The introduction of WhatsApp to the communication world has been an absolute game-changer. With over 2 billion monthly users (and counting), WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business have completely revolutionized business-to-consumer communication.
In less than a single decade since its introduction (2010-2020), WhatsApp’s user base grew by 200x, spreading to over 180 countries and 60 languages.
This article is meant to be a comprehensive guide that will span every aspect of building and growing your company with WhatsApp Business. Whether you’re a small business owner or a seasoned marketing potential, this guide is full of insider tips, counter-intuitive recommendations, and best practices that have been battle-tested with our decades of experience in the field.
From generating your first-ever lead to making your first sale, to scaling multi-million-dollar campaigns, this guide has it all. So, grab a coffee, and let’s begin.
The introduction of WhatsApp to the communication world has been an absolute game changer. With over 2 billion monthly users (and counting), WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business have completely revolutionized business-to-consumer communication.
In less than a single decade since its introduction (2010-2020), WhatsApp’s user base grew by 200x, spreading to over 180 countries and 60 languages.
This article is meant to be a comprehensive guide that will span every aspect of building and growing your company with WhatsApp Business. Whether you’re a small business owner or a seasoned marketing potential, this guide is full of insider tips, counter-intuitive recommendations and best practices that have been battle-tested with our decades of experience in the field.
From generating your first ever lead, to making your first sale, to scaling multi-million-dollar campaigns, this guide has it all. So, grab a coffee, and let’s begin.
Important WhatsApp Statistics For 2023
- 2.24 billion monthly users (Source: Facebook)
- 100 billion+ messages exchanged daily on WhatsApp (Source: Facebook, circa 2020)
- More than 50 billion businesses worldwide use WhatsApp Business (Source: Facebook)
- Largest penetration is in the Asia-Pacific region, with approximately 779 million customer and business accounts communicating over WhatsApp Business (Source: Statista)
- Highest number of monthly active users are in India (~487.5 million)
Getting Started with WhatsApp Business
WhatsApp’s massive user base and high engagement makes it a no-brainer for businesses looking to upgrade their communication capabilities. But before you can start building a great community of prospects and buyers around your brand, you need to take the first small steps to get started on the platform. We have a few different resources we encourage you to take a look at.
This article will help you to get your business verified on the WhatsApp Business platform.
How To Leverage WhatsApp for Your Business
WhatsApp Business has a massive, Swiss-army knife like feature suite for enterprises and business owners. From building customer service avatars that act like automated sales reps to wide-ranging communication overhauls that benefit the organization and the society at large, WhatsApp Business makes it all possible.
We have seen all kinds of campaigns succeed over the past few years – quirky ones, creative ones and even some downright hilarious campaigns. To dip your toe into the waters and see what WhatsApp can do for your business, you should start by looking at some wildly successful WhatsApp marketing campaigns that showcase the immense potential of what is capable with the platform.
Effective Customer Engagement with WhatsApp Business
One of the biggest advantages of using WhatsApp Business is how effective the platform is at enabling real-time communication with customers. With the platform’s robust messaging capabilities, you can instantly reply to customer queries, solve problems and provide priority customer support. Automated greetings, quick replies and labels, in conjunction with automation capabilities from a BSP like Karix can significantly streamline your communication and free up a lot of resources in your customer service departments. With broadcast messages and intelligent funnel tweaks, you can effectively run large-scale campaigns for customer engagement, loyalty and remarketing.
Build a Steady Influx of Leads and Customers
A constant stream of new leads and customers is the lifeline of any business endeavor. By tapping into WhatsApp’s massive, highly engaged user base, WhatsApp Business offers companies of all sizes a powerful tool for generating, nurturing, and converting leads.
With the platform’s messaging capabilities, you can provide a high level of customer support right from the first interaction, building trust, loyalty and improved consumer satisfaction. With targeted campaigns for cart abandonment, remarketing, holiday and special offers, WhatsApp Business can turn into a lead-generation machine, driving long-term growth and sustenance for your organization.
Automate and Streamline Your Customer Support
Studies from Salesforce show that approximately 89% of consumers will most likely make another purchase if they have a positive customer service experience. At the other end of the spectrum, research from Zendesk shows that 76% of consumers would consider doing business with a competitor if they have more than one bad experience with a brand.
The stats spell it out clearly – customer service is one of the biggest factors that determines how successful a business will be, and how fast it can grow. With a platform like WhatsApp Business and automation BSPs like Karix, you can completely automate responses to your most common customer inquiries. The WhatsApp Business platform has features like automated greetings and quick replies to help you solve queries quicker and freeing up your customer service agents to focus on more personalized support and complex tasks.
Designing Effective Conversations for Maximum Customer Satisfaction
One of the key skills you must learn for maximizing your WhatsApp marketing is designing effective conversations. Building a series of memorable, personalized, and engaging conversations is incredibly effective at driving conversions and more importantly, providing value to the customer and making them feel like the business treats them like an individual with unique preferences.
We’ve worked in every major sector of business and have seen first-hand how effective great brand-consumer conversations are. If you want to spruce up your marketing conversations and start communicating your brand’s vision in a more assertive, engaging fashion, check out our in-depth article. We go over everything from the basics to the advanced stuff – starting with an overall vision, choosing a tone, voice, personas, and everything in between.
Build Interactive Templates with WhatsApp Business
Interactive templates are great for building a unique customer experience that showcases your brand and drives growth. The pre-designed, highly customizable structure of interactive templates allows you to design an optimal structure and flow for the most common consumer queries, such as booking appointments or getting more information about a specific product.
Additionally, templates can also be triggered by specific keywords and lead users through an automated funnel, such as an interactive product recommendation system.
Messaging Strategies for Different Marketing Funnels
To maximize the impact of your WhatsApp Business campaigns, it is essential that you employ tailored messaging strategies for different stages of the marketing funnel. Whether you’re raising awareness at the top of the funnel, nurturing leads in the middle or closing sales at the bottom of the funnel, it is important to have a custom messaging strategy for each stage.
WhatsApp features several different message types specifically for businesses to utilize at different points in their marketing.
Boost Your E-Commerce Portfolio with WhatsApp Business
For e-commerce companies looking to put their marketing on rocket fuel, WhatsApp Business provides a powerful slew of options. While much is commonly known about the e-commerce capabilities of WhatsApp Business – real-time support, payment integrations and the ability to simplify the checkout process, what’s not talked about as much is all the different ways you can combine these tools and capabilities to create a transcendent customer journey.
Use WhatsApp to Retain Customers for the Long Haul
Data from Invesp shows that investing in new customers costs 5x to 25x more than retaining your existing ones. Reducing customer churn and continually nurturing relationships with the customers you already have is orders of magnitude more important than constantly chasing new leads (although you need those too).
With such a competitive marketplace and new competition constantly entering the fray, you need to build a customer experience that makes people stay once they have entered your ecosystem. We’re intimately familiar with the nitty-gritty of what it takes to build a thriving community of loyal consumers around your brand.
All You Need to Know About WhatsApp Chatbots
WhatsApp chatbots have completely changed the face of online customer service since their inception. With the ability to provide always online, 24/7 customer support, promote products and services and collect consumer feedback, chatbots are incredibly versatile.
Knowing the Do’s and Dont’s of WhatsApp Marketing
In competitive markets, it is often just as important to know what NOT to do as it is to know what you should be doing. Avoiding the most common mistakes can by itself set you ahead of the competition in several cases.
By following the guidelines laid out by WhatsApp Business, you can ensure that your campaigns are efficient, effective and well-received by your audience. Failing to comply with these guidelines can get your account banned, your reach limited and most crucially, spoil the reputation of your brand if too many of your messages are unsolicited and of low quality.
Choosing the right marketing partner
One of the fastest ways to get a head start in your WhatsApp marketing journey is to select the right business solution provider. Choosing the right partner will massively streamline your communication and allow you to scale rapidly.
The right business solution provider can help you fill up the gaps in your marketing and bring the technical expertise and industry-standard features like chatbots and omnichannel automation that would otherwise cost a fortune to develop in-house.
With cloud-based solutions like what Karix offers for WhatsApp, deployment becomes much easier.With a 99.95% uptime, reduced time to market, ISO certified security and quality of service, Karix’s WhatsApp solution can rapidly help you reach your customers on the channels they prefer.
May 2023