Selling Through WhatsApp: Best Practices
Being the most popular instant messaging app globally, WhatsApp opens up vast possibilities for companies to engage potential customers and foster long-term relations with existing ones. The messenger, which has two platforms specifically designed for business: WhatsApp Business and WhatsApp Business API, allows setting up a company profile with additional information, such as working hours, contact information, and links, as well as extended integration support. These platforms provide brands with a variety of functionalities to help them achieve their business goals via one-on-one conversations, group chats, channels, chatbots, and in-app shops. However, not many companies employ messenger marketing and social commerce sufficiently to explore the full potential WhatsApp has for growing sales and attracting leads.
Messengers, and WhatsApp in particular, have many benefits, compared to other lead generation channels. For example, prospects are more likely to read messages in the app rather than open emails, a WhatsApp message does not require all of a person’s attention as phone calls do. Let’s explore the best practices of lead generation using WhatsApp in more detail.
Generate WhatsApp chats with Facebook ads
Use Facebook Business to create advertising on a brand’s Facebook page and include a link or QR code that leads directly to a WhatsApp chat with the company’s representative. This allows clients to converse with a consultant from your firm, which leads to increased conversion rates. Run unique chat advertising campaigns and choose agents from the sales or support departments.
Make WhatsApp “scream” about your products
WhatsApp Business can serve as an excellent platform for advertising a business by distributing promotional and informational content via its “Broadcast” feature. Brands shouldn’t also forget to use WhatsApp Business’s “Status” function to provide data and information about promotions and limited-time deals.
Connect it to live chat
If a company uses live chat on its website to consult visitors, it can be useful to collect their contact details for further engagement via WhatsApp. This way, there is no need for a visitor to sit on a website and wait for an answer to a complex problem — an answer can be sent to them via WhatsApp, which is much more convenient. To make the process more streamlined, such omnichannel messaging platforms as Umnico can integrate a free live chat and WhatsApp conversations into a single interface, so it is extremely easy for sales reps and support agents to transition from one chat to another while having all customer details right in front of their eyes.
Use WhatsApp as a part of a broader strategy
To reach a larger audience, it is recommended to promote a company on other social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or TikTok. These platforms can be instrumental in starting chats on WhatsApp, which is advantageous to lead generation.
Create engaging content
Use photos and videos to show how your products or services work in practice, resulting in customers being emotionally connected to your product, leading them to purchase. Also, educational or insightful content posted on a channel or broadcast can additionally help in attracting new customers for the company.
Use messaging platforms to streamline the process
Brands can achieve even better results, meaning higher conversion and more sales, with WhatsApp by utilizing omnichannel messaging platforms. Such solutions can connect multiple messengers to have them all managed in one window . For example, Umnico provides fully featured integrations with more than 25 social media and messengers, including WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, and others. Apart from convenience, chatting with a customer on WhatsApp through Umnico has no difference from doing it via the messenger app – the platform supports group chats, quotations, message delivery status, and all other functionality. Meanwhile, built-in analytics and sales funnel make lead generation with WhatsApp using Umnico a much more productive enterprise, where every agent’s action can be tracked and not a single customer inquiry goes amiss. All Umnico functionality can be put to test by any new user during a trial period completely for free.
Regardless of a company’s size and industry, WhatsApp has a lot of potential for lead generation, which just waits to be explored. Using tips provided above, you can do this in the most effective manner possible.