WhatsApp corporate account - The complete guide

WhatsApp is mainly used by most users for private communication with friends and family. With more than 2 billion users, WhatsApp is the most popular messenger worldwide. This also applies to Germany, where more than 60 million people use the messenger daily (source: Statista 2022). Precisely because WhatsApp is so popular with private individuals, the messenger is ideal for companies. Accessibility via the messaging platform on which the customer is anyway ensures a special proximity to the customer and thus to demonstrably stronger sales figures and better customer service. Companies that have recognized this potential and want to take advantage of it have been offering WhatsApp owner Meta Platforms, Inc. (formerly Facebook) the option of creating a WhatsApp corporate account for several years. Companies have the choice between the WhatsApp Business and WhatsApp Business API products. The advantages of using a WhatsApp business account for customer communication and what needs to be considered when setting up an account and using WhatsApp Business and the WhatsApp Business API are explained in detail in this article.

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What is a WhatsApp corporate account?

"WhatsApp Business Account" is basically an umbrella term for an account in one of the two WhatsApp solutions "WhatsApp Business" and "WhatsApp Business API". These products are specifically tailored for commercial use and offer businesses access to advanced features. For end users and customers, a WhatsApp business account is relatively easy to distinguish from a private WhatsApp account. Corporate accounts are explicitly marked as such in their WhatsApp profile.

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A WhatsApp business account offers various advantages for customers and businesses

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For customers

Especially in comparison with e-mails, it becomes clear how practical communication via WhatsApp is for customers. The email inbox must be actively checked for a reply and communication is often very formal with salutations and capital letters. In contrast, using WhatsApp is already part of daily life and therefore the most convenient way to communicate with businesses. The average WhatsApp user opens the app more than 23 times a day anyway, so the additional effort for customers is minimal (source: textrequest.com).

Most corporate service departments take several days to process e-mails. In order to receive an answer on the same day, customers usually have to call the hotline. This procedure is downright hated by a large number of customers. Endless queues, voice harassment, agent-to-agent routing and additional charges make this form of communication an ordeal for customers. With WhatsApp, the so-called service window (more on this in the next chapter) encourages the company to respond within 24 hours. Avoiding service hotlines results in another major advantage for customers.

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For companies

In an increasingly competitive market environment, companies must increasingly position themselves on the platforms where consumers already spend their time. The 2 billion global users result in an enormous reach and thus ultimately competitive advantages. Communication via WhatsApp can also be very flexible. In the case of acute problems, the exchange of messages with the customer takes place every second, similar to live chat, and in the case of less important or particularly complex inquiries, it is sufficient to respond after a few hours. In addition, the 98-percent open rate of WhatsApp messages, which, by the way, is significantly higher than that of e-mails with about 20% (source: AiSensy.com), also results in significant advantages in the marketing area. It should be noted, however, that WhatsApp newsletters can only be sent in a GDPR-compliant manner via WhatsApp API. A WhatsApp corporate account also offers numerous functions for highly efficient message replying. More about this in the next chapters.

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Some companies are not allowed to create a WhatsApp corporate account

There may be many good reasons to create a WhatsApp corporate account. But beforehand, it must be checked whether the respective company is allowed to use WhatsApp at all. All companies that use WhatsApp Business must comply with the WhatsApp Commerce Policy. According to the Commerce Policy, the following industries and services are excluded from using all WhatsApp Business products:

Alcohol, tobacco products and accessories
Drugs and medication
Illegal products and services
Unsafe dietary supplements
Weapons, ammunition or explosives
uvm.

Accordingly, businesses must ensure that they are authorized under the Commerce Policy to create an account and use WhatsApp Business or the WhatsApp Business API that they can comply with the Terms of Service when using the messenger app.

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Basic features and functions of the WhatsApp Business App

One way to create a WhatsApp business account is with the WhatsApp Business app. WhatsApp Business is a free app available for Android and Apple smartphones, designed specifically for small businesses. WhatsApp Business simplifies interaction with customers by providing tools to automate, sort, and quickly reply to messages. The user interface and many features are similar to those of the WhatsApp Messenger app for individuals, making WhatsApp Business very easy to use for most employees.

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WhatsApp Business includes the following features:

Company profile to list important information, such as a company's address, email, and website.
Messaging tools to quickly respond to customer inquiries, such as text modules and automated responses
Categorize contacts of customers and chats (e.g. new customer, prospect, service request, etc.) for better clarity
Automated responses to customers (e.g. welcome messages or out-of-hours messages)
Creation of product catalogs

A company profile can be created on WhatsApp Business (source: Google Play Store).

A product catalog can also be added to WhatsApp Business (source: Google Play Store).

With the help of labels, WhatsApp Business chats can be divided into categories and color-coded.

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WhatsApp Business can be downloaded free of charge from the Google Play Store and the App Store.

In order to keep WhatsApp free of excessive advertising and spam, there are some restrictions that companies must observe when contacting users.

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Marketing via WhatsApp Business

Companies are only allowed to send advertising messages, spam and marketing messages as so-called "Promotional Messages". These are customizable message templates that must be approved in advance by WhatsApp. Customers can, for example, receive product suggestions based on their last order. Cold call messages and certain words or phrases that make the message sound too promotional are not allowed. Important customer information such as order confirmations can, of course, be sent at any time.

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Consent (Opt-in)

Messages can only be sent to users if they are a reply to a message from the user or if the person actively opts in to receive WhatsApp messages (e.g., by entering a phone number and checking a box or checkbox).

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Service window for answers

If a user sends an inquiry to the company via WhatsApp, the answer must be provided within 24 hours ("customer care window"). This means that customer inquiries are answered promptly, which improves the user experience of WhatsApp users and prevents the company from contacting them (without opting in).

Within the service window, communication with Whatsapp Business works just like with the application for individuals. Messages can be sent with text, web links and emojis, and of course images, videos and attachments like PDF files can be shared in the chat.

Automation in the form of chatbots is allowed within the service window. However, the option to forward the user to a customer service representative must be available.

When the service window is closed, a special message template must be sent to ask the user to contact you.

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Message templates

Message templates (called "template messages" by WhatsApp) can make customer communication very efficient for the business. WhatsApp Business customers can use pre-written messages to send order confirmations, payment requests and shipping information in seconds.

Technically, a message template is a text string that uses placeholders (for e.g. order numbers, dates and prices) to provide personalized information. In addition to the selection of frequently used templates provided by WhatsApp Business by default, custom message templates can also be created to cover all service situations for the individual use case. These must be approved before they can be used by WhatsApp. The approval process takes up to 24 hours. WhatsApp reviews message templates to prevent companies from sending unwanted content such as advertising messages to consumers.

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Message templates make customer communication via WhatsApp Business highly efficient (Source: Google Play Store)

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Setting up WhatsApp Business

Setting up a WhatsApp corporate account is possible with both mobile and landline numbers (Mateo has summarized more details on WhatsApp with a landline number in this article ) and works as follows:

Step 1: Download WhatsApp Business App on smartphone from App Store(Google Play Store / App Store) for free and install it on the device.

Step 2: Open WhatsApp business app and agree to terms of use

Step 3: Enter a mobile or landline number. In the first small field after the "+" you have to enter the country code ("49" for Germany), this replaces the first 0 of the phone number.

Step 4: Tap "Next", check the number and tap "OK".

The authentication code will be provided either by phone call or SMS to your phone number. The number provided when setting up the account will be the same number that customers can use to reach you afterwards.

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5. WhatsApp will now send an SMS with authentication code to the specified number by default. If a landline number was entered, this will fail and the "Let me call" option must be selected

6. the 6-digit authentication code received either by SMS or by voice call to your phone number must be the one entered in the app.

7. if the code has been entered correctly, the company profile can then be set up, a company name added and the WhatsApp account used

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By the way: Mateo has summarized how to set up WhatsApp Business with the desktop app or the browser application WhatsApp Web in this article .

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Basic features of WhatsApp Business API

To provide larger businesses with a secure, scalable and GDPR-compliant solution tailored to their needs, Facebook launched the WhatsApp Business API in August 2018. This so-called application programming interface is the second way to create a WhatsApp business account and allows businesses to receive and reply to unlimited WhatsApp messages from their customers.

Unlike the WhatsApp Business App, the API itself comes without a user interface. The API connects WhatsApp with a professional messaging tool, such as Mateo offers. Companies integrate the WhatsApp API endpoint into the software of an official WhatsApp Business Solution provider. Mateo offers enterprise customers with its own software a corresponding integration in a clear user interface.

Which functions can be used via WhatsApp with API depends on the respective provider and can therefore not be generalized. Which functions are available when using Mateo is therefore summarized in the following section.

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Features and functions of Mateo's WhatsApp API solution

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All the features of the standard WhatsApp business app

WhatsApp Business API with Mateo is much more comprehensive than the traditional WhatsApp Business app and therefore naturally includes all WhatsApp Business features. However, these standard features make up only a fraction of all the useful features of Mateo's messaging software.

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Central user interface

In addition to WhatsApp Business API, Mateo bundles many other communication channels such as email, Instagram, SMS or Facebook Messenger in a central inbox. The intuitive and clear user interface offers various helpful tools for particularly efficient customer communication.

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Custom Message Templates

Thanks to various message templates that can be created individually, the amount of paperwork is minimized and the efficiency of customer communication is increased. This means that personnel resources in the service area can be deployed elsewhere.

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With Mateo's WhatsApp API solution, newsletters can be sent in a GDPR-compliant manner. Due to the first-class open rate of 98% for WhatsApp messages, marketing can thus be carried out significantly better than via email or other channels.

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Privacy

Mateo's messaging tool is compatible with all German and European legally binding data protection requirements. If necessary, the software will be revised accordingly if the law is amended. For absolutely secure customer communication, all WhatsApp messages are encrypted end-to-end. All info on the GDPR when using WhatsApp can be read in this article.

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Scalability for all company sizes

The scalability of the messaging tool has been confirmed by the large number of companies already using Mateo with high satisfaction. Whether customers have just a few employees or many hundreds, the software works smoothly and, depending on the package, with an unlimited number of end devices and users. The fact that Mateo significantly reduces the workload in the customer service area opens up new growth opportunities for many companies.

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Low cost provider for WhatsApp Business API

With an entry-level price of just 79 euros per month, Mateo is a cost-effective provider for WhatsApp Business API solutions on the German market. In combination with the integration of further communication channels and various helpful tools, Mateo offers good value for money. Mateo's personal customer support assists companies with every step of the integration, ensuring very low barriers to entry.

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How much does WhatsApp Business API cost?

WhatsApp Business API offers significantly more features compared to WhatsApp Business and is therefore only available for a fee. The costs vary greatly between the official WhatsApp API providers. Therefore, it is worth comparing the costs.

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Monthly fee

The monthly fee varies between the different WhatsApp API providers. Mateo is a cheap provider on the market and charges only 79 euros per month for the cheapest package, which offers many other features besides WhatsApp API.

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The WhatsApp API setup

WhatsApp only allows very few large corporations direct access to its API. For most companies, the path to the WhatsApp Business API leads via so-called Business Solution Providers. These are official partners of WhatsApp owner Facebook that support companies in accessing the API. Accordingly, the setup of the API depends on the API provider.

Unlike most other providers, Mateo's professional messaging tool offers not only the integration of WhatsApp Business via the API, but also a clear user interface and the integration of many other communication channels such as email, Instagram, SMS and Facebook Messenger. Mateo offers a fully comprehensive service with professional account managers when setting up the software including WhatsApp Business API.

An inventory analysis identifies how the software can best be integrated. Then, if not already in place, Mateo applies for company phone numbers and sets up the system. Now all communication channels are united and usable in the user interface provided by Mateo. A dedicated contact person is always available to answer questions and provide additional tips for highly efficient customer communication. All details are discussed in a free consultation appointment.

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WhatsApp Business or WhatsApp API - Which type of WhatsApp business account is better for customer communication?

Whether the normal WhatsApp Business app is sufficient or WhatsApp Business should be obtained via an API provider such as Mateo is ultimately a matter for each company to decide for itself. Since the available functions and the legal framework (GDPR) are certainly the most important factors in this decision, Mateo has compared the differences between the two variants of a WhatsApp business account in the following table.

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In the tabular overview it becomes clear that with WhatsApp Business API many important functions are available that the regular WhatsApp Business app does not offer

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With regard to the functions offered by a WhatsApp business account, it can be summarized that although many functions are already provided in the WhatsApp business app, these tools only develop their full potential in combination with a clear user interface, such as Mateo offers, and make customer communication via WhatsApp highly efficient. In addition, Mateo's software is scalable up to large companies with several hundred employees, is 100 percent compliant with the GDPR, and combines many other communication channels in a central inbox in addition to WhatsApp.

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WhatsApp Business Account - All information about the setup, features and benefits of WhatsApp Business and WhatsApp API for Business.