WhatsApp and Digital Marketing | WhatsApp Blasting

WHATSAPP Business: The Ultimate Guide to WHATSAPP Official Account [December 2023] Do you want to have a presence in countries like Japan, Taiwan or Thailand? Consider a WHATSAPP business account to reach your customers. In this article, you'll learn everything you need to know about using WHATSAPP for business. Discover the ins and outs of the WHATSAPP Official Account, its special features, the costs involved, how to attract customers and the registration process. Want to learn more? Read on! WHATSAPP Business: What is WHATSAPP WHATSAPP is a free instant messenger app available for smartphones and desktops. Like most messaging apps, WHATSAPP can send texts, images, videos and audios and allows voice and video calls. NHN Japan developed WHATSAPP in 2011 after the Tohoku earthquake damaged the country's networks for phone Whatsapps and SMS. Since WiFi and 3G networks Bulk SMS on WhatsApp were still usable in the country at the time, WHATSAPP allowed users to communicate via smartphones and computers. When it was launched, WHATSAPP had to compete against another popular instant messenger, KakaoTalk. But thanks to NHN's knowledge of what Japanese users want, it didn't take long for it to overtake KakaoTalk. WHATSAPP quickly became the most popular instant messenger in Japan.

WHATSAPP Business: Major Markets Today, WHATSAPP is used by about 70% of the entire Japanese population. Despite its Japanese origins, the app's popularity has successfully grown in other parts of the world. WHATSAPP has over 182 million monthly active users worldwide. Based on 2020 figures, 90% of WHATSAPP's MAUs are in four key markets: Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and Indonesia. Nowadays, Indonesia no longer seems to be a major market as users there have moved to other messaging apps. For this reason, WHATSAPP has removed features such as WHATSAPP Official Account Verification, IDR pricing, and WHATSAPP advertising from Indonesia. WHATSAPP is still the leading messaging app in Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand. We think it's also worth noting that WHATSAPP is growing in popularity in Laos. In June 2020, WHATSAPP was the third most popular messaging app on their Play Store. Considering its proximity to Thailand, Laotians mostly use WHATSAPP to conduct business with the Thais. In 2021, WHATSAPP was reported to have more downloads than WhatsApp in Cambodia, showing the growth of the channel in this region. Next, let's go through the features of the WHATSAPP app that make it stand out from the crowd. DISTINCT FEATURES OF WHATSAPP

In WHATSAPP's key markets, the app is more than just a messenger. Its full-fledged ecosystem of products makes it a digital payment system, ride-hailing service, cryptocurrency merchant, advertising platform, and more. However, for most people in the world, it's the following features that matter. WHATSAPP Pay WHATSAPP Pay is a mobile payment service that turns your smartphone into a digital wallet. WHATSAPP Pay users can not only pay for goods or services onWhatsapp and in person, but also conveniently transfer money to other users. An image shows WHATSAPP Business: how WHATSAPP Pay works What WHATSAPP Pay can do WHATSAPP Pay is only supported by iOS and Android devices and works in all countries except mainland China, Indonesia, Korea and Singapore. WHATSAPP Friends, Stickers and Points In 2015, WHATSAPP introduced WHATSAPP Friends as a response to KakaoTalk's Kakao Friends. These cute, colorful characters starred in WHATSAPP's official merchandise, games, animated films and stickers, earning the company millions of dollars. These stickers are expressive alternatives to regular emojis and one of the main reasons for the app's popularity.

The main cast of WHATSAPP Friends Cute, colorful characters make up the WHATSAPP Friends WHATSAPP users buy stickers in the WHATSAPP Store by spending money, WHATSAPP Coins, or WHATSAPP Points. WHATSAPP Points are earned when users purchase products with WHATSAPP Pay, sign up for memberships, or download apps. Major brands have offered free stickers as a reward to users who add their accounts as friends. Since companies cannot add complete strangers to their contact lists, giving away free stickers gets around this limitation by encouraging customers to reach out first. Customers get new WHATSAPP stickers and companies expand their pool of potential customers - a win-win! What is a WHATSAPP Official Account Like other instant messengers, WHATSAPP also has separate accounts for personal and business users. WHATSAPP Official Accounts are WHATSAPP's business accounts. WHATSAPP used to have another account type for businesses called WHATSAPP@, but it has been merged with the WHATSAPP Official Account since 2019. Businesses use WHATSAPP Official Accounts to connect with their customers for marketing, sales, and support purposes. Although personal WHATSAPP accounts are suitable for conducting business through the channel, their limited features are insufficient for businesses with large customer bases.

WHATSAPP Official Account Features In addition to being verifiable, WHATSAPP Official Accounts can also send broadcasts and access the Messaging API, which enables connection to external software such as respond.io, an AI-powered customer conversation management software to handle high conversation volumes. If the WHATSAPP Official Account is ideal for your business, there are a few things you need to know first. What you should know about WHATSAPP's official accounts WHATSAPP Official accounts have restrictions in place to prevent companies from spamming WHATSAPP users. Unlike email or SMS, you cannot import existing contacts into your official account contact list. This rule applies even if you have the customer's phone number, email, or WHATSAPP ID. You will have to build your contact list from scratch. WHATSAPP Official Account: What you should know To acquire contacts, you need to get them to send your official account the first message. As we mentioned earlier, big brands use stickers to acquire new contacts, but there are other ways to achieve this. WHATSAPP has no message window limit. This means that once a customer sends you the first message, you can message them at any time. Next, we'll cover how much it costs to maintain an official account on WHATSAPP. WHATSAPP Official Account Subscription Plans WHATSAPP Official accounts can be created for free, but have different message limits and additional fees depending on your subscription. If your monthly quota of free messages is exhausted, each additional message will incur an additional charge depending on your subscription plan. The free plan, also known as the communication plan, allows up to 500 messages per month. However, this plan does not allow messages to be sent beyond the message limit. New WHATSAPP Official Account Pricing: WHATSAPP Official accounts can be created for free, but have different message limits and additional fees depending on your subscription. If your monthly quota of free messages is exhausted, each additional message will incur an additional charge depending on your subscription plan. The free plan, also known as the communication plan, allows up to 500 messages per month. However, this plan does not allow messages to be sent beyond the message limit. There are two types of paid plans: Light and Standard. The Light plan, which costs $50, offers up to 10,000 free messages per month. Similar to the Communication plan, it is not possible to send messages beyond this limit. The Standard plan, which costs $150, offers businesses up to 40,000 free messages per month. This plan allows businesses to exceed the quota of free messages, but charges apply for each additional message. Note that the Light and Standard plans are not available in the EU, US, Indonesia, and Singapore.

WHATSAPP for Business Subscription Plans 2023 There are two types of paid plans: Light and Standard. The Light plan, which costs $50, offers up to 10,000 free messages per month. Similar to the Communication plan, it is not possible to send messages beyond this limit. The Standard plan, priced at $150, offers businesses up to 40,000 free messages per month. This plan allows businesses to exceed the quota of free messages, but charges apply for each additional message. Note that the Light and Standard plans are not available in the EU, US, Indonesia and Singapore. Once you've chosen a plan, the next step is to decide which platform you want to use for your official WHATSAPP account. WHATSAPP Official Account Console vs. Third-Party Inbox There are two ways you can message customers on WHATSAPP Official Account: through the WHATSAPP Official Account Manager chat console or through a business messaging platform connected to the account via Messaging API. The WHATSAPP Official Account Manager chat console is the platform used to send WHATSAPP-exclusive content like stickers and coupons. While it's sufficient for smaller businesses, it's limited when handling large- scale sales or support operations. An image showing the different WHATSAPP Official Account inboxes Types of inboxes Larger businesses with lots of sales or support staff can leverage the channel's full potential by connecting their WHATSAPP Official Account Messaging API to a business messaging platform like respond.io. You get enhanced multi-user support and access to advanced features like AI tools and advanced automation for routing, assignment, support escalation, and more. You can also integrate your CRMs and other software and monitor agent and team performance. Nonetheless, you can easily switch between WHATSAPP's official account manager and third-party inbox to use their respective tools and features when needed. You are not locked into either platform. Next, we'll show you how to create an official account with WHATSAPP. WHATSAPP Business: How to create an official WHATSAPP account Before you can use WHATSAPP for business purposes, you need an official account with WHATSAPP . Follow the instructions below to sign up for an account. 1. Go to the WHATSAPP Business ID page and click Create an account. Create an account

2. Choose the class that's right for you: a. If you already have a WHATSAPP account, click Sign in with a WHATSAPP account and follow the instructions to log in to WHATSAPP Official Account Manager. b. If you don't have a WHATSAPP account, click Sign in with email to enter your email address and receive a login link. Then create an account and log in to WHATSAPP Official Account Manager. Sign in with WHATSAPP account or email 3. Click Create WHATSAPP Official Account once you've logged in to WHATSAPP Official Account Manager. Enter the required information about your company in the text boxes. Fill in your information 4. Click Next. On the next page, double-check the information and click Submit. Review your information 5. Click Go to WHATSAPP Official Account Manager to start using your WHATSAPP Official Account. Your WHATSAPP Official Account is ready Once you've set up an official WHATSAPP account, you can easily connect it to respond.io. Next, we'll go over the best practices for running an official WHATSAPP account. WHATSAPP Official Account: Best Practices Signing up for an official account on WHATSAPP is just the first step. For your business to be successful on WHATSAPP, you need to know how to verify your account, how to get customers to find you, and how to message customers. In this section, we'll explore the best practices you should follow. Verify your WHATSAPP Official Account

WHATSAPP Official account types are distinguished by the color of their badge: Unverified (gray), Verified (blue), and Premium (green). These badges also indicate whether the named person or organization owns or operates the official WHATSAPP account. In addition to the credibility of a WHATSAPP Official Account, the main purpose of verification is to make the account easier to find in WHATSAPP. An unverified WHATSAPP Official Account is searchable only by its basic ID - a unique string of random numbers and letters assigned to it. This ID is difficult for contacts to remember because it is not connected to the account name. However, Premium IDs solve this problem. Most WHATSAPP Official Accounts will be unverified because verified WHATSAPP Official Accounts are currently only available in WHATSAPP's key markets - Japan, Thailand and Taiwan. Verified WHATSAPP Official Accounts are searchable by display name or ID, making them easier to find on WHATSAPP. They also get enhanced payment and other select features. If your WHATSAPP Official Account is based in WHATSAPP's key markets, you should verify it. Fortunately, you don't need verification to access the essential features of WHATSAPP Official Account if your business is based outside WHATSAPP's key markets. An image showing how searchable WHATSAPP's official accounts are WHATSAPP for Business: How Searchable Are Accounts? Premium account badges seem to be reserved for the biggest and most well-known brands out there. Unsurprisingly, WHATSAPP doesn't disclose how it gives accounts this status. Users must follow WHATSAPP's premium official accounts to be able to chat with them. This helps these accounts gain followers and increase brand awareness as their posts appear in their followers' feeds on WHATSAPP. Once you've set up your WHATSAPP official account, the next step is to add customers to your contact list. WHATSAPP Official Account: Help Customers Find You In addition to finding your basic ID in the app, WHATSAPP has provided some tools to help contacts easily find your WHATSAPP official account. An image showing how customers find you on the web WHATSAPP WHATSAPP for Business: Help Customers Find You In this section, we'll unpack the tools mentioned. Premium ID

One thing you may want to consider is signing up for a Premium ID, which allows you to customize the ID customers use to find your official account. Premium IDs have a maximum of 18 characters and can only contain lowercase letters, numbers, dots (.), hyphens (-), and underscores. Let's take Grub N Go Food Delivery WHATSAPP official account as an example. The assigned base ID is @403plelw and with the Premium ID we can change it to @grubngo-delivery. The Premium ID is easier for contacts to remember and find in the WHATSAPP app. Premium IDs cost $12 per year and you can get one at any time. Unfortunately, Premium IDs are not available in the US, Singapore, Indonesia, and Europe. If you want to purchase a Premium ID for your WHATSAPP official account, click here. QR Codes QR Codes allow users to quickly start a chat with your official WHATSAPP account by scanning the code using the WHATSAPP mobile app. Since these codes are printable, you can place them not only on digital surfaces, but also on business cards, posters, and other physical locations. WHATSAPP QR Codes Use the WHATSAPP Official Account Manager or respond.io platform to create WHATSAPP QR Codes. Click-to-Chat Links and Website Button WHATSAPP Links allow customers to conveniently add and message you. These links, accessed on mobile, take users directly to your official WHATSAPP account or to a chat window with your official account within the WHATSAPP app.

WHATSAPP Links, accessed from a desktop device, take users to a page where they can scan a QR code using the WHATSAPP mobile app. Use WHATSAPP Official Account Manager or respond.io to create WHATSAPP links. Website buttons work like WHATSAPP links, but are designed graphically rather than just text. The WHATSAPP Official Account Manager platform can generate them. Once you've created your links and buttons, you can publish them on blogs, social media posts, emails, and other media that support URLs. WHATSAPP Ads If your account is based in Japan, Taiwan, or Thailand, you can use WHATSAPP Ads to attract new customers. Run campaigns for your products or services and get WHATSAPP users to add your official account and message you for more information or to place an order. First, you need to apply for an advertising account with WHATSAPP. Note that WHATSAPP has a comprehensive list of policies when it comes to advertising on its channel. WHATSAPP may, at its sole discretion, reject requests for an advertising account. Once you apply for a WHATSAPP Ads account, the review process takes about five business days before you can submit ads for approval. Now that you've created a contact list, there's only one thing left to do: message your contacts! WHATSAPP for Business: How to Message Customers As mentioned, there are two methods to message customers: the Whatsapp Official Account Manager chat console or a third-party inbox connected via API. Let's look at how you can use these for 1:1 messaging, broadcasts, and group messaging. an image showing how to message customers WHATSAPP Business: How to Message Customers WHATSAPP for Business: 1:1 Messaging The WHATSAPP Official Account Manager makes it relatively easy to get started with WHATSAPP for Business. The chat console displays all of your conversations. The console even has features like labeling, notes, and the ability to mark chats as "to follow up" or "resolved." While the chat console is relatively feature-rich, you can use customer conversation management software like respond.io to set up automated FAQs or use the AI agent to automatically answer queries so that only important queries are routed to agents. 1:1 messaging via the chat console

Exact read receipts are only available in the chat console of the WHATSAPP official account. When contacts send a message to an official WHATSAPP account that uses a third-party platform, the message is immediately marked as read, even if it hasn't been read yet. You must request approval to use Mark-as-Read API to get exact read receipts with a third-party platform. WHATSAPP for Business: Broadcast Unlike other channels that typically require the use of a chatbot, it's surprisingly easy to message through WHATSAPP's official account manager. WHATSAPP Official Account Manager lets you send any WHATSAPP-supported content as a broadcast message, including coupons, stickers, card messages, rich messages, and surveys, in addition to the standard text, video, image, and audio files. an image about Broadcast Messaging WHATSAPP for Business: Broadcast Messaging WHATSAPP Official Account Manager is pretty limited when it comes to targeted broadcasts. Connecting the Messaging API to respond.io lets you segment your contacts, giving you more control over who receives your broadcasts. You also get automated features like the ability to automatically respond to contacts who respond to your broadcasts, send them messages or greetings, and assign them to available agents to handle inquiries. WHATSAPP for Business: Group Messaging WHATSAPP Official accounts have the ability to join group chats, which is useful if you want to chat with multiple people in the same chat room. Since everyone in the group chat will receive the same messages, you'll save time and message quotas by not having to reach out to different people. an image about group messaging WHATSAPP for Business: Group Messaging However, group chats are limited to only one WHATSAPP Official Account as a member at a time and must be accessed through the Manager Chat Console. If you want respond.io to introduce group chats for WHATSAPP Official Accounts, rate the feature request. In summary, WHATSAPP Official Accounts are a channel you should use for marketing, sales, and support, especially if your business has an audience in Japan, Taiwan, or Thailand.

WHATSAPP Official Account Manager should be enough for your messaging needs if you have a small business, but for enterprises or SMBs, you should use an AI-powered customer conversation management software like respond.io instead. Connect your WHATSAPP Official Account to respond.io today! Further Reading Want to learn even more about WHATSAPP for Business? You might find these articles useful: Company name : WhatsApp Blasting Website: https://www.blastingws.com Email: info@blastingws.com Phone: 639858085805 Whatsapp: 639858085805 Telegram: https://t.me/latestdat Company Address: Blk 34 Lot 5 Easthomes 3 Subd Estefania, Bacolod City, Philippines,6100

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