Commerce is simply the activity of buying goods and services. However, due to the digitalized nature of the world, businesses have learned to bring their products and services online—this is known as E-commerce.

Just like the name implies, Electronic Commerce (E-commerce) is the ability of a brand or a business to sell their products or services through digital platforms. Although most of these businesses use TikTok and instagram to sell their products, this blog post will highlight the importance of using WhatsApp—A popular messaging app to promote your E-commerce brand.

Why Is WhatsApp Important for E-commerce growth

WhatsApp is a messaging platform that is all about being causal. This app has made connections feel more personal and genuine. Recent studies have shown how this app can be used to boost engagement, drive sales and improve customer support.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise, as this platform is now being used as a form of communication. However, businesses and brands mostly use WhatsApp business—A secondary WhatsApp channel, to communicate with their customers.

How To Use WhatsApp Business to Grow Your E-commerce brand

E-commerce brands really need to start leveraging WhatsApp business as a means to sell their products. This secondary channel was created for the benefit of business owners to help them streamline their workflow without having so many frictions. Let’s look at some of the key ways to use this messaging app to set up your business.

1. Create a business profile

To create a business profile, use the following steps:

• the first step you have to take is to create an account on WhatsApp business.
• At the middle, you’ll see the icon tools. Click on it and it’ll open up a page.
• Here, you can see the option to add your business name, categories, address, business description and business hour.

It’s necessary to make each section detailed, clear and straight to the point in order to reduce confusion and friction from your customers. Therefore, the more information you put out, the better.

2. Create your e-commerce catalog

After creating your business profile, the next step is to create your catalog.
For instance, if your business is a jewelry business. This is where you add your best items to your catalog. For each item, you can add the item’s name, product’s description and price.

In this section, it’s important to make your product description enticing, listing out its best features and benefits. This makes your customers reach out in order to inquire more about your products.

3. Utilize the Short link Feature

This is a feature that is automatically generated once you create an account on the app. This feature is used to start a message with your customers. For instance, let’s say you’re running a promo, you can put out this link on your other social media platforms or on your website so that when your potential clients click on it, they can automatically start a chat with you.

In addition, this is really helpful as it reduces the stress of copying numbers and saving them before reaching out to a business.

4. Set up your automated messages

Automated messages have become a form of lifesaver for entrepreneurs. WhatsApp business helps e-commerce brands to set up two different types of automated messages that help them stay in touch with their customers.

a. The greeting message

This is used to greet your new customers who just messaged you. Or customers who message you after 14 days of no activity. Automating the greeting message with a relevant message like “Hey buddy, thanks for reaching out. Will be with you shortly” gives you room to meet up without making your potential customer feel neglected.
However, it’s important to message the customer promptly, as this helps to build connections.

b. The away message

The away message is usually sent out to your customers when you’re unavailable. This automated message let’s your customer know you’re currently unavailable and then gives them the option of checking out your catalog to find what they like.

5. Custom labels

WhatsApp business makes it possible for e-commerce brands to set labels. These labels create an easy way for businesses to segment their audience.

Moreover, segmenting your audience is an invaluable tool when it comes to marketing. The labels have different colors with titles like paid, lead, order complete, pending payment etc. However, there is room to create a whole different kind of label depending on what you want.

Therefore, when you use labels to organize your customers, you can then send out broadcast messages to a particular group of your customers. This broadcast message can be personalized to avoid making the customer feel less valued.

For instance, when sending out a broadcast message, instead of saying “Hey everyone” you can go ahead to say “Hey Patrick”. This makes your customer feel seen, appreciated and in a customer-centric relationship with you.

6. Update your catalog—for your e-commerce brand

As a business owner, you’ll sell out products and buy new ones. Therefore, it’s important to always manage and update your catalog in order to always have your latest stock in your catalog.

Benefits of using WhatsApp for your E-commerce brand

Using the WhatsApp business platform makes it easier for you to connect with your audience. Therefore, let’s look at the benefits of using WhatsApp for your e-commerce brand.

Personalized Messages

WhatsApp has made it possible for e-commerce brands to engage in a direct and personalized communication with their customers. This makes it easier for these brands to offer real-time customer support, which subsequently helps to foster strong relationships between the brand and the customer.

Secure Message Encryption

WhatsApp’s end-end encryption guarantees privacy and ensures secure communication between e-commerce brands and their customers.

Ability to Automate your messages

You can automate your messages like the greeting and away message and also set up quick replies to frequently asked questions.

WhatsApp widget on your website

You can introduce the WhatsApp widget on your website. This makes it easier for your potential customers to reach out to you directly.

Conclusion

E-commerce is the ability of businesses to sell their products or services through digital platforms. Due to the competitive nature of the e-commerce world, these brands must learn to include WhatsApp in their business strategy in order to improve sales and customer support.