Chat with your customers on WhatsApp via thebestofzambia.com

Starting today, your customers can initiate a WhatsApp conversation from your company profile page on thebestofzambia.com. Also included in this update is an overhauled enquiry system that will increase the quantity and quality of enquiries you receive.

We are excited to announce the following improvements:

WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger integration
Improved enquiry form and spam filtering
40% increase in number of enquiries

In this post, we also discuss:

The reasons businesses in Zambia should use WhatsApp
How you can add your WhatsApp number to your company profile page
How you can convert a WhatsApp account to a WhatsApp Business account
Tips and tricks for engaging your customers on WhatsApp

WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger integration

Email has always been a stable communication channel (and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future). However, many users want to communicate with businesses using the familiar and convenient apps they use for personal communication. Namely, WhatsApp and Messenger.

WhatsApp is a global powerhouse. It is the primary platform for communication for most people on the planet.

Why should Zambian businesses take WhatsApp seriously?

On average one billion users send and receive messages every day on WhatsApp. It is the only platform that has more daily active users than Facebook, counting 1.5 billion users.
WhatsApp is the #1 messaging app in 104 countries (including Zambia) and takes the top place in more countries than any other app. Facebook Messenger comes second with 64 countries.
In the countries where WhatsApp is the #1 messaging app, it has become part of the countries’ communication infrastructure. In 45 countries it is installed on 90% of the devices.
WhatsApp Stories (or “Status”) is the biggest stories feature in the world. With 450m+ users, it has more users than Instagram or Snapchat.
98 percent of mobile messages are opened and read, with 90 percent of getting opened within three seconds of being received.

Today, we’re excited to tap into this momentum by releasing a feature to allow your customers to choose their enquiry method. The default continues to be email, but if you’ve given us your WhatsApp number or Facebook page, customers can now click either option to start a conversation with your business in the relevant app.

By reducing the friction of customers contacting businesses we foresee a considerable increase in the number of enquiries we generate for businesses.

You can take advantage of this feature by sending us your WhatsApp enabled number.

Customers have the option to choose how they contact a business

Improvements to enquiry system lead to reduced spam and a 40% increase in number of enquiries

In addition to our WhatsApp and Messenger integration, this update also includes some improvements to our enquiry system.

In context enquiry formsCustomers can now enquire about specific pieces of your content. We’ve placed an enquiry form next to each of your services, products, promotions and branches.

These changes reduce the friction of enquiring by allowing customers to contact you directly from the content they are browsing rather than having go back to your contact details. These changes also give you more context about what the customers is enquiring about (e.g. it’s helpful to know a customers vague enquiry is about your Conferencing Venue service and not your Hotel service).

Spam filtering improvementsWe’ve implemented an automatic spam filtering system that blocks enquiries that contains content that looks like spam, unsolicited job vacancy requests or unsolicited offers of services. While the system is not foolproof this should reduce the number of irrelevant enquiries businesses receive.

40% increase in number of enquiries processedWe’ve been testing these improvements for the last few weeks and are happy with the results. Starting from the day we launched the improvements, we have noticed that, on average, the number of enquiries we process for businesses has increased by 40%. This increase is in spite of the fact that we now block more enquiries due to our new spam filtering system.

On average, enquiries have increased by 40% since the improvements were launched

WhatsApp for business tips and ideas

A tried and tested strategy for reaching customers is to go where they are. The fact of the matter is Zambians are on WhatsApp. By ignoring it, you are missing out on a huge customer base.

There are three basic ways to share messages, photos, and videos using WhatsApp:

One-to-one chatYou can chat directly with another user who is in your phone’s contact list. You can also call or video call them, or even record snippets of audio to text to them. This is the primary use case for businesses and is usually initiated by a customer contacting your business with a query.
GroupsGroup chats let you chat with up to 256 people at once, sharing messages, photos, and videos. You could limit the ability to send messages to just group admins; giving you more control. Or you could open it up to everyone for more of a community feel.
Broadcast listsWhen you send a message to a broadcast list, it will go to anyone in the list who has your number saved in their phones’ address book. Broadcast lists are limited to 256 contacts. Because it unlikely that a customer will have your number saved this feature generally not useful for businesses.

The lack of advertising and business presence on WhatsApp means that early adopters can really stand out — if you do it right. Below are some tips to help:

1. Managing multiple customer enquiries efficiently

As intuitive as WhatsApp on mobile is, it is not as intuitive to use as a customer support system where the the number and frequency of conversations dramatically increase. The following tools can help:

Install the WhatsApp Business AppWhatsApp Business is an Android app which is free to download, and was built with the small business owner in mind. With the app, businesses can interact with customers easily by using tools to automate, sort, and quickly respond to messages. Learn more: https://www.whatsapp.com/business/
Warning #1: We recommend that you make a manual backup of your chat history before migrating to a business account. It’s possible to migrate from a business account back to a personal account but you will lose your chat history.
Warning #2: It’s **not** possible to have one phone number linked to both a “personal” and “business” WhatsApp account. Only convert to business if you are prepared to give up the personal account or if you have two numbers.
Use the WhatsApp Web appThe WhatsApp web app allows you to use WhatsApp on your computer where the mouse and keyboard allow for more efficient communication. The messages you send and receive are fully synced between your phone and your computer, and you can see all messages on both devices. Learn more: https://faq.whatsapp.com/en/web/28080003

2. Add “Click to Chat” via WhatsApp buttons to your website

As we have already established, people prefer to communicate with businesses using the methods they are already using. If you’re able to, you should add a Click to chat via WhatsApp button or link on your website. Howto guide: https://faq.whatsapp.com/en/general/26000030

If your business is on thebestofzambia.com or you have a website powered by thebestofzambia.com, we automatically do this for you with our WhatsApp integration.

3. Embrace WhatsApp’s limitations

It essential to your WhatsApp strategy to prominently list your WhatsApp number on mediums such as your website because customers cannot search WhatsApp to find your number if they don’t have it and you cannot chat with a customer who has not already contacted you.

These limitations means that in most cases, customers will initiate conversation and you will have an opportunity to respond. This makes the most viable use case for WhatsApp a one-to-one inbound customer support system rather than a one-to-many outbound marketing system.

That’s not to say you cannot use WhatsApp for marketing, its just that you have to work around it rather than with it.

Marketing to WhatsApp groupsYou could for example, inviting previous customers into a group (baring in mind you’d first need their number, permission and multiple groups to get around the 256 member limit) and then messaging the group with company news, new product arrivals or special offers etc.

Engage with high value customers via one-to-one chatOne-to-one chat is not as efficient, but could be worth it if you have identified key customers. You could use WhatsApp chat for a more personal way to communicate with them. For example you could use one-to-one chat for:

personalised sales outreach
offering product support
informing customers about promotions relevant to their past purchases

It doesn’t have to be boring either, you could:

share links to your website help section
share images or videos of your product
leave an audio message for customers to review later in their own time
if a customer requests more information, its very easy to switch to a voice call (with their permission).

If you’re already advertising with us

Send us your WhatsApp number so we can add it to your company profile page.

If you’re a business in Zambia

Talk to us to learn more about what we can add to your marketing efforts through innovative features such as WhatsApp integration. Start an online chat conversation with us at thebestofzambia.com/platform.

And, in the spirit of this article, you can also message our Marketing Director directly on WhatsApp by clicking here.

Chat with your customers on WhatsApp via thebestofzambia.com