How does WhatsApp Business work?
Before we explain why WhatsApp Business might be a good fit for your company, you should first understand exactly what it entails. WhatsApp itself provides the following explanation of the app: “With the app, you can easily connect with customers, showcase your products and services, and answer customer questions while they’re shopping with you. Create a catalog to showcase your products and services, and use special tools to automate, sort, and quickly respond to messages” (WhatsApp, n.d.).
Customers can see that they’re actually messaging a business. It’s a fast and familiar way to connect, yet it remains professional. With the app’s business tools, you can do just about anything: set away messages, display contact details, automate quick replies, and more.
With WhatsApp Business, you can serve your customers even faster, given how incredibly popular WhatsApp is in the Netherlands. From
Newcom's National Social Media Survey Data from 2020 shows that as many as 12.1 million Dutch people use WhatsApp. By staying in touch with (potential) customers this way, you remain up-to-date and familiar to your visitors. Moreover, it’s a great alternative to (traditional) LiveChat software. With LiveChat, it’s crucial to respond almost immediately, since visitors will eventually leave your site, and the chat will be lost. With WhatsApp, you have your customer’s contact information right away and can decide for yourself when to respond. After all, as a business owner, you have more important things to do than sit at your computer all day answering messages.
You might be thinking: but then my WhatsApp will be flooded with messages, and I’ll lose all track of my personal and business WhatsApp. Don’t worry—the personal and business WhatsApp apps are separate, so they won’t get mixed up.
But what are the costs for WhatsApp Business? That might be the best part of all: it’s completely free!
Who might find this app useful?
Any business owner can use the app. You can use it to offer both products and services. A beauty salon, for example, can list all its treatments in its WhatsApp Business account so customers can see them right away. Every business needs to communicate, and WhatsApp can serve as a replacement for or supplement to traditional communication via email and phone.
Not sure how to set up WhatsApp Business? We're happy to help!
Still, it might not be equally useful for every business. A large industrial conglomerate with clients such as municipalities and government agencies will benefit less from WhatsApp Business. It’s particularly useful for B2C—Business to Consumer. For self-employed individuals or smaller businesses, communication sometimes takes place via WhatsApp, in which case the app is very convenient. WhatsApp itself states on its website that WhatsApp Business is designed specifically for owners of small and medium-sized businesses.
So what is the WhatsApp Business API?
The WhatsApp Business API is different from the WhatsApp Business app. For example, the API is designed to automatically send messages to customers—notifications that would normally be sent via SMS. Think of the notification from an airline telling you that you can board in a few hours. This tool is particularly useful for larger companies, as WhatsApp itself states: “With the WhatsApp Business API, medium and large businesses can communicate with customers around the world. Use WhatsApp to stay in touch with your customers in a fast, secure, and reliable way.”
We integrate WhatsApp into your website
We can help you get started with WhatsApp! We offer WhatsApp integration. For example, we can set up a WhatsApp chat window that automatically pops up on your website, making it easy for customers to get in touch. We include this service in our package for our clients, but we also offer it for other websites. Contact us today if you want to stay up-to-date and maintain smooth communication with your customers.
