How does WhatsApp Business work?
Before we explain why WhatsApp Business could be interesting for your company, you first need to know what it actually is. WhatsApp itself describes the app like this: “The app makes it easy to connect with customers, highlight your products and services, and answer customer questions while they shop with you. Create a catalog to show off your products and services, and use special tools to automate, sort and quickly answer messages” (WhatsApp, n.d.). Customers can see they are really messaging a business. That is a fast and familiar way to make contact, yet it stays professional. The app’s business tools let you do all sorts of things: away messages, showing contact details, automating quick replies and so on. WhatsApp Business lets you serve your customers even faster, since WhatsApp is enormously popular in the Netherlands. Newcom’s National Social Media study from 2020 shows that no fewer than 12.1 million Dutch people use WhatsApp. Staying in touch with (potential) customers this way keeps you current and familiar to your visitors. It is also a good replacement for (traditional) live chat software. With that kind of chat it is important to respond almost immediately, since visitors will leave your site at some point and the chat is lost with them. With WhatsApp you have your customer’s contact details right away and you can decide yourself when to reply. As an entrepreneur you have more to do than sit behind your computer answering messages all day. You might be thinking: but then my WhatsApp gets flooded with messages and I completely lose track of what is private and what is business. No worries, the private and business WhatsApp apps are separate, so the two do not get mixed up. But what does WhatsApp Business cost? That may be the best part: it is simply free!
Who is the app interesting for?
Any entrepreneur can use the app. You can offer products with it, but services too. A beauty salon, for example, can neatly list all its treatments in its WhatsApp Business account so customers see them right away. Every business has to communicate, and WhatsApp can be a replacement for or an addition to traditional communication by email and phone.
No idea how to set up WhatsApp Business? We are happy to help!
Still, it may not be equally useful for every company. A large industrial group with clients such as municipalities and government bodies will benefit less from WhatsApp Business. It is mainly interesting for B2C, business to consumer. At sole traders or smaller companies, communication sometimes runs through WhatsApp anyway, and then the app is very convenient. WhatsApp also states on its own site that WhatsApp Business was designed specifically for small and medium sized business owners.
So what is the WhatsApp Business API?
The WhatsApp Business API is something different from the WhatsApp Business app. The API exists to send automated messages to customers, for example, the kind of notifications that normally go out by SMS. Think of an airline letting you know how many hours until boarding. This tool is mainly useful for somewhat larger companies, as WhatsApp itself points out: “With the WhatsApp Business API, medium and large businesses can communicate with customers all over 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 get to work with WhatsApp for you. Integration with WhatsApp is possible with us. Think of a WhatsApp chat that appears automatically on your website so customers can get in touch easily. We do this in the package for our own clients, but for other websites too. Get in touch soon if you also want current and smooth contact with your customers.
