A few weeks ago, we decided to install a WhatsApp button on this site. This is easy enough to do, using a tool like WhatsHelp. The whole process probably took around 5 minutes. I didn’t think much of it at the time, just that it might be a nice way to engage new customers who were too busy to pop over an email. As it turns out, I was right. I just didn’t realise how right I was. Within a few weeks I’d spoken to countless prospects, five of which actually converted and became retained clients. Here’s why you need to make WhatsApp part of your conversion strategy today.
Business has adopted instant messaging
Let’s face it, when you’re busy with a million different things, the last thing you want to do is put together a nicely worded email. You want to speak to the person you need to contact and get shit done. For this reason, it baffles me a bit that it took so long for business to catch the instant messaging bug. While people were going bananas for IMs in their personal lives in the mid 00s, business steadfastly stuck to email. Then Slack happened. When the programme was launched 6 years back, it felt like the world of business finally opened up to the prospect of instant messaging as a mainstream and legitimate way to do business.
I love Slack. At Move, we use it every single day within the team. It allows you to get your point across, and make decisions as a team quickly and easily, even if you’re all in different countries. Its interface is quicker, easier and more informal to use than the email app, so generally speaking, if I’m contacting my employees remotely, it’ll be via Slack. It’s precisely this ease of use, speed and informality that makes WhatsApp such a potent conversion tool.
Look at it from the point of view of a client, looking for a new supplier. Drafting up an email and then getting locked in a long back and forth as you have your questions and queries answered can take time. Having a quick WhatsApp chat can mean all your questions are answered in minutes.
If you get traffic, you’ll get messages
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If your site gets traffic, you will get messages. It’s that simple. My website has been getting good traffic for years. This traffic is mainly organic traffic achieved via SEO-optimisation for keywords based around the services I offer. The amount of traffic I was getting before and after I installed the WhatsApp button on my site did not change dramatically. The amount of new business enquiries I got after installing the button absolutely skyrocketed. Having a random message from a prospect crop up on my phone has now become a daily occurrence. Of course, not every message is a new client in waiting. However, enough of these random conversations have become clients for me to sit up and take notice.
If you’re getting eyes on your site, install that WhatsApp button. It might be the best business decision you’ve made in a while. And if your site isn’t getting traffic? I’ll get to that later.
People get in touch out of hours
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My biggest issue with email is that for most people, it’s just a 9-5 thing. Of course, if you are a business owner like me, or an executive with countless responsibilities, you’re likely to be reachable on email during most waking hours. However, the general population just doesn’t check their email all that much outside of working hours. This probably includes a bunch of people you need to get in front of and impress in order to win their business. So what can you do about it?
Start using WhatsApp for business. This problem simply does not exist with WhatsApp. Most people have WhatsApp installed on their personal phone, which means that they could get in touch at any time. I’ve found the reply rate to WhatsApp messages sent out of working hours to be close to 100%. People may not be checking their work emails once they get home, but I guarantee you they’ll have their phone in their pocket.
It’s less corporate
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Email can be pretty stale, right? There’s a time and place for email, and I’m not saying it’s worthless. But it’s a bit dull at the best of times. Unless you’re a talented wordsmith, it can be difficult to get your personality across via email. And as any business owner or salesperson knows, building a personal rapport is everything when it comes to closing a sale. This is the number one reason why I think WhatsApp is such a powerful conversion tool; it allows you to start building a business relationship.
Can you recreate that on email? Probably. But it takes longer, eating up more effort and – crucially – time. And when you’ve got a business to run, and more new business to win, those minutes saved can pay dividends in the long run.
SEO is vital
Earlier I mentioned that installing a WhatsApp button will get new business enquiries coming in if you get traffic to your website. But what if you don’t get traffic? SEO is the answer. I have built a career off the back of SEO-optimising the websites of various employers and clients. I promise you that properly investing in a solid SEO strategy is the most cost effective and sustainable way of getting traffic to your website.
I’ve written many different articles about SEO, how you can make it work for you, and why it’s important to invest in, whether you work at an SME or a multinational corporation. By the way, if you work at a multinational and don’t think you need SEO, I recommend that you look into what happened to ASOS when they didn’t bother with search. It might make you think again. I won’t go into SEO in any kind of detail here, but get your SEO strategy on point, get that WhatsApp button on your site, and watch the enquiries start rolling in.
Why installing WhatsApp on to your site will win you new business
