Adding a personal touch is everything when it comes to communication. Asking how someone’s day was or wishing them a happy birthday can go a long way in building relationships. While emails have been the most preferred method for client interactions, WhatsApp might just be the latest contender! WhatsApp Business is the messaging app that has found just the right balance between being personal and not intrusive and thus can do wonders for your startup if utilized well. We've put together these tips for using WhatsApp to grow your business, generate leads, and maintain client relationships!
WhatsApp has updated itself with many new features to allow businesses to use it as a marketing tool. This type of messenger marketing provides a higher conversion rate, thus better sales, and is also cost-effective. Here are our pointers on how to ace your marketing strategies via WhatsApp.
Create a marketing strategy that aligns with your business goals.
Utilise WhatsApp as a marketing tool to increase conversion rates and sales.
Design promotional messages that stand out by using media files like images, animations, or videos.
Keep messages short and personalized with customer names.
Limit messaging to 5-10 messages per week to avoid overwhelming customers.
Use other social media platforms to direct customers to WhatsApp through call-to-action buttons.
Take advantage of broadcast lists, group chats, and WhatsApp statuses to market products and send relevant campaigns. Create broadcast lists, use group chats, take advantage of WhatsApp statuses, and craft a product catalog for your customers to peruse through and order what they want. Broadcast lists are the best way for early-stage startups to send messages to a large group of people. Gather your VIP customers and send relevant campaigns to each customer via the broadcast list. Stories are a great tool for Instagram marketing, and WhatsApp’s status does the same as well!
Share special offers, coupon codes, and product updates to incentivize customers to stay on your WhatsApp client list.
WhatsApp’s popularity has led it to become a constant in people’s lives. Most of our conversations happen via WhatsApp, which is also why it’s a great tool for customer support. Using WhatsApp for customer support also helps you reduce a customer's effort while filing complaints. Set up a WhatsApp chatbot for your startup to deliver timely responses to customers' queries. This would help you understand your customers’ preferences, needs, and pain points, helping you work toward a better user experience.
Since WhatsApp doesn’t work like other networking applications, your customers wouldn’t be able to search for your business on WhatsApp unless they interacted with you earlier. Display your phone number on your website as a widget. Customers who want to know more about your business could be directed to your WhatsApp chat. You could also display a QR code physically and digitally when a customer uses a service that directs them to chat. Include your WhatsApp widget in your email signature as well. Start with a pre-populated message to welcome your customers to your business.
While most customers tend to waver off after 2-3 texts, WhatsApp has the ability to drop triggers that’d help you bring back your customers to the conversation. Remind your prospective customers to re-engage and provide them with the latest information on your product. This would thus help you generate more leads.
WhatsApp is also a great tool to collect feedback that matters from customers. Since WhatsApp messages have a higher open rate when compared to emails, share notifications regarding payments, account updates, and shipping information with customers who have used your website or services via WhatsApp. Also, allow your customers to schedule and reschedule bookings, if any, via WhatsApp to help keep the effort to a minimum. Customers are thus acquainted with your WhatsApp bot. Send surveys and polls to know where you stand and allow customers to suggest improvements. This is yet another way you could showcase your brand loyalty to your customers.
If you’re an early-stage startup, WhatsApp is a cost-effective way to communicate with your team members regarding updates. While other communication platforms for work offer pricey strategies, WhatsApp business allows communication for free! WhatsApp’s group chats allow one to quickly form teams and handle several conversations at one time. Share updates, documents, and messages with different teams and different departments, all in one place!
WhatsApp sure is a direct portal to your customers' phones because of people’s dependence on it as an everyday communication application. This has its disadvantages, too. People consider WhatsApp to be their private communication platform, and not everyone may be ok with advertisers knocking on their front door! It’s important that you remember to ask permission before sending marketing messages and also allow them to opt-in or opt out of your list.
Whether you’re using it for customer support or to drive sales, WhatsApp Business is your ultimate sidekick! Utilise WhatsApp Business's capabilities to offer a seamless and hassle-free experience to your clients. If you’re leading a relatively new startup, WhatsApp can help you take your startup to the next level by being the perfect partner, thanks to being cost-effective and saving the day (and your business)!