Every Friday promotion ended the same way for one retailer who wrote to us: a WhatsApp promotion rush they could not keep up with. Within minutes of each send, their business WhatsApp filled with hundreds of chats: is the discount on the large size too, can I collect tomorrow, do you deliver to my area, which colour is still available. The owner answered on her phone, the replies got shorter, and some customers who were ready to buy gave up before they got an answer.
What they told us
Customers chose WhatsApp because it is personal and immediate, and they expected the reply to be the same. An auto-reply saying "we will get back to you" bought a few minutes and lost the customer. A shared inbox let a team split the work, but it did not make anyone type faster.
The business already had a Gydr assistant on its website, answering the same questions from the same catalogue. They asked whether it could answer on WhatsApp too, without setting everything up again.
How we approached it
WhatsApp is not a website with a different skin. It has its own message formats and limits, and its own rule about when a business may write to a customer. Getting any of these wrong would either break the conversation or put the business's number at risk. So we planned the channel around a few requirements:
- One assistant, one knowledge base and one catalogue across the website and WhatsApp, so nothing is maintained twice.
- Answers shaped for WhatsApp's own lists and buttons, within its real limits.
- Customers answered in the language they write in.
- A clear path to a person, which respects WhatsApp's messaging window instead of working around it.
How it works
With Gydr 3.0, the assistant a business built for its website can answer on WhatsApp Business with the same knowledge, catalogue and personality.
Answers shaped for WhatsApp. Products arrive as lists and buttons the way WhatsApp displays them, so a customer can see the options and choose without typing.
Every language the customer writes in. The chat follows the customer across fifty languages.
A person when it matters. When a customer asks for someone, or needs something the knowledge does not cover, the conversation goes to the team through a connected help desk. If the team answers after WhatsApp's messaging window has closed, the reply is held for up to 72 hours and delivered when the customer writes back.
One list, every channel. WhatsApp chats land in the same conversation list as website chats, and the dashboard shows where customers reached the business.
Where it leaves the business
The promotions still bring a rush. Routine questions — the price, the colour, the collection time — are answered as they arrive, and the owner's phone shows the conversations that need her: the bulk order, the complaint, the customer who asks for a person. The assistant answers only from what the business has given it; anything else goes to the team.
Frequently asked questions
Can a chatbot handle a WhatsApp promotion rush?
Yes. A Gydr assistant on WhatsApp Business answers each customer from your knowledge and catalogue, and hands the conversations that need a person to your team.
Will customers see product options in WhatsApp?
Yes. Product answers arrive as lists and buttons shaped for WhatsApp, within its limits, so customers can choose without typing.
What if my team replies after the WhatsApp window closes?
The reply is held for up to 72 hours and delivered as soon as the customer writes back, and your team is told what happened to it.