With over 2 billion monthly active users, WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app in the world. Yet, many businesses struggle to manage WhatsApp conversations and use it to build a funnel for their business.
The entire funnel process below will help improve team communication and bring more conversation and leads to your WhatsApp Business account.
Awareness stage: using your wa.me link
You’ll need to use a wa.me link to drive traffic to your WhatsApp Business. It’s a simple URL you can place anywhere that includes your country code and phone number, like so:
https://wa.me/country code + phone number
For example, if you were a business in Costa Rica, your URL could be wa.me/50682341234
Another wa.me link you can create is the ?text= variable type. This lets you add a snippet of text that will appear for your clients once they click the URL. For example, adding ?text=Hi! How are you? will show the message “Hi! How are you?”
To create this link, you’ll need to convert it to the following string.
https://api.whatsapp.com/send/?phone=50682341234&text=Hi%21+How+are+you%3F&app_absent=0
Don’t worry about adding all the symbols by hand. For an easier way, take your ?text= URL (https://wa.me/50682341234?text=Hi! How are you?) and paste it into your browser. The browser will automatically convert the URL so you can use it for different call-to-action (CTA) buttons.
Wa.me links are versatile and can guide people from any channel into a WhatsApp conversation with your business. Some typical places marketers use a wa.me link include:
- YouTube video descriptions
- Facebook groups
- Blogs
- QR codes
- Website CTA button
Consideration stage: nurturing WhatsApp leads
You’ll want to create a different experience with tailored messaging for each spot you place a wa.me link. For example, say a lead comes into your WhatsApp sales funnel from a QR code. Make sure to keep reps on hand to respond to users quickly and create a tailored experience for them.
This type of personalization can help improve conversion rates and reduce purchase friction. An estimated 80% of people are more inclined to purchase from a company that provides a tailored experience.
Another place you can include a wa.me link is in Instagram (IG) or Facebook ads. You can place the link behind a CTA button in your JSON ads or include it in the body copy of the ad.
WhatsApp doesn’t yet support automated messaging at the time of writing, aside from an initial welcome message every 24 hours and an outside of business hours message you set up once you download Whatsapp Business. As a result, you’ll need to rely on human agents to respond to requests for all other conversations.
Remember the following tips when it comes to your WhatsApp funnel:
- Collect contact information in a CRM: Store information in ManyChat’s CRM or through a third-party software using Zapier. You can use this data to create personalized conversations that nurture leads and close more sales.
- Respond to questions quickly and efficiently: Research shows that 75% of consumers expect a response to their questions within 24 hours on social media. Create a system that allows support agents to reply to leads fast, whether the replies are automated or manual.
- Have a third-party software assign leads to each salesperson: Use Monday.com or a CRM to let each sales agent know which contacts they are responsible for.
Purchase stage: Closing the sale
As with other social media sales funnels, closing the deal in WhatsApp takes work. In Latin America, the people are very open to conversation and prefer personalized business attention, which means a fully automated system doesn’t always perform well.
Your Facebook Messenger and automated IG conversations need to act as bridges that send the leads over to WhatsApp. Adding a simple button with a wa.me link is the golden ticket to higher conversion rates for social media leads.
WhatsApp is a channel people use with family, friends, and loved ones. It’s emotional. Don’t be afraid to use audio notes and stickers.
Businesses generate sales by:
- Sending links to product or landing pages
- Providing personalized offers in WhatsApp messages
- Setting up video calls or Whatsapp phone calls which don’t consume time
- Using popular stickers to empathize with the lead
A note about WhatsApp customer service
Each social media channel is influenced by culture, and WhatApp’s is highly emotional, familiar, and warm. Everything happens through WhatsApp: family news, meetups with friends, groups with co-workers or university, etc. It’s the main channel of communication for many regions around the world. For this reason, cold management of the leads will not work on WhatsApp. The personalized care with high attention to detail that each company provides will make the difference in the sales.
For example, saying “We’re not available right now” and saying “Hi! Our customer support team is currently resting at home with their loved ones” send two very different messages. The latter is warm and empathetic; the former is impersonal.
WhatsApp requires you to lean into past conversations. Say you connected with a woman named Mariana the other day and she mentioned her puppy was sick. You could add a personal touch by saying, “Hi Mariana! Following up on yesterday’s conversation. Hoping your puppy is doing better today, I actually got my boss to authorize me to send you a pillow for her if you get your new bed!”
Adding WhatsApp to your marketing mix
WhatsApp marketing helps you communicate effectively with leads, improve customer retention, and grow your business. You can send multimedia messages, place free calls, send international messages for free, group chat with people, and much more.
When you connect WhatsApp with ManyChat, you can send leads from Facebook and IG Messenger to WhatsApp to close deals and provide customer support. Try it today, and you’ll soon see the impact of more streamlined communication and higher revenue.
