Long gone are the days when social media and messengers were a channel for private communication. Businesses and organizations have found their way into it, and if you are not there, you are behind. At the same time, communicating and selling on WhatsApp is quite different compared to other platforms.
Let’s discover why you should explore this new sales platform, how selling on WhatsApp is different, and how you can start selling products on WhatsApp. Traditionally, we have also added examples of businesses doing it right.
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What should you know about WhatsApp before you start selling?
There are three versions of WhatsApp one can use for various purposes.
In the first case, they make employees use their regular WhatsApp accounts. The main disadvantage of this approach is that you won’t be able to store and track the conversations with customers in your CRM.
Check out what basic CRM functionality can potentially be helpful for your business!
In the second case, businesses utilize WhatsApp Business App, which is a free tool designed for small businesses that don’t have many customer requirements but want to provide a more personalized experience.
The third approach is leveraging the power of the WhatsApp Business API, which is particularly great for medium- and large-size businesses, as it offers multi-user functionality and advanced automation. After you connect to a chosen WhatsApp business partner, you can create a brand account with its name, logo as a profile photo, and a profile description with the link to your website. Then, assigned employees can use WhatsApp and work on a company’s profile as a team. They can label chats, set up an automatic greeting or away messages, etc.
Learn more about WhatsApp business automation and review some excellent use cases.
There are two main types of messages allowed on the WhatsApp Business API:
- Session messages. A business using WhatsApp cannot send messages anytime they want. There’s a messaging limitation that allows companies to reply to users’ messages within a 24-hour window. Once the 24-hour window closes, a company can use only approved templates for messaging.
- WhatsApp message templates. A business should use templates pre-approved by WhatsApp to initiate a conversation with a customer or re-open the 24-hour window.
Aside from messaging, you can generate sales through WhatsApp — let’s find out the benefits of using this channel for sales.
Benefits of using WhatsApp for sales
There are so many media platforms where you can create content and sell: website, email, and numerous social media. All of them require effort, so do you really want to add a new sales platform? Well, we can’t give you an answer, but we can offer a list of benefits of selling products on WhatsApp.
Discover all the chatbot for sales features that can empower you to start selling more.
It has a huge audience
WhatsApp may not be as popular in the US, but it is the most used messenger in the world: it has two billion users, with half a billion users joining in just two years. So your potential reach is extremely impressive, more than on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter altogether.
It forges close relationships
Messengers don’t have the aura of officialness; you feel freer while talking there. Around 66% of customers feel more confident about brands, and 55% feel more personally connected to companies if they use messengers.
Customers like WhatsApp
Customers see messengers as a source of faster response, better care, and more truthful answers from businesses. They are also open to making purchases there: at least 59% want to message business before making a purchase.
Customers are already on WhatsApp
People may not check their emails, but they do open messenger apps and do so more than once a day. You don’t even have to try to reach them, beating your competition and ad algorithms to get easy WhatsApp sales. No wonder 20% of customer interaction on WhatsApp results in sales.
Top five tips on how to sell on WhatsApp
Now it’s time we go over some tips that can help you boost your sales using WhatsApp.
Let people know about your business on WhatsApp
As soon as you launch your communication channel on WhatsApp, tell your customers about it. Otherwise, they might get scared that someone else is texting them under your name and mark it as spam.
Tell about your WhatsApp on your social media, website, newsletter, and any other communication channel you have. During this announcement and advertising, it is essential to let people know what kind of content they can expect there. Show the value of your new channel.
Don’t forget to add your WhatsApp business number as contact information everywhere. You can also promote WhatsApp from time to time to let new users know about this opportunity.
Here’s an example of a brand telling their audience that they can contact them on WhatsApp:
Ask for phone contacts and permission to message customers
Just like you can’t email people without asking for their emails, you won’t be able to engage with clients on WhatsApp without knowing their numbers. It’s also crucial to ask permission to message people on WhatsApp for your messages not to be qualified as spam.
You can ask people for contact information in exchange for relevant content, during purchases, or when they register for your events. You can also create a pop-up where people can leave their numbers if they want to learn about company news, discounts, new products, etc.
Overall, you can capture phone numbers the same way you do with emails.
Reduce the response time
Customers may like some product you have just marketed and ask for more details. Make sure to send an answer as soon as possible, as 82% of customers consider an almost immediate response to a sales-related question as an important factor influencing their purchasing decision. You can go for either a big customer support team or set up a chatbot to reduce the response time.
Learn the six most popular ways to use WhatsApp for customer service.
Here’s an example of Dominos Pizza utilizing WhatsApp to streamline customer interaction and reduce the response time:
Segment your audience according to their interests
It doesn’t mean creating groups on WhatsApp: quite contrary, such an action will only scare people away. This tip means creating group lists, meaning broadcasting for groups that have similar interests.
For example, you are offering craft supplies. People who like painting and have previously bought or searched for paint and brushes won’t be interested in crochet hooks and yarn. If you continue to send non-personalized messages, they will get tired and block you.
Learn more about audience segmentation benefits and best practices.
Do your best to catch your customer’s attention
There’s a 1,000 characters limit for WhatsApp template messages, so it’s important to pack all the essential information into this volume as well as manage to catch the customer’s attention.
The first sentence is one of the most important. When someone gets a notification, they judge a message based on what they see in the preview and don’t open it if it is nothing intriguing. Therefore, put the most exciting part of the message in the first sentence.
Here’s an example of a beauty salon utilizing a WhatsApp template message to remind the customer about the upcoming reservation and about the important rules to follow. They put the most critical information in the first sentence, thus ensuring that the customer will come to the appointment and that the sale will be successful.
WhatsApp for sales examples
WhatsApp has long become a common platform for many businesses. Let’s take a look.
Adidas
Adidas has been using WhatsApp since 2015, where they tell about company news and announce drops and sales. In 2020, they made a WhatsApp campaign, “Rent-a-Pred,” that worked in London.
If you agreed to play football with someone and one of the teammates ditched you at the last minute, you could text Adidas on WhatsApp, and they would find a skilled football player to join you. The new player would come fully equipped with Adidas; thus, selling their products online became easier due to the interesting campaign and product presence.
Financial Times
Financial Times is an old and respectable publication in the financial world. All their articles are accessible through subscription only. However, you can subscribe to their WhatsApp and get one free article per day, chosen by the publication itself.
They have noticed that the subscribers are 40% more likely to come back to the website and buy a subscription when they join their WhatsApp channel. People like to get notifications with news rather than visit the website to see whether something new was added.
Hellmann’s
It is extremely easy to reach South America through WhatsApp, and that is exactly what Hellmann’s, a mayonnaise company, did. They cooperated with chefs on the WhatsCook campaign: you could send a picture of products you have, and a chef would send you a recipe with these products and mayonnaise. As a result, the company reached four million people.
Final thoughts
WhatsApp is a great platform for selling where you can get as creative as you wish. Just make sure not to spam and mix promotional content with the valuable one.
Do you want to add a chatbot to sell on WhatsApp even faster and with fewer human resources? Take a look at our chatbot builder for WhatsApp and create your perfect helper in no time.
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