2.2 billion users; let that number sink in!
That’s the number of people who use WhatsApp; every single day!
And, over 100 billion messages are sent through the platform daily as well!
It proves that WhatsApp is one of the leading communication channels. WhatsApp is also a place where business gets done. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a store in the corner or a large enterprise. Businesses of all sizes use WhatsApp to help customers.
This solves many challenges. For one, it means no more waiting on hold or having to raise service tickets, for which you’d get an automated response, with no clarity into whether it will actually be read by someone.
In this article, you will learn why businesses prefer using WhatsApp’s Business app over the OG version, the benefits and features of WhatsApp Business, and learn how you can boost productivity on WhatsApp.
Why do businesses prefer using WhatsApp businesses over WhatsApp?
WhatsApp Business is a standalone app. It helps businesses to easily communicate with their customers. This app version offers several features for businesses to improve their customer interactions and expedite query resolution.
Here are some reasons why businesses prefer using the business version of the application over the regular one:
- Automates messages for quick response. Companies can set automated responses for FAQs, schedule away messages, or send acknowledgments, improving customer experience, and satisfaction.
- Increases customers’ trust with verified accounts. The application verifies business identity, enhancing customers’ trust in a brand.
- Short links for conversation starters. Companies can create a short link and share it with customers to quickly start a chat.
- Labels to find conversations easily. WhatsApp Business allows companies to seamlessly organize and categorize their messages and products, making it a snap to find and manage customer chats.
- Customer support to resolve issues. Many companies use WhatsApp as a dedicated platform to provide customer support, allowing them to respond quickly and resolve customer queries.
- Analytics to optimize communication. WhatsApp for Businesses provides rich insights into messaging performance. For example, the number of messages sent and received, and the response time. This helps businesses optimize and improve their customer experience.
A quick glance at WhatsApp vs. WhatsApp Business
Normal WhatsApp is best for personal use. Individuals use it to interact with peers and family members. It helps people securely communicate, chat in groups, make voice and video calls from within the app, and send messages, share photos and videos.
WhatsApp’s team has built WhatsApp business with a customer-first mindset.The app sends important updates to customers via automated messages, runs promotional campaigns, optimizes buyer journeys, and offers personalized customer experience.
Did you know? Cooby helps you increase your productivity on WhatsApp. It helps you get to every message, respond or reach out on-time and enrich your relationship with customers. Cooby integrates with your favorite CRMs, Salesforce or HubSpot to bring all WhatsApp conversations, contacts, and deals into the CRM.
Top 10 features of WhatsApp Business
There are many WhatsApp Business app features that make it a must-have for businesses of all sizes. Below are a few notable ones.
- Profile information: Display your brand and make it stand out by creating a complete and accurate business profile. Include your business name, description, and contact information to establish credibility and trust.
- Automated messages: Easily welcome new and potential customers with automated greetings and inform them if you're unavailable with away messages. Be professional and responsive with these messages and provide quick and consistent answers to common customer questions.
- Labels and catalogs: Organize products and services into categories with labels and make them easily accessible for your customers through catalogs. You can improve customer experience and increase sales by making it easier for customers to find what they're looking for within the app. This is one of the most popular WhatsApp Business feature.
- Quick replies: Respond to customers quickly and consistently with pre-written responses to common customer questions with quick replies. Save time and improve the customer experience with quick, accurate answers.
- Message templates: Ensure a consistent brand voice and customer experience by creating pre-written messages for common scenarios with message templates. This is one of the best WhatsApp Business account features that improve customer experience and save time by providing quick, consistent responses to common customer questions.
- End-to-end encryption: Keep your customer's information private and secure with end-to-end encryption. All messages sent through WhatsApp Business are encrypted from end to end, making it difficult for anyone to access or read them.
- Multi-device support: Manage your WhatsApp Business account from multiple devices, such as smartphones and tablets, to stay connected to your customers. Respond to messages from wherever you are and improve the customer experience.
- Analytical tools: Gain insights into how your customers engage with your business with analytical tools, such as message statistics. Track the number of messages sent, delivered, and read, as well as the response time for customer inquiries. Use this information to make informed decisions about your business and improve customer experience.
- Customer service: Provide customer service through WhatsApp Business by responding to customer inquiries and resolving customer complaints. Build trust and loyalty with your customers by providing a fast, convenient way for them to get the help they need.
- Marketing campaigns: Reach your customers and grow your business by sending promotional messages and advertisements through WhatsApp. Promote new products, offer discounts, and announce special events to your customers, but follow WhatsApp's promotional message guidelines for a positive customer experience.
Top 10 Benefits of WhatsApp Business
Here are the top 10 benefits of using WhatsApp for your business:
- Cost effective. WhatsApp business lets companies easily communicate with customers at low costs. This does away with the need to launch expensive marketing and advertising campaigns.
- Easy to set up. The application does not require additional technical expertise, making it accessible to businesses of any size. This helps businesses quickly and easily adopt WhatsApp Business and start communicating with customers.
- Delivers insights. Through the Statistics feature of WhatsApp Business, you can understand more about customer engagement and make more actionable decisions and experiences through conversational insights such as number of messages sent, read, and received.
- Helps you reach a wide user base. Due to the number of people who already use the regular version of WhatsApp, the Business version helps companies reach many customers, including local and global. With over 2 billion active users, businesses can use WhatsApp to reach a large and diverse customer base.
- Lets you improve response time. The application lets companies respond to customer queries in a super-quick manner. With real-time communication, businesses can ensure that customer inquiries are handled efficiently.
- Improves customer experience and engagement. WhatsApp Business allows you to send customized messages to customers. This helps improve the overall customer experience. WhatsApp Business also allows businesses to engage with customers, build relationships, and improve customer loyalty. With two-way communication and the ability to send rich media, businesses can keep customers engaged and interested consistently.
- Show customers what you offer. With a WhatsApp Business account, you can set up your entire business profile and show customers everything you offer, including your business logo, business URL, and more. A WhatsApp Business account also lets you list the products on the application. This gives customers a glimpse of what you offer.
- End-to-end encrypted communication. All chats you have with your customer through a WhatsApp Business account are end-to-end encrypted, meaning nobody can read them. This ensures security and boosts customer trust.
- More ways for customers to reach out to you. With the app, you have your own WhatsApp Business QR code that makes it easy for customers to quickly send you a message. Customers would just have to scan your code using a smartphone, and boom. They’ll be able to send you a message on WhatsApp.
- Scale as you grow: As smaller businesses grow, they would need a more powerful way to run more efficiently and gain more customers. WhatsApp Business offers a paid service called WhatsApp Business Premium, that gives companies access to tools that can help them grow. With a premium account, you can set up a web page to help more customers discover your company and get support for up to ten devices which means you can have multiple agents communicate with customers.
Unlock maximum productivity on WhatsApp
It can get challenging to stay on top of all conversations, especially on WhatsApp, let alone the business version of the app. Maximizing productivity on WhatsApp takes a few steps, but once done, there’s nothing like it.
Here are a few ways to unlock maximum productivity on WhatsApp:
- Set up WhatsApp reminders to ensure you don’t miss out on important customer messages or follow-ups
- Capture conversations in your CRM, like Hubspot or Salesforce, to ensure all customer interactions are tracked and improve customer service
- Clean up the clutter and allow breathing space in your inbox by archiving messages
With Cooby, you can be hyper-productive on WhatsApp Web. Cooby is a way to be more organized and productive in managing all your professional chats on WhatsApp for Business. Give it a shot today before making up your mind!