As Ramadan approaches, business owners are looking for effective ways to maintain their operations and stay connected with customers. In Malaysia, small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) make up an impressive 97.4% of all businesses. With its secure, reliable, and private messaging capabilities, WhatsApp has become a popular choice for businesses to communicate with customers during this busy season. Here are five strategies that can help SMEs drive sales using WhatsApp during Ramadan:
- Enhance the messaging experience for customers For many SMEs, WhatsApp is an essential tool for answering customer queries and driving sales. During Ramadan, it’s crucial to update business hours in the WhatsApp Business app’s business profile, especially if your operating hours will be different than usual. Consider using an away message to inform customers when you’re available, or when you might be in morning or evening prayer.
- Foster connections with customers Personalized messages can create connections and enhance the relevancy of messages. Use buttons such as quick replies, lists, and calls to action, as well as product messages with in-thread cart and product selection. These interactive experiences increase stickiness and quality, making customers more likely to return. Highlight special items, deals, and promotions during Ramadan in your catalog so people can easily find what they want to buy.
- Attract new customers Finding new customers is critical for SMEs. To drive more people to your WhatsApp channel, add a QR code to your storefront, website, product packaging, marketing materials, or anywhere else people can easily scan to connect with you on WhatsApp. You can also share your QR code with others easily from the app.
- Drive traffic from social media Many SMEs are also present on Facebook and Instagram. From Business Tools, add a WhatsApp button to your Facebook or Instagram account, so when customers click it, it directly opens a chat on your WhatsApp Business app. Facebook or Instagram ads that click to open a chat on WhatsApp are also a powerful way to attract new customers.
- Stay organized Ramadan can be an incredibly busy month for businesses, with a potential influx of chats from new customers. Keeping your business and chats organized is essential. Use Catalog Collections to group and organize products into specific categories to make browsing your offerings easy for customers. Label specific chats with customizable descriptions to keep track of things like pending payments, new customers, and more. Graduating from the WhatsApp Business app to the more powerful WhatsApp Business Platform can help businesses engage with customers at scale.
1 April 2023
