How to make use of WhatsApp Business API to generate more sales on Shopify?

WhatsApp Business API

If you are one of the 220.5 million WhatsApp Business users, you are doing business the right way. The free application allows businesses to create a profile to display company name, logo, website, location, working hours and product catalogue. It offers some basic tools to automate reply and check messaging statistics. Nonetheless, it was built with small business owners in mind and you may find the limitations below pretty annoying as your business grows:

• Only one agent can manage all conversations on either Web or App at one time.
• No way to send bulk personalised text messages - one has to repeatedly copy and paste the same text and send in different chat rooms.
• Risk of being blocked or marked as spam by unpleasant customers and not being able to know why.
• Difficult to keep track of sent and reply rates for future analysis.

Medium to large companies often resort to the paid solution - WhatsApp Business API. It is a developer tool to support business communications at scale. The main benefits include:

• A team of customer service representatives can access one WhatsApp Business account at the same time.
• Develop marketing automation tools to broadcast personalised messages at scale. 
• Integrate with your existing e-commerce store to send targeted messages like order notifications and shipping updates.
• Green tick official verification and company name displayed on the profile even if the customer has not saved the business in their contact list, giving customers a confidence boost and reducing spam complaints.

Want to know more about WhatsApp Business API? Read our essential guide.

The reason we should add WhatsApp to Shopify

One of the biggest challenges of operating an online store is to convert casual browsers into real shoppers or even loyal customers. However, Shopify store owners, you can install a WhatsApp-Live Chat widget and extend your sales effort beyond the e-commerce store. Some of the benefits include:

• Offer instant help to a potential customer’s question
• Get customers to react quickly from the solutions you provided 
• Offer good customer service by giving real-time post-purchase and fulfilment updates 
• Chat with end-to-end encryption to provide additional data security
• Learn about your customer’s purchase intent and habits to improve retention

The difference between Live Chat and WhatsApp

80% of consumers in the United Kingdom used social media platforms for shopping in 2021. More than 50% of the country's population buy fashion products through both online stores and messaging apps. If you are selling apparel, beauty products or home electronics, injecting social commerce strategy into your business model is a smart move. Wondering which channel is the best for selling through chat - WhatsApp or the little add-ons like a Live Chat widget that pops up everytime one enters your online store? Here’s a fair comparison.

Live chat: lead generation and website analytics

Live Chat is a chat widget linked to your website. The chat is triggered based on the visitor's actions so it allows you to proactively reach your customer. You can customise different messages to catch users’ attention based on the page they are browsing. If a visitor is staying on your home page for a while, a welcome message to help them navigate through product information would be very helpful; when a visitor is viewing a landing page, discount popups could help drive sales.

Live Chat is also a powerful lead generation tool - you can plug in a lead form and get customers to fill in their contact details for future communications. Thanks to its web-based nature, it is also an excellent analytics tool to find out what pages are performing well in attracting conversions, so you can remap the customer journey on your website accordingly. 

The downside is when a visitor closes the webpage, conversation history on the visitor’s interface is removed. Moreover, Live Chat stores data based on a visitor's IP address, so it’s not very easy to resume conversation with people who switch between a mobile device and a computer.

WhatsApp: an intimate, personalised experience

The typical online purchases involve as many as six steps and take about 3 hours. People use the pocket of time they spend moving between daily chores to ponder about their purchase desires - from online search on social media sites, reading reviews, comparing different brands, asking for friends’ opinions, placing items into a shopping cart, to finally paying. 

Now, if you reach them through WhatsApp, you can reinforce their needs even after they left your online store. WhatsApp’s conversation history is synchronised between mobile and web versions, so the customer service representatives can pick up where the conversation was left off easily. 

Another notable point is WhatsApp users are much more tolerant with slower response time. People expect a response in Live Chat within 35 seconds, but 1-2 hours waiting time in WhatsApp is acceptable, thanks to the app’s great mobile experience and vast user base, making it an essential part of everyday life. 

Click here to know the guide to integrate WhatsApp with Shopify.