What Is a WhatsApp Chatbot? (And When You Need a Human Instead)

Software connected to a WhatsApp Business API number that replies to incoming messages automatically. The simplest kind shows a menu of buttons and collects answers; keyword bots reply to words like 'price' or 'address'; AI chatbots generate answers from your documents. All three need the official API, not the free WhatsApp Business app.

A basic menu or keyword bot is often included in a WhatsApp API provider's plan, roughly ₹1,000 to ₹3,000 a month, plus Meta's per-conversation charges. AI chatbots are priced per conversation or per seat on top of that and usually start around ₹5,000 a month. Building one on a no-code tool is cheap; keeping its answers correct is the ongoing cost.

A chatbot answers the first message; a WhatsApp CRM keeps the whole conversation next to the customer's calls and lead record so a person can answer the second one properly. Small sales teams usually need the CRM first, because the messages that decide a sale are replies to a specific customer, not answers to a generic question.

Not for one-to-one follow-ups: a dialer can open WhatsApp on your own number with the message prepared after each call. You need the official API for fully hands-free sending, bulk campaigns to hundreds of numbers with delivered and read reports, and message templates. RMDialer works both ways and connects to the API from Meta or any provider.

Use a dialer with auto WhatsApp: set a message once per call type (missed, incoming, outgoing) and per lead status, and the app sends it the moment the call ends, personalised with the customer's name. From the user's own number it opens WhatsApp with the message ready; through the WhatsApp Business API it sends with zero taps.

Send to people who know you and have opted in, personalise with the name, keep to a few hundred a day from a normal number with gaps between messages, and stop sending to anyone who does not reply or asks you to stop. For larger volumes use the official WhatsApp Business API with approved templates, which cannot be banned for volume and gives delivery reports.

Yes, one message at a time from your phone: the app prepares each message with the name filled in and hands it to WhatsApp, and you tap send. It is safe for lists of a few hundred known contacts. For thousands of numbers, or for reports of delivered, read and replied, the WhatsApp Business API route is the right one.

A WhatsApp CRM keeps customer chats next to the customer record, so a conversation, its call history, lead status and follow-ups are one file instead of a chat on someone's phone. Built into a dialer, it lets a team reply from the same app they call from, send media and templates, see read receipts, and keep the chat when the employee leaves.

Meta charges per conversation, roughly ₹0.11 to ₹0.80 depending on the category (marketing costs the most, service conversations started by the customer are free within a window). Providers add a platform fee. RMDialer does not charge extra to connect an API you already have; you pay Meta or your provider directly for messages.

Marking a lead as lost with a reason, and keeping every lost lead in one list instead of letting it disappear. Lost leads are the cheapest sales you can make later: a win-back call or WhatsApp campaign to last quarter's lost list costs nothing to source and converts better than cold numbers.

Record each paying client once with the product, package, amount paid, amount due and expiry date. The app then rings the right person before expiry (for example 30, 7 and 1 days before) and can send a WhatsApp reminder automatically at each step, so renewals stop depending on a diary.

One where every admission enquiry is logged from the call itself, counsellors have their own assigned queues with the auto dialer, demo classes and fee follow-ups ring on time, and the fee structure or brochure goes out on WhatsApp automatically. The owner sees enquiries, calls and admissions per counsellor and per branch.

An auto dialer app calls a list of phone numbers one after another so the caller never types a number. On Android, an app like RMDialer runs the session on the phone itself using the SIM already in it: you pick a list from Excel, a Google Sheet, an API or assigned leads, press start, and the app dials each number in turn while you mark the outcome between calls.

A telecalling CRM is customer software built around phone calls: the lead list, the dialer, the call outcome and the follow-up live in one place. The mobile kind, such as RMDialer, replaces the Android phone app on each rep's handset so every call automatically becomes a record with a status, a remark and the next follow-up, and the manager sees the whole team on a web dashboard.

Telecalling software is built to make and track calls (dialing lists, call logs, per-caller reports). A CRM is built to hold customer records and pipeline stages. Most Indian sales teams need both at once, which is why a telecalling CRM combines them: the call itself creates and updates the customer record, so nobody types into a separate system after the call.