WhatsApp Business Now Available in India: How to Setup and Use its Features

WhatsApp Business which is successfully running in US, UK, Indonesia or Italy since few days is now available in India for SMEs for better communication with its customers. Besides the basic functionality of WhatsApp, it has been launched with many premium features that I will be sharing with you in this post. Currently, the app is available only in Android version 4.0 or later, the Facebook has plans to launch it for iOS in near future. You can download it free from Google play store.

Features of WhatsApp Business

• Business Profile. It is one interesting feature that small and medium businesses look forward to. It allows you to create a business profile that includes vital information like business name, address, company website, business category (electronics, automobile, telecom, IT, etc.). Apart from these fields, it also lets you add a profile picture, business hours and you can also pin the company address on google maps that can ease the customers to reach you.
• Statistics. WhatsApp business provides professional stats that allows you to check the sent messages, the messages that are read and those which are delivered.
• Messaging tools. This is again a fantastic tool for business owners for managing messages. You can set away message which the clients will receive automatically if they contact you other than business hours. The second option you get is the greeting message which every person will get when they contact you the first time or in case there is no communication between you and client for fourteen days. Finally, you can create pre-defined messages for different situations and set them in quick reply settings.

How to setup WhatsApp Business in Android

First, you need to download WhatsApp business app from Google Play store. If you are already running a WhatsApp personal on one mobile number, it will alert that your personal WhatsApp will be updated to WhatsApp business. If you intend to keep both WhatsApp-personal and WhatsApp-business, you need to have two different numbers.

The installation is same as done in personal WhatsApp. In the first screen, you need to tap on “Agree and continue”, then verify your number.

If you are using a mobile number that is already registered with WhatsApp messenger, you will get the following warning pop-up. So you can either move this number to WhatsApp business or use another number.

In the next screen, you are required to enter your business name. At the same, it will alert you that once you enter, you will not be able to change it in future.

Enhance your Business Status with WhatsApp Business

WhatsApp Business is an app that really adds value to your business. With all the basic features of WhatsApp intact you get additional functionality that helps in strengthening the relationship and communication between SMEs and customers.