How can WhatsApp help your Small Business to Grow
Businesses engaging customers through WhatsApp is called conversational commerce and small businesses can take advantage to grow their business. It is no surprise to anyone that large businesses are looking for ways to engage with their prospective and existing customers through WhatsApp’s massive audience of over 2 Billion users. WhatsApp messaging is considered a more intimate or informal channel and is great for customer service, marketing or promoting your business, but its even possible to sell products and take appointments through this channel. In this blog we will explore a little more about WhatsApp and the capabilities you can leverage for your business.
Key WhatsApp Statistics
Prior to exploring how WhatsApp can help your small business grow, it’s important to understand the scale and size of WhatsApp reach and how this can help your business. Here are some of the key WhatsApp statistics:
- WhatsApp has 2 billion active users worldwide and ranked as the most used mobile messenger app in the world.
- More than 100 billion messages are sent each day on WhatsApp.
- The average WhatsApp user on Android spends 38 minutes per day on the app.
- According to WhatsApp head Will Cathcart, approximately 175 million people send messages to business accounts on WhatsApp every day in 2021.
- WhatsApp in 2021 generated $8.7 billion in revenue, all from the WhatsApp for Business (Business App and Business API)
India has the most WhatsApp monthly active users (390.1 million), closer to home in Europe, there is 48.3 million in Germany, 35 million in Italy, 33 million in Spain and 30 million WhatsApp users in UK. Even in the USA, where Facebook messenger is more popular, there is 75 million WhatsApp users. The following graphic from Statista show the penetration of WhatsApp in each country.
WhatsApp Penetration per Country – Source Statista June 2022
How can WhatsApp help your Small Business?
Most folks would associate WhatsApp with one to one or group communication. But WhatsApp can provide a business with all their digital services needs. In many ways you should consider WhatsApp as a website with a mobile number for your business. Additionally, it’s a lot easier to be discovered with a mobile number than it is on google search when you don’t have a marketeer dedicated to SEO (Search Engine Optimization). But let us explore how using WhatsApp can help your business.
The most used application of WhatsApp in business is to support customers. Large businesses can offload their Call Centres or Email support by answering support or billing queries directly on WhatsApp. Many businesses are using AI chatbots on WhatsApp that can answer most simple queries and only hand off more difficult queries to support staff. Support chat bots can also benefit small businesses and save time. By offloading queries such as location, hours of service, monthly specials, newsletters, most simple customer queries can be answered 24x7. For more complex queries or where a Customer wishes to speak with a person, they can request that at any time. This is a far better customer experience than leaving a voice mail on a business number.
‘More than half of adults (54%) say they find traditional forms of communication with businesses to be frustrating, while almost three-quarters of adults (72%) believe that waiting to speak with someone at a business is a waste of their time’ , according to a 2020 Business Messaging Research Study
A quite common usage of WhatsApp in Asia is to sell products and services through a digital catalogue or WhatsApp eCommerce store. This is different from your traditional store offered by Shopify or Wix which is available through a website, which is difficult for consumers to find through Google search. In this case customers can very simply WhatsApp your business number, browse a product catalogue and pay, all through WhatsApp. Also return customers can simply look up their conversation history and re-order. The business also can know new versus returning customers from the phone number of the customer in WhatsApp.
WhatsApp and other messaging apps are fantastic to reach customers for promotions. When emailing customers to share promotions, most promotional email ends up in the Junk folder. In fact, email typically has a less than 20% open rate. With WhatsApp, most people read every message and there is a greater than 98% open rate. So, you can be guaranteed your promotional message is getting through and moving your business to the top of the conversation pile. Another wonderful thing about WhatsApp is that users very rarely mute WhatsApp messages, whereas for most other Apps they are muted.
Many service type businesses rely on customers booking appointments or callouts. WhatsApp can provide a quite effortless way for prospective clients to request an available appointment and receive reminders and updates from the business. By linking appointments with payment, this can make sure that your business does not lose out on missed or last-minute cancelled appointments. For recurring services such as grooming, WhatsApp provides a fantastic way to send reminder notifications to book next appointments, and they will not be lost to the junk email folder.
New to the UK is the WhatsApp business directory and this is a way for users to discover businesses on WhatsApp. The WhatsApp business directory is a simple way to find businesses such as shops, restaurants, and services. The directory helps businesses expand their reach by sharing their business information and connecting with new customers for free. You can read more about it here.
Payemoji can help your Business to grow through WhatsApp
Payemoji allows small businesses to use WhatsApp to engage customers, sell products & services, accept payments, take bookings and so much more, and the small business does not need any IT skills to get setup.
Every business will get their own local mobile number that can be used on Google, website, social media, or business cards to engage the trade business. Payemoji will also provide QR codes to provide a quick way for customers to scan and launch a message to the business. It is quite easy for businesses to advertise their Payemoji service simply by using the new phone number provided, and there is no need for any Apps to be downloaded by the clients.
Each business is given their own messaging chat bot and businesses can present a structured menu to allow their customers to find out answers to questions. WhatsApp is a great channel to offer Customer Support and the Payemoji Chat bots can answer customer questions like opening hours, location, or provide simple tips or how to guides on common issues for example – stains on furniture, new paving options, what to do about leaky taps.
Payemoji offers a shared WhatsApp inbox for all the staff of the business. This allows any employee (that has been given permission by the business owner) to see how the messages between the Payemoji chat bot and the customer. At anytime the staff or the customer can interject and take over the conversation. This means that no conversation is ever lost between a customer and your business, and its always easy to hand over conversations from one employee to the next.
For service businesses like pet groomers, hairdressers, or plumbers, Payemoji enables businesses to offer appointments through WhatsApp. Customers can book appointments directly from WhatsApp and then digitally pay using their Credit card, Apple Pay or Google Pay. Sending reminders is easy with WhatsApp and customers will be sure to see them in their conversation history.
Payemoji is a great for businesses to offer promotions through WhatsApp. Any customer that engages with a business owners have the phone numbers of their customers, conversational commerce can be used to send messages of exclusive deals and promotions (e.g., 20% discount on spring landscaping).
All customer transactions are captured in your very own business dashboard. Through the business dashboard you will be able to see all your orders, payments, top products, top customers, and even new customers. These business dashboards will provide great insights on how your business is doing and what areas need more attention.
WhatsApp is a great way to engage your customers and grow your business. Payemoji provides you all the digital services you need to run your business through WhatsApp. With Payemoji you will have more time for your customers and to grow your business.
