What Enterprises Should Consider for Click-to-WhatsApp

WhatsApp is the chat app of choice for many people all around the globe. And with its familiarity and direct interaction capability, the WhatsApp Business API can be an impactful channel for scalable customer acquisition, engagement and loyalty.

Click-to-chat is a feature that businesses can add to their Facebook and Instagram ads, allowing customers to click through and connect with a company representative via WhatsApp. It keeps the customer in control both of the conversation and their privacy, making it an increasingly attractive option for those seeking direct contact with businesses before they buy.

The WhatsApp Business API allows customers to chat directly with a sales rep, agent or chatbot that can answer questions immediately. Instead of driving customers towards a cold landing page or website as part of marketing activities, direct chats can enhance lead generation and give customers assistance to find the best right product or service for their needs.

There are some important areas to consider, however, to ensure the WhatsApp service offered — and the route to finding it — is useful for customers. Getting it right means presenting your business in the best way possible, and can ultimately contribute to driving company growth.

As with all forms of outreach, finding the right customer means making sure a company's message can be heard. Businesses can optimize their ads in the following ways:

• Home in on the target market on Facebook and Instagram by creating a "Lookalike Audience". This seeks out people similar to an existing audience that the business has already have identified.
• Follow up with potential customers who have already indicated their interest in the business before. The measure of interest could be based on the actions that people have previously taken on the social media channels or the business's website, by creating "Custom Audiences".
• Use automatic ad placements on Instagram and Facebook to deliver ads to people throughout the apps and services in the Facebook ecosystem. Note that message optimization, however, is not available in the EU or India.

Getting the ad in front of the right audience is only one part of the equation. Making the ad clear and relevant to the audience, to prompt them to respond accordingly, is crucial if businesses want users to pay attention to their ads.

Use the ad to set expectations as follows:

• Ensure the visuals and text in the placed ad help to prime customers for a conversation, and makes the benefits of direct interaction clear. That might be getting questions answered quickly, or getting special access to a personalized service, for example.
• Visuals such as chat bubbles or other images synonymous with discussion could be used to bring the service to life the service and encourage customers to engage.

Once the customer clicks through to the chat, their expectations surrounding effective and personal discussion which the ad has offered to them must be fulfilled:

• If a business chooses to use a chatbot agent as the first port-of-call, ensure that the customer can quickly and directly access a human agent at whatever point they choose.
• If contact details such as phone numbers, email addresses, web support forms, or details of physical stores are requested, make sure you provide them as quickly as possible.

Businesses can enhance their customer acquisition, engagement and loyalty through direct chat experiences. It's easy to get started with click-to-chat on Facebook and Instagram with these three simple steps:

• Connect the Facebook business page to the WhatsApp Business API. This will allow you to start creating ads that click to WhatsApp in Ads Manager for both Facebook and Instagram.
• When creating the ad, you have two options once you have defined the ad’s objective:
  • Select WhatsApp as the post-click destination in the ad settings. This ensures that the traffic, website conversations, and message objective are all set to chat.
  • Select "Send WhatsApp Message" as the CTA in the ad's settings. This means that the reach, brand awareness, engagement, and video views objective also point towards the customer's experience in direct chat with the business.

For more information on how best to use the WhatsApp Business API, check out our tyntec blog on how to leverage conversational marketing, the Facebook guide on connecting Facebook pages, and the Facebook guide on how to create ad thats click to WhatsApp in the Ad Manager.