Conversational Experiences: Transforming Customer Engagement with WhatsApp, AI, and Salesforce

In today’s digital-first world, customers expect brands to meet them where they are—on their preferred channels, in real time, and with interactions that feel personal, relevant, and seamless. Messaging platforms like WhatsApp have become the heartbeat of modern communication, with over 2 billion users and more than 100 billion messages sent daily. For brands, this presents a powerful opportunity: to create authentic, conversational experiences that drive acquisition, retention, and sales—at scale.

The New Era of Conversational Engagement

As channels proliferate, delivering consistent, engaging experiences across every touchpoint is more challenging—and more critical—than ever. Customers want to interact with brands as easily as they do with friends and family, using messaging apps to ask questions, get support, make purchases, and receive personalized offers. WhatsApp, with its 98% open rate (compared to 20% for email and SMS), is rapidly becoming the channel of choice for real-time, two-way engagement.

But true conversational engagement goes beyond simply being present on WhatsApp. It requires integrating AI-powered chatbots, CRM data, and the full breadth of Salesforce clouds to orchestrate seamless, personalized journeys that adapt to each customer’s needs and context.

Publicis Sapient, Salesforce, and Meta: A Transformative Partnership

Publicis Sapient stands at the forefront of this transformation, partnering with Salesforce and Meta to deliver next-generation conversational experiences. Our unique approach unifies WhatsApp Business Messenger with Salesforce’s Service, Marketing, and Commerce Clouds, enabling brands to:

• Deliver real-time, AI-driven conversations that resolve customer queries, guide purchase decisions, and provide proactive support.
• Leverage CRM and first-party data to personalize every interaction, from marketing campaigns to post-sale service.
• Break down silos between marketing, sales, and service, ensuring a single, connected view of the customer across all touchpoints.

The WhatsApp for Salesforce Accelerator

To help brands realize value quickly, Publicis Sapient has developed the WhatsApp for Salesforce Accelerator—a modular toolkit that enables rapid deployment of conversational messaging at scale. This accelerator integrates first-party data from Salesforce, orchestrates it through a Large Language Model (LLM) AI engine, and powers pre-built use cases for marketing, commerce, and service. The result: personalized, contextual WhatsApp messages triggered in real time, driving measurable business outcomes.

Key features include:

• Pre-built integrations with Salesforce Service, Marketing, and Commerce Clouds
• AI-driven chatbots for automated, persistent, and personal conversations
• Modular use cases spanning acquisition, engagement, support, and sales
• Secure, compliant data flows that respect privacy and consent

How Conversational Experiences Drive Value

1. Acquisition

WhatsApp’s high engagement rates make it a powerful channel for lead generation and nurturing. Brands can:

• Initiate opt-in conversations to collect first-party data
• Guide prospects through personalized purchase journeys
• Deliver targeted offers and content at the right moment

2. Retention

Conversational messaging fosters loyalty by making every interaction feel effortless and relevant:

• Proactive support and issue resolution via AI chatbots
• Personalized notifications, reminders, and loyalty rewards
• Seamless handoff from bot to human agent when needed

3. Sales

WhatsApp enables frictionless commerce experiences:

• Product discovery, recommendations, and guided selling
• Abandoned cart recovery and real-time promotions
• Secure, in-channel transactions and post-purchase support

Industry Use Cases

• Retail & CPG: Guide shoppers from discovery to purchase, send personalized offers, and provide instant support—all within WhatsApp.
• Financial Services: Enable secure account inquiries, proactive fraud alerts, and personalized financial advice through conversational AI.
• Travel & Hospitality: Manage bookings, send real-time updates, and deliver tailored recommendations for travelers on the go.
• Healthcare & Life Sciences: Facilitate appointment scheduling, medication reminders, and patient support while maintaining compliance and privacy.

Key Benefits for Brands and Customers

• Faster time to value: Rapid implementation with the WhatsApp for Salesforce Accelerator
• Increased engagement: 98% open rates and higher response rates than traditional channels
• Personalization at scale: AI and CRM data combine to deliver relevant, contextual experiences
• Operational efficiency: Automate routine queries, freeing agents for high-value interactions
• Data-driven insights: Capture rich conversational data to refine targeting and optimize journeys
• Compliance and security: Native integration ensures data privacy and regulatory adherence

Practical Steps for Rapid Implementation

1. Define your conversational goals: Identify key moments in the customer journey where WhatsApp can add value—acquisition, support, loyalty, or sales.
2. Leverage the Accelerator: Deploy the WhatsApp for Salesforce Accelerator to integrate messaging, AI, and CRM data quickly and securely.
3. Start with pre-built use cases: Launch with proven templates for marketing, commerce, and service, then expand to custom scenarios as you learn.
4. Measure and optimize: Use real-time analytics to track engagement, conversion, and satisfaction, refining your approach for continuous improvement.
5. Scale and evolve: As conversational engagement matures, expand to new use cases, channels, and AI capabilities, always keeping the customer at the center.

Why Publicis Sapient?

With decades of experience in digital business transformation, Publicis Sapient brings together strategy, product, experience, engineering, and data to deliver end-to-end solutions that drive measurable impact. Our deep partnerships with Salesforce and Meta, combined with our proprietary accelerators and industry expertise, enable brands to:

• Orchestrate seamless, omnichannel journeys
• Personalize every interaction with AI and data
• Accelerate time to value and ROI
• Build lasting customer relationships in a rapidly evolving digital landscape

Ready to transform your customer engagement with conversational experiences? Connect with Publicis Sapient to discover how our WhatsApp, AI, and Salesforce solutions can help you acquire, retain, and delight customers—one conversation at a time.