WhatsApp Business

WhatsApp unveils separate app for Business

WhatsApp is a fast, simple and reliable way to talk to anyone in the world. WhatsApp is not only free but also available on multiple mobile devices having more than 1.5 billion users in over 180 countries who stay in touch with friends and family, anytime and anywhere.

For a long time, many users have been using their own WhatsApp accounts to connect not only with friends and family but also with clients and business partners. As WhatsApp is a social media tool it plays a big role nowadays in social media marketing - advertising products, reaching clients and customers and also creating business groups.

I am glad to tell you that those days of using your own account for business are gone, WhatsApp has effectively launched a separate free-to-download app for Business by Facebook Inc. built with the small business owner in mind. With the app, businesses can interact with customers easily by using tools to automate, sort, and quickly respond to messages.

How cool is that? You need to hear more on its features… 

Business Account Profiles

This beneficial app for businesses comes with the option to create a detailed profile listings with helpful information for your customers like your address, business description, email address, and website.

Labels

The labels feature helps you to organize your contacts or chats with coloured labels, so you can easily find them again. With your account being organized, you can contact and message other WhatsApp Business accounts, plus you can also contact and message customers, clients on their regular WhatsApp accounts through this. Moreover the users can block business accounts or report them as spam should they like to. On the normal WhatsApp Star * is what is used instead of Labels to mark important messages.

Messaging

WhatsApp Business aims at helping you message more and work less and, messaging being the main reason for the app, its gathers most of its features.

Quick Replies and Away replies

“Quick replies” feature is where you save and reuse messages you frequently send so you can easily answer common questions in no time when you are not online. This feature helps you to quickly reply messages automatically with templates. The + button is for adding for reply formats, below is an example of /thanks meaning if a customer replies Thanks he/she will have the Thank you for your business... reply. If he/she replies /Order received he/she will receive a Thank you, we have received your order...

 

“Away replies” feature, when respective customers contact you outside of working hours a customized message is automatically sent to them. 

 

You can also create a greeting message to introduce your customers to your business when a new contact messages your business account.

Messaging statistics

Same to the normal WhatsApp with different ticks meaning whether a message has been read, delivered or ignored with WhatsApp Business you can access important metrics such as how many of your messages were successfully sent, delivered, and read.

I know you must be asking yourself how come WhatsApp Business is free and most apps and softwares for business aren’t free… the app is free for the users but Facebook Inc. plans to charge businesses in the future for additional features and capabilities. More plans are also on integrating payments within the WhatsApp Business app. Business accounts on the app, namely, those of e-commerce companies or the local shop, would have three types of markers to indicate authenticity, according to an FAQ page on the WhatsApp website.

Verified Business Accounts

Talking of authenticity, WhatsApp will introduce coloured badges with a tick mark which will indicate if an account has been verified or confirmed. For “verified” accounts the badges will be green with a tick mark, “confirmed” accounts will have a grey badge with a tick mark. 

I don’t know about you but I have already started using it for my online business @JTechpreneur +254 777 799 907 for selling tech gadgets and accessories plus sharing tech articles and updates. My friend Robertinah Mbula, Founder and CEO of Tianah Models is also using WhatsApp Business for her online shop the pearl gem. What do you think about the app? Share your comments below and also like and share this article. Click on the link below to download WhatsApp for Business.

Free Download