WhatsApp Business for a local shop

The profile

The business app gives you a profile that a normal account does not have: your address, your hours, a description, a website link and a catalogue. Fill all of it in - it is the first thing someone sees when they open a chat with a number they do not recognise.

Use a business number if you can. Switching a personal number to the Business app works and many people do it, but it means your work and your evenings live in the same place, and a second number - even a cheap second SIM - is the difference between finishing at six and not.

The three automatic messages

These are the features that make the business version worth the switch, and they take about ten minutes each.

The greeting

Sent automatically the first time someone messages you. Keep it short, and make it do work: say what you do, and ask for the thing you always have to ask for anyway. “Thanks for getting in touch. To quote, it helps if you can send a photo and your postcode.”

The away message

Sent outside your hours. The point is not politeness, it is expectation-setting. “We are closed now and will reply in the morning” stops somebody messaging three competitors while they wait.

Quick replies

Saved answers you fire off with a keyboard shortcut. Take the five things you type every week - your prices, your area, your hours, how quickly you can come out, what you need in order to quote - and save each one. This is the feature that saves real time.

The catalogue

A list of what you sell or do, with photographs and prices, inside the app. A customer can browse it without leaving the chat, and you can send a single item into a conversation instead of describing it.

It suits some businesses far more than others. A shop, a bakery, a salon with a price list, a mechanic with fixed-price services - all good. A trade that quotes every job individually - less so, though a catalogue of typical jobs with indicative prices still saves a conversation.

Whatever goes in it should match your website and your printed price list. Three different prices in three places is the fastest way to a difficult conversation.

The link, and where to put it

A click-to-chat link opens a conversation with you from anywhere, with a message already typed. Put it on the website, in your email signature, on your Google Business Profile, and on print where a QR code makes sense.

Pre-filling the first message is the part people miss. A link that opens with “Hi, I saw your website and I would like a quote for...” gets a usable first message instead of “hi”, and it tells you which page they came from.

• On the website, as a button that is visible without scrolling.
• As a QR code on cards, flyers and the shop window.
• In your Google listing, where a link field allows it.
• Not as your only contact method. Some people will always want to ring.

A few manners

• Reply in hours, not days. The expectation on WhatsApp is faster than email, and people judge you against it whether it is fair or not.
• Do not broadcast to people who did not ask. Messaging a customer list with promotions is the quickest way to get blocked and reported.
• Keep the quote in writing. A price agreed in a chat is still a price agreed - screenshot it into the job record.
• Turn off read receipts only if you mean it. Customers notice, and it reads as avoidance.

A few common questions.