsers, and virtual assistants.

 It connects web or mobile applications to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), enabling seamless voice communication without needing extensive telecom expertise, time, and developer resources.

Voice APIs are highly configurable, easily integrated, and scalable tools, providing cost-effective communication for businesses.

‍How much does a voice API cost? 

A voice API costs typically range from $0.003 to $0.014 per minute for outbound calls and $0.003 to $0.022 per minute for inbound calls, depending on call type, provider, and features. 

Prices may differ due to factors like infrastructure, service quality, and additional features like real-time analytics or automated routing. 

Using a voice API makes more financial and logistical sense for businesses than investing resources into developing advanced voice calling features from scratch. By choosing a best-in-class voice API provider, companies can integrate various voice capabilities with a shorter development span and achieve a better ROI. 

Plivo offers cost-effective solutions with competitive pricing while maintaining high-quality services.

Here’s a quick comparison of pricing for each type of voice call between Plivo and Twilio to give an idea of voice API cost structures and offerings.

‍How can a voice API give customers a better experience? 

Integrating a voice API enables businesses to offer personalized, efficient customer support services on browsers or apps with advanced voice features. It can help reduce voice call traffic and wait times in contact centers. These APIs can route calls efficiently through the phone network, including toll-free phone numbers, ensuring smooth call handling.

Unlike older inflexible phone network systems, a programmable voice API supports AI-powered virtual assistants that can receive calls 24/7, understand user requests, and guide customers through their queries as effectively as human agents. With voice recognition and text-to-speech features, customers can express themselves naturally and receive the assistance they need without delay.

The voice bot can also record calls and collect contextual data to prepare agents to resolve the issue when they take over quickly. This streamlined process saves time and preserves the unique, personal touch of voice calling.

Features like click-to-call, voice control, and hands-free interactions also increase flexibility, allowing users to have an interactive and engaging call. 

Wouldn’t it be nice to simply say the query out loud and receive a clear response instantly?

A voice API makes this possible by enabling your company to answer customers' questions instantly without navigating through endless clicks. Voice API seamlessly integrates voice solutions into browsers or apps to transform the customer experience. 

There’s more to it:

• Interactive and hands-free features: Customers can use click-to-call, voice commands, or hands-free interactions, enhancing convenience.
• Personalized customer support services: Offer tailored assistance with AI-powered virtual assistants and voice recognition features. These tools help customers articulate requests naturally and get relevant responses.
• 24/7 availability: AI-powered virtual assistants answer calls anytime, providing immediate assistance, even outside business hours.
• Enhanced agent support: Voice bots can record calls, gather context, and equip agents with the information they need to resolve issues swiftly when human intervention is required.

Voice APIs streamline communication and create a memorable, user-friendly experience that fosters trust and loyalty.

How can a voice API streamline communication processes?

A voice API makes interactions more efficient and aligned with business goals and needs. Here's how:

• Makes it easy for customers to connect: Unlike traditional voice calls confined to phone networks, a programmable voice API extends voice capabilities to an app or website. Users can use a click-to-call feature directly within an app or site.
• Adds efficiency to your team: Automating routine customer interactions allows voice bots to handle a significant portion of inbound calls. This reduces call traffic in the contact center, freeing human agents to manage complex or high-priority cases.
• Scales with business: As businesses grow, you can seamlessly expand voice-enabled services, ensuring consistent voice call handling without sacrificing quality. For example, businesses can use voice APIs to automate phone calls for marketing campaigns or appointment reminders.
• Supports developers: From a developer's perspective, a voice API integrates smoothly with other APIs and communication platforms. 
• Offers robust security: Programmable voice APIs often come with robust security features, including encryption and secure call record storage, in compliance with regulations like GDPR or HIPAA. 

Take, for example, CallHub.

They use Plivo's voice API to simplify communication for political campaigns, offering tools like power and predictive dialers. These features let campaigns reach voters efficiently, connecting them directly with representatives or leaving messages without manual effort. Browser-based calling also ensures volunteers' privacy, making it secure and straightforward for customers to interact.

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Choosing a voice API provider

Programmable voice APIs can range from basic functionality to feature-rich platforms that handle complex voice call flows and integrations. Here’s what to look for when evaluating a voice API provider:

Comprehensive call management features

A strong voice API should include fundamental voice call management functions to make, receive, and record calls, and global audio conferences. To ensure effective communication, look for APIs that offer configurable conference experiences, such as muting/unmuting participants, automatic call termination, and host controls.

Text-to-speech and accessibility options

Text-to-speech (TTS) is essential for both accessibility and user convenience. It converts text into spoken output, making automated systems more user-friendly, especially for multitasking or on-the-go customers. 

Ensure your provider's TTS capabilities support multiple languages and accents to cater to diverse customer needs.

Smart interactive voice response (IVR) systems

A voice API should enable the creation of intelligent, multi-level interactive voice response (IVR) systems that route calls efficiently. 

Smart IVRs can handle straightforward customer service tasks autonomously, incorporating:

• AI technologies for interactive experiences
• Intelligent call routing
• Integration with multiple channels
• Call recording and TTS capabilities

These capabilities help build customer-first IVR solutions that guide users seamlessly to the right department or agent.

Real-time call handling and notifications

Real-time features such as Answering Machine Detection (AMD) are invaluable for optimizing call strategies based on the type of response received. 

AMD helps identify whether an outgoing call is answered by a human or voicemail, which is especially beneficial for tasks such as lead follow-ups, customer updates, and automated voice surveys.

Integration with existing systems

The right voice API should facilitate integration with communication systems, including SIP-enabled hardware and software. 

This adaptability allows your business to maintain flexibility as communication needs evolve.

Audio streaming

Audio streaming, or media streaming, is a vital feature that sets advanced voice APIs apart. This functionality allows your application to deliver calls while duplicating call media to multiple recipients. It also enables real-time analysis and enhances features like sentiment analysis, conversational AI, call transcriptions, fraud detection, and voice biometrics.

Plivo stands out by offering all of these essential voice API capabilities. Moreover, it offers advanced features, such as:

• Play audio prompts: Plays pre-recorded audio files during a call, making it useful for IVR menus or announcements. This feature facilitates caller engagement and delivers professionalism in communication.
• Text to speech: Converts text into natural voice messages in various languages. It supports real-time updates like notifications, reducing dependency on pre-recorded audio and increasing flexibility.
• Dual channel call recording: Captures conversations with separate audio tracks for each participant. This allows for detailed analysis of interactions, making it ideal for call centers or compliance needs.
• Custom caller ID: Displays a specific phone number during calls, which builds brand trust and increases the likelihood of calls being answered. It’s particularly helpful for global and region-specific outreach efforts.
• Get digit input: Collects user responses via keypad entries, making it useful for gathering information such as account numbers or confirming choices during calls. It simplifies customer interactions and integrates effectively into IVR systems.
• Advanced call control: Gives businesses detailed control over call functions like transfer, mute, and hold. This capability supports smoother call handling and enhances customer support operations.
• Supervisor coaching: Allows supervisors to listen in on live calls and provide guidance without the caller being aware. This feature supports agent training and improves call outcomes as they happen.
• Call whisper: Plays a short message to the agent before connecting the call, providing context about the caller or the purpose of the call. It helps agents prepare better, leading to more tailored and effective support.

How does Plivo's voice API work?

Plivo's voice API is a robust framework that enables developers to manage voice communications programmatically with REST APIs to allow comprehensive control over call flows—from initiation to termination. 

Throughout a call's lifecycle, Plivo sends webhooks at various stages, prompting your application to respond with specific commands. This dynamic exchange between webhooks and responses provides granular control over call behavior, facilitating the creation of customized and efficient voice communication solutions.

What makes a good voice API?

A good API is easy to build. It offers flexibility and customization options to cater to different users’ needs and tailor a top-notch experience for your customers. 

Here’s what to look for:

SDKs and robust documentation 

A good voice API provider should offer developers comprehensive Software Development Kits (SDKs) and robust documentation to ease the development process. 

Plivo offers client SDKs for browser (JavaScript) and mobile (native iOS and Android) with no upfront costs. Plus, access extensive product documentation with quickstart guides, tutorials, and product overviews to cover various use cases.

Connect and control calls to any device 

Voice API should allow developers to build powerful voice workflows and integrate voice calling into web and mobile apps. 

With Plivo, you can connect phone calls over the PSTN to more than 200 countries without managing complex telecom carrier interactions. This flexibility extends to SIP-enabled devices and software, allowing seamless connection to your existing SIP infrastructure and enabling advanced communication features in the cloud.

Premium network

A premium network is essential for a voice API to deliver clear, uninterrupted audio quality, as it minimizes delays, reduces jitter, and ensures stable call connections. 

Plivo ensures premium voice quality through its Regional Points of Presence (PoPs), which reduce latency and maintain high call quality using one-hop, in-country carrier connections. 

Great developer support

Sometimes, a voice API can be complicated and needs assistance; make sure your provider offers 24x7 premium support backed by a consultative customer success team that provides the technical guidance and industry expertise developers need. 

Those additional support resources can  include:

• Extensive documentation and a rich knowledge base
• Up-to-date service status and product updates
• Regular product improvements and enhancements

Upgrade your business communication with Plivo's voice API

We've covered what a voice API is and what to look for in a provider—now it's time to put that knowledge into action. Upgrade your business communication with Plivo's voice API, a powerful, flexible voice API that meets your business needs.

If you'd like to receive customized rates with guided onboarding and premium support, get our volume prices. A team member will contact you to help determine whether an annual agreement suits you based on your personal use case.

Plivo’s simple, usage-based pricing model ensures that businesses only pay for what they use, making it a cost-effective choice.

‍

Growing businesses require more sophisticated communication features, such as automation, solid customer support, and easy integration with existing systems.  So businesses with more advanced messaging requirements may find value in exploring additional messaging API options that offer even more customization and scalability for their needs. 

Fortunately, there are plenty of Bird alternatives that can provide tailored solutions for your unique needs.

In this blog, we’ll explore the seven best alternatives to Bird and compare their features, functionalities, and pricing to help you find the right communication platform for your business.

Bird alternatives at a glance

Let’s quickly review the seven most popular Bird competitors and their unique functionalities at a high level.

7 best Bird alternatives in 2024

Here is a more detailed analysis of our top seven picks for the best SMS service providers.

1. Plivo

Features

• SMS auto-responder: Plivo’s SMS auto-responder ensures that all queries are addressed promptly to keep customers satisfied and informed.
• Conference call: Connect multiple people with a pin to a single call, enabling collaboration and communication among teams, clients, or stakeholders.
• Voice-based notifications: Stay in touch with your customers by dispatching customized audio alerts through voice calls. This feature ensures that your important messages are heard loud and clear.
• Voice survey: Plivo uses voice surveys to collect information from customers with satisfaction scores of a service.
• Voicemail: Capture a caller's information even while you're away and use the obtained insights later.
• Scalable cloud IVR: Build multi-level interactive voice response (IVR) menus to route every call intelligently so that no query is left unanswered.
• Call forwarding: Forward calls to your office, mobile, or home number. 
• Voicemail transcription: Access Plivo’s premium voicemail transcription service, which provides real-time, high-quality, and accurate transcripts.
• Reusable templates: Use a vast library of ready-to-use templates to add powerful functionality with minimal code with Verify API.
• Text-to-speech: Convert written text into natural-sounding speech in multiple languages and accents, removing communication barriers to analyze customer insights with ease.
• Fraud protection: With Plivo’s Fraud Shield, you can easily keep an eye on messaging activity without constant manual checks. Automatically detect unusual patterns and set thresholds specific to each country to respond swiftly to potential issues with no extra costs. 
• Lowest costs per verification: You don't pay for verification, only for channel costs with no hidden charges. 
• Reach customers across channels: Send OTPs to customers using SMS, Voice, and WhatsApp across multiple channels. 
• Pay per conversation in WhatsApp messaging: Plivo's pricing structure allows you to send more messages without increasing costs.

Pros

• Affordable option
• User-friendly interface
• Responsive customer support

Cons 

• API call logs could be more informative. (G2)
• Configuration automation is being improved. (G2)

Ratings and reviews 

G2: 4.5/5 (720+ reviews)

Capterra: 4.3/5 (85+ reviews)

Pricing

SMS API

Outbound: $0.0055/SMS

Get detailed pricing

Voice API

Outbound: $0.0100/min

Inbound: $0.0055/min 

Get detailed pricing

Verify API

$0 verification fee; only pay SMS, Voice, or WhatsApp charge

Get detailed pricing

WhatsApp

Meta’s fee +  platform fee (Rs. 0.067/conversation)

Suitable for

Plivo is one of the best messaging alternatives to Bird for businesses seeking a reliable, comprehensive, and cost-friendly communication platform.

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2. Twilio

Features 

• Omnichannel communication: Twilio supports multiple messaging channels beyond SMS, including MMS, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger, allowing for richer customer interactions compared to Bird’s primarily SMS-focused services.
• Advanced authentication: Comprehensive security features like 2FA and programmable SMS for verification processes enhance user security compared to Bird’s standard offerings.
• Voice intelligence: Transform voice calls into actionable data insights with machine learning and AI.

Pros

• Extensive API documentation.
• An array of communication APIs available.
• Multi-channel communication support.

Cons 

• Poorly documented integration requirements lead to implementation delays and higher error risk. (G2)
• Advanced features are difficult to implement. (G2)
• UI/UX can be improved. (G2)

Ratings and reviews 

G2: 4.2/5 (475+ reviews)

Capterra: 4.4/5 (455+ reviews)

Pricing

SMS API

Outbound: $0.0079/SMS

Inbound: $0.0079/SMS

OUtbound: $0.002/MMS

Inbound: $0.01/MMS

Voice API

Outbound: $0.0140/min

Inbound: $0.0085/min

Verify API

$0.05 authentication fee/SMS + channel fee

WhatsApp

$0.004/conversation

Suitable for

Twilio is ideal for large enterprises with generous budgets seeking a comprehensive communications provider with a global reach.

3. Telynyx

Features

• Noise suppression: Telnyx offers noise suppression and HD voice codecs to ensure the best possible audio inputs.
• Real-time transcription: It offers real-time transcription on a live call, activated via one API command. It speaks dynamic text in 29 languages and accents. 
• Smart IVR: Build a multi-level IVR phone tree to intelligently route your call flows via dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) or voice commands.

Pros

• Easy-to-use interface.
• Affordable pricing.
• Good customer support.

Cons 

• Lack of APIs and automation to submit port requests. (G2)
• Setting up features like SIP trunking and VOIP call routing is complicated. (G2)

Ratings and reviews

G2: 4.7/5 (415+ reviews)

Capterra: 4.7/5 (115+ reviews)

Suitable for

Telynyx is a great Bird alternative for businesses seeking an advanced way to optimize call handling and improve customer interactions through smart IVR or speech-to-text.

4.Vonage 

Features

• Programmable video: Vonage offers robust video APIs that allow businesses to integrate high-quality video conferencing into their applications. 
• Call control and analytics: Vonage enables businesses to monitor and optimize call performance beyond basic voice capabilities.
• IVR support: Vonage includes customizable IVR solutions that enhance customer service by automating call routing, which is unavailable in Bird’s offerings.
• Unified communications: Vonage integrates multiple communication channels, including SMS, voice, and video, streamlining user experience and management compared to Bird.

Pros 

• Low latency and high deliverability rates.
• Easy-to-use tools to investigate reports of message delivery.
• Easily integrates into your existing ATS and CRM tools.

Cons

• Some users have complained of call drops due to technical glitches. (G2)
• Customer service leaves much to be desired; reaching out is difficult. (G2)
• Poor call quality: users report static and inaudible voices (G2, G2)

Ratings and reviews

G2: 4.3/5 (465+ reviews)

Capterra: 4.1/5 (305+ reviews)

Pricing

SMS API 

Outbound: $0.07849/SMS

Inbound:$0.00616/SMS

Verify API

€0.050 per successful verification

WhatsApp API

$0.0488/conversation + Vonage platform fee

Suitable for

Vonage API solutions are a strong alternative to Bird for businesses seeking comprehensive communication features, including voice, messaging, and video, all integrated into a single platform for improved customer engagement.

5. Podium

Features 

• Sentiment analysis: Podium helps businesses understand customer emotions by analyzing reviews and feedback, enabling agents to respond effectively and improve overall customer satisfaction.
• Conversion rate optimization: Podium empowers businesses to refine their messaging strategies, turning more interactions into sales and enhancing the overall effectiveness of their marketing efforts.
• Text message marketing: Engage customers directly through SMS to promote timely offers and updates that drive sales growth and engagement rates.
• Automated appointment reminders: Reduce no-show rates by ensuring clients receive timely notifications, leading to better scheduling efficiency and higher satisfaction.

Pros

• Centralized platform for managing customer interactions.
• Seamless payment transactions via text messaging.
• Analytics features to enhance communication strategies.

Cons

• Steep learning curve is involved. (G2)
• Lack of adequate customer support. (G2, G2)
• Disorganized customer onboarding experience. (G2)

Ratings and reviews

G2: 4.6/5 (1686+ reviews)

Capterra: 4.3/5 (500+ reviews)

Suitable for

It’s a comprehensive messaging platform and one-stop solution for connecting with customers, managing reviews, collecting payments, and streamlining team communication.

6. Sinch

Features

• Two-way messaging: Use WhatsApp to interact with customers and respond to queries directly. 
• Schedule messages: Queue messages and set message validity periods, like expiry dates, for time-sensitive messages.
• SMS fallback: If messages fail to deliver or other communication channels do not work, this feature ensures critical messages always get delivered.

Pros

• Reliable and easy-to-use platform.
• Offer audio calls, video calls, and chat functionality, without complex coding.

Cons

• Poor and inadequate customer support. (G2, G2)
• Some users have encountered problems with Sinch's payment system, stating that they were debited but did not receive the corresponding credits. (G2)

Ratings and reviews 

G2: 3.9/5 (29+ reviews)

Capterra: 4.4/5 (40+ reviews)

Pricing

SMS API

Outbound: $0.0078/SMS

Inbound: $0.0078/SMS

Voice 

Outbound: $0.01/min

Inbound: $0.004/min 

Country: India

Starter: Rs. 2,999

Scale: Rs. 15,999

Large: Rs.29,999

Custom pricing: Ideal for large enterprises 

Suitable for

Sinch is a strong Bird alternative for businesses seeking robust SMS and voice solutions that improve customer engagement.

7. Bandwidth

Features

• Direct-to-carrier network: Bandwidth offers a direct-to-carrier network for superior reliability in messaging and calling. 
• Call recording: Record calls and voicemails in mono or dual-channel format to maintain accurate records of conversations for compliance. 
• Cost-effective pricing: It's one of the best alternatives to Bird given its pay-as-you-go model, resulting in lower costs for high-volume users. 
• Flexible integration: Bandwidth's APIs easily integrate with existing systems, helping businesses customize their communication solutions. 

Pros

• Easy-to-use platform with a friendly interface.
• Strong customer service and support.

Cons

• The porting process is time-consuming and difficult. (G2, G2)
• The pricing could be more transparent. (G2)
• SMS experience leaves much to be desired. (G2)

Ratings and reviews

G2: 4.5/5 (405+ reviews)

Capterra: 4.6/5 (125+ reviews)

Pricing

SMS API

Outbound: $0.004/SMS

Outbound: $0.015/MMS

Voice API

Outbound: $0.0100/min

Inbound: $0.0055/min

Verify API

$0.0500/auth

$0.1500/call

Suitable for

Businesses seeking a basic, reliable communications solution provider that offers greater control over call routing and SMS features.

Why choose Plivo as a Bird alternative

What sets Plivo apart from Bird is its ability to offer robust compliance support, ensuring that businesses can easily adhere to critical regulations.

Our platform supports: 

• 10-digit long code (10DLC) assisted onboarding to all customers irrespective of their size and scale
• Sender ID registration.
• Toll-free verification.
• Distributed ledger technology (DLT) verification in India.

Plivo is ideal for companies with high messaging volume requirements. Strong customer support available through premium plans ensures that businesses receive the assistance. Our 99.99% uptime guarantee ensures that messages get delivered reliably. Plus, Plivo’s extensive documentation and developer-friendly APIs offer self-service options for those who prefer to troubleshoot independently.

Moreover, Plivo prioritizes communication security by focusing on fraud prevention and SMS pumping detection. Avoid unexpected charges and ensure your messages remain secure. Our default message redaction feature automatically removes sensitive information from your communications to help you maintain compliance while keeping your data safe.

With Plivo, you can communicate knowing that your business is well-protected.

Seeking a reliable, compliant, and budget-friendly messaging solution? Contact us to find out.

Your business customer service team spends hours on the phone each day. They address customer concerns, answer questions, and provide support. And, while some important details are logged, other valuable insights, emotions, and recurring themes can easily be missed once the call ends.

Voice transcription captures all of these details for more informed decision-making.

When combined with voice intelligence—AI and machine learning techniques— call transcriptions can reveal patterns, track sentiment, and highlight actionable insights.

Let’s explore how voice transcription for customer analytics can help improve your user engagement strategies.

What is voice transcription?

Voice transcription, or audio-to-text conversion, is the process of converting audio from voice or video calls into written text, allowing businesses to store conversations in a searchable, readable format. Transcription can occur in real-time during a call or afterward from recorded audio.

Transcripts allow sales teams to quickly search for specific topics or scan through discussions. This capability streamlines their workflow and reduces the time spent on manual call reviews.

Additionally, these text-based records enhance agent monitoring and boost operational efficiency. Managers can review transcripts to gain clear insights into how employees handle customer interactions.

Types of voice transcriptions

Transcribed voice conversations offer valuable information from customer interactions. Getting these transcriptions can either be done manually or automatically. Here’s how these two types of transcription work and what they offer:

Manual transcriptions

Manual transcription involves listening to audio or video recordings and typing out everything that is heard. This do-it-yourself (DIY) method may appear cost-effective at first. However, it can quickly become time-consuming and labor-intensive, especially for those lacking transcription experience.

Additionally, manual transcription can be error-prone. These mistakes can affect the accuracy of the final transcript and result in misunderstandings in customer interactions.

Automatic transcriptions

Automatic voice transcription uses speech recognition technology to convert spoken words into written text. Unlike manual transcription, this method is much faster, as the software processes the audio in real time or within minutes, depending on the file length.

Plivo’s Voice API improves the transcription process with automatic speech recognition (ASR) via its GetInput XML Element. This feature enables businesses to capture user input through both speech and dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) inputs.

When a call participant speaks, Plivo transcribes their words and sends the text to a specific action URL. This transcript is used by your application to trigger an instant response to the customer’s request. 

For example, if a caller says, “I’d like to speak to a representative,” Plivo immediately transcribes this statement and sends it to a URL like https://yourapp.com/handle_request. Your application can then respond by transferring the call to an available agent or providing relevant options based on the caller’s request.

Plivo’s ASR can capture partial speech recognition results in real time, making live conversations more dynamic and responsive. Plus, transcriptions are instantly available to your applications, helping you act on customer feedback right away.

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How businesses use voice transcriptions for analytics

Voice transcription services can analyze high volumes of customer interactions to extract valuable insights. This data is a valuable resource for improving customer satisfaction and internal workflows. 

Here are a few ways businesses are using voice transcriptions for customer analytics.

Sales-driven customer insights

Voice transcription captures key details from customer conversations that might otherwise get lost. Sales calls, courtesy follow-ups, and support inquiries offer different insights, helping businesses better understand their customers.

For example, sales calls gives you a direct look into customer needs, questions, and pain points. You can assess their interest levels, identify upsell opportunities, and even spot objections that come up frequently.

Transcriptions from support calls, on the other hand, can reveal product concerns or unmet needs, which could lead to product development opportunities.

With these transcriptions, businesses can identify patterns in customer behavior and sentiment. This analysis allows you to fine-tune your sales and marketing strategies to better meet customer needs.

Customer experience improvement

Call transcripts provide a detailed record of interactions essential for improving the customer experience.

These transcripts make it easy to identify recurring issues, monitor how well agents handle customer concerns, and uncover areas for improvement in your service. 

For example, transcripts from support calls can help you identify where common pain points arise. If multiple customers mention similar problems, you can quickly address those concerns, ensuring they don’t escalate into larger issues.

This efficiency is further enhanced with AI-powered transcription software like Plivo, which offers benefits such as:

• Extensive language support: Use speech recognition for 27 major languages and their regional variants.
• Speech adaptation with hints: Improve accuracy with custom words and phrases, ensuring better recognition of proper nouns, homophones, and industry-specific terms.
• Prebuilt models: Choose from a range of ready-to-use IVR configurations, saving time when setting up voice systems.
• Simultaneous input detection: Allow customers to interact using either voice or keypad input, offering more flexibility with prompts like, “Press 1 or say ‘yes’”.
• Profanity filter: Automatically mask inappropriate language in transcriptions to maintain professionalism.
• Advanced end-of-speech detection: Detect when a speaker has finished talking for smoother conversation transitions.
• Interim transcription results: Receive transcription updates in real time, reducing response times and allowing for quicker interactions.

Legal purposes

Voice transcriptions play an important role in ensuring transparency and accountability in business communications. They provide an accurate record of conversations between parties, which can be valuable in legal matters where agreements may be contested or misunderstood.

Call transcriptions can show that businesses are following industry regulations and internal policies. This is particularly important in regulated fields like finance, healthcare, or telecommunications, where businesses must maintain high standards of accountability and transparency.

However, before using voice transcriptions for legal purposes, check the privacy laws in your state or country regarding call recording and transcribing.

Laws around recording conversations and using those recordings vary widely. Some areas require all parties’ consent, while others may allow recording with only one person’s agreement. Additionally, regulations often specify how recorded conversations can be stored, shared, and used, making it essential to understand the legal requirements in each location.

Personalization with sentiment analysis

Voice transcripts from sales and support calls can add a personalized touch to customer interactions.

Techniques like sentiment analysis offer insights into customer preferences and emotions, giving businesses a deeper understanding of what resonates with their audience. With this knowledge, companies can tailor their responses, enhancing the overall experience and fostering stronger connections with customers.

For instance, in a travel planning service, you might discover that words like "adventure" and "explore" spark excitement in customers, evoking thoughts of fun and spontaneity. On the other hand, terms like "schedule" or "itinerary" might create stress, as they can imply rigid planning rather than a relaxed, enjoyable experience. Missing these subtle customer reactions can limit the impact of your marketing and sales messages. Voice transcription captures these emotional nuances, allowing you to adjust your language to better resonate with your audience.

Call intent discovery

Call intent discovery helps businesses understand why customers are calling—to seek support, ask for information, or provide feedback,

Voice transcriptions assist in intent discovery through tools that use natural language processing (NLP). This technology automatically scans transcribed conversations for specific keywords, phrases, and patterns that indicate the customer’s intent.

For example, phrases like “I need help with…” signal a support-related call, while “Can you tell me more about…” might indicate an interest in product information.

Understanding call intent allows businesses to

• Improve call routing: Once the call intent has been identified through transcription, businesses can automatically direct customers to the appropriate team or resource. For instance, a customer with a billing issue can be quickly routed to the billing department without having to go through multiple transfers. 
• Enhance support: Businesses can identify and proactively address recurring issues, leading to faster resolutions and fewer customer complaints.
• Make data-driven decisions: Identifying trends in call intents allows enterprises to make better business decisions. This approach ensures that customer feedback directly influences product improvements, ultimately enhancing customer satisfaction.

Enhanced agent performance

Voice transcription lets managers closely review conversations, analyzing how agents handle tasks like problem-solving and dealing with unhappy customers. 

Reviewing the transcript enables managers to provide precise, data-driven feedback on employees’ strengths and areas for improvement, moving beyond subjective impressions. This approach helps managers focus on measurable insights, fostering more targeted coaching and professional growth.

For example, a manager might focus on:

• Language: Was the agent professional?
• Problem-solving: How well did they resolve the issue?
• Product knowledge: Did they show strong knowledge of the company’s products?

Transcriptions also highlight knowledge gaps. If several agents struggle with the same issues, it may indicate the need for extra training. Incorrect terminology or failure to follow protocols can also be spotted and corrected.

Managers can then design personalized training, ensuring agents are prepared to confidently handle different customer inquiries.

Better accessibility

Voice transcriptions make information more accessible to individuals with hearing impairments. This written record ensures that everyone, regardless of hearing ability, has access to essential information shared in audio formats.

For businesses, transcriptions demonstrate a commitment to inclusivity and accessibility, allowing for more equitable communication.

When a person with a hearing impairment calls a contact center, the audio of the conversation is captured and processed in real time. Speech recognition technology converts the spoken words into text, which is then displayed on the caller’s screen. This allows the individual to read along as the customer service representative speaks, facilitating a clear and engaging dialogue.

Unlock customer insights with Plivo’s voice transcription features

Plivo’s Voice API and audio streaming features make it easy to connect with AI-driven transcription and sentiment analysis tools. This flexibility lets businesses customize their solutions, facilitating improved customer interactions with efficient automation.

With Plivo, you can automate call quality checks to get helpful insights. These insights boost agent performance and customer satisfaction, making it easier to spot and fix issues quickly.

The Voice API also supports ASR using the Record API or Record XML element. 

Plivo provides accurate transcriptions at affordable rates, especially for English-language audio. Whether you need it for quality control, compliance, or personalized service, Plivo’s technology can handle your voice-to-text conversation needs smoothly.

Contact us to learn more about how Plivo can optimize your voice transcription processes and help you deliver a better customer experience.

WhatsApp is the most used mobile messenger app globally, with over two billion active monthly users worldwide. More than 596 million messages are sent each day on WhatsApp. And, while WhatsApp is primarily popular as a peer-to-peer messaging app, a growing proportion of those millions of messages originate from businesses. 

The WhatsApp Business app configures this powerful messaging channel so businesses can easily engage with customers. The WhatsApp Business platform offers tools like automated messaging, analytics, and advanced customer segmentation to manage communications at scale. While many of these tools aim to serve larger enterprises, entrepreneurs and small business owners can also make use of the WhatsApp Business platform. 

In this guide, we’ll help you understand the difference between the consumer-focused WhatsApp experience and the platform’s WhatsApp Business version. By the end of this post, you should be able to make a more informed decision about which version of WhatsApp best meets your business needs. 

WhatsApp vs. WhatsApp Business

WhatsApp offers various iterations, from WhatsApp for Individuals to the WhatsApp Business app to the WhatsApp Business Platform. Let’s do a quick rundown of the differences between these tools.

How to choose the right WhatsApp solution for your business

Most businesses need more than what an individual WhatsApp account can offer. That means selecting between the WhatsApp Business app and the WhatsApp Business Platform. Consider three primary factors when weighing your options:

• Your business size
• Your communication needs
• Your customer engagement goals

If you’re a small business managing a handful of interactions daily, the WhatsApp Business app’s essential features, like quick replies and product catalogs, may be enough.

However, if your business is scaling and you’re receiving hundreds of inquiries, the WhatsApp Business Platform’s advanced tools such as chatbots, message templates, and analytics. This version makes managing communications more efficient and improving response times easier.

Evaluate your team's capacity as well. Invest in the WhatsApp Business Platform only if you have a dedicated customer support team to streamline operations and enhance productivity. For businesses focusing on personalized interactions, the WhatsApp Business app’s simple interface is more beneficial.

Note: If you decide to use the WhatsApp Business Platform, consider partnering with a WhatsApp Business Solution Provider to integrate your existing systems seamlessly.

WhatsApp Business App toolkit

To further bifurcate between the WhatsApp Business app and the WhatsApp Business Platform, let’s look deeper at the features offered in the WhatsApp Business app toolkit.

Messaging automation

WhatsApp Business app helps you automate messages to save you ample time and ensure timely responses to user queries.

These are the features offered:

• WhatsApp away message: Away messages inform customers when you're unavailable, ensuring they know their message is valued and will be addressed when you return. You can create a message template to inform them when you'll get back with a response.
• WhatsApp greeting message: Greeting messages automatically welcome customers when they first message you, setting a friendly tone and inviting inquiries. Customize these to reflect your brand's voice. Here are a few examples of Whatsapp greetings to consider.
• WhatsApp quick replies: Quick replies offer pre-saved responses to answer frequent questions or common inquiries instantly. Set these up to save time and maintain consistent communication.

Together, these features let businesses maintain open communication, improve response times, and enhance customer satisfaction. 

Labels

Once you start engaging in regular conversations with customers, it’s easy to lose track of where each customer stands.

For instance, one customer may be close to purchasing while another might be still learning about your brand. Labels help you organize chats and categorize customers based on their stage in the sales funnel.

By default, the WhatsApp Business app offers five labels:

• Order complete
• Payment pending
• New order
• New customer
• Paid

The Senior SEO Manager, Felix Milshtein at VCITA shares their experience with this feature: “We use labels to segment clients into categories like 'New Leads,' 'In Progress,' or 'VIP Clients.' This makes follow-ups and prioritizing conversations much easier, especially when managing numerous inquiries.”

WhatsApp Business allows you to add up to 20 labels and assign a color to each, enhancing your ability to quickly identify and manage different customer categories.

Product catalogs

An updated product catalog on WhatsApp acts as a digital storefront for your business. Customers can easily discover everything your company offers and share individual products or services directly in the chat through shareable links.

It lets you add the following details for each product:

• Product title
• Photos
• Description
• Price
• Product code

You can upload a maximum of 500 products to your catalog. However, it’s vital to ensure that the image of the service/product meets the WhatsApp Business Messaging policy. 

Message statistics

WhatsApp Business statistics give you an insight into how successful your communication is with your customers.

It gives you insights into:

• Messages sent
• Messages delivered
• Messages read
• Messages received

Use these statistics to benchmark your communication performance against the set standard or to set tangible goals for improvement. Run A/B tests on different messaging styles, times, or content by experimenting with different approaches to see how your consumers respond. Check if either of the communication strategies brings a change in these statistics.

Short links

The short link feature stands out in WhatsApp Business vs. WhatsApp. It’s a powerful tool that simplifies customer connections. The URL can be distributed across various platforms or transformed into a QR code so that it’s accessible wherever your audience is.

You can even add it to your email signature and social media profiles to easily connect with your customers.

These links help you drive traffic to a specific service or promotion.

For instance, Aman Chopra, a Marketing Manager at Stallion Express shares, “I’ve used them in email campaigns, on our website, and even on social media to give users an easy way to directly start a conversation with us without having to go through multiple steps. It's also great for tracking engagement because you can tailor each link to a specific audience or campaign.”

Sharing a direct link to WhatsApp guides clients straight to your inbox, eliminating the usual back-and-forth associated with contact forms. 

While the WhatsApp Business app features suffice for small business owners, larger enterprises can benefit from the expanded tools in the WhatsApp Business Platform. 

WhatsApp Business app vs. WhatsApp Business Platform: Understanding use cases

The key features of the WhatsApp Business Platform also include rich media support, message analytics, automated replies, interactive elements, end-to-end encryption, business profiles, and message templates. Plus, expanded tools are configured to help large enterprises manage a higher volume of traffic.

Both WhatsApp Business solutions provide various benefits across several use cases. Transactional messages keep customers informed of important updates. Booking appointments becomes seamless while engaging surveys gather valuable insights.

Businesses can easily collect customer feedback to enhance their services. Order status updates foster transparency, and sending OTPs ensures secure transactions. Finally, promotional messages help drive engagement and sales with tailored offers. 

Here are two real-life examples to illustrate the differences between the WhatsApp Business app and the WhatsApp Business Platform.

1. PolicyBazaar achieves a 5X increase in insurance premium collections

Company goal:

To shift from impersonal communication to a customer-friendly approach and improve engagement, increase sales, and streamline the claims process.

Problem statement:

‍PolicyBazaar, an India-based insurance marketplace, faced challenges with conventional CRM channels like email and SMS. Although effective, these methods lacked the personal touch needed to engage potential customers meaningfully. With millions of customers relying on the company’s services, the team recognized the need for real-time, custom conversations to improve customer interactions.

The solution:

‍PolicyBazaar revolutionized its communication strategy with the WhatsApp Business Platform integration. They launched personalized campaigns, allowing customers to receive targeted product recommendations directly in WhatsApp, resulting in a 5X increase in insurance premiums collected. The platform also simplified claims through automated notifications and allowed customers to upload documents easily.

With over 30 million messages delivered monthly and a reported 5X increase in sales, WhatsApp became a vital channel for PolicyBazaar.

“WhatsApp has helped us make CRM customer-friendly,” says Nishant Malsisaria, Head of Growth.

2. Buddy4Study witnesses a 25% improvement in student interactions with the WhatsApp Business app

Company goal:

‍To bridge the gap between deserving students and available scholarships by leveraging technology to increase accessibility, awareness, and efficiency in the scholarship application process.

Problem statement:

‍Many students face financial barriers that prevent them from pursuing higher education, and a significant amount of scholarship funds remain unused due to a lack of awareness and transparency in the application process.

The solution:

‍To enhance communication with their primarily young audience (ages 14-35), Buddy4Study adopted the WhatsApp Business app, facilitating seamless onboarding and engagement. This strategic move resulted in a 25% improvement in student interaction and a 20% increase in student acquisition.

By collaborating with corporations, NGOs, and educational institutions, Buddy4Study continues to optimize scholarship programs and ensure that no student has to abandon their dreams due to financial constraints.

Scale your marketing efforts with Plivo’s WhatsApp Business API solution

Keeping your customers engaged as your business scales gets challenging.

While adding WhatsApp marketing to your sales strategy is a powerful way to engage customers, to maximize its benefits, you'll need to follow messaging guidelines and use approved templates to ensure your messages are well-received and effective.

This is where Plivo comes in. As a Meta-registered Business Service Provider (BSP), Plivo simplifies the integration of the WhatsApp Business Platform into your existing system. Its comprehensive APIs and user-friendly documentation let you connect and automate your messaging workflows without extensive technical overhead. 

Its no-code, WhatsApp AI chatbot automates your customer service. Set up the chatbot to handle customer inquiries about order status, returns, and product details without needing human agents. While its marketing automation feature helps you create and manage personalized WhatsApp campaigns based on your customers’ purchasing history and preferences. 

Plivo enhances messaging efficiency with features such as WhatsApp template statuses and clear reasons for message blocks. These tools simplify communication and help tackle compliance challenges.

Adhering to Meta’s guidelines and regulations promotes a smoother communication experience for both businesses and customers. This approach not only streamlines interactions but also builds trust in messaging services.

With our WhatsApp Business API Guide, getting started with the WhatsApp Business Platform is a breeze. From creating your WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) to simplifying the complexities of billing with Meta, you can easily navigate the setup process from the get-go.

Plivo charges a flat fee of Rs.0.066 (about $0.00080) per conversation on top of Meta’s fees, with volume discounts available to reduce costs based on usage. Moreover, we combine all charges into a single invoice so that you don’t have to manage multiple bills.

Think Plivo might be the right fit? Contact us to discover why thousands of businesses trust us to meet their communication needs.