WhatsApp Business Status: That's why companies shouldn't use it [December 2024]

What is WhatsApp Business Status?

WhatsApp Business Status is a feature within the WhatsApp Business app that allows companies to briefly share pictures, videos, and messages with their contact list. This feature is often used by companies to disseminate information, special offers, or news. The status messages are designed in a similar way to personal WhatsApp users and offer companies an additional platform to increase their visibility and interaction with customers. However, unlike normal messages, these status messages are only visible for a limited time. Users also do not receive an individual notification. To be able to see the status, your customers must actively open the “News” page in WhatsApp Messenger and look at the company's status. The status can only be viewed by people who have saved the company in the address book and were saved in the company's address book themselves at the same time.

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Create WhatsApp Business Status - How to

Creating and sharing a status on WhatsApp Business is a simple process that allows companies to communicate effectively with their target audience. Here is a step-by-step guide:
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1. Open WhatsApp Business: Start the app on your smartphone.
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2. Select the 'News' tab: Here you'll find the option to edit or add your status.
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3. Click on the plus icon: This is when you start creating a new status.
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4. Select content: You can select text, images, or videos for your status. Remember that a status message can be up to 700 characters long and the length of a video is limited to 30 seconds.
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5. Send: Once you've created your status, you can share it with your contact list.
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By using the status feature in WhatsApp Business, companies can share their messages in a personal and engaging way that drives customer engagement.

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The drawbacks of WhatsApp Business Status

Creating a status in WhatsApp Business is pretty simple, as you could see in our guide. That sounds like the perfect marketing method, doesn't it? Unfortunately, we have to disappoint you. Even though it is easy to set up and completely free to use, the disadvantages outweigh:

• Not GDPR-compliant: The use of the WhatsApp Business app, and therefore WhatsApp Business Status, is generally not GDPR-compliant. Companies that use WhatsApp Business risk expensive warnings, severe penalties and time-consuming court proceedings. You can find more information about this in our article”WhatsApp Business and GDPR“. WhatsApp Status also does not provide an option to unsubscribe from a company's marketing, which is necessary from the point of view of the GDPR.
  
  
• No target group-specific delivery: The WhatsApp business status can be seen by all people who have saved the company as a contact in the address book and were saved in the company's address book themselves at the same time. Target group-specific marketing, which is actually so important, cannot therefore be implemented.
  
  
• Low visibility and opening rates: WhatsApp users must independently, without first receiving a notification, open the “News” tab in WhatsApp and view the status of the company. Only very few of the customers usually do this. The opening rates of WhatsApp Business Status are correspondingly low.
  
  
• Deletion after 24 hours: Every WhatsApp status, whether from companies or private individuals, is deleted after 24 hours at the latest. This reduces visibility even further.
  
  
• Impersonal marketing: A WhatsApp status is much more impersonal than, for example, a direct message via WhatsApp newsletter to the customer. Accordingly, it is very difficult to establish personal customer loyalty and influence consumers' emotionally driven buying decisions.
  
  
• No automation: WhatsApp Business Statuses do not offer any options for automation or Using integrations.

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Not a good alternative: WhatsApp broadcasts and WhatsApp channels

With the relevant drawbacks of WhatsApp Business Status, you may have already thought about possible alternatives. With WhatsApp broadcasts and WhatsApp channels There are two other ways to do marketing with the conventional WhatsApp business app. But even these options are not suitable for the distribution of advertising messages and important customer information.
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WhatsApp broadcasts allow messages to be sent to a larger group of recipients, but are limited to 256 people. Recipients must also have saved the company number to receive the messages. According to WhatsApp's terms of use, sending marketing messages via broadcast is strictly prohibited and may result in account suspension. In addition, no personalization or automation is possible. WhatsApp broadcasts are part of the functions of WhatsApp Business and therefore not GDPR-compliant.

WhatsApp channels enable companies to send messages in a chat-like format, with recipients' interaction options limited to emojis. In contrast to the temporary WhatsApp status, messages in channels remain permanently visible. Due to the severely limited interaction options, Conversational commerce Completely excluded with the very impersonal WhatsApp channels. In addition, it is not possible to send to specific target groups or to use automations and integrations. If the traditional WhatsApp Business Messenger is used, WhatsApp channels also have known conflicts with the GDPR.

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That's the right way: GDPR-compliant customer communication and newsletter marketing with the WhatsApp Business Platform

For effective, professional and, above all, GDPR-compliant customer communication via WhatsApp, the use of WhatsApp Business Platform It's the only right way. In contrast to traditional WhatsApp Business Status, the platform enables personalized and automated mass communication that complies with privacy policies. With the WhatsApp platform, companies can create individually tailored marketing campaigns with extremely high conversion rates while ensuring compliance with the GDPR. By integrating with existing business software, the sending of messages can also be fully automated and seamlessly integrated into business processes. This ensures highly professional customer communication that focuses on customers.

integrations with thousands of other software applications, WhatsApp newsletter marketing, unlimited scalability and flexibility, automatic responses, GDPR compliance, etc. — the WhatsApp Business Platform has so much to offer. Just arrange a free consultationto find out all the details Our customers know the following benefits particularly appreciated:
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• ‍Central user interface: hellomateo combines WhatsApp Business Platform, email, Instagram, SMS and Facebook Messenger in one central inbox. The intuitive user interface includes various tools for efficient customer communication and saves you valuable working time.
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• integrations: With hellomateo, you can use WhatsApp in integrate over 6,000 software programs and fully automated Customer trips create with invitations, order confirmations, shipping information, invoices, and reminders.
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• Newsletter marketing: Send GDPR-compliant Newsletter via WhatsApp or SMS and benefit from opening rates of over 90%.‍
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• Assessment management: hellomateo can Automatically request online reviews from your customers, which boosts your Google ranking and trust in your company.
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• ‍Data protection: hellomateo meets all German and European Data protection requirements and offers end-to-end encryption for secure customer communication.
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• scalability: Our software is suitable for Businesses of all sizes and can be extended indefinitely depending on the package.‍
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• ‍Diverse AI features: Our AI agent can automatically answer customer inquiries in chat, answer calls, help with the formulation of messages and much more.
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Arrange a non-binding and free consultation and we'll show you how hellomateo covers your communication needs! Simply book an appointment here or write to us via our web widget.

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