WhatsApp Business, just like the name suggests, is meant only for businesses. WhatsApp Business is a platform that provides business owners to interact with their customers in the best possible way by providing the owner with the ability to run their business online without leaving WhatsApp business app itself. Business owners will be able to timely updates & support to their customers via the mobile app itself.
Now no need to open your laptop or log into a website to manage your business. You’ll have that ability in your own hands, inside the device you use more than other things. Even though WhatsApp has opened its door to WhatsApp business, their first priority is still the user experience when it comes to the app. Getting the Whatsapp business API simply is not enough to start getting customers through WhatsApp. You’ll need to create a WhatsApp opt-in first that needs to be accepted by the customers before they can be added into your customer lists.
Whatsapp Business Opt-in
Whatsapp business opt-in is simply an agreement for your clients or customers that allows them to accept or decline that they will receive notifications and messages about your business via WhatsApp. But here’s the real catch, you cant actually get customers directly from WhatsApp for the WhatsApp business opt-in. You’d be required to get their numbers from sources outside of WhatsApp like your business website or an app or via email or simple messages.
Once that’s done, you need to have an opt-in before you can start interacting with them via WhatsApp business app. After the opt-ins are done, you’ll have to take care of all the opt-ins & only deliver what the customer agreed to receive. Unlike other platforms, Whatsapp relies heavily on being transparent when it comes to customers.
Rules for WhatsApp Opt-in Strategies
Before we begin with the strategies, it is important to look at some of the important rules and regulations WhatsApp has placed for the opt-ins.
- The Business opt-in must be an active opt-in: This means the user has to be the one that triggers the action for the opt-in, be it by checking some box or entering their phone number.
- User’s Control Over Phone Number: The user needs to have full control of the number entered by them for the opt-in which would mean if they wanted to edit the number they’ll have the option to do so.
- The opt-in must mention what the user is signing up to, and this message needs to be sent on their WhatsApp. for example “latest product updates, delivery notifications’ etc.
- The format must have some required language element: “receive [type-of-information], [WhatsApp logo and name], on [number]”.
If the customer connects with you on WhatsApp, that won’t be counted as opt-in. If you want, you can reply to the customer regarding their query but can’t send them notifications.
If the customer calls that also won’t be counted as an opt-in unless you create a flow that clearly mentions it to the customer that by calling they’ll be opting into some specific type of messages on WhatsApp.
Keep in mind that WhatsApp is constantly checking if a business is following the rules or not.
Let’s discuss 4 strategies below for opt-ins:
#1 Creating Opportunities for Opt-in On your Website:
There’s nothing better than beginning the opt-ins from your own website where every potential customer will visit to know more about the business. This can be done in multiple ways, one of them can be using a call-to-action snippet that can be strategically placed into the website for maximum exposure. Another method can be by implementing opt-in via a pop-up.
#2 Dedicated Landing Page for the Opt-ins:
This is another method that can be used by directing customers to a special landing page, that will essentially act as an Introduction to your WhatsApp Business Service as well as a marketing campaign that’ll be centred on WhatsApp Services to grab leads that you’ll be providing to your customers. Creating a special landing page gives you more space to promote your product and be more creative. The most important thing is that your landing page needs to be fully responsive & optimized for every type of device, especially mobile devices since that’s where most of the customer will be.
#3 Using Third-Party Services
Utilizing the third party sites to promote your business and grab opt-ins sounds extremely efficient. These services could be email, messaging service, social media platforms like facebook or twitter. The only thing to always keep in mind is to stay on the predefined WhatsApp guidelines for opt-ins. Let’s take messages as an example, adding in the logo isn’t possible in a message & that wouldn’t count as direct opt-in as WhatsApp requires you to be transparent. Instead, you could add in the link to your landing page within that SMS and send it as an announcement.
#4 Using Any Existing Process You Have
Since the main purpose of the opt-ins is to send notification and messages about purchases, updates & status etc., adding in the opt-in on the checkout page while a customer is buying a product can work great. This one is especially beneficial for business that deals in retail or travel business. This can significantly help in increasing the business-customer relation.
Another strategy could be to use the opt-ins while the customer is signing up on the site or while using the contact form. But don’t forget to be specific about the service they are opting in for.
Conclusion
We understand, all this sounds a bit tricky, but as long as you are being transparent with your customer regarding the opt-in, you won’t struggle at all, regardless of the type of business you own, be it retail, support or travel. Remember to keep everything simple and clean.
