The Growth of Whatsapp

Since its launch in 2009, WhatsApp has grown to be one of the largest communication channels in the world. With more than 1.5 billion monthly active users, the sheer popularity of the app is ever-growing as it provides fast, simple and secure messaging that can be used across multiple devices.

WhatsApp for Business

Since its launch in 2018, WhatsApp for Business has helped many businesses, including household names Uber and Booking.com, improve their customer interaction.

With the WhatsApp Business API, any medium to large business can provide powerful communication with their respective customers, with a global reach. This allows businesses to connect and maintain relationships, in a secure and reliable environment.

What makes WhatsApp for Business special?

Contact Details  – Merchants can easily add their business details to their profile for customers to access e.g your address, business description, email address, and website URL.

Quick Replies – The platform provides an option to reply to frequently asked questions with predetermined responses, allowing for quicker replies and better customer experience.

Labels – Chats can be labeled with different names to help stay organised and on top of messages.

‘Mobile Storefront’ – Since 2019, small businesses have had access to ‘catalog’ for WhatsApp business. Merchants are able to create a kind of virtual display to give users the opportunity to browse products, much like a regular storefront. This adds a professional element as well as improving product accessibility for customers by removing the need to visit the merchant website.

Automated Messages – Greeting and away messages can be set up to automatically send out to customers when they contact outside of business hours.

Convenient – With over a billion active users, it is likely that your customers will already be using WhatsApp in their daily lives. Notifications are therefore less likely to be missed and users don’t have to go out of their way to download additional apps or search for specific web pages to respond or make queries.

Personalised Experiences – When an individual opts-in to being contacted via WhatsApp, you benefit from immediately obtaining their phone number, their country of residence (from their country code prefix), and (sometimes) their WhatsApp username. This allows businesses to address customers on a first-name basis, and tailor their communication based on gathered information.

WhatsApp can be used as an eCommerce tool to improve your communication and help you reach more customers. If you need help with your eCommerce strategy, get in touch by emailing success@5874commerce.com or call us on 0121 369 5874 for more information.