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We all know WhatsApp has been growing in popularity, but did you know that WhatsApp is now a business platform? WhatsApp Business Account is one of the latest additions to WhatsApp’s suite of services, made available in 2018.
WhatsApp is the most used instant messaging software globally and has gradually replaced traditional communications such as SMS and emails. Users can send messages, pictures, videos, document files, recordings, contact information, real-time location, make voice calls and video calls to other users through the Internet.
Statista’s report of the most popular messaging apps shows that WhatsApp, which has 2 billion monthly active users, is the top instant messaging software globally.
So, what is WhatsApp Business? How does it differ from WhatsApp?
What is WhatsApp Business
As more companies use WhatsApp for business purposes, WhatsApp launched WhatsApp Business and WhatsApp Business API in 2018 to make it easier for companies to reach customers.
According to official WhatsApp data, more than 50 million merchants use WhatsApp Business accounts for business activities. Consumers are more willing to use instant messaging software to contact businesses and conduct transactions.
imBee, a one-stop multi-channel customer communication software for business, is one of the best platforms to help enterprises and merchants handle operations and customer services more efficiently.
It integrates with WhatsApp, Facebook Messengers, WeChat, and more to provide a centralized instant messaging inbox. It helps merchants reply to messages across different channels on one platform.
In addition, imBee provides advanced features such as chatbot, automated messages tags, routing, and multiple representatives logins to facilitate more efficient communications.
WhatsApp Business Features
t’s free to use the WhatsApp Business app. Just download the WhatsApp Business app from the App Store, you can then convert your WhatsApp account to a WhatsApp Business account.
One of the key WhatsApp Business features is that you can display business information, such as your business address, opening hours, website, and product catalog in the app.
However, WhatsApp Business can only be logged in on one mobile phone and one computer simultaneously, which might not be enough for businesses to handle the influx of customer inquiries and communications.
imBee enables businesses to multi login to the same WhatsApp Business account with our powerful all-in-one inbox. Our clients are able to have 100+ of their customer success team and sales team members access the same WhatsApp Business account to provide better customer service.
In addition, WhatsApp Business has a catalog function but is only available on mobile devices.
The catalog is to display all the goods and services of the company so that customers can easily browse the products they would like to buy. This helps reduce the workload of sending product photos and information again and again.
The Catalog function of WhatsApp Business is now available on Android and iPhone in the US, the UK, Brazil, Germany, India, Indonesia, and Mexico.
Business Profile
Companies and merchants can display company information to customers on WhatsApp Business, such as store address, business hours, introduction, and other brand information.
You can also set business hours to let customers know when they can expect a reply.
WhatsApp Auto Reply
The Auto Reply and Quick Replies functions are some of the valuable WhatsApp features for businesses.
Sending a pre-set reply template can help resolve customers’ problems faster and more efficiently.
Furthermore, companies and merchants can set up greetings, quick replies, away and busy messages, and other instant automatic replies. These can help reduce the inconvenience of diverting responses from time to time. Customers can also get basic automatic replies during company breaks.
Automated Messages
WhatsApp automated messages refer to setting and sending WhatsApp messages automatically.
There are two types of WhatsApp auto-reply messages: away messages and greeting messages.
Businesses can create a WhatsApp away message to let customers know when they can receive a response from the merchant. Also, they can make a greeting message to introduce the company to customers.
The setting methods of WhatsApp auto reply are as follows.
How to Set WhatsApp Away Message
Merchants can set an away message when they are busy or away. WhatsApp will automatically send a message to inform customers when they try to start the conversation.
- Click “Settings” > “Business Tools” > “Away Message” on the WhatsApp interface.
- Turn on “Send Away Message.”
- Edit the away message template.
- Under “Schedule,” select: “Always Send”; or “Custom Time”; or “Non-business hours.”, which is only available after you set the “Business Hours” in the business profile.
- Under “Recipient,” select: “Everyone”; or “Exclude my contacts”; or “Everyone except…”; or “Only send to…”.
- Tap “Save.”
How to Set WhatsApp Greeting Message
Merchants can send greetings to customers when they contact you for the first time.
- Click “Settings” > “Business Tools” > “Greeting Message” on the WhatsApp interface.
- Turn on “Send Greeting Message.”
- Edit the greeting message template.
- Under “Recipient,” select: “Everyone”; or “Exclude my contacts”; or “Everyone except…”; or “Only send to…”.
- Tap “Save.”
After setting the away message and greeting message in WhatsApp Business, the system will automatically send the message to the qualified WhatsApp contacts when the mobile phone has an active network connection.
Quick Replies
WhatsApp quick reply means that merchants can pre-store messages that need to be reused and create a short reply message template. When encountering general queries, merchants can answer these questions quickly and easily.
There are some limitations when saving quick replies. For example, you can only store 50 quick responses at most.
How to Set WhatsApp Quick Reply
- Click “Settings” > “Business Tools” > “Quick Replies” on the WhatsApp interface.
- Click “Add (+)”.
- Enter text messages or multimedia files. Create a quick reply.
- Set up a specific keyboard shortcut (/…) for this quick reply.
- Set keywords to quickly locate this quick reply message. You can set up three keywords at most for each quick reply.
- Tap “Save.”
How to Send WhatsApp Quick Reply
- Open the conversation chat room.
- Type “/” followed by the preset shortcut of quick reply. Or enter a keyword to search for a specific quick response.
- Select the quick reply message.
- You can edit the message or just tap “Send.”
Although the WhatsApp Business account provides automatic replies and quick replies to messages, many restrictions from WhatsApp prevent merchants from optimizing the automated operation process. To achieve digital transformation and effective WhatsApp marketing campaigns, automated messaging is a significant trend.
The functions provided by imBee include comprehensive automatic message management, such as chatbots, scheduled messages, auto labeling, automatic routing, etc. Enterprises can automate the customer service process, reduce manual operations, and better allocate human resources!
Customer Group
WhatsApp Business allows you to categorize customers into groups so that you can distribute information to the right people more effectively.
WhatsApp Business Data Analysis
In addition, you can use WhatsApp Business tools to view statistics, such as the number of messages sent, delivered, read, and received. These help merchants better understand conversion rates to plan for future WhatsApp marketing strategies.
WhatsApp Business API
WhatsApp Business API is suitable for large and medium-sized enterprises. It enables features like chatbots, backs up contacts, cloud storage for data and broadcast messages, etc.
However, the WhatsApp Business account only allows two or more team users to log in and process messages simultaneously.
To add more users to your WhatsApp Business account and use advanced features like chatbots and automation, you can connect your WhatsApp Business API with applications like imBee!
It’s worth noting that WhatsApp has specific requirements for companies that use the WhatsApp Business API. Users who apply for an API Account need to have a valid phone number.
Types of WhatsApp Accounts and Their Differences
The table below shows the differences between the different types of WhatsApp Accounts, including WhatsApp Business and WhatsApp Business API.
Whatsapp Business API service
imBee provides comprehensive WhatsApp Business API application services, allowing multiple logins to manage messages from different instant messaging channels, including WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, WeChat, and Line, on one platform.
Furthermore, you can enjoy exclusive functions, such as internal team chat, scheduled messages, routing, chatbot, invoicing, and monitoring. Contact imBee for a free bespoke demo!
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