A Complete Blueprint of Small Business Customer Service via WhatsApp?

Owning a small business means you are employed 24/7 with no complaints and a lot of extra work at hand. You will be wearing many different hats, figuring out ways to reduce operational costs and maximizing profit without harming the quality of the product. One minute you are the CEO and the next minute you have to be the brand manager figuring out the colors on your next marketing campaign.

For small businesses, things can be hard especially because they do not have enough resources; they lack the ability to compete with big brands. Their only leveraging factor is their ability to personalize things, keep their customers happy, and offer customers more control.

On the contrary, big brands are least bothered by these details, you can communicate with them, and complain about their services but red tapping and elaborate processes slow down everything leading to frustration.

So, if you are a small business owner or solopreneur or you have an online business, this guide is for you.

Within this guide, we will deep dive into all the essential WhatsApp features that can help you improve the customer service for your business. The focus will be on utilizing all the new automation features that can help you save money.

This guide is designed for total noobs who are just getting into a business. You don’t need any skill or any special tool to follow this guide but the results are guaranteed. As long as you have your laptop/smartphone or a good unlimited internet connection like Optimum Internet, you will be able to follow this blueprint.

Step By Step WhatsApp Blueprint for Starters

Before we start our step-by-step guide, you need to understand five main factors that make WhatsApp an ideal communication platform for your business:

• WhatsApp is so far the most used communication platform for business communication as well as for personal use. With more than 2 billion active users, this is the only platform with such a massive audience.
• WhatsApp is completely free for both businesses and users. You can literally make WhatsApp your only communication platform without thinking twice. Although there are a few advanced features that will cost some money that is a topic for another time mainly because we are only talking about small businesses here. You can start with a free version and then once you scale you can switch to paid options.
• WhatsApp can be integrated with almost everything. From your socials to your website, you can link anything to your WhatsApp.
• WhatsApp offers automation options for free that will be very good for small businesses on a budget.
• WhatsApp has business profile options that will unlock a new version of your WhatsApp with all the product-showcasing options and more.

1.    Integrate Your WhatsApp with Website

The first step of any online business is to have a solid website. A website works as a virtual shake-hand with your customers so make sure it has everything that your customer needs. From your social media links to other communication platforms, address, working time, and more.

This is the reason you need to integrate WhatsApp with your website. To integrate WhatsApp with your website, you can choose multiple routes. Either you can choose a pop-up option, document option, an API or you can also use chat widgets that will allow the user to start chatting right away. For a step-by-step integration guide, you can easily find details on our site.

2.    Integrate Your WhatsApp with Social Media

After you are done integrating WhatsApp with your site, you also need to add social media to your WhatsApp. Most of the social media sites are connected because the same company – Meta, owns them so just a few clicks will help you integrate everything.

This step is very important because it will help the customers verify all your accounts or be directed to the website. The best thing about this feature is that if there is another company with a similar name, your customers will not be confused.

3.    Get Verified On WhatsApp

We all have heard about Instagram verification or Twitter verification, however, in 2023 WhatsApp rolled up a verification feature as well. This feature is specifically for celebrities, businesses, and official pages so users can easily get in touch.

The meta-verified business profile means your customers will have full confidence that you are the original brand. For small businesses, these little wins count a lot especially if you are running an e-commerce store where online payments happen every day. 

4.    Use Companion Mode for Easy Handling

For small businesses, this is one of the most fun, simple, and easy upgrades. With companion mode, your WhatsApp will not just be limited to your phone. Instead, you can smoothly switch from one device to another.

For solopreneurs who cannot just stick to one device, this is the simplest option. You can be on your tablet watching something or working on your laptop and still reply to your customer anytime.

5.    Design a Conversation Blueprint

After you are done telling your WhatsApp, it is time to see how you want the conversation to flow on your communication channels. For an estimate, try using Chabot used by similar brands. This will help you check FAQ’s. The FAQ list is very important for a business because this will help you automate the replies based on the list.

You can pretend to be a customer and see how the conversation flows, ask them questions, and know what you need for your business.

6.    Build a Solid Template

After you have the list of FAQs, you now have to get on the automated chat tools like ChatGPT. Ask all these questions from ChatGPT and see how it can reply to you. Customize the tone of interaction, ask for details, and get the conversion flowing. This will eventually help you build a template.

Your template should have answers to FAQs as well as simple scenarios. Although you can, craft personalized messages for all these situations using Chabot can speed up the process.

7.    Automate Your Messages

After you have prepared the template, you can now start the automation process. WhatsApp has instant greeting message that is completely free. This initial greeting can include a brief introduction about your brand or it can also contain simple details like the working hours. This will help in reducing the overall response time.

One thing to keep in mind is that advanced automation features like answering the FAQs are paid business features. You can easily get these features once you scale your brand and have enough money for it.

8.    Complete Your WhatsApp Business Profile

Your business profile should include all the basic information about our brand, and its products or you can make your catalog as well.

Generally, these details will help the client to understand the services offered by the brand. However, you can also put details about exclusive offers and seasonal sales on your business profile. This feature is completely free for every business profile so, make sure to use it wisely.

9.    Make a WhatsApp Business Channel

This is a very recent update to the WhatsApp business profile. With the help of your business channel, you can show what you are doing or send messages to all the members. This is a new feature that is all over Meta. Even if you have a business Instagram account, you can create a channel with all your followers.

With a business channel, you can organize everything, offer customized support, become more active, and build better relationships with your clients.

10. Get On the Enhanced Business Directory

Another very fun feature that you can leverage for your business is the enhanced directory. This feature will not just help you become more visible but also allows you to get in contact with other business and popular people.

With this feature, anyone can now search your business and WhatsApp will offer them to connect with you. This feature is also available on Telegram, so if you are a Telegram user you will know its importance.

See also: Business Acquisition Financing Canada: Funding a Successful Business Purchase

11. Broadcast Deals

A customized broadcast list is one of the most important parts of your WhatsApp communication. Businesses that roll out frequent sales, especially ecommerce business should get their customers on the broadcast list ASAP.

To make the most out of your broadcast list, categorize the list based on interests. This might take some time, but this will help you boost your sales.

12. Add Payment Methods on WhatsApp

WhatsApp recently rolled out a payment feature for the business. If you are a small business that receives online payments, this is one of the best ways to share payment details. With this payment integration, your client can simply click on all the different payment modes that you can integrate within your WhatsApp and pay anytime. This option is safe and it will help you to keep account on all the processed payments.

13. Automate Follow Up

For any business, follow-ups and regular feedback play a very vital role. Especially if you are planning to improve your product. However, in most cases actively seeking follow-up is not possible because of limited resources.

In this case, you can use the WhatsApp new feature for Appointment Reminders, Customer Convenience, and Automated Scheduling for feedback.

Bottom Line

Meta might be bad with innovation but one thing it is good at is incorporating the best features from other apps into their apps.

Most of the features mentioned above are integration features that will help in creating an Omni channel experience for the clients. In the long run, this can be pivotal for the growth of your business.