https://sleekflow.io/blog/whatsapp-marketing
As of October 2020, WhatsApp hits 2 billion users around the globe with the number is still rising. The market penetration of WhatsApp is astonishing in some countries. For example, over 95% of Netherlands smartphones have this instant messaging app installed ([Statista](https://www.statista.com/statistics/880842/number-of-whatsapp-users-in-the-netherlands/#:~:text=The Netherlands counted over 12,Messenger installations reached 7.5 million.), 2020).
Obviously, WhatsApp is massive. The high number of WhatsApp users indicates there are enormous potential audiences ready to be reached. In 2018, WhatsApp released a standalone business version, allowing companies to interact with customers via greeting messages, quick replies, and business profiles. From that moment on, many started scrambling over each other to explore this opportunity. However, jumping on the bandwagon is never easy. Let’s check out these helpful tips and tricks for getting the most out of the world’s biggest messaging platform!
Although the user interfaces of WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business are pretty similar, they serve very different purposes. Given that WhatsApp Business is for businesses to connect with their clients instantly in an official manner, there are a few exclusive features that are currently not available in WhatsApp:
Of course, you can use your personal WhatsApp account to communicate with both of your friends and customers, but, it will undoubtedly be hard to differentiate between private and business relationships. Not only can WhatsApp Business help you to stay organized, but it can also assist you in offering customer service options, showcasing products and services and most vitally, creating a strong brand connection with every single customer through WhatsApp marketing strategies.
In today’s instant messaging (IM) era, customers prefer having a real-time and interactive conversation rather than the one-way communication of just leaving a message. Quick and instant response is crucial in attaining customer satisfaction. According to the research published by HubSpot, 82% of customers expected an immediate response to a sales or marketing question, while 90% expected an immediate response to a customer service question. In such cases, WhatsApp marketing offers an automated reply that is an extraordinary way to address this issue: it allows your customer to feel heard. You can also make good use of the automated greeting message to gather more information from the customers, which will help you to identify their particular needs easier and save some effort of going back-and-forth.
With the WhatsApp Business, communicating with your customers is now easier than ever. Sometimes, customers’ enquiries are complex and challenging to solve straight away. Instead of spending extra time digging out all the information from customers, you can customize the WhatsApp pre-filled messages to reduce the number of these follow-ups to a minimum. Moreover, the predefined text can encourage your audiences to engage with your company on certain topics. This can potentially contribute to your revenue growth, as well as improve customer satisfaction and streamline your operations.
In addition, businesses can utilise WhatsApp links, which make it even easier for customers to contact them, and use a WhatsApp Manager to better manage the surge in conversations!
WhatsApp Business is a free app available on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.
To get started, you have to create your business profile by entering details under Settings > Business Settings > Profile. Make sure you get these accurate since any misleading information can cause you trouble.
Followed by the most important step, is setting up the messaging tools. You need to go to Settings > Business Settings and check the messaging options available there. There are 3 options: Away message, Greeting message, and Quick replies and you can set each of these depending on your requirements.
Apart from 1:1 support, you can also remind your customers about your latest promotions in one go. To create a WhatsApp broadcast message, you have to go to the WhatsApp > More options > New Broadcast. Search or select the contacts you want to add, then tap the checkmark. You can select all the contacts you wish to send a broadcast to and send it, or you can organize your contacts with labels and then send a broadcast to one or more than one set of labeled broadcast lists.
For more app features, you can refer to Sleekflow’s complete guide on using WhatsApp Business.
Creating a WhatsApp Business account is definitely not the hardest while establishing a presence in customers’ minds is. How can you keep in touch with your audiences without annoying them?