With 2.7 billion users worldwide, WhatsApp is the biggest messaging app on the planet. For most people, it’s the most utilized application on their phones as we all use it to communicate daily with our friends, family, colleagues, and sometimes clients.
If you’re running a business, using WhatsApp to connect with your clients is an excellent choice. Did you know that you can create a business account on WhatsApp and have access to a bunch of features tailored to businesses’ needs?
Many are aware of the existence of WhatsApp Business. Still, a lot of users wonder how it is different from the standard application, how it can enhance their communication with clients, and how to optimize its use. In this article, we’re digging deep into the difference between WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business to answer all these questions and more.
What is WhatsApp Business?
WhatsApp doesn’t need any introduction: it’s a well-known messaging app that uses the smartphone’s Internet connection to exchange text messages and media between mobiles for free.
WhatsApp Business is an alternative version of the same application that aims at allowing businesses to communicate with their clients efficiently and comfortably. At first glance, it looks just like the classic WhatsApp version, but it provides additional features designed for companies and freelance professionals.
Just like the standard WhatsApp, WhatsApp Business is available for iOS and Android devices, it’s free, and it’s connected to your phone number. So why should you download WhatsApp Business? Let’s find out how WhatsApp Business works to understand what it can do for your business that WhatsApp can’t.
WhatsApp Business: How Does it Work?
Download WhatsApp Business and Create your Account
As mentioned, WhatsApp Business is available on the Apple Store and Google Play Store. Once you’ve downloaded and installed it, you can create your account and connect it to your phone number, just like you’ve done with WhatsApp. This is where users usually have their first question: can you use the same phone number you’ve already connected to WhatsApp?
If you are a freelancer and don’t have a business phone number, the answer is yes: if you’re already using WhatsApp with your phone number, you can create a WhatsApp Business account using the same number.
Chat Section
As soon as you’ve created your WhatsApp Business account, you’ll realize that the chat section is identical to WhatsApp so, if you’re familiar with the latter, you’ll have zero difficulties with WhatsApp Business. The difference between WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business does not rely on their chat functionalities but on the additional features that the latter provides.
WhatsApp Business Main Features
1. Business Profile
In WhatsApp Business, you can create a business profile. This way, your contacts not only would visualize your account name and status but a lot of other information such as your logo, address, opening hours, email, and website.
A business profile provides a professional image of your activity. It would enhance reliability and improve brand perception.
2. Automated Replies
With WhatsApp Business you can set up automated replies. This feature is mainly utilized for:
- Greetings: When a user contacts you for the first time, they will receive an automated greetings message. The potential customer would immediately receive confirmation of the contact, eliminating the frustration of not receiving a response. It improves the customer experience while giving you a wider time window to reply your messages.
- Away Messages: When users contact you outside your business hour, they can receive an automated message informing them that you’re going to handle their requests as soon as you’re back to work.
3. Labels
With WhatsApp Business you can organize your conversations with labels. For example, you could distinguish your clients from your suppliers from potential customers reporting information. This way, you can quickly identify the conversations to prioritize at any given moment.
4. Quick Replies
WhatsApp Business allows you to create shortcuts for your most frequent messages. You’ll no longer need to type the same messages or sentences over and over again.
5. Possiblity of Automating Order Management
When customers use WhatsApp to order from you, handling the different chats and order details can become complicated. WhatsApp Business doesn’t come with a built-in feature that helps you centralize and manage your orders from a single place. The good news is that we can provide it!
Hermes Wing provides an AI WhatsApp Business automatic tool that capture, processes and organize your WhatsApp messages into a centralized dashboard. It also integrates with your order management system for seamless order management.
Difference Between WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business
As you’ve just learned, the only thing that WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business have in common is the chat section.
They are also both free and extremely easy to use. Apart from that, when it comes to business communication and order management, WhatsApp is extremely limited compared to WhatsApp Business.
How to Optimize WhatsApp Business
WhatsApp Business is so easy to use that its features suggest how you can optimize communication with your clients. To get the most out of your WhatsApp Business account, follow these simple steps:
- Assign your business name to your WhatsApp Business account.
- Choose your business logo as your WhatsApp Business profile image.
- Add your business details to your business profile.
- Set automated replies. It could be greetings, away messages, your business hours, or some useful information.
- Organize your chat section with labels. It’ll help you be more efficient when handling replies and orders.
- If there are sentences that you always use, create shortcuts for them. Avoiding typing the same words again and again will save you a lot of time.
- Optimize your WhatsApp Business with our AI automation tool, especially if you accept orders via WhatsApp. It’ll make order management more efficient and less tedious.
Conclusion
While WhatsApp is perfect for personal communication, WhatsApp Business offers specialized features tailored to meet the needs of businesses. For any company looking to improve customer interaction and order management, upgrading to WhatsApp Business is a simple yet impactful step.
