9 Effective Tips to Sell on Whatsapp [And What Not to Do on This App]
Learn how to increase your sales with this app.
When you own a business, using all possible forms to advertise your product or service is essential in reaching a larger audience and selling more.
We’ve already talked about several key strategies here on the blog, so you can increase your brand’s reach, such as:
- Starting a blog;
- Creating an email marketing strategy;
- Using different video formats;
- Growing your audience on social media;
- Building authority with data.
However, we haven’t talked about the importance of selling on WhatsApp yet, which is, according to Statista, the most popular global mobile messenger app worldwide with approximately two billion monthly active users in 2022.
As you know, it’s very important to be where your potential customers are. After all, you need to advertise your business to those who are likely to buy from you.
So, you need to conduct a survey and understand which communication channels are used the most by your persona. Thus, you’ll be able to invest enough time and effort in advertising that will bring results.
But as we said before, WhatsApp is a widely used communication channel.
So, take advantage of this strategy also and check out below 9 key tips on selling on WhatsApp.
1. Use a business mobile device
Even before you create your content strategies, you need to think about the practical aspect of selling on WhatsApp.
The first step in order to start using this app in your business is to have a mobile device and a phone number used only for business.
It seems obvious, but it’s very important to separate your company from your personal life, and this is also true when using WhatsApp.
Let’s suppose that you don’t have a corporate/business number.
Your customers are likely to call or send messages after business hours, which might affect your daily life when you’re not working.
In addition, if this separation isn’t clear, you might slip up and send a private message to a customer or a business message to a family member or friend.
A major advantage of having a mobile device with an exclusive business number is that you can assign the WhatsApp sales function to other people.
If you’re using your private number, you probably don’t want your employees to have access to your conversations on this app.
2. Use WhatsApp Web
In addition to the mobile device, you can also use WhatsApp Web, which is an extension to access your app’s account from your PC.
To do so, just connect your mobile device to the internet and near the computer you are using to scan the QR Code that will appear when you access the WhatsApp Web page.
We recommend that you stay connected to a Wi-Fi network to cut down on your data plan use, in addition to having better app stability.
The best thing about using the WhatsApp Web version is that you or an assigned person can make sales on the app and send messages through a computer – which makes the selling on WhatsApp mission way easier.
Thus, you can avoid common typing mistakes, in addition to making it easier to access other business channels while you send messages to your customers.
Not to mention that it makes it possible for a person to use their mobile phone while another one uses the computer.
3. Ask for phone contacts
There’s no use in having a strategy for selling on WhatsApp if you don’t have enough contacts to make it worth it.
This is why you need to create ways of asking for the contact information from those who have already bought products from you or from those interested in your content.
To do so, add a field in your registration forms so that people can enter their phone numbers. This can be done on a landing page, when signing up for your blog’s newsletter or any other communication channel used by your audience (we’ll talk more about this in the next topic).
You can also create a call to action on your website focused on WhatsApp customer service. By doing this, you’ll get more phone contacts.
The most important thing during this step is asking for permission to add users to your WhatsApp contact list and make it clear that, by providing their phone contact, they will receive messages. This is because you need to focus on keeping your potential customers happy, and they don’t always like receiving messages from strangers.
So, in addition to informing your audience that you’ll be using the app to send messages, also make your number available on all of your channels so that users will recognize your brand when they receive your messages.
4. Promote your WhatsApp number
As we mentioned in the previous topic, people need to identify your WhatsApp number so that they’ll actually read your messages.
Therefore, you need to advertise this new sales strategy on all communication channels with your audience.
Add your contact information on your website, blog, social media, and if necessary, create an email marketing campaign advertising your number. The important thing here is to reach as many people as possible.
When you advertise your contact information, you allow your users to decide whether they want to add your number.
But in order for them to make this decision, you need to make it clear beforehand which type of content you’ll be offering through the communication channel.
With this, you can gain the trust of those who added your number because they are truly interested in the content you wish to send, which reduces the rate of dissatisfaction and blocking.
The only problem with this strategy is that you won’t be able to know who added you on WhatsApp if they don’t send you a message.
Therefore, when you advertise your number, remember to ask users to send a message confirming their registration on the communication channel. This way, you’ll be able to interact with these new contacts and include them in a broadcast list (we’ll talk about this later in this article!).
This is why it’s important to have a corporate number. Just imagine advertising your private number like this. Having so many people with access to your personal WhatsApp wouldn’t be feasible, would it?
5. Add your customers’ numbers
Now that you’ve streamlined all the practical parts of selling on WhatsApp, it’s time to start thinking about the strategies for using this app.
The first step is to add your customers’ phone numbers with their respective names.
At first, this will take a good part of your day, especially if you already have an audience that has provided their phone contacts.
But over time, you’ll notice that this process will go faster, because you won’t need to save all numbers at once.
It’s important to add people’s first and last names so that your service can be personalized to create a good experience for your users.
If you have more than one product or service, a great tip is to add, to your customers’ names, the name of the product they are interested in so you can send messages on subjects that they truly enjoy.
6. Create broadcast lists
Do you remember when we told you to add, to users’ names, the name of the product they’re interested in (if you have more than one product)?
This will be quite useful when you create a broadcast list to sell on WhatsApp.
Lists are great because they help you save time, especially when the content sent is the same for more than one person.
But the downside to this strategy is that if the person hasn’t saved your contact information on their mobile device, they won’t receive your content. Therefore, it’s important to advertise your number beforehand, so that interested users will save your contact information.
The easiest way to create lists is by dividing your contacts between people who have already purchased a product and those who still haven’t. But it’s possible to go beyond this so that your content is more on target.
How to create a good broadcast list
When you’re creating a list to send content, you need to divide people according to the stage of the sales funnel they are on.
And why should you do this? Because not everyone is ready to make a purchase.
This means that if you send offers all the time to an audience that still isn’t familiar with your product, instead of delighting them, you’ll make people reject your product even before they get to know it.
Therefore, think about the 3 stages of a sales funnel:
1. Discovery
This is the first stage of the funnel.
It’s during discovery that you can delight your potential customers. They are still unaware that they have a problem and therefore, your duty is to find out what their particular needs are.
Add to this list people who don’t know your product yet and who need to receive educational content.
2. Consideration
After they recognize they have a problem, users move on to the consideration phase.
For this list, you can start showing people not only what their problems are, but also possible solutions for them.
During this stage, you can nudge them and show you have the right product to meet the needs of your potential customer.
But be careful so as not to overdo it and try to sell before the user is 100% prepared to make a purchase.
3. Decision
These are contacts that already understand they have a problem and know that your product can help them solve this issue.
In the decision list, you can add people who might buy your product, and to whom you can send exclusive offers.
Repeat customers are usually included in this list.
And if you need to grow your list and attract new leads, it’s also a good idea to think about your traffic strategies. If want to learn more, check out the video below:
VIDEO: PAID OR ORGANIC TRAFFIC: Which is BETTER if you’re just GETTING STARTED? | Hotmart Tips
7. Use psychological triggers
Psychological triggers are sales strategies that take into account the use of emotions to influence people.
By using them in your advertising, it’s as if you could get your audience to take certain actions automatically, without thinking too much about what they’re doing.
The decision to buy is one of the ideal moments to apply such triggers as scarcity, reciprocity, reason, curiosity, urgency and so on.
Basically, what you need to do when selling on WhatsApp is think of ways to send messages that stimulate people’s subconscious to choose the product you’re offering.
But don’t confuse this with manipulation!
When we talk about mental triggers, we mean that you need to study your audience and deliver what they want, demonstrating that your product is a solution for a given problem. This is why you always have to send interesting content.
An example of good mental trigger use is the WhatsApp Meteoric Launch sales technique created by Talles Quinderé.
This method uses 3 specific mental triggers:
- Anticipation: Send messages telling people that you have a new product to be launched in order to create expectations. Thus, they’ll be able to get ready because they’ll know that something new is coming;
- Belonging: Tell them that only a pre-selected group will have access to this product, i.e., show that only those on the WhatsApp broadcast list will be able to buy the product;
- Scarcity: On launch day, limit the time available for purchases. Preferably, only give people a short time so that they will make a decision as quickly as possible.
8. Send interesting content
If you already use WhatsApp on a daily basis, you know that this tool is widely used to broadcast information that isn’t always true.
This makes certain people not read open messages from unknown numbers or even not believe what is being offered on the app.
This is why you need to think carefully before sending any content to your customers via WhatsApp and especially, to those who still haven’t made any purchases yet and aren’t familiar with your brand.
Of course, if you follow the tips above, you’ll only have phone numbers from people who were willing to provide you with their contact information and who authorized you to send them messages. This means that you’re halfway there, because it shows that users were interested in your content.
So now is the time to attract them:
- Send educational content related to your product and niche;
- Provide customer support through the app including voice messages;
- Send videos with useful information to your audience;
- Write text messages containing information about promotions for those who access your sales page through the WhatsApp link.
Overall, contribute to increasing your audience’s knowledge. This is what will help you captivate them. And if you need some tips on how to get inspired to keep creating interesting content, check out this post:
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Just be careful not to become one of those people who messages all day long. This will push your WhatsApp users away instead of engaging them.
9. Create a messaging schedule
As with any advertising strategy, selling on WhatsApp also requires planning, especially if you have several broadcast lists.
In order to keep from becoming confused when messaging, create a schedule. This way you can get organized and decide beforehand which content to send to each list, and when the message will be sent.
In addition, this planning will also help you not to send the same message more than once.
A schedule will also help you think about the type of content to be sent according to each stage people are in the sales funnel.
Mistakes to be avoided when selling on WhatsApp
As you’ve seen so far, it’s possible to sell through WhatsApp and captivate your customers with this app.
However, there are a few common mistakes that should be avoided so that this strategy doesn’t backfire.
1. Don’t try to sell all the time
We’ve given you a tip about sending interesting content. This should always be taken into account; after all, no one likes to be constantly bombarded with commercial proposals.
So, think carefully before you send any messages to your contacts.
Even if your ultimate goal is selling on WhatsApp, your audience needs to know that you wish to help them with practical solutions for everyday life.
Therefore, don’t try to sell all the time. Be mindful and only send messages with truly interesting information.
2. Don’t send mass messages
Have you noticed how annoying it is to receive a message with long texts that seem to have been copied and sent to all phone contacts, without having any relationship with the person who received it?
Mass messages without any type of personalization are not interesting for this strategy.
We’re not talking about writing completely different messages for each person, because we know that this is hard, especially if your number of customers is very high.
But you can – and should -, only send content that interests each user.
Once again, if you have more than one product, you need to separate your contacts according to their interests in order to send content related to what they like.
In addition, avoid sending several messages during the day, one after the other. This might annoy your audience and even make people block your number.
3. Don’t ignore feedback
You always need to pay attention to the feedback from those who you communicate with through WhatsApp.
Check out if they have something to complain about or add and always remember to answer questions that may come up.
This app is a direct channel between you and your audience. Therefore, if you’ve opened this type of interaction, you need to frequently respond and be willing to use it not only to make sales, but also to talk with your audience.
Also, be mindful of people who request that you no longer send them messages, and remove them from any broadcast lists.
Insisting on sending WhatsApp messages to those who have shown a lack of interest in this communication channel isn’t a good idea.
4. Don’t create groups
Creating a group with several people who probably don’t know each other is a risk and exceeds the limits of confidentiality.
If a person provided you with their phone number, it’s because they want to receive your messages. But this doesn’t mean that they want other people who also buy your products or services to have access to their information.
When you add people who don’t know each other in the same group, all of them have access to the phone numbers of all the other group members.
This can make your customers feel exposed and they might even fear providing credit card information on your website or sales page.
After all, if you exposed their contact information, who can say you won’t also announce their credit card information?
5. Don’t act inappropriately
Business WhatsApp should only be used for purposes related to your products, services or brand.
So, don’t be one of those people who send chain and personal messages to their contacts.
Once again, content is everything, and it is what captivates your customers. So remember to always be respectful and only send information related to your business.
So, are you ready to start selling on WhatsApp?
You should also know that, in addition to this form of increasing your sales, there are several other ways to advertise your business. To learn more about this topic, make sure you read our post with other marketing strategies to attract customers.
