• Telkom is the latest company to announce a partnership with Clickatell, with Chat 2 Pay functionality now available to its customers via WhatsApp.
• Now customers can pay for services and products with the link provided in Chat 2 Pay.
• This new offering has been added to Telkom’s other chatbot-related services.

A number of local companies have announced partnerships with chat commerce and business messaging specialists Clickatell of late, and now Telkom is the latest. The service provider has specifically integrated the Chat 2 Pay feature into its ecosystem, now allowing its customers to make payments in WhatsApp.

“Telkom now deploys to its customers the Chat 2 Pay pay-by-link capability in WhatsApp, providing them with the convenience of safe and effortless mobile payments. Telkom post-paid and prepaid customers can pay their phone and xDSL/fibre bills, and buy airtime, data and SMS bundles,” explains Clickatell in a press release sent to Hypertext.

Telkom customers can begin this process by simply typing “Hi” on WhatsApp to 0811 601 700.

From there customers can transact by selecting a payment request on the available menu. Then a link is then sent to the customer in WhatsApp, and when they click on the link, they access a fully hosted checkout page. The customer can then enter payment their details and submit, with a confirmation of the payment and receipt sent in the chat.

The addition of Chat 2 Pay now means Telkom has a few more digital tools to offer its customers.

“Currently, Telkom’s chatbot offers customers mobile support by accessing their accounts and billing information, plus allows them to view sales deals, check for mobile or fibre upgrades, do cancellations, make directory inquiries and more. With the addition of Chat 2 Pay, customers benefit from a convenient and personalised service to pay bills and VAS top-ups via Mastercard and Visa debit and credit cards,” the operator adds.

“Telkom continues to look at ways to advance our customers’ digital experiences, and our digital channels are core for future delivery. Chat 2 Pay helps us optimise our payment channels and payment collection. What’s more, the ease of and availability of VAS services is expected to further boost revenue opportunities,” concludes Gugu Mthembu, CMO at Telkom.