Using whatsapp for commercial purposes. WhatsApp for business: How the messenger helps entrepreneurs increase sales. What does it look like for clients?

An article about how WhatsApp messenger is used in business. Nikolai Piriankov, co-founder of the Rare Pink diamond ring company, and fashion designer Roberto Revilla shared their experience.

Both entrepreneurs use the app to communicate with their customers. This method of communication brought Revilla an income of more than £80,000.

According to the policy of the service, users are prohibited from using the application for commercial purposes, but they can share images, blog posts and communicate with customers without aggressive advertising.

Nikolai Piriankov, co-founder of diamond ring company Rare Pink, uses WhatsApp to communicate with customers.

We didn't plan to use WhatsApp. It was suggested to us by clients, and now all design consultants have a messenger attached to their work number. Each buyer has a personal consultant. The customer can communicate with him 24 hours a day.

One of the customers, who ordered a ring worth £13,000, could not talk on the phone and communicate on e-mail during work, so Piriankov's company had to exchange messages with her only through WhatsApp.

“We are relaunching the site along with a mobile version that will integrate WhatsApp and its Chinese counterpart WeChat so that the customer can write a message directly from the product page. Whatsapp makes the job easier - a Rare Pink employee can send a video that shows the brilliance of the diamonds from all angles, which is likely to encourage the customer to buy, ”says Piriankov.

Chinese shoppers prefer the privacy and simplicity of their local WeChat service, through which I once made one of our largest wholesale sales. The deal amounted to £250,000.

For fashion designer Roberto Revilla, WhatsApp is a way to communicate with clients in his fine tailoring business. “Our customers are businessmen of the middle and high class. They are so busy that they cannot find time to respond to an email or voice message, so they are more comfortable using a messenger through which they can respond instantly.”

Together with WhatsApp, Revilla uses iMessage and regular SMS messages, but WhatsApp, unlike iMessage, also works under Android.

Over the past 12 months, we have received orders through messengers for more than 320 hours of work. This brought us an income of at least £80,000.

According to a study by the Cellular Telecommunications Manufacturers Association (CTIA), instant messengers are the fastest way to communicate with customers: the average time to read a message in a messenger is 90 seconds, and in email - 90 minutes. However, Revilla warns against using WhatsApp for cold calls, as it can annoy the client. For the same reason, GetTaxi App Marketing Director Rich Pleaf recommends not sending many messages in the app.

WhatsApp founder Jan Koum opposes the introduction of advertising in the messenger. Explaining his opinion on this matter, Koum quoted Tyler Durden, the hero of the novel "Fight Club": "Advertising forces things on us: we work at jobs we hate to buy things we don't need."

Revilla and Piriankov believe that WhatsApp should complement, not replace, email, phone, and major social media. “This is an important communication channel, but it is not the only one. This is the key to give customers a choice,” says Piriankov.

WhatsApp was bought by Facebook for $19 billion last year. The audience of the application has exceeded 700 million users, more than 30 billion messages are sent through the messenger per day.

WhatsApp messenger (owned by Facebook) is developing free app WhatsApp Business for small and medium businesses. Companies will have officially confirmed accounts, and the messenger will also simplify the procedure for communicating with customers. This is stated in the WhatsApp blog.

WhatsApp is also developing a paid solution for large corporations (airlines, banks, or online retailers) that will allow businesses to send useful departure time and delivery alerts to customers, TechCrunch. The messenger will introduce tools for big business into the WhatsApp platform itself, writes The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

whatsapp

“People interact with companies every day, whether it's ordering from a local bakery or looking for a new style at a clothing store. But the way WhatsApp communicates is not perfect. We've heard stories from store owners who use WhatsApp to connect with hundreds of their customers on a single smartphone, and from people who weren't sure if the business was credible or trustworthy."

This business tool is new in terms of monetizing the rest of Facebook's ad-dependent products, the WSJ notes. WhatsApp chief executive Matt Aidema told the publication that the messenger wants to create a way for people to connect with businesses. WhatsApp's free tools are currently being tested by companies in Brazil, Europe, as well as India and Indonesia.

According to the executive director of the messenger, in the future the messenger plans to charge businesses money for certain services. He did not say what the tools will be like, or when the company plans to introduce them. In addition, the messenger has not yet determined the details of the monetization of services.

TechCrunch reminds that in late August, WhatsApp began testing the ability to verify accounts for businesses.

Recall that in the spring it became known that WhatsApp is planning direct payments between users in India. The messenger will cooperate with the UPI payment system (supported by the state), which will provide its services free of charge. The WhatsApp audience in India exceeds 200 million people.

An article about how WhatsApp messenger is used in business. Nikolai Piriankov, co-founder of the Rare Pink diamond ring company, and fashion designer Roberto Revilla shared their experience.

Both entrepreneurs use the app to communicate with their customers. This method of communication brought Revilla an income of more than £80,000.

Nikolai Piriankov, co-founder of diamond ring company Rare Pink, uses WhatsApp to communicate with customers.

We didn't plan to use WhatsApp. It was suggested to us by clients, and now all design consultants have a messenger attached to their work number. Each buyer has a personal consultant. The customer can communicate with him 24 hours a day.

One customer who ordered a £13,000 ring was unable to talk on the phone or communicate via e-mail while working, so Piriankov's company had to exchange messages with her only via WhatsApp.

Chinese shoppers prefer the privacy and simplicity of their local WeChat service, through which I once made one of our largest wholesale sales. The deal amounted to £250,000.

Together with WhatsApp, Revilla uses iMessage and regular SMS messages, but WhatsApp, unlike iMessage, also works under Android.

Over the past 12 months, we have received orders through messengers for more than 320 hours of work. This brought us an income of at least £80,000.

WhatsApp was bought by Facebook for $19 billion last year. The audience of the application has exceeded 700 million users, more than 30 billion messages are sent through the messenger per day.

And web tools for business are evolving daily. And many services that have a strictly targeted direction (communication, entertainment) are gradually acquiring functionality for business.

Messengers are one of the relatively new areas, which, due to the growing relevance, is becoming an interesting solution for business. Technically, these are communication services that allow users to exchange text messages. Although, most of the most popular of them have long stepped onto new layers of functionality.

WhatsApp, Viber and Telegram are increasingly similar to social networks , acting not as additions to them, but as a full-fledged replacement. There is an opportunity to exchange audio and video messages, files, voice communication. Public channels are formed, which serve as a kind of analogue of groups in social networks. And the use of such groups as a channel for traffic, customer support and holding promotions are already the basics of modern Internet marketing.

Messenger features

Current research from RBC reports that WhatsApp is in first place in terms of user popularity. In fact, the Vkontakte service dominates, but it is not a messenger. In second place is Viber. Telegrame is far behind, but this relatively new brainchild of Pavel Durov has great prospects.

Integration of any commercial project with messengers is a few useful and completely new features.

First, all the TOP services: WhatsApp, Viber and Telegram This is an exclusively youth area. At the same time, these are often solvent users (taking into account at least the prices of advanced smartphones). If the contingent described above falls within the criteria of your target audience is an additional channel for attracting customers. Moreover, if the project itself does not have marketing promotion among young people, then by means of messengers you can fix it.

Secondly, instant messengers are constantly acquiring new business opportunities. Overgrown with functions literally daily. Telegram working groups are starting to be used to communicate with business partners, WhatsApp is creating group channels, Viber is starting to search for hashtags. Thus, integration with the messenger now is a reserve for promotion in the future. After all, the trend has already been determined, all services are aimed at commercial rails, at cooperation with business projects. And it is worth exploring such channels in advance.

Thirdly, this is a banal opportunity to reduce customer service costs. One operator who works, for example, through WhatsApp is able to interact with five or six public channels at the same time. That is, one person is able to take on a flow that, under other conditions, would fall on the shoulders of a whole team of managers and consultants.

Although each of these messengers has its own unique features, they are very similar in general functionality. And all are great for business.

Commercial use of these services can be as follows:

Resource client consultation. That which suggests itself. And as already mentioned, such use of instant messengers can significantly save costs;
Newsletter. We are talking about both cold and hot mailing. That is, cold offers, with competent selling content. And also, sending notifications about promotions, news, contests and other marketing events that may be of interest to a registered audience;
Immediate promotion. All described messengers on this moment already have opportunities to advertise goods and services. This general chats, public channels and so on. A great springboard for launching an ad with a catchy headline or a contest with the condition of registration on the resource. In addition, given the development of services specifically in the direction of public communication, it is possible to predict the evolution into full-fledged social networks exclusively for smartphone owners.

How to invite clients to messengers?

The algorithm for attracting customers to messengers is simple. And it's simple because it's working with your users. Those who already use the services or, at least, got to the resource as a “target target”. A connected module is enough, which will ask which messenger to send notifications to, organize a consultation on services in Viber or WhatsApp. Technically, the integration of the resource with messengers is already working as a tool for attracting people to the service.

To invite users to subscribe to you in the messenger, you can put a link to the messenger in the section where you have a link to social networks.

The only difficulty is the choice of a specific service. If the opportunity allows, of course, it is worth organizing work with three at once. Otherwise, it is worth analyzing in detail the possibilities and conditions of each, as well as their popularity on a geographical basis.

WhatsApp announced the launch of a business service (Whatsapp Business) to create a business account. With this account, you business owners can create a business page for your company, add information about your company, including active hours, addresses and categories, automatic messages and analytics. [Last update: 04/25/2019]

WhatsApp has launched the app in several countries, but it looks like the app is now available in many countries. That's why we decided to create a guide for you on how to create a business account through WhatsApp Business. It is important to note that this is not a regular WhatsApp application.

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Ready? We are starting a guide.

What is WhatsApp Business (Vatsap Business)?

Before talking and explaining how to create a business account, it is important to know what a WhatsApp Business account is. When you understand this, you will decide whether to download and install the application on your device.

WhatsApp Business is an app designed to help small business owners connect with their customers, respond faster to messages, get insights and more. The application is very similar to standard application which you probably know.

Important: At this stage, you can download the application for Android devices. In current usage, you can also use your computer through WhatsApp Web.

Some features offered by WhatsApp Business:

A business profile with information about your company, phone, address, website, email and more.
Statistics include how many messages were sent, how many messages were received, and how many messages were read by clients.
Tagging clients so it's easy to know what a client is and if it's just an interested client.
Automatic messages such as welcome messages, auto-reply messages, etc.

In addition, there are three levels of business account verification:

Confirmed WhatsApp has confirmed that it owns the account as a trusted and official brand. A verified account has a green checkmark in its profile.
Verified WhatsApp has verified that the account phone number is compatible with the business phone number. A verified account has a gray checkmark in its profile.
Business accounts WhatsApp has not approved or reviewed the account, but it is a business account. A business account has a gray question mark in its profile.

This information can be seen by the customer once they are logged into the brand or business's business account.

First requirements

To download the WhatsApp Business app, you must ensure that your system requirements meet the requirements of the application. These are the requirements:

Android

Version operating system- 2.3.3 or newer.

These requirements are standard app requirements, so if you have Android installed, there is no problem installing the business app.

iOS

The operating system version is 8 or later.
The device is capable of receiving phone calls or SMS messages.

windows phone

The operating system version is 8.1 or later.
The device is capable of receiving phone calls or SMS messages.

Download and install the application

The next step is to download the app on your mobile device. But before downloading the business app, there are a few things you need to know:

If you have a standard WhatsApp account, you can transfer all call/chat history to your WhatsApp Business account. We recommend that you back up.
You will not be able to transfer your call/chat history to your regular WhatsApp account after you decide to stop using the business account.
Both applications (WhatsApp Messenger and WhatsApp Business) can be used on the same mobile device, provided they have 2 different phone numbers. You cannot use the same phone number for both.

Once you have decided to download and install the application, you need to do the following:

Download for Android or iOS devices

Download the WhatsApp Business app from Google Play for Android devices or from the AppStore for iPhone iOS.
Confirm your phone number with which you want to talk to customers.
Restore your call history if necessary.
Adding a name to your company (this step, you can't change your company name once you've set it up).
Create a business page (next step).

Setting up a business page

Now the business page creation part remains.

To start customizing the business page, you must click the menu button (3 dot icon) at the top > then click Settings > then click Business Options > and then click Profile.

You are now on your business page where your business information needs to be updated. To change, click the pencil icon.

Then check that everything is fine and correct. Then click the "Save" button.

Setting up automatic messages

With WhatsApp Business, you can set up automatic messages for your customers.

To start customizing your business page, tap the menu button (icon 3) at the top > then tap Settings > Options > Business Settings > and then go to Messaging Tools. Where can you edit these posts.

"Away" message- Automatic messages can be set as soon as you are not available or out of the office. You can also schedule these messages automatically at specific times, such as when your business is closed.
Welcome messages- You can set a notification that will be displayed for customers who have written to you for the first time or after 14 days of inactivity.
Quick Answers- You can create predefined messages and create shortcuts to save them to send a message.

What is WhatsApp Business API?

WhatsApp Business API This is a service that allows you to connect external systems to your WhatsApp account. These systems can offer additional solutions which make using whatsapp more efficient. For example, it will be possible to connect from multiple computers with the same phone number without using WhatsApp Web (where everything is more limited).

This service is not currently available in many locations around the world and we will keep you updated. In addition, we are studying the system in order to offer our customers a more efficient and high-quality solution - if you are interested, leave your details here below in the contact form.

How to get an official WhatsApp business account?

A WhatsApp business account can be registered as an official business account or as a regular business account. An official business account is provided in several cases where WhatsApp recognizes that it is a real business account and there are many factors involved.

You can't apply for an official account or even pay for it - it doesn't work. The change was made only in accordance with the decision of the company.

Conclusion

That's on the topic of creating and setting up a WhatsApp Business account. We highly recommend using a dedicated business phone and not using your private phone - it's best to avoid mixing friends and family with business clients.

The next step is to match your customers, you can also tag them and get statistical information about them.