WhatsApp is the most-used messaging platform in our country. It even beats Facebook on many datasets for the most-used social networks in Singapore!
That makes it a promising channel for connecting with customers. The problem is that some business owners still see it as a personal messaging app, and are unsure of how to start using WhatsApp for marketing.
If you have this same problem, we’re here to help you out. WhatsApp offers business opportunities you shouldn’t waste, especially in an age where we know the value of conversational marketing.
Discover our tips on how to tap the platform’s potential for your own brand, whether to reach, engage, or nurture customers.
A Comparison: Regular WhatsApp vs. WhatsApp Business
Before we continue with our tips for WhatsApp marketing, we should clarify why you need to use WhatsApp Business for best results. Yes, it’s just an expanded version of regular WhatsApp, but the expanded features make all the difference!
Here are some of the key differences between them relevant to anyone doing WhatsApp marketing in Singapore.
Feature | WhatsApp Business | |
Automation | None | Chatbots, auto messages |
Integration | None | CRM integration, customer service systems |
Catalogues | None | Product catalogues |
Analytics | None | Message analytics, reporting |
Status verification | None | Checkmark for verified businesses |
Pricing | Free | Free for small businesses, paid API for large ones |
5 Proven Tips for WhatsApp Marketing
1. Integrate WhatsApp into your social ads
Are you running ads on social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram? Then you need to consider integrating a button in your ads that leads to WhatsApp when clicked.
The idea is to send customers to a convenient channel for contacting you immediately if your ad has piqued their interest. It’s easy to see WhatsApp’s marketing benefits here:
Starts a direct conversation on a familiar, widely used platform
Allows you to personalise your pitch for each customer messaging you
Lets you get more context on each customer’s experience, e.g. you can find out if someone has purchased from you before or not through the conversation
Gives you an easy way to collect leads for other campaigns
2. Use WhatsApp for your customer nurturing
WhatsApp is an absolutely incredible platform for capturing contact details and nurturing your customers down the conversion funnel.
This is because it allows you to engage people in actual conversations as well as adjust each conversation to suit your purposes.
Let’s say you’re talking to someone who’s already established interest in your products by making previous purchases. You can send messages to him about the latest promotions and deals on offer to tempt him into another purchase.
Or let’s say you have customers enquiring about new products you may have added to your inventory. In that case, you can send them details on those and whatever else may be needed to get them to buy.
3. Set up WhatsApp to receive and manage customer inquiries
We just talked about nurturing leads through the platform. A big part of that is through inquiry management, so we recommend putting your business’s WhatsApp number on your marketing assets.
Inquiries made through this channel can be a gold mine of leads for your business. Of course, you do have to ensure that someone reliable is manning the channel!
People expect responses from businesses to be both accurate and fast. So you'll you need someone knowledgeable and responsible to handle this. You can consider setting up autoresponders for more basic queries, but it’s best to set up an option for a live person to man the chats too.
That way, you can allocate more effort to answering the inquiries that need more nuance or personalisation. The ones that merit “predetermined responses” can be set up to get them, e.g. through FAQs in WhatsApp autoresponders or chatbots.
4. Have WhatsApp as a call to action on your website
We said earlier that you should have your WhatsApp number on your marketing assets. Here’s another thing to do: put it up on your website as a clickable call to action!
It shouldn’t replace your contact form, but be an alternative to it for those who prefer to chat with your business directly. If you did what we suggested above and set up someone to man the channel, this gives you the power to take and deal with real-time queries!
That’s a powerful way to be present at the right time and with the right answers for your customers. The convenience and speed of that alone may well bring in conversions!
5. Integrate WhatsApp with your CRM platforms
WhatsApp integration into CRMs is a game-changer when it comes to strategic use of the platform. It makes processing messages easier, can improve the support you provide through the platform, offers a central dashboard or utility for managing WhatsApp marketing, etc.
The goal here is to streamline your marketing team’s workflow while adding WhatsApp to its toolkit. CRM integration gives you that, along with even better insights on what you’re achieving through the tool.
Let us help you set up WhatsApp Business as part of your marketing strategy
WhatsApp Business has so much potential for any savvy marketer or business owner. We’ve seen this for ourselves many times, as it’s one of our most popular services for clients.
While the tips above should do a lot to get you started, it’s understandable if you still find the process more than you can handle alone. In that case, just reach out to us so we can help!
We’ll talk to you in a no-obligation chat about what you may need and what we may be able to do for you. From there, we can figure out how to get you to where you need to be! Contact us for a chat about your digital marketing needs today.
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