Using WhatsApp as a Customer Relationships Management Tool

Why Using WhatsApp CRM as the Main Channel for Customer Service

Have you ever received WhatsApp messages from your beauty salon to confirm bookings? Or have you ever chatted with eCommerce stores via social messaging channels such as Instagram DM, WhatsApp, etc. This is nothing new as online social channels have completely blended into our lives.

Research has shown that customers prefer to message a WhatsApp business account asking for help or navigation than making a call or sending emails. And this causes an effective increase in sales. Over 175 million individuals use the WhatsApp Business Account to message daily; imagine the unlimited number of customers waiting to be converted.

Of course, businesses since inception have continuously evolved with the technological innovation that has sprung up over the years. Customer service tools have also not been left out of this evolution; we have witnessed customer service tools move from physical meetings to phone conversations, emails, and SMS and now to WhatsApp (Internet).

Why evolving? Old tools used in customer service are deficient; the high cost of maintaining those old tools gets enormous as customers increase, which in turn loses customers because of delayed responses or referring the call from person to person. This is frustrating for customers.

If you have not thought of that before, shall we start now?

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

What is WhatsApp CRM?

If you already have some concepts about what social CRM is, WhatsApp CRM does not mean something new. The idea is to consolidate all your WhatsApp conversations with customers and their basic profiles. Let me quickly state what benefits an effective WhatsApp CRM can bring:

1. Streamlining the sales process which means boosting sales.
2. Effortless after-sale assistance
3. Easy marketing automation to retain your customers

Many businesses have already set up their WhatsApp business accounts. This easy-to-start version is ideal for small businesses like one-person businesses or some lean start-ups which do not have a large customer base yet. The upsides are:

1. Same interface as the normal WhatsApp
2. Ready-to-use additional features such as greeting message/ leaving message settings

How to Manage Your Customer Relationship Through WhatsApp CRM

Many businesses have already been using WhatsApp as a Customer Relationship Management tool even before the WhatsApp business came along. Therefore, WhatsApp released various business versions to assist business owners in engaging their customers and targeted audiences, there are WhatsApp Business App and the WhatsApp Business API. These two models of WhatsApp that fulfill this role above and are available for businesses of various kinds.

WhatsApp Business App vs. WhatsApp Business API

The WhatsApp Business App

The WhatsApp Business App is majorly used by small and medium-sized entities and can engage their customers through a smartphone application. It’s a known messaging application amongst IOS and android devices. It’s used mainly by small business owners, as it helps them engage their customers and connect with their targeted audience. It provides some business features to automate, sort, and respond to messages fast. The interface is just like the personal WhatsApp messenger.

A summary of WhatsApp Business’ features:

1. Allows a business owner to create a professional business profile, adding vital information about the business, including contact information, official websites, and business location.
2. It enables you to set opening hours for your business, stating your business hours to inform your customers and targeted audience of the appropriate time to reach out.
3. It supports a swift automated response to every message sent to the business account, but the message can only be in the form of greetings, a quick reply message, and a message stating if you’re busy (away message).
4. Ít also features an avenue to create your product catalog and assist in sharing your products quickly with customers. It aids customers to scroll through your product and purchase their desired goods.
5. Grouping your chats with the label is one other feature. This feature helps segment your customers with a label and access them quickly.

The WhatsApp Business API

The WhatsApp Business API, unlike the Business App, is more suitable for large-sized businesses that possess a large customer base and have a large volume of messages. It has more business features which provide higher flexibility than the WhatsApp Business App.

Credit: SleekFlow

The Business API has a verified business profile that ensues trust from the customers. It also supports unlimited simultaneous log-in and can be used on numerous devices, permitting larger teams and user access. Although it has various functions and features, it needs a software solution and an official WhatsApp provider to integrate with. It is not a stand alone app provided by WhatsApp.

To delve deeper about WhatsApp Business API. Check out our essential guide.

Normally, the software solution provider does not just Integrate with WhatsApp. Like SleekFlow, it integrates with various platforms like Facebook messenger, Hubspot, Calendly to fill every gap in your e-business ecosystem.

Getting a WhatsApp Business API Account

If you want to scale up your businesses, you definitely need a WhatsApp business API account. Here are a few steps of what you should do and how to apply for one.  

1. Create an account in Facebook Business Manager.
2. Verify the Business Client Account: this helps shield users from malicious intents and falsified information. You should note that it cannot be changed when you’ve filled the form with a specific business name.
3. Access to WhatApp Developer API: the users who can access the service have a valid authentication token. To get access to the service, all you need to do is get a token and register.
4. WhatsApp Business API key limits and pricing: the billing process is next after setting the WhatsApp business API, including pricing and limitations. The rate differs in the region, and WhatsApp determines your market operations by the person receiving the messages and the recipient’s country code. And there is a limit to the number of people you can message daily, except if you upgrade your limitations, your quality rating mustn’t be below to access this.
5. Begin using your WhatsApp API: after setting up your WhatsApp Business API, advanced features like Webhook, backup or restore, message template, media, and Monitoring.

Read the whole blog on SleekFlow.