How to use AI on WhatsApp to improve your company’s customer service?

Understanding how to use AI on WhatsApp has become a priority for companies that want to respond quickly and improve the contact experience. As a result, the app has stopped being just a messaging channel and has started to function as a strategic environment, where automation and intelligence increase the quality and accuracy of interactions.

In addition to this shift, data from IBGE show significant growth in the use of Artificial Intelligence at work: adoption of the technology in Brazilian industry increased by 163% between 2022 (16.9%) and 2024 (41.9%). This progress reveals a clear trend toward digital transformation in business.

That’s why, in this article, we’ll show how to use AI on WhatsApp to create faster, more efficient customer service aligned with today’s consumer behavior.

How does AI for WhatsApp Business increase operational efficiency?

AI for WhatsApp responds quickly, automates steps, and delivers information without delay. The technology takes on tasks such as order status updates, reservation confirmations, and schedule updates. These processes reduce errors, speed up service, increase productivity, and free teams up for daily strategic activities.

Another important point involves automating frequently asked questions, initial triage, and sending essential information. This structure reduces wait time, cuts costs related to expanding teams, and ensures constant support—even outside business hours. That way, the company maintains speed and consistency in every conversation.

Finally, conversational AI identifies intent, analyzes messages, and creates more natural experiences. The technology understands context, routes the customer down the right path, and offers personalized responses. As a result, customer service becomes smarter, more efficient, and aligned with the consumer’s digital behavior.

How do companies use an AI assistant on WhatsApp?

Companies across different sectors adopt AI for WhatsApp Business to increase sales, reduce risks, and scale customer service. In addition, automation streamlines processes and improves the customer experience at every stage of the journey. Below are examples of how brands apply this technology in practice.

AI assistant on WhatsApp to accelerate sales

Retailers use intelligent assistants to recommend products, send offers, and guide customers through checkout. In this sense, automation suggests compatible items, informs delivery timelines, and answers payment questions. The result is higher conversion and reduced abandonment.

AI-powered chatbot for technical support

Service companies use AI chatbots to identify issues, open tickets, and deliver quick instructions. The technology interprets messages like “my bill is wrong” or “I can’t access my account” and directs users to the right solution, reducing queues and ensuring constant support.

Automation for lead qualification and pre-service

B2B businesses use automation to qualify leads before human contact. The assistant asks about goals, company size, and the specific need, then routes the lead to the appropriate team. This process prevents wasted time and improves sales performance.

This same automation model is also applied to recruitment processes. Global companies use conversational AI assistants to guide candidates from the first contact through initial screening in messaging channels such as WhatsApp.

In the case of solutions like Paradox AI, integrated with platforms such as Workday, the assistant chats with the candidate, answers questions about the role, confirms availability, collects basic information, and automatically schedules interviews.

The result is a faster, more accessible, and more scalable process for both candidates and HR teams.

Conversational AI for ongoing relationship-building

Brands focused on retention use AI to send updates, quick surveys, and personalized information. This keeps customers engaged, prevents communication gaps, and strengthens long-term relationships.

Automation to reduce operational risks

Companies that handle sensitive data use automations to confirm identity, validate information, and avoid errors in internal processes. In this way, AI detects inconsistencies, alerts the team, and keeps workflows secure.

Scalability during peak demand

During campaigns, launches, or seasonal dates, an AI assistant on WhatsApp can handle a high volume of messages without increasing headcount. In this context, the business maintains speed, quality, and predictability even during service peaks.

These are a few examples that show how to use AI on WhatsApp and the direct impact automation has on digital customer service.

See also:

• WhatsApp Business Calling: why use this voice channel?

• WhatsApp for marketing and sales: why invest in this strategy?

What are the benefits of AI on WhatsApp for companies?

The advantages are that the technology speeds up responses, reduces costs, qualifies leads, and expands support capacity. In addition, it organizes demand, eliminates repetitive manual tasks, and improves conversation prioritization. Below are each benefit and how automation strengthens operations:

• Direct communication: connects the company to millions of users in a channel already used in everyday life, increasing the chances of engagement compared to other means such as email;

• Fast responses: delivers immediate information, eliminates queues, and keeps support available at any time.

• Lead qualification: identifies the contact’s profile, filters interests, and sends each person to the appropriate flow.

• Scalability in support: serves more customers at the same time without hiring new staff.

• Cost reduction: replaces manual steps with automations that save time and internal resources.

• Support organization: separates simple questions, routes only complex cases, and keeps the team focused on strategic tasks.

• Personalization: AI assistants can be trained with business data, policies, and information, enabling correct responses aligned with the context.

In other words, the main value of WhatsApp for many companies lies in its ability to communicate with customers where they already are, in a simple and direct way, with faster responses and easier access to support.

With these benefits, AI reinforces WhatsApp’s efficiency for businesses.

What automation features does Twilio offer for WhatsApp?

Twilio offers features for automating WhatsApp messages, such as conversational AI, visual chatbots, flexible messages, voice tools, and pre-built integrations. These tools increase efficiency and keep support available with speed and accuracy. Here’s how each feature works in practice:

1. Conversational AI: enable it to interpret text, recognize intent, and deliver accurate responses. This feature understands natural language and makes service clearer and more efficient.

2. Chatbots and assistants in Twilio Studio: implement visual chatbots and assistants with Twilio Studio. The tool uses blocks to organize questions, answers, and automated actions, making it easier to build flows without complex coding.

3. Utilize free messaging on WhatsApp: Freeform messages are not charged by WhatsApp, and only have a simple US$0.005 per message fee from Twilio.: This model reduces expenses and provides more flexibility for support, while relying on engagement from your users to trigger further messages. Reinforcing the strong value add of AI on WhatsApp.

4. Templates when needed: templates are still charged per message sent. Therefore, they work best for notifications, alerts, and structured communications that require a specific standard.

5. Voice conversations with ConversationRelay: enable ConversationRelay for AI agents to talk naturally with customers by phone. The solution eliminates the need for your own voice infrastructure and conversational logic, as it delivers everything ready to use.

6. End-to-end automation flow: connect conversational AI, chatbots, freeform, templates, and voice. This combination creates a scalable flow that reduces costs, speeds up responses, and improves the overall WhatsApp experience.
   
   

In addition, Twilio makes it possible to maintain the context of interactions across different channels. Information collected in previous contacts, such as voice calls, for example; can be reused in new WhatsApp conversations, reducing repetition, speeding up support, and improving the customer experience.

How to use AI on WhatsApp with Twilio?

To use AI on WhatsApp with Twilio, you need to:

1. Create a Twilio account. If you don’t have one yet, you can sign up for a free trial.

2. Register a phone number within the account.

3. Set up a test environment (optional) and define the webhook URL to allow sending and receiving messages.

With this structure in place, it becomes easier to understand how to use AI on WhatsApp and enable automations that improve speed, accuracy, and the scale of customer service.