The Ultimate Guide to Using WhatsApp for Business
Now before the dawn of WhatsApp Business App and API, businesses and especially the sales folks were extensively using groups on the app to manage all their customer conversations. WhatsApp was quick to bring about a massive change with the rollout of their business-centric solutions — WhatsApp Business App and WhatsApp Business API.
Let’s dive into what they are all about. Here’s what we’re going to cover:
- What is the WhatsApp Business App?
- Features of WhatsApp Business App
- What is WhatsApp Business API?
- WhatsApp Business App vs WhatsApp Business API
- How to get access to WhatsApp Business API?
What is the WhatsApp Business App?
In simple terms, the WhatsApp Business App allows organizations to securely and safely message their clients directly within the WhatsApp messaging platform for free. One thing that gives an edge over SMS is that WhatsApp is tied directly to a phone number and gives a branded business profile instead of a series of digits. This promptly allows users to know who they are communicating with on WhatsApp.
Given the growing trend of ‘conversational commerce’, the WhatsApp Business App enables small businesses to enter this space by giving them a platform to facilitate sales and support teams. This gives businesses a convenient way to respond to queries regarding their products or services with rich, contextual messages that promote new transactions or keep current users happy.
Since WhatsApp is used by over 2 billion people worldwide, there is hardly any necessity for businesses to power user adoption. Because your customers are probably already using WhatsApp, all you really need to do is set up a WhatsApp Business profile and link it to your business number.
Features of WhatsApp Business App:
- Be seen as a business profile: This allows a business to give its users a familiar “face” and identity. If you get WhatsApp to confirm your business account, you can even have a “verified badge” next to your company name. This gives customers a sense of reliability when they are interacting with the business.
- Quick Replies: With this feature, you can save and re-use frequently sent messages so you can easily respond to common questions in no time.
- Automated Responses: This allows you to automatically send responses to your customers. For example, you can set an “away” message when you are unable to answer or a greeting message when a customer reaches out to you.
- Label Contacts: For easy access, businesses can label and categorize their contacts. For example, you can label contacts as “New Customer” or “Pending Payment”
- Catalogs: With the help of catalogs, you can showcase the goods and services that are available for purchase. This makes it extremely convenient for businesses as they do not need to send item descriptions and prices one by one or redirect the customer to a webpage.
What is WhatsApp Business API?
The WhatsApp ecosystem consists of — WhatsApp for private users, WhatsApp Business, and WhatsApp Business API. While we have discussed that WhatsApp Business is primarily meant for small businesses, WhatsApp offers WhatsApp Business API as a solution for fast-growing businesses and for tackling the limitations of the Business App.
WhatsApp is very particular with those who can directly integrate WhatsApp Business API with their business software and a handful of those companies include BMW, Uber, and Singapore Airlines. However, medium and large businesses that want access to WhatsApp Business API are encouraged to work with Official WhatsApp Business Solution Providers, and use their products such as interakt.
WhatsApp Business API is a powerful tool for commerce and it’s becoming a great retail place, especially during remote times. Let’s take a look at the benefits you can enjoy with WhatsApp Business API:
- Reach: WhatsApp is used by over 2 billion people worldwide!
- Efficiency: It’s much easier to reply to queries over text than phone or email
- Cost-Effective: Save your investment for call centers or CRM systems
- Happy customers: What more do customers want if you are going to be able to resolve their queries via something as simple and habitual as a WhatsApp message?
- Automation: With WhatsApp templates and quick replies, you end up saving even more effort
WhatsApp Business API vs WhatsApp business:
- Unlike the WhatsApp Business app, getting onboard with WhatsApp Business API allows your business to seamlessly integrate with other business channels and data
- WhatsApp Business API is designed for businesses that receive large volumes of messages and is more robust compared to the WhatsApp Business app
- API can also support an unlimited number of users and devices, unlike the app — which can be used only on a single device per account
- There is limited automation provided with the WhatsApp Business app, whereas, with an API, you can do a lot more. In addition to quick replies, message templates, and automated responses, you can create notifications to send broadcasts to your customers and set timely campaigns
- With API, you can also get more insights into user data like past purchases and conversations with a highly resourceful outlook for contacts management
How to get access to WhatsApp Business API
WhatsApp is without a doubt one of the easiest and most frictionless ways to encourage customer engagement, provide customer support and ensure smooth customer communication.
So, it comes as no surprise that businesses like yours would want to dive right into the action with WhatsApp Business API.
The most convenient way to connect your business with WhatsApp Business API is via a WhatsApp Business Solution Provider. With this approach, you will receive help and support in getting your business approved faster and with significantly less work on your part.
Here is where interakt steps in. interakt is a platform that enables businesses to leverage WhatsApp for their growth and acts as a managing intermediary, overseeing the application as well as the setup. interakt helps you with a seamless onboarding process, right from getting your business approved to responding promptly to any queries you may have once you use the platform. You also get access to an ingenious resource center that will probably have all the answers to any questions you may have regarding the platform!
Speaking of platforms, interakt offers an extremely simple and user-friendly platform with game-changing features. With interakt, you get access to a shared team inbox, where every member of your team can see and respond to customers easily and quickly. To encourage customer engagement, interakt’s notification engine allows you to easily set timely broadcast campaigns so you never have to worry about sending an update to your users. With a single dashboard to view contacts with all customer data and a filter to categorize them based on conversation data, user tags, and more, contacts management has never been easier!
To sum things up, it’s not the most convenient way to directly integrate your business with WhatsApp Business API, but with the right solution provider, it can be an extremely smooth and easy process.
So whether you’re looking to generate leads, excel at customer support, or build your user engagement, simply sign up on interakt and get your WhatsApp Business API access today!
That’s not all — we’ve even got a special introductory offer running currently at interakt, so just hop on board and enjoy your ride to the top with interakt.
WRITTEN BY
