How to Increase Your WhatsApp Presence

In-the-know companies are ready to leverage WhatsApp and need a strategy to let their customers know this new channel is available for every step of the customer journey. From conversation starter buttons on their website to product packaging in local supermarkets, companies can get creative about letting their customers know that they can use WhatsApp to converse with them.

While paid awareness campaigns can be really effective to gain more traffic and presence, there are quite a few organic awareness strategies you can do besides adding WhatsApp to your contact page. Let’s get started:

Companies invest in Facebook and Instagram ads for many reasons: from branding to specific offers, advertising on the largest social networks allows brands to gain immediate visibility. That’s why connecting ads to WhatsApp is the next step for personalized campaigns: instead of linking ads to general landing pages, companies can link them to their WhatsApp Business Account, where users can chat with a bot or a representative about offers.

Companies can optimize the metadata content on their Contact Us pages to rank highly for WhatsApp customer service within Google Search (when a user types in “brand” contact number or “brand” customer support into a search box). They can also run paid text ad campaigns on Google to reinforce awareness among their customer base of WhatsApp as their new support channel.

In addition, companies can create Google Ads to raise awareness of their WhatsApp customer service options.

If you have a custom app, you can create an overlay screen within the logged-in customer experience with a clear CTA button to prompt customer opt-in to your new WhatsApp channel. This may be especially interesting for companies whose apps don’t offer any conversational options to provide customer service or follow up on inquiries.

Businesses can begin chats on WhatsApp by placing conversation starter buttons on their website. In this case, a web visitor can simply click on a button to request more information about a product, or to get relevant content like tips, tutorials, and advice.

The company collects the person’s phone number and can create a link that will start a chat with them. By clicking the link, a chat automatically opens with the person. This function is possible with wa.me links.

WA.me links are short URLs that can instantly open a conversation with your business’ full phone number in international format (e.g. wa.me/1555123456). Omit any zeros, brackets, or dashes when adding a phone number in international format.

Companies can create their own link by using https://wa.me/<number>, where the <number> is their full phone number in international format. After creating your own link, you can design it as a button and then use it on your website.

To best assess where to place your conversation starter buttons, review your monthly traffic. Also, include your WhatsApp number on your homepage, customer support page, and/or Contact Us page. And consider creating a dedicated landing page for additional visibility of your product or service.

Companies can encourage employees and/or customer service agents to use wa.me links or surface WhatsApp numbers in their email signature lines.

Companies that offer consumer products and services can greatly benefit from promoting their WhatsApp channel on product packaging and outdoor advertising. Telecom stores may add print advertising to their shops, and travel companies can do the same in airports and railway stations.

Consumer packaging goods can include WhatsApp information on their packages, which would be much more prominent than the usual hotline phone number. QR codes and deep links can also be used in this scenario, enabling a user to scan or click to start a conversation with a business. Companies can print QR codes on packaging, receipts, etc., or add deep links to their website or mobile app to start a chat for customer service.

Known as “call-to-messaging deflection,” more and more brands are deploying IVR deflection in WhatsApp Business to enhance their customer support. This shift is increasing customer satisfaction rates and boosting operational efficiency.

Critically, it also lowers admin costs, as customers are redirected from expensive voice channels to low-cost messaging channels they already use, like WhatsApp.

IVR deflection can help your business:

• Provide better service, as WhatsApp enables customers to share photos, videos, and other media to illustrate customer issues.
• Improve agent efficiency by shifting customer issues to WhatsApp, where agents can handle more conversations at once.
• Reduce overall costs of customer service phone operations.

Find more best practices related to IVR Deflection here.

Companies that want to use WhatsApp as a primary communications channel have a wide range of options to build awareness for their WhatsApp channel, from conversation buttons on their website to Instagram ads and IVR deflection.

tyntec can help you in your journey to gain more customers with WhatsApp. Contact us for more information or request access now.