A guide to using WhatsApp Business as a live chat tool on your website
It shares many similarities to Messenger but does have several additional features that will benefit your company, helping you to convert and increase sales. What I like best about it is that it can be used as a live chat feature on your website, making it easy for customers to contact you.
I have recently set it up on my own site and have found it very useful as an extra way of communicating with prospective new clients. If anyone is looking to bolster their channels of communication, I would certainly recommend it.
Setting up and configuring WhatsApp Business App
- To get started, the first thing you are going to have to do is to install the WhatsApp Business app on your mobile phone. Just head over to your phones’ app store and type in WhatsApp Business and download the application.
Tip: If you already have WhatsApp Messenger on your phone, this is not a problem. Both Messenger and Business apps will run independently of each other without any issues.
- As part of the initial app setup, you will need to provide a telephone number that will be linked to the WhatsApp Business account. Once you provide WhatsApp with the number, they will send a one-time code to it which you need to input into the app to activate the account.
Tip: You cannot use a number that is linked to any other WhatsApp account. If you currently use your mobile with WhatsApp Messenger, you will need to provide another number. If your business has a landline, then you can use that as the linked number as any calls or messages that you receive will still go to your mobile via the WhatsApp Business app.
- Once the app is installed on your phone, there is some configuration that you will want to look at.
- Firstly, open the newly installed app on your phone and go to settings and select profile. Within profile you can set your business name, business description, opening hours, address, email address and website link. You can also add your company logo.
- Next, you can configure a greeting message. This is a message that will automatically appear to your customer when they start a conversation with you, so you need to spend some time making sure that you are happy with what you set this first point of contact to be. To set the message, go to settings and select greeting message. You then need to toggle the feature on and then save the message you have decided upon.
- Another useful feature that you can activate is an away message. This message would be sent to anyone who contacts you outside of the office hours that you specify. To activate and set the message, go to settings, and select away message.
- If you find your customers regularly asking you the same questions, then WhatsApp Business offers you the ability to set up a library of quick replies to common questions. This can prove to be a huge time-saver. If someone contacts you and asks a question that you have configured a quick reply for, then all you have to do is select that reply from your library to instantly respond to the customer. To build up your library of replies, go to settings, quick replies and click the plus icon to start building your library.
- Another feature that you can configure is the catalog. This allows you to create a catalog of products and services that you offer that can quickly be sent to customers as they contact you. This feature isn’t something that is suitable for every small business, but if you are running an online shop, or have a small range of services that you provide, it could be something that you find really useful. To configure your catalog, go to settings and click the catalog link to get started.
Incorporating WhatsApp Business onto your website as a ‘live chat’ feature
The first thing you need to do is get your short link. This is a link that is unique to your WhatsApp Business account. It is the link customers need to click to connect to you via WhatsApp. To get it, you need to open your app, go to settings, and click the short link option. You can then copy the link and email it from your phone to your computer.
Once you have the link, you then need to add it to your website. I recommend adding it into your website’s footer so that it appears on every page. In addition, it is also a good idea to add it to the contact page.
You can just add the short link as a clickable link on your site, however a nicer option is to add a WhatsApp icon to your site and hyperlink the icon with your short link. WhatsApp provide a downloadable logo pack that you can use to ensure that you are using the correct icon (https://about.meta.com/uk/brand/resources/whatsapp/whatsapp-brand). Before placing the icon on your site, it is worthwhile taking the time to read the WhatsApp brand guidelines to ensure that you use the logo in the way it is intended.
Once the icon is set up on your site and you have hyperlinked it to your shortcode you are all set! If a customer clicks the icon and they have WhatsApp Messenger installed on their device, then they can instantly start a conversation with you.
Tip: The more options you give your customers to contact you the more sales you will make.
You can read much more about the product on the WhatsApp Business site: https://business.whatsapp.com
WhatsApp Business pricing
Need help setting up WhatsApp Business?
In addition, if you are looking for a new website and would like to discuss how Willow Leaf Web Solutions can help to create you a professional, SEO optimized, mobile friendly site for your business then drop me a message to arrange a free, no obligation chat.
