WhatsApp has gained immense popularity since its inception back in 2009. We live in a world that thrives on data consumption and an average person consumes approximately 30 gigabytes of data and information per day. Astonishing, isn’t it?
WhatsApp has become the most sought after tool for interactions, surpassing Facebook Messenger with about 2 billion active users worldwide. Besides being an excellent instant messaging app for personal connections, it is also a perfect add-on to help you grow your small business and an excellent medium to include as a part of your small business marketing plan.
That’s why a more direct, business-oriented and free to download version of WhatsApp was created keeping small businesses in mind, i.e.— WhatsApp Business Platform. It brings the convenience and functionality of personal messaging without being intrusive to your customer’s privacy.
Besides this, WhatsApp introduced the WhatsApp Business API for growing businesses that can be accessed by partnering with a service provider such as Interakt. The WhatsApp Business platform on Interakt comes packed with features to empower your business, get you closer to your customers and position your brand for success.
Introduction to WhatsApp Business Account
You can treat WhatsApp Business like a custom-made profile that not only allows you to quickly connect with your customers but also lets you enlist your products or services.
Here’s what your customer sees:
• Business category
• Business hours
• Business address
• Website link
• Catalogue
Now that you know what the WhatsApp Business profile is, read on to know how you can use free WhatsApp marketing tool with WhatsApp Business API into a full-blown marketing channel.
How will a WhatsApp Business profile help?
Bear in mind that your customers will more likely refer you or create a buzz about you if they have experienced a personal connection with your brand. The WhatsApp Business platform lets you do just that with a myriad of features built from the ground up for growing businesses. Here are some of the notable features of the regular WhatsApp Business Account-
1. Greeting Messages
You can customize a greeting message to anyone who messages you for the first time.
2. Quick Replies
Given the nature of the query, you would’ve had the same questions being asked before. So, to save yourself time, you can now create a draft of those answers in the Quick Replies section and instantly reply to users in just a few clicks.
3. Away Messages
Whenever you are unavailable, you can notify your customers using an automated message with a convenient time to get in touch.
WhatsApp Business Platform Features
If your business is considering the advanced version of the WhatsApp Business called the WhatsApp Business API, there are quite a few prominent features that will help you ace customer service and streamline your business communication. Here are its top features:
1. Shared team inbox
This unified platform allows multiple agents to work together seamlessly to manage customer conversations. A shared team inbox comes in handy if you have a large volume of incoming customer messages. With it, you can easily view, read and respond to customer messages and ensure that every message is unattended to and none go unnoticed.
2. Bulk notifications
This feature lets you send out timely alerts and notifications to a large number of contacts at one go. It lets you keep your customers informed on the status of their orders, bookings and reservations made or on upcoming appointments.
3. WhatsApp template messages
These messages are a great way to engage with customers. WhatsApp message templates have to be pre-approved before they are sent out. They are a quick and convenient way to reach out to your customers at scale.
Is WhatsApp Marketing ideal for small businesses?
If WhatsApp is not a part of your marketing strategy, it’s high time you include it. If you’ve got your doubts, let’s clear them for you.
For starters, WhatsApp has a growing number of active users added to its community every single day. These numbers are expected to rise with each passing year, making it the most popular instant messaging platform out there.
Close to 100 billion messages get exchanged on the platform every day. That apart, WhatsApp has an excellent engagement rate. 98% of WhatsApp messages are opened and read with 90% of them being opened in the first 3 seconds of it hitting the recipient’s phone. These numbers are sure to get you excited especially if you are considering WhatsApp marketing for your small business.
WhatsApp Marketing for small business
With WhatsApp, you can offer your customers a way to communicate directly making you more reachable and available to them.
One of the biggest highlights of WhatsApp marketing for small business is that you are not restricted to one-on-one messages alone, instead, you can create a broadcast list and send out messages in bulk to your contacts.
Ways to keep a check on your small business
Once you start building connections and your business starts thriving, here are a few tips that can help you keep a check on your customers:
1. Labels
This is a perfect way to sieve your customer conversations and a good way to track progress. You can have categories like, “Pending Payments” or “New Customers” and categories relevant to your line of business.
2. Broadcast list
The Broadcast list is an ideal way to keep your loyal customers in the loop with the latest news about your business. Remember you can have up to 256 contacts on it.
3. Real-time analytics
As a business owner, the analytics of your customers’ interactions are crucial to building lasting relations with your user base. You can analyze how many messages were sent, delivered, read and received – you are the architect of your own business!
How can I advertise my small business on WhatsApp?
As always, the best is kept for the last. Here’s our list of the top 9 sure-shot WhatsApp marketing ideas for small businesses that will revamp your marketing strategy:
1. Create a catalogue
The catalogue feature on your WhatsApp Business profile can be one of your strengths while promoting your small business. You can create up to 500 products with a catalogue link, which makes this easier for your customers to browse and pick their favorite products or even recommend them to their friends and family by sharing them on WhatsApp.
2. Create custom replies
Depending on the nature of your business, you can create custom replies to take care of standard customer questions. Custom or quick replies can be saved and reused. These quick replies help your agents save time as they do not have to type out the same messages over and over again.
3. Shoot alerts and notifications
You can send in customer-specific notifications and alerts, such as — time of expected delivery, upcoming sales and offers, shipping and tracking details to confirmation messages and the list goes on.
4. Customer care service
Create a personal communication space wherein a support agent answers queries in real-time.
5. Automated messages
Here’s the thing — your customers don’t like to be kept waiting!
The best way to make them feel valued 24/7 is through automated messages. You may also use this to let your customers know about timely updates.
6. Reduce cart abandonment
Send in reminders to encourage your customer to complete their purchase, if they have left their shopping carts abandoned. Tackle shopping cart abandonment by sending out timely messages, urging customers to return to their abandoned carts.
7. Build engaging 2-way communication
Use audio, video, pictures and response lists to provide customer satisfaction, thereby creating a wholesome end-to-end experience.
8. Create feedback forms
Conduct surveys using feedback forms to understand and evaluate your customer experiences post purchases.
9. Get your small business account verified
It’s no surprise that a customer’s confidence is built right away when they see that green tick next to your account, shrinking the risk of fraud and presenting your business as being a reliable and trustworthy entity.
Wrapping Up
WhatsApp marketing for small business is a gold mine for all SMBs. It navigates your customer directly to your inbox, and you must use this opportunity wisely to build in-depth personal connections with your customers.
Now, with a better understanding of how you can harness the power of WhatsApp Business platform, let’s get started on a module that resonates with your brand. At the end of the day, isn’t customer retention the ultimate goal? Get access to the WhatsApp Business platform on Interakt and transform your customer service like never before. Sign up today to enjoy a 14-day free trial.
