WhatsApp Business For Marketing: Things You Were Still Unaware Of

  Conversational marketing is at its peak, pushed largely by the consumers, hence setting up the expectations for tailored and comfortable digital experiences. 95% of global consumers have been saying they will be spending more with companies that customize the service they are going to offer.  Associated with recent government and COVID-19 restrictions on physical shopping, more and more brands have turned to WhatsApp and similar other messaging platforms to connect with their customers in meaningful ways.  Having more than 2 million active users, WhatsApp is the fastest-growing communications platform in today’s era. Even the business version of the app, also known as WhatsApp Business, has owned a good chunk of revenue from businesses.  WhatsApp Business provides a wide variety of features that can help you level up your revenue. Moreover, in modern-day business, you need to understand how to use the features to get the most out of the app. But in particular, you have to follow some of the best practices to make the most out of the WhatsApp Business.  By following all these practices, businesses will be able to connect with all their target audience in the most effective manner and thus will be able to increase revenue. 

Table Of Contents:

1. WhatsApp Business For Marketing
2. Benefits of using WhatsApp for business
3. Creative ways to use WhatsApp for business growth
4. WhatsApp Business account features to use
5. WhatsApp Business Account VS WhatsApp Business API
6. Summing It Up

WhatsApp Business For Marketing

WhatsApp’s growth has doubled as compared to what it previously had. And the entire credit for this goes to the pandemic that forced both consumers and businesses to move ahead towards digital transactions. Further, WhatsApp Business accounts provide various benefits for businesses, helping them drive growth.  Setting a robust marketing plan for your products or services is essential to assure 100% business growth. You can even access marketing and other automation tools to increase conversions. Side by side, this article will highlight some of them, which will make you understand how to take advantage of the platform to increase customer engagement and revenues. 

The Benefits Of Using WhatsApp For Business 

For the brands using WhatsApp to connect with their customers, there are a lot of benefits.

• Extend Your Global Reach 

WhatsApp comes with over 2 billion active users from across 180+ countries. And if you have a huge audience, it will be easy to connect with new prospects that might not be aware of all that your business has to offer you. 

• Enhancing customer experience 

According to various resources, most of the leading companies offer 24/7 customer support across different channels as their peers. So, if you want to double your practices to support the customers, WhatsApp can be the perfect platform for doing so. 

• Employee satisfaction 

The messaging capability of WhatsApp can really be a win-win for your internal team as customer support personnel report that they are 50% more likely interested in engaging with their customers with the help of any messaging platform. Rest the other half go for more traditional methods as it affords them the freedom to multitask.

• Double up profitability 

When customer service is streamlined, the operating expenses usually reduce. According to various predictions, by 2025, 40% of customer service will go from a significant organizational expense to a major profit driver as direct messaging ensures the smooth running of the sales pipelines.

Creative ways to use WhatsApp for business growth

WhatsApp is not just a place to answer or solve customer questions! But it is way more than that. You have to consider these ideas to integrate WhatsApp into your social media or customer service strategies.

1. Send automated messages to customers or clients to keep them up to date on your business and solicit feedback.  
2. Send marketing or sales messages to potential or current customers.  
3. Send automated surveys to customers or clients to gather feedback or track customer behavior.  
4. Send push notifications to customers or clients about vital changes or new content.  
5. Send out automatic reminders to customers about upcoming deadlines or events.

Top WhatsApp Business Account Features You Need To Get Your Hands On

• Automatic Away Messages

Adding 1:1 messaging to your strategy does not mean you have to be available 24/7. You can take the help of away messages to set fair expectations with your customers and to give yourself a short break as required. You can use away messages in several scenarios, which include:

1. When your customer comes with a query outside the business hours
2. During a specific time, like extended closures or holidays
3. While receiving high volumes of inbound messages

Remember one thing, while you set up an away message, be sure to state clearly when a customer can expect a hear back from you. Also, for an improved customer experience, remove all the ambiguity from the situation.

• Quick Replies

Quick replies can be the best way to address frequently asked questions like ‘Till when you are open?’ or ‘is the item still in stock?’. But how to do that? To set one up, you have to click on ‘Quick Replies’ under the Business Tools section of WhatsApp. So, from there, you can create 50 unique replies that you can access with the help of keyboard shortcuts.

• Message Labels and Contact

Take the help of labels to organize inbound messages and contacts on WhatsApp, likewise to how you might use labels to set up your email inbox. While creating a label strategy, it is a choice of your own adventure game. Moreover, if you want your social media response time low, we would definitely recommend setting up a label specifically for unresolved issues. It will help keep them top of mind as you work to find the answer to any customer’s queries.

• Catalog Links

While you create a catalog, you can add items to your catalog in conversations with your customers. All you need to do is find that particular item you want to share and click “Send link via WhatsApp Business”. You can take the help of this tool if any customer asks for a specific item/product or share the alternatives for any products that have been sold out. Along with this, you can use the tool to send updates on the items on sale.

WhatsApp Business Account VS WhatsApp Business API

Think about it as the next evolution of a WhatsApp Business account, designed for large and medium businesses to handle conversational marketing at a wider scale. The WhatsApp Business API will provide complete access to the required tools along with advanced marketing and customer care features, which include:

1. Profile verification
2. Multi-agent access
3. Message variables for personalization
4. Multimedia message templates
5. Interactive messages

Of course, the advanced tools come at a very advanced price point. WhatsApp Business API comes with a conversational-based pricing model whereas, WhatsApp Business accounts are free. Businesses using the WhatsApp Business API receive 1000 free conversations per month, with the monthly rates increasing depending on the number of business and user-initiated messages sent within the billing period.

Summing It Up

Using the right communication tools to engage with your customers and ensuring a positive experience is very crucial. And WhatsApp has already become one of the most powerful tools that allow businesses to communicate with customers with ease. So, taking the right step for your business is now your responsibility.