During the COVID19 pandemic lockdown, small and ‘from home’ businesses proved how critical they are when it came to connecting communities and offering a helping hand to our dwindling economy. It becomes equally crucial that these businesses get access to digital platforms for their growth and prolonged sustenance.
A study suggests that people are looking to chat with more than just friends. Chatting with businesses is becoming more and more common as customers become more curious and look for information. Another research suggests that 63% of customers have started messaging the companies more often in the past two years and, 67% look to continue the trend in the following two years.
WhatsApp Business has played an essential role in helping small businesses reach out to their customer base and optimize sales even during the lockdown. We have listed below the most significant features of the WhatsApp Business app:
Creating a Business Profile
It’s essential for any business to have a complete, well-detailed, and professional business profile for their account. The phone number verification process remains similar to the WhatsApp Messenger app. Business name, category of business, and profile picture form the mandatory information fields. Adding location adds more legitimacy to the business.
Catalog
This feature helps businesses to create a showroom for their goods and services, which the customers can browse easily and help them make a decision quickly. The catalog helps the customers to avoid the unnecessary hassle of switching to the website for relevant information. Moreover, one can also share these catalogs on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and many others for better reach.
QR Codes
They act as the main digital entrance that opens the way for a chat with the business. The customers have to scan the QR code that is displayed on the storefront, receipt, or the product packaging to initiate a business chat. To get a QR code, businesses can go through the following link and follow the steps.
Messaging Tools
Quick replies help businesses to address the queries of their customers quickly. It improves the efficiency of their business communication and saves valuable time, as most of the questions are FAQs.
Also, the ‘away’ messages update the customers about when they can receive a solution to their queries.
Labels
This feature allows businesses to organize their customer base into different categories. The categories can be ‘New Orders’ or ‘Pending Orders’; they can also categorize chats and messages based on these labels.
Business Themed Stickers
To keep conversations healthy and animated (in a funny way) between businesses and customers, WhatsApp offers a pack of animated stickers. This pack consists of 20+ unique designs curated specially by WhatsApp designers. Especially during the pandemic lockdown when the businesses and customers couldn’t see each other in person, these stickers made sure the chivalry continued on the chats.
WhatsApp Pay
In November, WhatsApp launched its payments services in India. The company assures that the payment feature is safe as it has been designed in partnership with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) using UPI, which is a real-time payment system that allows transactions with over 160 banks.
However, with a user base of 400 Million that includes WhatsApp Business app users in the country, the payment feature will be available only for 20 Million WhatsApp users. This is due to the 30% cap levied by NPCI on total payment volumes via third party payments starting January 1, 2021.
Currently, it is working with the following five banks – ICICI, HDFC, Axis, SBI and Jio Payments Bank, and users can send payment to anyone using the UPI enabled app. However, to transfer money, it is mandatory to have a bank account and a debit card in India. Then, the user needs to enter a personal UPI PIN for each transaction. To start using WhatsApp Pay, here is a step-by-step guide.
As businesses across India are on their way to recovery post lockdown, most of their customers have gone digital. The consumers look for information in the easiest way or want to find something they want to buy in the quickest way possible. While the lockdown gave birth to small and ‘from home’ businesses, it’s time all businesses (small or large) in India reach out to their customers through the fastest and the efficient mode of communication, and at present, WhatsApp.
