6 min read

When Facebook announced its plan to acquire WhatsApp for a whopping $19 billion back in 2014, many doubted if WhatsApp could contribute to Facebook’s already impressive portfolio of Social Media and messaging apps. However, six years later, in February 2020, WhatsApp’s user base surpassed the two-billion milestone.

Taking notice of its popularity and vast business potential, the instant messaging brand launched WhatsApp Business, a feature that can help small and large-scale businesses engage with its users and market their brand.

Since then, many brands have started using WhatsApp Business to offer dedicated customer support and run marketing campaigns.

Here are seven great reasons to consider using WhatsApp Business for your marketing strategy: 

1. Secure Messaging

WhatsApp provides businesses and consumers with a highly secure messaging platform that safeguards all confidential data. Data security remains a priority in the current era, and WhatsApp lives up to the latest mobile security standards. WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption allows only the recipients and senders to view the message content, and it completely restricts third-party accessibility.

2. Create brand awareness and product promotion

With the introduction of new features like status update and catalog in the WhatsApp Business account, the platform now gives more room for visual content, and users can check out what your offerings are without having to message you for this information. 

Status update – you can run promotions and market newly launched products to generate more sales.

Catalog – Catalogs act as a mobile directory to put products on display. Thereby, you no longer have to send product images and supporting documents one at a time. Consumers will be able to see your brand’s full product inventory from its WhatsApp Business user interface.

3. Unleashing conversational commerce 

Conversational commerce refers to the way end-users interact with their brand via chat-apps to get personalized and dedicated support.

Due to technological advancements across industries, the modern-day consumers can instantly connect with brand representatives or chatbots to get personalized product recommendations, quick support, or options to purchase products, all from within the messaging app.

With WhatsApp-enabled conversational commerce, you will be able to connect with multiple customers and provide personalized customer support and increase sales without any hassle.

4. Permission-based messaging

​​​​​WhatsApp Business does not allow you to directly contact your users if they have not opted-in to receive your messages. If you want to start a conversation with your end-users, you must either request them to share their number with you or allow them to initiate a conversation.

In both cases, you, as a company, will respect the consumers’ right to reject or receive your message. This is more beneficial to you as a brand, as you will end up with a highly segmented audience base that is interested in your brand’s message.

5. Deliver personalized communication 

Regardless of the marketing channel, sending customized messages to end-users is vital to driving higher conversions and engagement.

With WhatsApp Business, you can build on your personalization efforts at different stages of the customer lifecycle. You will also be able to add rich elements to these messages, such as video, audio, images, files, and QR codes.

6. Valuable insights

With the  WhatsApp Business Statistics feature, you understand your customers’ experience better. The feature provides some necessary details, such as the total number of messages sent, delivered, received, and read.

This can help you develop a more targeted messaging campaign that will resonate better with your audience.

7. Feedback Mechanism

Feedback can help you improve all aspects of your business; this is why many companies request customer feedback. With WhatsApp Business, it is very easy to ask for one and get a reply in a matter of minutes since the platform has a high open-rate.

If you wish, you can also post your customer feedback on your WhatsApp status as social proof to show others that you are a reliable brand. 

WhatsApp Business can be a powerful app to have in your toolkit. WhatsApp users send more than 65 billion messages every single day.

According to Nielsen’s Facebook Messaging Survey, 67% of people using messaging apps said they expect to use chat as a primary option to communicate with businesses over the next couple of years, and more than 53% of users state that they are more likely to shop with a brand they can message directly.

In Summary

WhatsApp Business is the perfect platform to include in your marketing strategy.

It is easy to use and set up, has a wider reach than other cast platforms, allows for complex customer targeting, offers automated messaging capabilities, helps you stay connected better with customers, can be used to increase brand engagement, and creates opportunities to tap into new markets.

On top of that, it’s an important channel for communication due to its wide adoption in the marketplace. Taking advantage of this powerful communication tool will surely bring success to your business by driving sales and boosting customer loyalty.

Whether you are just starting out or already have an established business presence online, investing in WhatsApp Business as part of your overall digital marketing strategy is a must if you want to reach more customers and maximize your visibility online.