Can you imagine a life without WhatsApp? From staying in touch with friends to sharing pictures with family members and posting stories, WhatsApp has become another name for messaging in most of our vocabularies. And that’s exactly why it’s time for businesses to start exploring WhatsApp marketing to reach where their customers are the most active.
With over 2 billion active users, WhatsApp is easily one of the leading messaging apps across the world. But what makes it a potentially good channel to sell more, is how actively its users make use of it.
Studies suggest that WhatsApp users tend to check the app on an average of 25-27 times a day. Imagine the number of opportunities you get to strike a conversation that leads to sales!
Now when 53% of people say they would buy from companies they can reach via chat, why not give WhatsApp a go-ahead.
Let’s take a look at some of the ways in which WhatsApp helps you sell more.
How does WhatsApp Business Platform help you sell more?
1. Gets you directly in front of the consumer
WhatsApp business messages are delivered straight to your customer’s chat box – there’s no spam or promotions folder on the platform yet. Now considering how users tend to spend a minimum of 28 minutes on the app every day, a straight delivery to the inbox has proven to drive a 98% on campaigns.
So in comparison to other channels like social media, email and SMS, your deals and discounts stand a higher chance of getting noticed when sent from WhatsApp for Business. This also helps you stay on top of your consumer’s mind if you chalk out a strategic engagement campaign.
2. Enables one-on-one conversations
WhatsApp gives you a direct, one-on-one channel to communicate with your customers and potential buyers. You can use the opportunity to understand a consumer’s personal preferences and help them discover products that are relevant to their interests. It also opens up a channel to offer help in making informed purchases; similar to in-store shopping experiences with a salesperson by your side.
This in turn also helps businesses deliver a better customer experience, leading to higher conversion rates and retention rates.
3. Helps offer proactive customer support
Studies suggest that 86% of consumers are willing to pay more to businesses that offer great customer support.
But most businesses follow a reactive approach to customer support, wherein consumers are responded to within 24 hours. But in times of instant gratification, it has become imperative to offer proactive support to online shoppers.
With WhatsApp for Business, you can set up automations to address common consumer queries without human intervention. For example, updates on order status, links to exchange, returns and refund policies, or even sizing guides for various products.
Offering proactive customer support during and after a purchase helps improve a customer’s experience, leading to a higher number of repeat sales and endless opportunities to upsell and cross-sell.
4. Reduces cart abandonment
eCommerce businesses see an average of 69% cart abandonment and the usual ‘one reminder’ approach no longer works in bringing these customers back.
With the help of WhatsApp Business API, businesses can set up automated cart recovery reminders to follow-up with these high-intent buyers in a timely manner. From simply reminding them of what they have left behind to following it up with an exclusive discount code to encourage a purchase, WhatsApp marketing has proven to recover about 47% of abandoned carts.
The fact that consumers check WhatsApp frequently throughout the day, definitely helps as well!
5. Improves post-purchase experiences
Consumers want to feel cared for and that extends to after they have made a purchase too!
With the WhatsApp Business Platform, you get an opportunity to automate campaigns that are focused on understanding how they feel about interacting with your brand. From their shopping experience to the point of delivery and the product they purchased, you can use WhatsApp marketing campaigns to gather customer feedback, product reviews and ratings.
Studies have found that consumers spend 57% more on brands that truly care about their experience and preferences.
Should you sell on WhatsApp?
Around 57% of consumers state that they’d buy from brands that let them talk to a person before making a purchase. But as an eCommerce business, having these one-on-one conversations at scale can be overwhelming, resulting in a drop in customer experience and missed opportunities to convert buyers.
That’s where WhatsApp comes in with the WhatsApp Business API to make conversational commerce possible. It helps you automate personalized campaigns across all the stages of a buyer’s journey with your brand, leading to higher engagement and conversion rates.
Ready to sell more using WhatsApp marketing? Try Interakt for free.
