WhatsApp Business App - Important things you should know! :- www.deekpay.com

WhatsApp business app: important things you should know!

Recently, WhatsApp launched the "WhatsApp Business" app for small businesses across the globe. The newly launched app is available for free on Android smartphones. The aim of the app is to make it easier for WhatsApp's 1.3 billion users to reach out to these businesses. We believe WhatsApp is a different kind of messaging app, one that is not only deep in the market and unrivalled, but also unique in the way it cares for its users!

People across the globe use WhatsApp to stay in touch with loved ones, friends and family. Since its launch in 2009, WhatsApp has not only become an important platform for weaving billions of global relationships, but has also helped businesses grow. Over the years, SMEs with a strong presence on social media channels such as Facebook and Instagram have started using WhatsApp as the single point of contact for all business enquiries and queries.

A look back at some of the major milestones in the evolution of WhatsApp:

Here are some impressive WhatsApp stats that could impact your business:

What is the WhatsApp business app?

WhatsApp provides an instant messaging service based on phone numbers, and some may ask, "Isn't that texting?" Yes, but SMS is costly and outdated, and what WhatsApp does is modernise and level the playing field - Brian Acton

From the very beginning, WhatsApp has stayed true to its core philosophy - no adverts! No games! No gimmicks! The WhatsApp Business app is no exception. It allows any small business to use a variety of tools to customise their business profile, send customised messages and more.

According to WhatsApp and research by Morning Consult, more than 80% of Indian and Brazilian small businesses rely heavily on WhatsApp to run their business. It effectively helps them do two things:

Communicating with customers

Scaling up operations

We didn't want to build an app where you find weird people to chat to. That's not our goal. We're focused on intimacy - Brian Acton

What are the features of WhatsApp business app?

Let's take a quick look at what the WhatsApp business app has in store for your business.

Business Profile: Add a professional touch to your business by creating a business profile. Enter your business name, logo, contact details, description and other information in the profile to attract loyal customers.

Customer Tagging: Have too many Pooja, Rahul and Raj in your contact list and find it difficult to differentiate between existing and new customers? With the WhatsApp business app, you can easily tag or label your customers, order statuses, and more, eliminating confusion in chat and improving business efficiency.

Image source: WhatsApp

Automated messages: sending warm greetings, welcome or outgoing messages to your customers is a good habit to maintain good customer relations. Your customised message will inform them of your availability.

Quick Reply: No need to send the same reply to multiple people over and over again. Instead, choose your reply from the available templates and customise your reply.

WhatsApp Data Insights: get vital statistics such as the number of messages sent, delivered and successfully read. This will help you easily identify active and inactive customers.

I want to do one thing well! -- Jan Kuom

What are some of the things WhatsApp business apps don't do?

The WhatsApp business app is a powerful tool for small businesses, but there are some limitations you should be aware of as a business owner:

Single payment method: WhatsApp supports only one payment method, UPI payments, which is a modern payment method, but it's always better to offer more options. This "more" option is disabled for users of WhatsApp payments.

Contacts Only Payments: Unfortunately, only your contacts can pay you. This means that you need to keep adding contacts to your list so that they can pay you using WhatsApp payments.

Need to update the app: Your customers need to update the WhatsApp app in order to make a payment. If they skip updating the app, they won't see the "pay" icon in the attachment, which could cause a delay.

Lack of business reports: which customer paid how much? What was this week's sales turnover? How many new customers have patronised this month? All of these questions will continue to be problematic because the WhatsApp business app does not currently offer automated tracking of these important aspects.

With limited payment options for your customers, your reach is restricted. To expand your business overseas, you still need to share your bank account details with your customers.

No Refund: There is no refund option. Once a product is sold through WhatsApp, there is no way to refund it through WhatsApp. This proves inefficient as a lot of time and resources are consumed here.

The WhatsApp business app is available for free to small businesses in India and globally.

We won't stop until everyone on the planet has an affordable and reliable way to communicate with friends and loved ones - Jan Kuom

WhatsApp is great for peer-to-peer transactions. But for businesses, it needs a lot of upgrades. Ideally, businesses need a one-stop payment solution that offers all payment options (credit/debit card, net banking, wallet, and UPI), tracking of payments, sending payment reminders to customers, and more business-centric features.

If you are a business looking for a complete payment solution then sign up for PayUmoney (for websites). If you don't have a website then you can use PayUnow to accept payments from your customers by sending them a payment link.