Our personal and professional lives have changed a lot with the advent of smartphones: social marketing allows us to reach a much larger number of people, new business models and administrative tools have appeared, interaction with the public has increased and, of course, instant messengers dominate as a means of communication. In this case, WhatsApp is without a doubt the largest communication application and today it is impossible to imagine doing business without providing a number on this service.
But did you know that WhatsApp offers a version specially adapted for professional users? WhatsApp Business, originally launched in 2018, is constantly getting new features to improve your customer experience, make it easier to find offers and products, and optimize your brand’s online presence.
Unlike the usual methods of using smartphones to interact with customers, such as using personal numbers, WhatsApp Business creates an official, trusted and verifiable profile for the brand and constantly creates a sense of personal and personalized service. Interested in this feature? Then find out what it is and how to use WhatsApp Business in your business.
But first of all, it is worth remembering, especially during the quarantine period, that whenever you transfer some important aspect of your companies to the digital world, you also need to worry about data security.
Scams such as WhatsApp cloning, for example, can be dangerous to your identity and privacy. So you can follow digital security tips like how to use VPN to secure WhatsApp Web or how to secure your account entry using two-step verification.
What is WhatsApp Business?
In Russia, more than 95% of smartphones have WhatsApp installed, which means that the platform is already the main way to reach its users. And in surveys related to customer service, more than half of respondents say they are more confident to buy from online stores that use WhatsApp as a communication mechanism.
For large companies, WhatsApp Business offers private plans negotiated directly with the company, usually at pro-rata rates. However, for small and medium-sized businesses, the service is free and you can start using it without too much trouble.
Important Application Resources
WhatsApp Business is receiving frequent updates with new features, and later this year, WhatsApp will receive a payment system that will allow transactions to be made directly within the app. The resources available to companies today are:
- Business Profile: When registering a business profile, people who contact your business automatically have their official name added to the contact, a checkmark indicates the profile is official, and a brief description of your business can be added.
- Engagement Metrics: WhatsApp Business allows you to get reports on the success of your marketing campaigns, user responses, response time, service performance, percentage of messages read and other extremely valuable information.
- Catalog and Buy Button: You can also add a list of products and services to your profile, including valuables, which can be accessed directly with a convenient button in the messenger.
- Tags: Allows the administrator to divide conversations and groups into loosely organized categories so you can quickly find conversations between employees, customers, marketing campaigns.
- Automatic Messages: You can set a message to be sent immediately when a customer starts a new conversation, and you can also set messages for FAQs or after business hours.
- Other features of the regular version of the app, such as WhatsApp Web to access your computer, continue to work as usual.
Adding WhatsApp Business to your business model is a simple yet extremely valuable way to improve customer relationships and build a more robust digital presence with a more recognizable brand and measurable customer satisfaction.
