So probably every brand or business has among its top priorities engaging with its audience and converting leads into paying customers. And we also know that at the core of every long-lasting relationship with a client lies a conversation.
In previous articles, we talked about how c-commerce lets you have exactly these conversations and how it can help you drive business growth and build better Customer Experiences for your clientele. In this article, we will dig deeper into the already existing solutions, the major benefits, the costs, and how you can implement this solution almost all alone.
Nowadays, there are more tools you can use to implement conversational commerce, but the original tool we all used to communicate was WhatsApp. There are some small business owners that already use WhatsApp to start conversations or give more details to their clients, but they are using the App with their personal phone number and profile and not their business phone number or business profile, which can seem unprofessional for customers with high expectations. That is why WhatsApp rolled out a new product called WhatsApp BusinessApp/Platform.
From small to large businesses WhatsApp Business is here to help you get into the power of conversational commerce by using the App with 2 billion users around the world. Everyone is included. Even if you own a small business or are the CEO of a medium to a large company, WhatsApp Business offers everyone the possibility to scale their business through conversational commerce.
For example, if you are a small business owner and want to start having more conversations with your customers, you can download the WhatsApp Business App from GooglePlay or App Store and start building your Business Profile. But if you own a larger company, then there is the WhatsApp Business Platform to help you manage all the interactions with your customers at a bigger scale.
To use the WhatsApp Business Platform, the first step is to contact one of the Meta Implementation Partners, which are able to use the API that WhatsApp provides for Business purposes. Yes...we know, API is a fancy technical word, but don't leave the page just yet. The idea behind is that Meta (earlier known just as Facebook) chose to deliver the Whatsapp Business Platform only trough implementation partners. These partners are just companies certified by Meta to implement the WhatsApp Business Platform on their behalf for you.
To wrap this up, you can't implement the Business Platform yourself and you don't have to ask Meta to do it, but you have to work with one of their implementation partners in order to get it.
Using and leveraging the WhatsApp Business API, some clever teams created tools that cannot only help you implement your c-commerce selling strategy but also help with conversational marketing, increase brand awareness, and support you through the whole process. Some of those platforms that took the power of WhatsApp Business even further and created let's say a WhatsApp Business Platform "on steroids" with lots of interesting features, are Berlin based companies Charles (Hello Charles) or Superchat. Don’t worry, we will give you also our review on both tools and even more.
Of course, WhatsApp Business is a great c-commerce tool, and the main goal is to introduce and implement it into your scalable e-commerce strategy as fast and easily as possible. But let`s not forget that to implement something, even if it is as popular and cool as WhatsApp, you first must hear the business benefits. We can divide them into two categories as follows:
For your customers some of the major benefits will be that:
As for your business the major benefits are:
Given that we can spot so many attractive and important benefits not only for customers but also for brands themselves, let`s recap once more the possibilities available to us for integrating WhatsApp Business as a c-commerce tool.
As previously said, there are more tools you can use to incorporate c–commerce. WhatsApp has developed two possibilities for brands to interact with their customers through their App. For small business owners, WhatsApp created the WhatsApp Business App which can be downloaded from Google Play or the AppStore. For medium to large Companies, they have developed the WhatsApp BusinessPlatform. A platform that makes it easier for larger companies to manage their conversational commerce. These are the two options offered officially by Meta for businesses.
Other businesses like Charles, who is also an official Meta Partner, leveraged the power of WhatsApp API (meaning they accessed all the power that WhatsAppBusiness has) and created on top, their own spin-off platform to bring brands closer to their customers. And let`s not forget about Superchat which is a messaging solution for brands that not only includes WhatsApp but also hast integrations with other messaging solutions that brands might have.
Keep in mind that the option you choose for your business must be strictly mapped to your business needs and is probably safer to start with the lower-tier solution than going directly with for example the Business Platform. But again, this must be decided only after having the complete analysis of your needs.
Whichever one you choose for your brand, make sure you choose the one that is the easiest to implement in your current landscape but at the same time brings the most benefits for you and your clientele.
