Find out how to use the most used chat application worldwide to sell more and attract your customers. Don’t miss out on the valuable tips contained in this step-by-step!
If you had to tell us which application you use the most daily, the name WhatsApp would surely come to mind. WhatsApp has positioned itself as the number one channel for Latin Americans, whether for casual, conversational, or commercial purposes. This is why companies throughout the region have begun to include applications in their sales and marketing strategies.
After all, if you’re not where your customer is, you’re missing out on opportunities and money.
However, sending mass and random messages to your entire contact base is not a smart strategy for using this powerful tool. It is due to the above that, in this context, we want to help you better understand how to sell more effectively through WhatsApp and the best practices to use to boost your income. Let’s start with the tips!
Why should your company sell through WhatsApp?
As we already mentioned, WhatsApp is one of the most used applications in the world, especially in LATAM. After conducting a study carried out by IDC, at the request the following was established:
- WhatsApp is the preferred channel of Latin American consumers, with 51.3%, when receiving offers and purchase suggestions.
- WhatsApp is the preferred channel for Latin American consumers, with 62.8%, to receive information about the status of their orders.
- WhatsApp is the preferred channel of Latin American retailers, with 86.1%, to communicate with customers.
Added to these figures is that the application is compatible with most mobile devices -whether high, medium, or low range-. Thus, several factors make WhatsApp such a popular application.
On the client side, WhatsApp offers great appeal by allowing you to contact brands directly and in the middle of two-way conversations 1-1, unlike other channels that provide one-way interactions. Email and automatic notifications. Likewise, people are already used to using the application because it is that familiar channel with which they usually communicate with their loved ones and close people.
On the business side, WhatsApp allows them to generate productivity and scalability gains within their operations by enabling them to manage various simultaneous and automated conversations -something that is impossible in the midst of customer service calls or face-to-face services-.
Another great advantage of WhatsApp is that it provides data on the use of the platform, which allows businesses to keep a good record and establish and analyze their success metrics. Valuable data such as the average response time, the number of calls made per day, the speed of the first contact, the average time of the conversations -and more- can be easily visualized within the tool.
This allows the creation of more attractive, fluid experiences that invite easy resolution of each client’s case.
Business Account: WhatsApp Business App or WhatsApp Business Platform (API)?
To sell through WhatsApp, it is essential that you, first of all, have a business account associated with the platform, regardless of the size of your business. Through a WhatsApp business account, you can share relevant information about your company and access important tools to optimize your processes -such as automation, product catalogues, and contact and distribution lists, among others-.
The golden question then arises at this point: what type of business account do you need? Is it enough to have a WhatsApp business account, or should you go to the WhatsApp Business Platform (formerly WhatsApp Business API)? In reality, the answer to these questions will depend on each use case and each business.
The WhatsApp Business App is aimed primarily at microentrepreneurs and small businesses. Additionally, it allows you to build a profile of your company and useful access tools such as a product catalogue, labels, automated messages (welcome or indicating that you are out of service), etc. The important thing to remember about this type of account is that it does not allow the integration of APIs or chatbots. That is, all operations and communications must be executed manually (even with the use of broadcast lists).
For its part, the WhatsApp Business Platform (formerly API) is more aimed at medium and large companies. Added to this, the platform allows the connection of hundreds of simultaneous agents and integrations with chatbots to carry out automated conversations. In addition, it offers the possibility of obtaining a verified account (which provides more security and confidence to the users who interact with you) and carrying out various integrations with CRMs and other marketing platforms. To engage in this more advanced use of WhatsApp, you will need the support of an authorized Meta provider.
Sales use cases via WhatsApp.
Before talking about how to sell on WhatsApp, it is good to take into account two distinctions of types of conversations that occur within the platform:
- User-initiated conversations: When a user initiates the discussion, there is a little more flexibility in the content of the messages since prior approval or opt-ins are required. You can use interactive messages to get better engagement and dynamically interact with your customers.
- Conversations initiated by the company: When the company initiates a conversation, WhatsApp must pre-approve the messages. They can only be sent to users who have agreed to receive that communication through that channel (opt-in).
In both cases, you can create various types of content to generate more leads and attract and retain customers and users. Some of these use cases are then the following:
1. Abandoned shopping carts
A simple but very effective use case is to send an abandoned cart reminder. In addition, as a way to further encourage the completion of the purchase, you can offer an extra discount or free shipping to those who return to their cart.
2. Back in stock
Like the abandoned cart reminder, you can use WhatsApp to inform your customers when a product they have previously shown interest in is back in stock in your store. In this way, the user can be one of the first to purchase the item.
3. Discount coupons for inactive customers
A consumer who hasn’t made a purchase from your store in a certain period may be tempted to return after receiving a special discount coupon. This coupon can offer discounts on purchasing selected items (based on previous purchases) or buying any of the products available in the store.
4. Purchase recommendations
It is well known that a good product recommendation can be very beneficial for your business. This is one of Amazon’s most significant strategies; it currently represents 35% of eCommerce/marketplace sales.
It uses customer histories and data from their previous buying behaviours -eg. Items marked as not wanted, abandoned shopping carts, consumed content, or prior purchases – to make personalized and indeed tempting recommendations.
5. Pre-booking of launches
WhatsApp can be an excellent channel to promote your company’s new collection, product, or service and create greater expectations about it. How about selecting your most engaged users, or those who will have the most excellent affinity for a product you’re about to launch, to offer pre-orders or pre-orders? VIP treatment will take you far!
6. Event and Appointment Reminders
It may not seem like it, but reminding your users about upcoming events or appointments they have with you is an excellent way to increase your sales through WhatsApp. Depending on your industry (for example, the universe of health or law), this is an important time to make schedules that drive revenue generation, customer loyalty, and even new leads.
Tip: when it comes to special events, to make the reminder more attractive, you can, for example, offer your customers unique gifts that can only be obtained at your face-to-face stand.
Best practices and tips to sell more via WhatsApp
1. Request prior authorization from your users (opt-in)
As mentioned above, the opt-in is nothing more than an express authorization from users to send them communications in some instances and through specific channels.
And it is that although it is essential to be able to send proactive messages within commercial strategies, it is also essential to ensure that communications comply with the General Law on Protection of Personal Data (LGPD).
2. Create a product catalogue
A feature available in WhatsApp Business is the creation of a product catalogue with photos, description, price, and a link to make the purchase.
This is a great feature to consider as it will make it much easier for your users to discover new items and allow for a better and more streamlined shopping experience.
If you already have the payment function in your WhatsApp Business, the creation process can even be completed within the app.
3. Automate your customer service through chatbots
Once you have access to the WhatsApp Business Platform, you can start automating your communications by integrating chatbots. The above will offer much more scalability to your service and a more fluid, fast, and attractive experience for your users.
You can program a chatbot that answers frequently asked questions (for example, about products, stock, prices, payment methods, and shipping) and can also make personalized recommendations and even promote cross-selling and upselling of products and services.
In the case of the WhatsApp Business App, it is possible to automate some more straightforward messages (for example: inform the service hours, indicate that the message has been received and that it will be answered quickly, or even answer some frequently asked questions).
4. Make use of multimedia resources
Creating more exciting and attractive messages is crucial to ensure that your communication is attractive and read carefully. One way to achieve this is by using WhatsApp’s multimedia features.
Use emojis, videos, locations, broadcast lists, buttons, and other multimedia features to make your content more engaging.
Tip: In addition to using different resources, it is also important to diversify the type of content you deliver to your users on WhatsApp. Remember that trying to sell every interaction can make you seem a bit intense. For this reason, we invite you to combine the type of content you send so that not all of it is sales-oriented (e.g., content to better use the purchased product, curious facts, answers to frequently asked questions, etc.).
5. Integrate WhatsApp into your other communication channels
Integrating WhatsApp with other communication channels (such as SMS, email, voice, push notifications, and others) will allow you to create a true omnichannel strategy. In this way, you guarantee that your users will not receive repeated information and that you will be able to reinforce some news, promotions, and invitations through different channels to have more assertiveness and chances that the user sees your content.
6. Disclose your WhatsApp number
It is useless to have a WhatsApp configured to adequately serve your consumers if they do not know your business account’s existence. Therefore, it is essential to disclose this number through social media ads, marketing materials, your website, etc.
Success metrics to track the effectiveness of your sales strategy via WhatsApp
From the beginning of incorporating WhatsApp into your sales strategy, you must define what success metrics you will use to measure your actions’ effectiveness and the impact this channel has on your sales.
Some of the primary metrics you can use are:
- Average time of first contact;
- Duration of the deal (especially for B2B or B2C companies with longer life cycles);
- Number of purchases completed/impacted by this channel;
- Income generated/impacted by WhatsApp;
- Some open chats in the month.
