The WhatsApp Business app delivers a number of additional features for business account owners. These features unlock numerous marketing and sales opportunities and should not be missed lightly. If you run a business that uses WhatsApp or runs a shop within the Meta ecosystem, WhatsApp Business should be on your radar.
WhatsApp Business has grown rapidly in popularity since its launch. This isn’t surprising news, WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app across the world and the business version of the app is no different. There are myriad benefits to using the app within your business including:
WhatsApp Business has been adding new features regularly over the past few years making it a powerful contender versus other customer messaging tools such as Shopify Inbox. The following list outlines those that we think will be the most beneficial to your business in 2022.
The ability to create a business profile is a great boost to your branding and status, as well as being helpful for your customer base. It includes standard business information such as:
It is, effectively, your WhatsApp shop window. When combined with the WhatsApp Verified badge (the green tick), customers gain confidence that they are looking to purchase from a legitimate business.
To create your business profile, launch WhatsApp Business, then open Settings > Business Settings > Profile.
The WhatsApp business directory allows users to discover local businesses through a map-based interface. They can search for businesses in a specific location and then filter by business type such as clothing, automotive, or restaurants. Once they’ve filtered, customers will be able to see business profiles, open chats, and learn more about the businesses.
To get your business listed in a directory, open the Chat screen then More options > Business tools > Business directory. If you cannot see this option then it likely means that your current location does not have business directories enabled. Check the WhatsApp business directory FAQ page for further information.
Integrating with a Facebook shop is a welcome WhatsApp Business feature for those with an eCommerce-based business that is run through Facebook. The integration allows you to seamlessly link between WhatsApp and Facebook, with the ability to showcase, share, and order products all within WhatsApp.
Once the link is created you can allow customers to contact you via WhatsApp directly from the Facebook shop.
There are a number of steps that you need to complete before the integration can be completed, including ensuring that your phone number isn’t registered to WhatsApp Messenger as they cannot be linked to a shop.
Displaying your products in an easily accessible, aesthetically pleasing, and simple-to-navigate way is mandatory for online shops. The WhatsApp Business catalog option allows you to do exactly that.
Where previously businesses needed to send through individual products the catalog and collections options allow businesses to send browsable groups of products. Collections (the latest WhatsApp business option for products) creates groups of catalogs much in the same way that you would create categories on your business’s website.
Catalogs and collections are both created from within the WhatsApp Business app under the Business tools option.
A welcome feature is that customers are able to create orders from within WhatsApp and then, when ready, they can contact you to discuss the order and payment.
WhatsApp payments allow users to send and receive money from within WhatsApp. The system is secured using a UPI pin each time that money is sent and no financial details are saved within WhatsApp.
This option is only available to businesses in India at the moment, but normal users are able to use it in India and Brazil. WhatsApp trialed using the cryptocurrency Novi (pegged to USDP) with some users in the US, this trial has since ended.
If WhatsApp Payments isn’t available in your country be sure to follow updates as it will not be long before this feature is made available.
With large numbers of customers, businesses often seek ways to organize and segment their audience. WhatsApp Business includes a labeling option, allowing you to create custom labels for groups within your contacts. From a customer chat, open the menu and then select a new label. Select the label you would like to add, you could use the stages of the purchase journey for instance, and then save.
An analytical suite of statistics is available within WhatsApp Business. Metrics such as messages sent, delivered, and read are readily available for your scrutiny. Tracking these vital KPI figures will enable you to gauge the success rate of a new campaign as well as allow you to compare different campaigns’ effectiveness.
Quick replies are designed to be efficient time-saving tools. Businesses can create a bank of quick replies, typically in the form of responses to frequently asked questions, and then send them within minimal button taps. Once created pressing / on the keyboard opens up the quick reply messages that can then be selected and sent.
List messages and reply buttons are a relatively new feature to the WhatsApp Business collection.
The list option acts in a similar way to website navigation in that it allows businesses to add up to 10 options to a list and when users access the list they can select an option rather than typing a response.
Reply buttons are very similar to the quick replies for businesses but instead offer the customer up to 3 quick reply options.
List messages use cases: As a menu (listing all available options for the chat), a restaurant menu, time slots available, accessing support.
Reply button use cases: Updating customer account information, simple repeat orders, beginning a return process, selecting a payment method.
Automatic messaging within WhatsApp Business acts as a chatbot might on a business website. There are two typical types of automatic messages, a greeting message and an away message.
The greeting message is sent automatically after first receiving a message from a customer and is usually scripted as a welcome message. The away message is used when a customer attempts to contact you out of hours. You are able to toggle the away message on and off, or you can schedule when it will automatically be sent.
The features listed above should be more than enough to warrant your downloading of WhatsApp Business. The marketing benefits alone are worthy. Each feature is designed to benefit you as the business owner, but also make the customer journey and buying process far simpler and more interactive.
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