As more businesses move towards digitalization, the need for a reliable and secure method of authenticating customer’s identity and transactions via various platforms is increasingly important. The use of One-Time Passwords (OTPs) for verification is commonly used in a variety of industries, from banking to e-commerce, as a means of protecting against fraud. 

WhatsApp is a widely used platform not just for communication purposes, but for businesses to drive meaningful engagement with their customers. With an average open rate of 98% and click through rate – CTR up to 60% (according to a WhatsApp report), WhatsApp offers businesses a wide-reaching platform to deliver vital information such as OTPs.

Sending OTPs via WhatsApp can help improve the security and reliability of your service to customers, while also providing a convenient and easy-to-use platform for verifying user identity.

Some Useful Use Cases 
With WhatsApp, businesses can achieve specific outcomes such as

1. Online/Mobile Banking Authentication: Financial services institutions can authenticate users’ identity during account login or to validate a transaction, allowing only authorized users access their accounts and conduct financial transactions.
2. Credit and Debit Card Transactions: OTPs sent via WhatsApp can be used to authenticate credit and debit card transactions ensuring that only authorized users can make purchases using their credit or debit cards and more
3. Two-factor authentication: Two-factor authentication (2FA) requires two forms of authentication before allowing access to an account. OTP can be used as the second form of authentication, after the customer has entered their username and password. This provides an additional layer of security and makes it much harder for hackers to gain access to customer accounts.
4. Account Recovery: When a customer forgets their login credentials or their account is locked due to too many failed attempts, Businesses can send OTPs Via whatsapp to verify their identity and reset their password  

Benefits of using WhatsApp for OTP delivery
Using WhatsApp as a complimentary channel to SMS or email for delivering OTPs has several advantages, including:

1. High adoption rate: With over 95% adoption in Africa, your customers are already familiar with the benefits of WhatsApp. Now you can meet them where they are most active.
2. Higher Open Rates: The high adoption of WhatsApp shows that more people are likely to have it installed on their smartphones. A recent WhatsApp report shows an open rate as high as 98% compared to other messaging channels like email which rings at just 21.33% according to a MailChimp statistics. By extension, response rates for WhatsApp are estimated at 40% compared to 20% for emails.
3. Security: WhatsApp has an end-to-end encryption for all messages, which ensures that they cannot be intercepted or read by anyone other than the intended recipient.
4. Reliable message delivery: Whatsapp is not limited to carrier limitation, filtering  or cross-border restrictions (like SMS). A message that isn’t delivered at the right time or delivered at all would result in a dissatisfied customer.
5. Higher Brand Trust: OTP messages are branded with the business name as the sender and have a “verified tick”, giving your customers the confidence that the message is indeed coming from you.

Starter’s Checklist for OTP Delivery via the WhatsApp Business API
Here’s what you need handy to get started with the Whatsapp Business API

1. A business document to verify that your business is registered
2. A business number that has not previously been registered on the Whatsapp network
3. Valid website url
4. A legal business address
5. A Facebook business manager account

Request a demo now to get started.