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WhatsApp has been a globally sensational messaging channel for over a decade now. With its end-to-end encryption policy and more than 2 billion active users, WhatsApp eventually became a hub for small businesses to attract and interact with customers. As time passed, Facebook expanded the platform to WhatsApp Business to support these businesses and then further launched its API version, which inevitably turned WhatsApp into one of the most popular conversational commerce channels ever.
Today, everyone is on WhatsApp. And yet there are businesses that are contemplating the importance of WhatsApp Marketing.
As your favourite WhatsApp automation specialists, we wanted to help clear your confusion once and for all.
Below are some ways WhatsApp Business will help you stay ahead of the competition.
But first, let us refresh your basics.
What is a WhatsApp Business Account?
A WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) is a WhatsApp account that lets your business use the WhatsApp Business Platform and interact directly with your customers.
What are the types of WhatsApp Business Accounts?
There are 2 types of WhatsApp Business Accounts:
- Business Account
- Official Business Account
Business Account
Any account using the WhatsApp Business app or either WhatsApp Business Platform would be considered a Business Account.
With a Business Account, customers can only view the business phone number with the display name only available in smaller text in the business profile info or display icon.
You can also add your business's website, address, hours and other descriptions in the business info section to give your customers a better sense of your brand.
Official Business Account
WhatsApp needs to verify the authenticity of every account using the WhatsApp Business Platform. Once an account completes the business verification process, it becomes an Official Business Account.
There are two features of an official business account:
- The name of the business automatically replaces the business number, even if the user hasn't saved the number.
- A green tick mark badge appears next to the displayed name in the contacts view and profile.
You can get an official business account using WhatsApp Business API or a WhatsApp Cloud API platform.
The WhatsApp Business Platforms also allow you to automate your WhatsApp Business Account using WhatsApp Chatbots.
What are the benefits of WhatsApp Business Account?
Having a WhatsApp Business Account gives you an upper hand with WhatsApp marketing.
Here are some benefits of WhatsApp business account for your business.
Massive customer base
One of the WhatsApp business features and benefits is that currently it's one of the most popular messaging apps worldwide, with over 2.2 billion people actively using the platform.
WhatsApp is available in about 180 countries, with its highest users in India, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, Malaysia, Colombia, Kenya and many more countries.
This makes it the best channel to connect with users all over and perform conversational commerce and marketing in comparison to any other messaging app.
Highest open rate
One of the WhatsApp business features and benefits is that it has the highest open rate of 98%, compared to email and SMS, with an open rate of only 21.33%. This means 98 out of every 100 messages sent are read by users, making WhatsApp Business a highly effective platform for practising WhatsApp marketing, sales and customer support.
Private and Trustworthy
WhatsApp has an end-to-end encryption policy that keeps chats completely secure and allows businesses and their customers to exchange sensitive data and make important transactions on WhatsApp itself.
WhatsApp Business Accounts also go through mandatory authentication, allowing them a green tick and the customers to feel comfortable and secure.
GRPR- Compliant
WhatsApp Business Platforms have an opt-in feature that allows business API accounts to only converse with contacts who have opted to interact with the business. Therefore businesses have to follow a list-building practice similar to email marketing.
Customers can also affect your quality score and send quotas by blocking or reporting your business. This helps keep the platform spam free and enjoyable while allowing legitimate businesses to thrive with their customers.
Tools to Collect Opt-ins
There are many WhatsApp Business benefits since it provides its users with a variety of features to assist in collecting opt-ins. These features include click-to-chat WhatsApp links, website widgets and the WhatsApp QR code.
These tools can be strategically placed online and offline to promote your business and increase sales using digital marketing, therefore, allowing individuals to directly connect with the businesses that interest them and find out relevant information to decide whether they want to invest in the product or not. This also keeps businesses connected to interested leads for the long term and keeps them accessible when the customer is ready to make a purchase.
Improved Digital Marketing
Send more relevant marketing messages and make use of the limitless possibilities provided by WhatsApp Business to increase engagement. Use push notifications to make announcements and send reminders. Use broadcasts to access 10000 customers at once or focus on particular groups of leads or customers(new/existing) to do targeted campaigns to get better results. You can also switch between email and WhatsApp to avoid flooding your customers with messages and spreading them out instead for better results.
Multi-channel engagement
WhatsApp offers businesses a way to expand their multi-channel customer engagement strategy by opening up its channel to businesses and in turn bringing in a whole new market.
On top of that, WhatsApp provides a channel for both marketing and customer support. Unlike email marketing, which only allows one to market their business via links, it also provides a stagnant platform to answer queries, resolve doubts, run marketing campaigns and send updates through notifications and direct messages.
WhatsApp Business API also allows one to use their business account with multiple phone numbers and devices, letting businesses grow their customer support and marketing teams. This allows companies to leverage the live chat feature when using automation tools for the business.
2-way communication
This is a very important benefit as it gives businesses the ability to actually converse with their customers by allowing them to receive incoming messages. This allows customers to proactively reach out to a brand when they require customer service without having to go all the way to their website. This also allows the brand to acquire more information on their customers by getting to know them better and hence develop better and more inclusive marketing and sales strategies.
Conversational Commerce
One of the biggest features of WhatsApp that businesses get to leverage from in WhatsApp Commerce. WhatsApp Commerce is a blessing to the eCommerce and retail industry as it is a product of conversational commerce that merges interactive messaging platforms with online shopping. This allows brands to not just market their products and interact with their customers but directly sell those products to them on WhatsApp itself. This makes WhatsApp the unlimited one-stop shop for both businesses and customers to experience an entire brand directly on a single channel.
Showcase your brand
A key feature of WhatsApp Business is its Business profile. This gives a business the brand exposure it needs, complete with a logo/image, website URL, address and an 'about us' bio. This way, a business can share its identity, showcase its products and services and communicate legitimately while enhancing its brand image. Businesses can also showcase their business hours on their profile to let customers know when to get in touch with them.
Interactive buttons and Multimedia Content
A huge benefit of WhatsApp Business is it offers a multitude of messaging formats and options. One can send pictures, videos, clickable links, document attachments and CTA buttons that make WhatsApp campaigns more interactive and not limited to just readable content. With CTA buttons, businesses can also provide their customers with options in the form of mini menus and shareable product catalogues that make the interaction process more engaging than most other digital marketing and sales platforms.
Quick messages and Auto- replies
Businesses can leverage WhatsApps quick message and auto-reply features that allow them to set greeting and away messages for their customers and customise a shortcut for their most common replies like the thank you message. This helps businesses respond to their customers at all times, especially outside business hours, and respond appropriately to them as and when required. When customers get timely responses, it maintains their interests and keeps them engaged, unlike when ghosted. This especially helps increase engagement and provide better customer interaction for smaller businesses that do not have a large team.
Business Automation and integration
WhatsApp Business API allows you to partner with and integrates business solutions and automation tools with your business account. One such example of a business solution company is Engati.
Engati allows you to automate your WhatsApp Business with a WhatsApp Chatbot. With a WhatsApp Chatbot, you can design and automate entire conversational flows with your customers and instantly answer all customer support questions and FAQs in real time. You can also showcase and sell your products by completing the WhatsApp commerce process and scheduling all your notifications and broadcast while being able to segment and target selected customers for each. Engati provides you with an AI-programmed chatbot that develops and updates itself with every conversation as they go, collecting data and using it to profile and personalise customer engagement for your benefit.
Those were the 13 most important benefits of owning a WhatsApp Business Account.
Do let us know if this article was helpful to you.
Till then, here is another article on “How to create Marketing Magic on WhatsApp?”
See you next time.
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