How WhatsApp Business Can Help Small Businesses?

In the past few years, small businesses have found an economical route of social networking sites/apps to promote their business and have taken advantage to spread the word digitally & otherwise. Today, the digital channels have a strong presence in lives of all of us. In the same way, WhatsApp has played a collaborative role to function as the bandwagon of and support all small businesses to increase their customer base.

What do you Understand by WhatsApp for Business?

WhatsApp for business was launched keeping in mind the extremities of their set-up & restriction of resources. With WhatsApp, the small business owners found an opportunity to interact better with their customers and quickly respond to their messages. Initially, WhatsApp for business was available only on android users in India as downloaded from Play Store.

Presence of WhatsApp in India

WhatsApp has more than 225+ million users in India which includes a small chunk of small business owners of pharmacy, grocery stores, departmental stores, etc. Therefore, it is a potential business opportunity to work around.

How does Business for WhatsApp Work?

To have a Whats App account registered, you will need a mobile number different from your personal number. And if at all, you do have an option, you will have to convert your number with whats app into a business number. After verification, a profile will be created & the businesses owners will be able to communicate with its customers.

What are the salient features of a Whats App business account?

Even the Whats App business account looks like a personal account, however its features can be listed as under:

Features for Whats App business:

1. Business Profile

   A business profile must be created which contains important information of the owner’s business email, contact number & address. It is also important to fill the location field to activate the store location on maps. Businesses also allow customers to link the Whats App Business profile with their Facebook profile to save wrong impersonation.

2. Messaging Tools

   Even with an expanded customer base, the Whats App for business makes it easy to conduct business. Many inbuilt message templates are sent to a large base of customers to ease their queries. Some of them can be viewed as under:

   ‘Quick Replies’ to respond instantly to all the customers.

   ‘Thank you’ messages for quick response for every new product order being placed.

   ‘Greetings’ message for the first level of interaction.

   The idea is majorly to stay in constant touch instead and help customers to reach brands and vice-versa.

3. Message Statistic Tools

   This is an important tool to understand the business performance well. Every little detail makes an addition into the basic statistics category. This will immensely help to target customers who engage & resonate well with the customers. There will be a need to involve more statistical tools to get deeper insights.

4. Whats App Web

   Businesses can use Whats App Web to send & receive messages from a customer on a bigger screen (a desktop preferably).

What are the Benefits of Whats App for Business?

• A long list of customers helps to create credibility for the business.
• Has added features which a regular Whats App account does not have.
• A plethora of messaging tools, comprehensive reports and analytics can be found.
• Businesses can send or receive rich-text messages, videos, PDFs., etc.
• All the required assistance, infrastructure and tech support is provided for Whats App.

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What kind of businesses can be conducted through Whats App business?

All types of businesses (big or small), or even freelancing business can be conducted. Businesses of Home Decor, Art & crafts, Jewelry, Accessories, apparel, etc. can be easily put up on Whats app.