The ultimate guide to WhatsApp Business success

Learn to leverage the world’s most popular mobile messaging app to grow your business

In recent years, the way we communicate with each other has undergone a massive transformation. Because of the internet and social media, we can now connect and interact with people anywhere at record speed.

Business owners are now leveraging social messaging to grow their businesses. WhatsApp, which has over 2 billion monthly active users worldwide, provides tremendous opportunity for today’s business owners.

Now how can you leverage the most popular messaging app in the world for your business? This guide provides you with everything you need to know to become the hero of your own story and achieve WhatsApp Business mastery.

Chapter 1: A quick WhatsApp refresher

1. The unparalleled popularity of WhatsApp
2. The rise of WhatsApp Business

Chapter 2: The benefits of using WhatsApp Business

1. Increase your companies’ visibility with an appealing profile
2. Improve your customer experience with quick replies
3. Organize conversations with labels
4. More sales

Chapter 3: Getting started

1. What is the WhatsApp Business Application?
2. Setting up the WhatsApp Business Application
3. Setting up the app for desktop

Chapter 4: Start collaborating with your team

1. Why the app isn’t enough for teams
2. The WhatsApp Business API solution
3. Four powerful API benefits
4. Setting the API up (for success)

Chapter 5: Driving sales with WhatsApp Business

1. How much more sales can you accomplish with WhatsApp for business?
2. The key to more sales - doing it right from the beginning
3. Good things come to those who take action
4. Execute strategies based on customer journey phases
5. Never miss a big deal
6. Retaining unhappy customers

Chapter 6: Using WhatsApp Business as the ultimate customer support tool

1. Creating customer profiles
2. Being available, even if you’re not
3. Automate workflows
4. Integrating external software

Chapter 7: You can do this too!

Chapter 1: A quick WhatsApp refresher

1. The unparalleled popularity of WhatsApp

Ask any sales guru for advice and he will tell you to go where your customers already are. Hanging out in places without any potential clients is a waste of valuable time and resources.

With more than 25% of the globe using WhatsApp every single month, it’s an absolute no-brainer to utilise the opportunities that come with WhatsApp.

2. The rise of WhatsApp Business

Businesses are not allowed to use the consumer version of WhatsApp for their business communication. So when WhatsApp introduced WhatsApp Business in 2018, it was no surprise that it became an immediate hit. Small business owners worldwide jumped right into it, with the app now being used by over 50 million businesses.

Companies worldwide love how the app empowers them to directly communicate with existing customers on the one hand and potential customers on the other.

Chapter 2: The benefits of WhatsApp Business

The WhatsApp Business application is meant for small businesses and has five extra features not found in the consumer version of WhatsApp.

1. Increase your companies’ visibility with an appealing profile

With the WhatsApp Business app you can create a company profile. This publicly available profile enables you to make your most critical business details accessible to all clients at all times:

• Cover photo
• Area of work
• Description
• Location
• Working hours
• Link to your website
• Product catalog

By completing your company profile, you show your customers that you care about them and that you want to make it as easy as possible for them to find the information they need. In other words, you’re making a solid first impression, and that impression can go a long way.

2. Improve your customer experience with quick replies

Quick replies make it possible to answer frequently asked questions quickly. These messages show up when you start typing, and with a simple click, you can send these messages to your customers. Companies with a large customer base can use this functionality to save hours a week.

3. Organize conversations with labels

WhatsApp for business allows you to assign any incoming message to a predetermined category. For example, you can use labels to indicate in what stage of the buyer journey your (potential) client is in. Or you can label a particular message as 'urgent' due to the size of the potential sale. Overall, you can utilize labels to send more effective messages to the people who reach out to you and accomplish better relationships with them as a result.

4. More sales

For many business owners, the number one reason for using WhatsApp Business is to drive their sales and grow their business. But we'll get into that later in this article.

Chapter 3: Getting started

1. What is the WhatsApp Business application?

The WhatsApp Business application is a free application that runs on Android or iOS and can be downloaded in the App Store or Google Play Store. The WhatsApp Business app shares some similarities with the consumer app, such as the possibilities of using Web WhatsApp, video- and voice calls, and sending and receiving WhatsApp messages. However, the business application has extra features to help business owners grow their business.

2. Setting up the WhatsApp Business application

Now, we'll discuss how to set up a WhatsApp Business account.

Step 1: Download the app on your iPhone or Android device from the App Store or Google Play Store.

Step 2: Read the terms & conditions and click accept & continue.

Step 3: WhatsApp checks if your number is already linked to a regular WhatsApp account. If this is the case, you can transfer the chat history to the WhatsApp Business app. NOTE: you are not able to do this process the opposite way.

Step 4: Click 'use a different number' if you don't want to use the current phone number.

Step 5: After entering the desired phone number, you will receive a confirmation code. It's also possible to use a landline. In this case, you will receive an automated voice call with the code.

Step 6: Enter the name of your company. If the company name does not meet the WhatsApp guidelines, you will get a notification.

Step 7: Add a profile picture of your company.

Step 8: Congratulations! You have now created a WhatsApp Business account.

Pro tip:

With a verified account, you can show that your account is deemed official. Verifying your account is the best way to eliminate any doubt about your account being your business account.

3. Setting up the app for desktop

If you regularly use WhatsApp Business to talk to customers, you’d probably also like to use it on your PC. Yet, constantly going back and forth between your phone and laptop is inefficient and annoying.

Chapter 4: Start collaborating with your team

1. Why the app isn’t enough for teams

If you want to start using WhatsApp Business with your team, downloading just the app will not do the trick. You also need a WhatsApp Business API to work together on WhatsApp conversations with multiple users and devices.

2. The API solution

OK, first things first. What does an API do? 'API' is an acronym for Application Programming Interface. Simply put, it’s software that allows two applications to communicate with each other.

The WhatsApp Business API is one of those pieces of software and allows users to use WhatsApp professionally for customer contact. For example, in a customer service platform like Trengo.

Using the API, the customer service platform can collect all WhatsApp Business conversations in one view. Here, you can collaborate with team members. Pick up conversations, assign them to a colleague and chat internally to discuss customer questions.

3. Four powerful API benefits

So what are these ample opportunities that come from using the WhatsApp Business API? Let’s dive in.

#1 Multiple users

The ability to use WhatsApp Business with multiple users is by far the number one reason why business owners and marketers use the WhatsApp Business API instead of the WhatsApp Business app. By using the WhatsApp Business API, multiple agents can communicate with clients via WhatsApp at the same time.

In a customer service platform like Trengo, you can easily assign WhatsApp conversations to the right team or user. By @tagging a colleague, you can leave internal comments and easily collaborate to solve a problem. With one click, you can switch to your team chat for 1-on-1 or group communication.

#2 More time to respond

When a customer initiates a conversation on WhatsApp, the company has 24 hours to reply. Messages that are sent within this time restraint are called session messages.

WhatsApp implemented this 24-hour window because they don't want to enable companies to send spam. The only option to send a message outside of this 24-hour window (or with an official opt-in of your client) is using WhatsApp Business Message Templates. You can only use these templates by working with the API.

#3 Chatbots

Do you want to make your life a little easier? A customer service platform enables you to make your own WhatsApp chatbot that answers frequently asked questions and collects leads.

Your chatbot and new best friend comes in two options:

1. The regular Chatbot

The regular Chatbot simulates a conversation between you and your customer. The Chatbot can reply to questions by recognizing keywords and sending pre-filled answers. For example, a bot can recognize a keyword like 'shipping costs' and respond with the best available information within seconds.

Learn how to set up a WhatsApp chatbot

2. The Flowbot

Instead of replying to open questions, a Flowbot forwards customers to the right team or gives information by asking questions via multiple-choice options. A flowbot is typically easier to set up than a regular chatbot because it leaves less room for confusion.

Read more about the differences between a chatbot and a flowbot

Learn how to set up a flowbot in Trengo

#4 Learning from insights

When you connect your API to a customer service platform like Trengo, you’ll get valuable insights into your WhatsApp conversations. These insights include:

• The amount of WhatsApp conversations your team handles daily
• The response time of your team answering incoming WhatsApp messages
• The most discussed topics via WhatsApp
• The most popular products you sell via WhatsApp.

These numbers can be used as Key Performance Indicators and can be highly motivational for all team members.

Before getting started, learn more about WhatsApp Business' pricing.

4. Setting the WhatsApp Business API up (for success)

To start using the WhatsApp Business API, you first need a customer service platform like Trengo that connects to the API. You can easily start your free Trengo trial by filling in the following details:

• First name
• Last name
• Company name
• Phone number
• Email address
• Password

From here on, you can immediately apply for the API, as explained in the video below.

Chapter 5: Driving sales with WhatsApp

1. How much more sales can you accomplish with WhatsApp for business?

Businesses share that utilizing the WhatsApp business app allows them to:

• Make 20% of customer interactions via WhatsApp result in sales
• 10% customer increase
• 15% sales increase
• 40% increase in new client contact

2. The key to more sales - doing it right from the beginning

The world of business can often feel challenging and complicated. However, when you break it down it’s actually dead simple. The difference between the failure or success of your business is determined by the degree to which you successfully increase your sales.

You can only accomplish the big, audacious goals for your business if you attract more clients and find ways to sell more. Without a rock-solid first impression, you’re setting yourself and your team up for a tough battle.

Companies that present themselves well are more likely to close deals and keep customers in. Your business profile enables you to make that desired first impression. When you create a business profile with helpful information for your customers like your address, business description, email address, and website, you show your customers that you care. Moreover, you eliminate any barriers for your potential clients to contact you.

Pro tips to make a rock-solid first impression:

1. Check out these ten WhatsApp Business greeting messages that you can copy with your business.
2. With these tips, you make your company description stand out and attract leads

3. Good things come to those who take action

Take a moment to think about the last visitor on your website. How do you think his website visit went? In an ideal world, he would have gone straight to your product page, added a few of your most expensive products in his baskets then proceed to the checkout straight away.

In reality, however, it’s just as likely that this visitor browsed around a bit, wasn’t wholly convinced that your products or services were the perfect solutions for his problem, and then proceeded to watch some cat videos on YouTube.

Now imagine, you would have taken on a more proactive approach and actively let this message pop up while he was visiting your website:

“Hello! Good to see you. Did you already know we can answer any question you may have within 15 minutes? Also, please know we offer a 30-day money-back guarantee on all purchases. No questions asked!”

In the second scenario, you are far more likely to make the sale or at least start a conversation with this potential client.

Looking for the ultimate way to greet the visitors on your website? Check out these 10 greeting messages for inspiration.

4. Execute strategies based on customer journey phases

When you’ve been looking into opportunities to increase the returns on your marketing efforts, you’ve probably heard a lot about moving clients through a customer or buyer journey. Doing so basically means you adapt your messaging so that it fits the knowledge level that the prospect has about your product. A first-time visitor sees other messages than someone who has already made over a hundred repetitive orders.

The only problem is that it's hard to identify at what stage a particular person is. By labeling your prospect the right way, you make it as easy as possible for your team members to spot it at a glance and approach them with a relevant message.

You can also add WhatsApp to different phases of the customer journey on your website. You can put WhatsApp as a chat on your website by adding it to your live chat widget. Then, you can decide on which pages the chat should, or shouldn't be available.

5. Never miss a big deal

The world of business communication is full of challenges: working efficiently, avoiding overwhelm, and living up to high customer expectations. As a result, there may be moments where you can’t respond within minutes or hours. You don’t want this to happen to someone looking to order the biggest batch ever. With Trengo, you can label these inquiries as “urgent” so you don’t miss out on the deal of your life.

6. Retaining unhappy customers

As a business owner or marketer, you work hard every day to find and attract more customers. After doing all that hard work, you don’t want them to stop being a customer as soon as they have a bad experience with your brand. That’s why it’s critical to be on top of any complaints you might get.

More often than not, a complaining customer has the intention to keep doing business with you. Why else would he go through the effort of complaining and not simply walk away? That’s why great customer service professionals see complaining customers as a huge opportunity for their business. If you take the complaint seriously and act on it the right way, you can make the complaining customer feel appreciated and turn him into a fan for the rest of his (customer) lifetime.

Now think about which of your team members has the unique ability to listen to these complaints and change their negativity into positivity. With Trengo you can make sure this person sees these messages quickly (pro tip: label them as 'urgent' and automatically route them to the right person!).

Chapter 6: Using WhatsApp Business as the ultimate customer support tool

By connecting your WhatsApp Business account to Trengo, you can start using WhatsApp as a CRM tool. Doing so enables your team to sell more and help customers in a better way. Discover the four most impactful methods to get the most out of your new customer service platform.

1. Creating customer profiles

If you truly care about your customers, you want to prevent them from having to explain their unique situation over and over again every time they interact with one of your employees. But how can you make sure all your employees know all the ins and out of this specific client?

Customer profiles come to the rescue.

In Trengo, you can create customer profiles that combine all the correspondence that has ever taken place with this client. This transparency of information empowers your team members to see all past conversations at once. With the right context, your employees won’t have to ask dozens of questions and be better equipped to find your customers' solutions.

2. Being available, even if you’re not

We know you can’t have a human available every minute of every day. Auto replies come in handy when your team is not available for any reason. For example, when your business is closed, you can still inform customers about opening hours and the expected response time.

In Trengo, you can set auto-replies for the following instances:

• During business hours
• Outside of business hours
• On specific days (for example, only on weekends)

Some of our clients, like Bas Trucks, even use Trengo to enable their website visitors to receive answers in any language they want. Well, they’ve got thirteen languages to choose from. Through this system, they are now receiving 57 orders a month.

Need inspiration?

Take a look at these 18 WhatsApp Business auto replies and find a communication style that fits your unique business.

3. Automate workflows

A WhatsApp Business customer service tool eliminates repetitive tasks from your to-do list. By automating workflows – such as assigning incoming conversations to specific users and labeling conversations – your team has more time to focus on what is important: the customer.

“Since using Trengo, we are way more efficient and can help our customers faster than before.” Bryan Reinders from Betersport

4. Integrating external software

You can easily integrate external software into Trengo. You can, for example, enable your team to access data from your warehouse-, marketing-, supply chain-, or any other type of business software right inside of the inbox. It’s time to wave clicking back-and-forth goodbye forever. All the information you need to help your customers is right at your and your team members’ fingertips.

Read more about how to use WhatsApp as a customer support tool here.

Chapter 7: You can do this too

We know this article can feel like information overload, and the last thing we want is to leave you with a sense of overwhelm. Allow us to sum up the most significant take-aways for you one more time:

• WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app in the world.
• With WhatsApp Business, you can start using WhatsApp to attract more clients.
• By using a customer service platform like Trengo and the WhatsApp for Business API, you can actively reach out to potential clients, send more relevant messages, speed up your workflow, retain more customers, fasten your response time and improve your customer experience.
• Once you’ve set up WhatsApp Business in a customer service platform, you can even communicate from other channels like Instagram, Facebook Messenger, email, and SMS, all from the same window.

Our goal is to inspire and help companies just like yours overcome their challenges by mastering their communication.