Since 2014, WhatsApp has certainly gained a lot of mainstream attention. Acquired by Facebook for an eye-watering estimated £16 Billion dollars in February 2014, WhatsApp has quickly become the world’s fastest communication application with over 900 million users.
With more than 70% of monthly WhatsApp users active on a daily basis, over 30 Million messages are sent and exchanged between users each day. So if you are still not sold, statistics actually prove that WhatsApp receives double the amount of traffic Facebook receives when it comes to instant messaging. With the facts in, small business owners are starting to take notice of the application and are starting to ask “How can you use WhatsApp for Business?” Or “Is WhatsApp suitable for business?”
Inside our blog, our Cheshire web design team will explain how WhatsApp works and will look to address how you can look to use the instant messaging application for small business purposes.
What is WhatsApp?
Available to download for iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Phone and Nokia, WhatsApp is a free cross-platform mobile messaging app which allows users to exchange messages on any device without having to pay for SMS. Using the same internet data plan that users have for email and web browsing, WhatsApp users can stay in touch and messages friends, colleagues and businesses completely free of charge.
In addition to sending messages, WhatsApp users can create groups and send each other unlimited video, audio and images messages.
WhatsApp Features Lingo
- One-to-One Chat
- Group Chat: Message with up to 100 WhatsApp Users
- Broadcast Messaging: Sending a message to two or more users who cannot reply
- WhatsApp Calling: Call WhatsApp users with your data plan instead of your minutes
How you can use WhatsApp for business
Internal Team Discussions
In the office, we have had varied success when it comes to trying out new tools and software. Sometimes employees can often be reluctant to learn or train if it is required or sometimes new tools or software are simply inefficient to requirements.
With WhatsApp, you can simply create a group titled under the name of your company, add your employees and instantly start messaging. With WhatsApp Web, you can even take the conversation to the web so if you have freelances or remote employees, which is a common practice within the web industry, you can message away anywhere in the world. Changes are most if not all your employees will have used WhatsApp or any similar messaging service so it’s easy to set clear instructions and communicate with your team.
Instant Customer Communication
According to statistics published in an article by Profit Books, you are 40% more likely to gain a response from a WhatsApp message instead of a direct sales call. If you think about it, as a customer you are far more likely to respond to a personal message than a phone call from an unknown number. For businesses that may have international clients, you can also look to take advantage of WhatsApp calling feature to talk with international customers.
WhatsApp Promotional Marketing
Whilst WhatsApp have always insisted on never selling advertising space, they do have a high stance of businesses that constantly spam customers with promotional marketing. Instead of sending messages to unknown numbers, create a list of existing loyal customers and look to send text, images, audio or video messages to promote any new products or services. With far less restriction on the format compared to email, delivery chances will be a lot higher.
Businesses that have put this into action
Based in Mumbai, India, errand-running service Russh became a national errand-delivery service over night. Using WhatsApp as a booking platform, users can arrange to collect and deliver cakes, flowers, money and even important documents.
Women’s accessory brand G.Cavalcanti is now an instantly recognizable brand in Brazil. Using the WhatsApp service, they make on average over 200 sales per month through WhatsApp messaging with loyal, returning customers.
Food ordering has also become normality with local independent restaurants who offer take-away and delivery services from its WhatsApp users.
What do you think?
Do you think WhatsApp could help you grow your business? Do you think it is relevant to your work industry? Get in touch and let us know your thoughts