Convert Faster by Automating Your WhatsApp Sales Process

How long does it take your business to close a deal over WhatsApp? Limited manpower often slows down the sales process as sales agents can only chat with so many leads at one time. Large businesses with multiple branches may struggle to send leads to the right place.

If you’re managing high volumes of leads, automation will streamline the sales process so you can close deals faster. Reply to leads automatically, send them to the correct agent for a conversation, integrate with a CRM and even take orders and payments.

Every business can benefit from using WhatsApp sales automation, but the level of automation you can achieve depends on whether you’re using the WhatsApp Business app or WhatsApp API with a conversation management platform.

Learn more about the differences between the two in this blog.

Implementing even basic automation will speed up your sales cycle as you won’t keep leads waiting. Advanced features help growing businesses take conversions to the next level. We’ll share insights on how to do this along with how our own customers have seen success with WhatsApp automation.

Keep Leads Engaged with Instant Replies

When leads message a business about a product, they expect immediate replies. While an agent may not be available to reply right away, a greeting or acknowledgement keeps leads engaged.

Respond.io’s Chief Operating Officer Iaroslav Kudritskiy reminds businesses of the value of getting a message on WhatsApp: “When a customer messages you over WhatsApp, they’re almost ready to buy; they’re in the later stages of making their decision. All they really want from you is very simple. They just have some questions about your product and service.”

He explains that what makes or breaks their decision is often your business’s response or lack of it. If they’re kept waiting for several hours and then only receive a long block of text that isn’t completely relevant, they’ll be turned off and will likely go to a competitor.

To prevent this from happening, a simple step on the WhatsApp Business app is to set automatic greeting and away messages. This lets prospects know their message has been received and sets expectations for when they can expect to hear from you.

Even better is an interactive automated response which can be created if you’re using WhatsApp API. With respond.io’s Workflow automation, you can set a list of automated FAQ for prospects to select from.

Questions can also help you to qualify leads by identifying their interests and budget.

Assist or Completely Automate Sales with AI and Integrations

The addition of AI allows you to engage in more complex, personalized conversations without an agent needing to be available. This works well for businesses with a simple, straightforward process.

For example, one of our customers who offers courses for children uses click to chat ads to get leads in. The leads automatically receive a PDF brochure when they ask for information and can then ask any additional questions, which are answered by an AI agent.

After the leads have asked all the questions they have, they’re prompted to fill out a registration form. They are then directed to a payment portal to pay for the course. The sale is done without any need for a salesperson!

Of course, more complex sales will require a salesperson, but getting the FAQ answered first saves agents time for the inquiries that do call for a human touch. AI can also be used to help agents reply faster as it assists in composing replies or checking grammar.

While these advanced features are only available with WhatsApp API, the WhatsApp Business app has the Quick Replies feature, which allows agents to save commonly used answers so they don’t have to type them out every time.

Send Leads to the Right Agent by Automatically Routing and Assigning Conversations

When you’re getting in high numbers of leads, agents may be overwhelmed. Sending the conversations to the next available agent facilitates a speedy reply. Additionally, for businesses with multiple branches or specialities, you’ll want to send the lead to the right place.

For example, one of our customers has physical stores all over the country. When they get in leads through ads, they want to send them to the nearest store. Customers with WhatsApp inquiries will be routed to a sales agent at a local branch and be prompted to visit the location after the conversation.

This is done with respond.io’s Workflows automation. Automatic routing or assignment can be used based on location, availability, specialty and more.

Start Converting WhatsApp Leads with Automation

To get more conversions over WhatsApp, speedy and helpful answers are essential. Basic WhatsApp automation like greeting and away messages are beneficial to smaller businesses to offer a quick response until agents can reply manually.

For growing businesses, WhatsApp API with a conversation management platform like respond.io is a game changer. From automated FAQ to advanced AI responses and integrations, it helps businesses provide quality replies at scale to double or even triple conversions.

Are you using automation for your WhatsApp sales? Share your story in the comments! And don’t forget to subscribe for more insights on doing sales and marketing over chat. Next week we’ll be discussing what makes a great customer experience on WhatsApp.