How WhatsApp Business works
WhatsApp is a messaging app that’s used by billions of people around the world. But the platform has also proven to be a valuable tool for businesses, allowing them to interact with customers and apply effective marketing strategies. But how does WhatsApp work and what advantages does it offer?
WhatsApp bietet eine Vielzahl an Möglichkeiten, um mit Kunden zu kommunizieren und die eigene Marke zu fördern. Einer der einfachsten Wege, den Messenger als Unternehmen zu nutzen, ist die Verwendung der App als Kundensupport-Kanal. Kunden können Fragen stellen, Feedback geben und Probleme lösen, während Firmen mit Kundenservice glänzen, indem sie schnell und einfach auf diese Anfragen reagieren.
WhatsApp kann aber auch für Marketingkampagnen genutzt werden. Unternehmen senden dabei Werbebotschaften an Kunden, kündigen neue Produkte oder Dienstleistungen an oder bewerben Angebote und Rabatte. Außerdem dient es dazu, Kundenbindungsprogramme einzuführen, indem exklusive Inhalte und Angebote an Abonnenten gesendet werden.
Neben diesen offensichtlichen Vorteilen funktioniert WhatsApp auch als Verkaufskanal. Unternehmen verkaufen dabei ihre Produkte und Dienstleistungen direkt über die App, indem sie Bestellungen aufnehmen und Zahlungen abwickeln. Damit erreichen sie Kunden, die aufgrund von Einschränkungen oder Entfernungen nicht in der Lage sind, physisch in einen Laden zu gehen.
When it comes to WhatsApp Business, it pays to follow some best practices. Firstly, companies should definitely make sure that they comply with data protection regulations. After all, before they send messages, they need the customers’ consent to contact them.
It’s also vital to make sure that not too many messages are sent and that they are relevant and useful. Flooding customers with promotional messages may cause them to turn away from the brand.
Companies can create good customer loyalty by rapidly responding to requests, and any communication on WhatsApp should be polite and professional.
Practical tips
Of course, companies can follow various strategies to get the most out of WhatsApp Business, but here are some general tips that should apply to most of them:
- Use WhatsApp for customer support: WhatsApp is a straightforward way for customers to ask questions or report problems. When companies ensure that they respond quickly and professionally to inquiries, they gain the trust and loyalty of their customers.
- Avoid spam: Take care not to overwhelm customers with too many messages, and make sure that advertising messages are neither aggressive nor irrelevant.
- Use WhatsApp for marketing purposes: WhatsApp is an effective channel for marketing campaigns, e.g. for announcing new products or services, offers and discounts, or customer loyalty programs.
- Use WhatsApp for sales purposes: Products and services can be sold directly to consumers via WhatsApp.
- Create groups and broadcast lists: By using groups and broadcast lists, companies can keep their target groups up to date. This is because these features allow messages to be sent to a large number of people all at once. This is an especially useful way to inform customers about news and offers.
- Use WhatsApp tools: There are some tools and plugins that can help you use the messaging app even more effectively, such as chatbots that respond to customer queries. Or analytics tools that can help companies track the performance of their WhatsApp campaigns in detail.
- Comply with the privacy policy: It is essential that businesses ensure that they comply with WhatsApp’s privacy policy and get their customers’ consent to contact them before sending messages. This is important to gain customers’ trust and avoid problems.
Follow these tips and use WhatsApp to communicate with customers, carry out effective marketing strategies, and grow your business.
The bottom line: WhatsApp is a good channel for targeted communication
By using WhatsApp, companies can interact with customers easily and effectively, whether for the purpose of customer support, marketing campaigns, customer retention or sales. Those who follow best practices for using WhatsApp and send relevant and useful messages are exploiting its full potential.
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About the author:
BASICthinking is an online magazine and a tech portal with one of the widest reaches in the German-speaking world. Every day, the editorial team reports on social media, marketing and business topics. This article was written by Christina Widner from BASIC thinking GmbH and BASIC thinking International.
