Have you thought of WhatsApp lead generation through using the conversational power of chatbots?

No?

Well, you should.

It’s a strategy worthy of attention, trust me.

If you are reluctant to trust me, read this article and see for yourself!

You will learn:

Why is WhatsApp Lead Generation worth your while

The Difference between WhatsApp Business & WhatsApp Business API

Examples of Lead Ged focused WhatsApp Bots

How to create your very own WhatsApp Bot

How to share and promote your bot all over

Let’s start at the beginning!

What is WhatsApp Lead Generation?

WhatsApp lead generation strategies focus on cultivating potential customers for a business using WhatsApp messenger as the main tool to communicate business offers, provide support, share valuable content and so forth. The core idea behind the concept is to approach potential clients in an environment where they feel comfortable and in control.

Why is WhatsApp Lead Generation Worth Your While?

WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps in existence and one of the most active mobile apps overall. And the entrepreneurial world hasn’t failed to notice. Just over a year ago, WhatsApp reached a total of over 1.5 billion monthly active users on their platform.

Yes, that’s B for billion.

Beyond monthly active users, WhatsApp users are extremely dedicated to the platform. There are one billion daily active users sending (currently) 65 billion messages every single day.

Many of which are sharing photos, video calling, and chatting in 60 different languages.

The community on WhatsApp is diverse, making it almost impossible to not reach your target market.

WhatsApp users are very loyal customers. Proof?

When WhatsApp decided to migrate their story technology from Instagram and Facebook into the platform, it overtook the total user base of Snapchat almost instantly:

Just like Instagram and Facebook, WhatsApp has the same story features, making WhatsApp it’s own social network but focused more on messaging than on sharing updates and photos:

WhatsApp is a diverse platform that gives businesses more than just one way to market to customers.

Since WhatsApp is a messaging-based platform, it’s no stranger to conversational marketing.

Using Chatbots on the platform is a tactic that can help you reach the users naturally, creating less disruption and making the advertisements feel more natural.

According to the Morning Consult study, 80% of small businesses using these tools stated that WhatsApp helped them naturally communicate with customers and grow their leads/sales.

Simply offering your potential clients the option to communicate with your business and receive information via WhatsApp is what can be the tipping point of getting them on board!

In recap:

Here are the main reasons as to why WhatsApp is a great platform for lead generation:

It boats 1.5 billion monthly active users and 1 billion daily active users, making it easy to reach your target market.

The users are highly active each day, sending billions of messages

The user base is very receptive to new technology, adopting the story feature so fast they overtook Snapchat as a whole in just weeks

WhatsApp users love to engage with businesses and chatbots, perfect for generating leads.

WhatsApp Business & WhatsApp Business API

For a long time, the platform withheld and resited demand for official business application. Though, that resistance became history with the launch of WhatsApp Business at the start of 2018 (after a months-long beta program) and, in August 2018, WhatsApp Business API.

What’s the difference between the two?

WhatsApp Business

WhatsApp Business app, now available on both Android and iOS users, allows companies of all shapes and sizes to create a verified business profile, list their contact details, opening hours, website address, and a blurb about their services. Essentially, these listings work just like your Facebook Page or Google My Business profile, displaying business data for customers.

Beyond general business information, you can prompt users to talk to you directly on WhatsApp.

When doing so, you can even label chats based on custom labels that you create, like “New Customer” or “New Order.” and set up quick responses accordingly.

These labels provide increased segmentation options to send more diverse marketing campaigns that are personalized and tailored to each customer.

Since the launch, over 10 million businesses have downloaded the free WhatsApp Business App to communicate with their customers.

WhatsApp Business API

WhatsApp Business API takes it all a big step further, a big step towards automation.

In essence, it enables small and middle size companies to integrate WhatsApp with their existing customer engagement platforms.

For instance, such integration enables automatic sending of notifications, booking confirmations, tickets and appointment reminders directly to someone’s WhatsApp.

Furthermore, the API integration opened the gates to the full potential of automated WhatsApp Bots. Some use artificial intelligence, others smartly stick to rule-based bots, both chat with users gathering and offering info as part of a frictionless conversational experience.

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What both WhatsApp Business and WhatsApp Business API have in common is that the chat has to be always, ALWAYS initiated by the customer. Plus, all conversations are encrypted following strict rules of WhatsApp privacy policy.

Sales & Lead Gen WhatsApp Bot Examples

There are quite a few businesses rocking the WhatsApp messenger bot game winning over customers by immediate response times.

Let’s check out a few examples of bots that were designed to attract new leads or increase sales.

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines uses WhatsApp messenger to send its customers booking confirmation, check-in notification, boarding passes, flight status updates as well as answer their questions in 10 different languages.

Currently, the company uses a combination of automated bot notifications and live chat. However, they are planning to automate the most common interactions.

Being able to reach customers wherever they are, helps KLM provide better service, increase engagement and customer retention.

And, if the user abandons the chat, KLM can message them anytime to bring them back for free, avoiding costly remarketing campaigns.

EF Education First

EF Education is a worldwide language education company. The company’s main aim was not only to capture more leads but also increase conversion rates.

By using WhatsApp as a possible contact channel, the company was able to reach potential students more quickly and efficiently.

Their API integration resulted in:

2 times higher response rate than the company reached with phone calls

3 times higher conversion rate than the company reached with phone calls

30% decrease in cost per call

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Vodafone Germany

Vodafone Germany took a different approach. To improve their customer service for potential as well as existing clients they used their virtual bot TOBi to sort and qualify the WhatsApp inquiries by asking users a series of questions and only then transferring them to chat with a representative responsible for that particular type of query.

Only 5 months after the launch of the service, the company served over 350,000 customers via WhatsApp. They also noted a 45% higher opt-in rate for WhatsApp as supposed to SMS.

Holiday Pirates

Holiday Pirates is all about awesome travel deals. The brand uses WhatsApp bot to share news about great travel packages, flight prices, and competitions. Plus, if you subscribe to one of their categories, it also sends out customized content including articles, images, videos and more.

The bot can also respond to the most basic business-related questions.

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These are just a few examples. There is truly no limit to what you can offer your clients in real time with a quality chatbot. You can use your bot to:

Answer questions

Quiz your users

Collect feedback

Qualify and score leads

Send content

Deliver e-products

And much more!

Plus, once users have your WhatsApp number, you can target them via WhatsApp Stories as well.

How to Build a WhatsApp Bot (Your Very Own, Without Coding)

Now that you have a sense of how WhatsApp chatbots can be used to capture leads and increase sales, it’s time to develop your first WhatsApp lead generation & sales chatbot.

WhatsApp Integration

While building bots with Landbot platform is as easy as it gets, WhatsApp takes safety and privacy seriously. Hence, before you get to dive into WhatsApp marketing, you will need to pass WhatsApp’s thorough vetting process.

So, what needs to be done?

Get in touch with our sales team to apply for the WhatsApp Business API

Meet your personal Customer Success Manager who will assist you throughout the WhatsApp verification process.

Next, we need to:

Let WhatsApp know who you are and what do you plan to do with the official integration (Once approved) Request your WhatsApp number(s) activation. The process involves a PIN code exchange and the integration of the number(s) into your Landbot account. Ask you to provide and submit the message templates that will be sent to your users (only if you plan to send proactive messages or reply after 24 hours).

If your business is a well-known brand receiving more than 500 messages a day, you will be eligible to get WhatsApss “green tick” stamp of approval as well.

Note: This process can take up to 4 weeks.