Tag: Whatsapp Business Model

  • How to convert your Instagram leads through a WhatsApp link?

    With over 2 billion users worldwide, WhatsApp has become a go-to instant communication platform for B2B and B2C brands. However, beyond the purveyor of internal communication, WhatsApp can also be used to convert Instagram leads. Amazing, isn’t it?

    Well, actually, it is a no-brainer. With 44% of people using Instagram for their weekly shopping, there ought to be a process that streamlines the communication flow and facilitates personalized marketing. What better way to convert these hot leads through WhatsApp chat?

    Believe it or not–a WhatsApp link is the fastest way to solve your potential customer’s doubts or extend additional support. By communicating through WhatsApp, customers feel heard, preventing last-minute abandonment as their query chain has been cut-short.

    Before we get into more details, let’s understand what it means for your business.

    1. WhatsApp Link for Instagram at a Glance
    2. How to convert your Instagram leads through a WhatsApp link?
    3. Benefits of converting Instagram leads through a WhatsApp link

    A WhatsApp link directs your Instagram profile visitors to a WhatsApp conversation. This means that you can chat with your potential customers anytime and anywhere, with business updates, promotional messages, feedback, query resolution, and surveys.

    In addition to sending messages, you can exploit this feature for your business’ advantage by sending videos, voice messages, product images, and documents directly from the app and fulfilling your customer’s assistance requests.

    Along with this, businesses can streamline their messages and take advantage of WhatsApp’s automatic responses, chatbot, and organizational tools to scale up their contact points while solidifying their customer base.

    So, is adding a WhatsApp link on Instagram fruitful for converting leads?

    A big yes–the customers will just be a click away from shooting their queries.

    • They won’t have to wait for days to get their doubts solved
    • The conversion cycle gets shorter by leveraging a quick redressal system

    Now, with these advantages at hand, let’s see how you can convert your Instagram leads through a WhatsApp link.

    How to convert your Instagram leads through a WhatsApp link?

    How to Link WhatsApp to Instagram

    There are three ways to convert your Instagram leads through WhatsApp link:

    By adding a WhatsApp button on your Instagram business account

    WhatsApp Business Linkage on Instagram
    WhatsApp Button on Instagram
    • Click ‘Edit profile’ visible on your Instagram Bio
    • Select contact options
    • Click on WhatsApp
    • Enter the number associated with your WhatsApp and submit the verification code

    Now, the WhatsApp button should appear, facilitating all your Instagram leads to get in touch with your company.

    Through boosted posts

    Post Boost on Instagram to WhatsApp
    Instagram Post Boost
    • Add your WhatsApp number to the ‘Contact Options’ on your Instagram business profile
    • Choose an existing post whose reach you’d like to amplify
    • Click on the blue button, select messages, and WhatsApp
    • Set a goal, budget, duration, and audience for your ad
    • Review your objectives and click on ‘create your ad.’
    • Once approved, your ad will be live in 24 hours.

    Instagram stories is a great way to boost the brand reach and sales. And adding a WhatsApp link on Instagram stories highlights is one of the great personalized way to display things as you can help the user with their query by directly landing them on WhatsApp.

    To add links to Stories you need to fulfill following criteria first:

    • You need an Instagram business account.
    • You got to have more than 10k followers.
    WhatsApp Link on Instagram Story Procedure
    WhatsApp link on Instagram Story
    WhatsApp Icon and Link on Instagram Story Highlights
    WhatsApp Link with Icon on Instagram

    Create a new story. Upload a WhatsApp icon image with an aspect ratio 9:16 and post it a story and insert your WhatsApp link within the story.  

    For e.g- Open the link chain and enter the URL:

    api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=Your number (followed by your phone number in the international format)

    View the published story and save the story as an Instagram Highlight.

    Name the highlight Chat on WA or something similar.

    Building a contact list

    By converting leads through WhatsApp links, you no longer need to bid adieu to your customer after the order has been delivered. Instead, you can build a long-term relationship.

    Through this method, you can optimize your contact list and even import all the contacts to a CRM and send messages to your customers in bulk. This way, once the prospect has approached you via Instagram, you can save their contact details and directly engage with them even after their order has been successfully delivered.

    Seamless user-experience

    A grave concern of customers before buying a high-end product: What if it doesn’t work well? People are anyway skeptical about the purchase, and having no provision for direct communication makes the decision-making process even harder.

    By converting your leads through WhatsApp, your customers rest assured that the brand will be just a message in case of any dispute with the product quality. You can automate customer support queries in case of high sales.

    You can also leverage WhatsApp list messages and custom replies to address FAQs with a faster response time and use the opportunity to strike a meaningful conversation with your customers throughout the journey.

    Maintaining retention span

    With dozens of new products launching every day, it is tough to maintain your audience’s retention span. They make one scroll on Instagram, and boom, another brand is displaying their ad. What to do in this scenario?

    Once you’ve enticed the prospects through your product offerings on Instagram and redirected them to WhatsApp, half of your work is done. Now, you need to provide them regular updates regarding their order and give them a reason to buy from you again.

    Send feedback forms, give intimation regarding new product launches and build a strong relationship that increases their retention span.

    While you do that, make sure:

    • You keep the communication short and to the point
    • Don’t spam your customers with frequent messages
    • Reinforce your messages with videos, pictures, social proofs, etc. wherever required
    • Make it personalized and quirky

    Upsell and cross-sell

    WhatsApp has an incredible open rate of 99%. Once the prospect has bought any of your product/services, you can send(after getting their permission) product catalogs, new launch details, discount offers, and upsell or cross-sell your products.

    For instance, if you’re sending them order updates, use the opportunity and recommend other products to them. The idea is to use what they have already purchased as an indicator to know what else they might be interested in.

    Here’s an example of such a message focused on cross-selling:

    Hey Priyanka,

    Your black dress has been delivered. Hope it looks great on you!

    But, we think your picture-perfect look would be incomplete without our perfect pair of heels. Click on the link below and check out our latest collection of heels available at a 10% discount with express delivery.

    This way, you would know their preferences and also get a chance to sell your other products to the same customer base.

    Building a sustainable brand

    Compared to simply adding your website link in the bio where your prospects can leave a message via a form or email, putting your WhatsApp link redirects them to an opportunity to receive a response from you instantly.

    Your response and brand loyalty go hand in hand. According to a recent report from Gartner, customers are more likely to stick with a brand long-term when their service expectations are met.

    This signifies that if your communication is top-notch, you can get an influx of leads into your inbox and recurring purchases–thereby building a sustainable brand. So, build a robust and quick communication system through WhatsApp and strike while the iron is hot to en-cash the opportunity and maintain their attention while it is still fresh.

    Efficient buying process

    With social commerce on a boom, Instagram has become a HubSpot for generating sales. Over 130 million users engage with shopping posts on a monthly basis, proving that this app is useful for driving both product awareness and sales.

    However, selling is just the tip of the iceberg to being in the game for the long term. You need to provide a seamless user experience and solve any of their objections quickly before they move on to another brand. And diverting your traffic to WhatsApp helps with that.

    Through WhatsApp, your customers can communicate with your brand, send in their queries, and make the purchase–all in relatively less time. This makes the entire buying process more efficient and transparent.

    Conclusion

    Holding a stellar value proposition for your brand would all be in vain if you don’t provide an eccentric customer experience. And placing a WhatsApp link on your Instagram profile does precisely that. You no longer need to scout for another messaging platform or chase potential customers through DMs to close the deal. Just add the link-generating feature; if your price and offering excite your prospects, they’ll directly reach out to you.

    The feature also creates credibility and trust for your brand because:

    • They feel a direct connection as WhatsApp symbolizes a personalized form of marketing
    • They can chat with your brand–that gives them a sense of security for investing their money at a credible place

    Moreover, with the tracking function, you can track the efficacy of this feature and use the metrics as a base for making decisions related to advertising budgets, branding, and inventory. Whether you’re a small business owner or a well-established brand, converting Instagram leads through WhatsApp will be an effective investment for you.

    FAQs

    1- How to create a click-to-chat link for WhatsApp?

    You can create click-to-chat link,  by using the following link, entering the WhatsApp phone number after the ‘=’: api.whatsapp.com/send?phone= .

    2- How one can use WhatsApp for Business?

    WhatsApp business can be use for showcasing Product catalogue, communicate with others, provide good customer service.

    3- How do I create WhatsApp QR code for ?

    You can create WhatsApp QR code using free QR code generator by entering the country code without the + symbol, followed by the WhatsApp phone number.

  • WhatsApp Business Model | How does WhatsApp Make Money?

    Are you eager to know all about the business model of WhatsApp? If the response is yes, then this blog is all you need.

    There would be hardly anyone on this planet who is not aware of what WhatsApp is? It is one of the most vital communication tools. It’s not like WhatsApp doesn’t have any competition, there were several players like Line, Wechat, Fiverr, but nothing compares to WhatsApp. Every single user who uses smartphones has this one application installed on the phone.

    It is the application that keeps us connected with family, friends, and colleagues. We utilize WhatsApp’s functions for a variety of purposes. Thus it has become an indispensable tool in our everyday lives. The platform has a wide variety of applications and may be used for both professional and personal reasons. For example, to send text or voice messages, photos, and videos to our loved ones and friends, we choose to use the app.

    Statistically speaking, it has around 2 billion active monthly users in roughly 180 countries across the world. These figures outnumber active members of many other popular messaging applications like Facebook Messenger, WeChat, etc.

    WhatsApp- A Brief Background
    WhatsApp- Business Model
    WhatsApp- Modern Revenue Generation Strategy
    Conclusion
    FAQs

    WhatsApp- A Brief Background

    The men behind Whatsapp are Brian Acton and Jan Koum, who used to work in Yahoo. Jan Koum was the one who came up with the idea of Whatsapp. The journey began when he purchased the iPhone in January 2009. He instantly identified the potential of the app business on the App Store, which was only just several months old at the time. He intended to create an app that displayed user statuses beside their names. After discussing the concept with Acton, the two went to Alex Fishman for further information. They worked on the idea, created the iOS version, and established the ‘WhatsApp inc.’ in California. The idea behind the name to be “Whatsapp” was to make it familiar with what’s up. It is pretty catchy.

    None of their friends and family liked the initial version because it was consuming battery, the app was crashing, and much more. When Apple launched its push notification update, most users found it fun which led to Whatsapp 2.0. The plan was to build an instantaneous messaging platform for everyone.

    People were enthralled by the prospect of checking in with simply a phone number and sending texts to friends through the internet rather than through carrier SMS plans. Because rivals like Blackberry’s BBM were just for Blackberry users, and G-Talk and Skype ask users to provide a unique ID to interact with others, consumers liked this WhatsApp, because it is free from such restrictions.

    WhatsApp became a handy software due to its user base growing to 250,000 in only a few months. The software was initially released on the iPhone app store, and then after a few months, it was available for Blackberry. In December 2009, the ios version was updated to enable users to exchange photographs, and an Android version of the software was released in 2010. Both creators became billionaires without ever placing an ad on the app.

    The application was first charged in the shape of a yearly fee or an initial installation cost, and many users were prepared to spend for it. Later, in 2013, the installation fees were eliminated, and the setup became utterly free. After that, a $1 yearly subscription charge was meant to be paid by members.

    Facebook bought WhatsApp
    Facebook bought WhatsApp

    Furthermore, between 2011 and 2013, Sequoia Capital invested $60 million in WhatsApp, including $8 million in round one and $52 million in the subsequent round. In February 2014, Facebook bought Whatsapp for $19 billion, making it the company’s biggest purchase deal. After that, further developments in App services came into existence. At the beginning of 2016, the $1 membership charge was eliminated.

    WhatsApp Business Model

    WhatsApp- Business Model

    Now comes the question: what is the business model of WhatsApp, and how was the company earning in the starting year. Below are the pillars of the WhatsApp business model:

    1. Value Proposition –  WhatsApp has given its users a lot of value. The brand’s core value proposition comprises its appealing and trustworthy characteristics and its accessibility, affordability, simplicity, low-risk element, and brand recognition. However, the very thing that attracted the customer was the plethora of features like sending message audio and video to friends without worrying about logging in and out. The best part was you can send messages for free all you need is a data pack that attracts the customer towards the platform. In addition, WhatsApp’s security standards are robust, which minimizes the danger element. It sends encrypted communications and guarantees that each communication transmitted through the app has a distinct lock and key. This feature builds trust among the customer.

    2. Customer Segments – WhatsApp’s users are mostly smartphone users. It is used by everyone from teens to adults to the elderly. The app’s intended audience is users who wish to interact with one another for personal or business reasons. This software is a valuable tool amongst international users since it allows them to connect with relatives, friends, and co-workers who are not in their own country. Business owners also use the app to communicate with their consumers and conduct promotional events.

    3. Focusing on Partners – WhatsApp’s team formed crucial connections with far more than 50 carriers worldwide. One of the most profitable relationships has been with Sequoia Capital, which provided a significant amount of funding to the brand and played a large part in its growth and career expansion. In addition, WhatsApp frequently forms strategic agreements with mobile firms to grow its services and user base. App shops, OS integrators, and various banks are among WhatsApp’s other significant partners.

    4. Focusing on Resources – The central part of the WhatsApp business model is focusing on resources. They have three types of resources which are physical, human, and organizational. The application’s biological resources are mostly its software and hardware. WhatsApp has a fantastic group of engineers who make up an outstanding development team, representing the company’s human resources. WhatsApp’s unique software suite is the company’s most important organizational resource, with over 2 billion people worldwide. These assets also include the brand’s significant collaborators, such as telecom carriers, device makers, software engineers, and others, who helped the brand grow its user base.

    5. Focusing on Aim – The aim played a considerable role in the WhatsApp business model, which is to be a reliable platform for people all across the globe; that’s why they work on enhancing support, providing security, privacy, and much more.

    6. Channels – WhatsApp’s main outlet is its smartphone app. The marketing materials used by the business to market its goods include social media postings and its site. Other options include Google Play, the App Store, and other portable devices.

    7. Customer Relationship Customer relationship plays a crucial part in app success, and WhatsApp keeps that in mind. The brand’s website is set up to respond to a variety of commonly asked questions by visitors. In addition, personal support is given via built-in email assistance. Furthermore, WhatsApp’s customer relationship includes a zero-ad policy, ethical use of social networks, truthful blog posts, and end-to-end encryption, among other things.

    8. Revenue Generation – Watsapp was very clear about not displaying ads on the application. But to survive, it is essential to generate a source of money. As a result, in some regions, the company implemented a paid service in which consumers were obliged to pay a $1 yearly renewal fee.


    Comparing Whatsapp and Whatsapp Business
    Whatsapp Business App basically created with the best interest of small business owners in mind.


    WhatsApp- Modern Revenue Generation Strategy

    Following Facebook’s takeover of WhatsApp in 2014, the company has devised a new revenue-generating strategy. The following are a handful of the company’s brand recent income initiatives.

    1. Whatsapp for BusinessWhatsApp Business, an enterprise app, was introduced in January 2018 to help small companies. This app was created mainly for businesses to communicate with their consumers or shoppers. Further, WhatsApp Enterprise Solution was designed by Facebook for big companies with a worldwide customer base. Using WhatsApp conversation, they might provide e-commerce or customer care.

    2. WhatsApp Payment ServiceWhatsapp Payment, a payment processing service available exclusively in India only. By partnering with banks, WhatsApp will offer its customers the capability to make payments and financial transactions. For such solutions, the company will be able to receive a commission.

    Conclusion

    To sum up! This is all about the WhatsApp business model. The company is a familiar name to everyone. There is no contradiction in the point that this platform has revolutionized the way we communicate today. It has taken over SMS, MMS, and other services. The software is popular among all age groups, and with Facebook’s control over it, we will see more WhatsApp in coming years.

    FAQs

    Who is the founder of WhatsApp?

    Jan Koum and Brian Acton have founded WhatsApp in 2009.

    When was WhatsApp acquired by Facebook?

    Facebook has acquired WhatsApp in 2014.

    Is WhatsApp business free to use?

    Yes, WhatsApp Business is free to download and use.

    Who pays for WhatsApp calls?

    WhatsApp Caller and receiver, both parties pay data charges to call and receive a call from the network being used for the WhatsApp call.

    Is WhatsApp payment available in India?

    WhatsApp Payment service is now available for up to 20 million users in India. It has been designed on the National Payments Corporation of India’s (NPCI) Unified Payment Interface (UPI) system.

    Who funded WhatsApp?

    WhatsApp is funded by Sequoia Capital.