WhatsApp Business Automation: How to Capture Leads and Follow Up Automatically

To Capture the Leads and Carry on Follow-Ups Automatically, Use WhatsApp Business Automation

Suppose that a customer visits your website, shows interest in your service and clicks on WhatsApp to ask for a price. Your team is occupied with some other enquiries and you get no immediate response. The customer calls another competitor, who answers first, after a few hours.

That little lag time can mean you are losing a valuable lead!

The issue for many businesses isn't that they're not getting enquiries, it's that they aren't getting the right ones. It is dealing with these questions in a uniform manner. They are found on websites, social media, advertisements and referrals, and it's hard to keep up with each of these possible customers.

With WhatsApp Business Automation, businesses can now capture enquiries, respond in real-time, organise leads and follow-up automatically. Rather than having to rely on someone to remember all the conversations, businesses can establish a more organized way of keeping potential customers moving towards a purchase.

So, What Is WhatsApp Business Automation?

WhatsApp Business Automation allows repetitive customer interactions to be managed via tools, integrations and pre-defined workflows on WhatsApp.

For instance, if a person asks for a service, it could send an instant acknowledgment, gather essential data, store the lead in a customer relationship management (CRM) system and alert the appropriate salesman.

Automation can also facilitate reminders, order updates, payment reminders, and follow-up messages--depending on the configuration.

The WhatsApp Business app offers basic features like greeting messages and away messages. For more complex workflows that involve CRM integration, website forms, multiple team members and automated customer experiences, the official WhatsApp Business Platform and related software might be needed.

Also Read: Website Development Cost in India

It's not about replacing humans with computers. It's about minimising repetitive work, and letting your team concentrate on what needs personal attention in a conversation.

How WhatsApp Automation Can Catch Leads

The first step in a successful lead generation is to ensure that people can easily reach out to your business. They then have the assistance of automation in ensuring that their enquiries do not get lost.

1. Integrate WhatsApp on Your Website

Your web pages can be the beginning of your lead generation method. Include a WhatsApp button on specific pages like your services, prices, contact and product pages.

Visitors can begin a conversation without the need to look for your phone number, or complete a lengthy form.

One such website tree may have a button that is labeled “Discuss Your Website Project.” A ready-made message may assist them to articulate what they require.

This allows for traffic on your website to be directed to a real sales conversation.

2. Answer New Enquiries ASAP

Customers tend to call a number of businesses before they make a decision. They will know their enquiry has reached the right place, as they are given a quick reply.

A welcome message could be automated and say:

“Hi! We are glad you have reached out to us. We'll be glad to help you. Please, specify which service are you interested in and our team will guide you.”

You can then lead the customer down the right path, ask a couple of questions or let them know when a team member will be back to them.

Although an immediate response doesn't ensure the sale, it will help establish expectations and minimise the risk that an enquiry will be missed.

3. Collect and Organise Lead Information

There are various types of enquiries and not all are instantly saleable. The information required by someone asking for a rough estimate might differ from what someone wishing to start a project would need.

An integrated workflow can gather information like the name of the customer, service needed, budget, and time frame. If properly integrated, this information can be saved in a CRM or LMS system.

Your sales team can then get all the enquiries in a single location, rather than having to scour through various chats and spreadsheets.

Also Read: How AI Automation Helps Small Businesses Save Time

This also makes it easy to prioritise the leads and assign them to the appropriate person.

The Way Automated WhatsApp Follow-Ups Function

Having captured a lead is just the first step. Some customers require time to review their choices, for internal approval, and/or to discuss price.

If there's no follow-up system in place, then your prospects may slowly slip away from your sales pipeline.

1. Send a Relevant Follow-Up

Let's say a customer asks for custom software, but doesn't reply after you give him the initial information. A follow-up can help ensure they remember your team is available to answer any questions.

For example:

“Hi! "Did you have the chance to take a look at the information we provided? If you have any questions about the features or what happens next then we would love to assist you.

The timing and the frequency should be appropriate to the customer journey. Consumers will get annoyed, when the same message is sent too many times in a short amount of time, and it will cause loss of trust.

2. Give Reminders to Your Salespeople

It's not like all the conversations are going to be automated.

A workflow can trigger a reminder if the lead doesn't respond, send a reminder to a salesperson if a customer sends a quote request, or assign a lead to a team member if a lead has asked for an enquiry.

The system can be customized to include stages for more complex sales like 'new enquiry', 'contacted', 'quotation sent', 'follow up required' and 'converted'.

This provides managers greater visibility into the sales pipeline and enables teams to see where sales are becoming stuck.

3. Inform Customers About the Purchase

WhatsApp automation can also serve as a tool to help after the customer has placed an order or confirmed service.

Automated messages can communicate booking confirmations, order status, delivery status, appointment reminders, invoices, and payment reminders, among other things, depending on your business and integrations.

Customers are provided with beneficial details without having to call your staff for all of them. In the meantime, workers will have less time to respond to inquiries that are asked repeatedly.

In Which Businesses Can WhatsApp Business Automation Be Beneficial?

If your business gets a lot of enquiries every day or wants to send messages to your customers during a customer's buying journey, WhatsApp automation can be helpful.

• With service businesses: Record website inquiries, book appointments and follow up on proposals.

• Online retailers: Provide order and delivery confirmation, and customer support details.

• Real estate agencies: Help coordinate real estate inquiries, arrange appointments to go on site and remind sales agents to follow up.

• Educational institutes: Answer queries about course and provide admissions details, reminders of application.

• Appointment scheduling for people in the healthcare, or appointment, sector: Control confirmation and reminder of appointments, with appropriate privacy protections.

• B2B businesses: Monitor product inquiries, dealer requests, product quotations and longer sales cycles.

WhatsApp Business App vs WhatsApp Business Platform

Choosing the right setup depends on your needs.

The WhatsApp Business Platform is not a complete CRM by itself. Businesses may need additional software to manage lead stages, sales assignments, reporting, and follow-up rules.

For business-initiated messages, the required customer opt-in and approved message templates must be followed where applicable. Businesses should also respect customer preferences, provide a clear way to stop receiving messages, and follow WhatsApp's policies.

Also Read: 9 Ways Smart Indian Startups Are Cutting Costs

This Article Provides Details on How to Start Using WhatsApp Business Automation

Set up automation for all business activities isn't required. Begin process that results in most delays.

Step 1 – Identify the problem. Are leads not being followed up, replies lag, quotes are not followed up, or are customers constantly calling back to request an update?

Step 2 – Draw your customer journey. Determine the actions to take following a person's enquiry, request for a quote, appointment booking or purchase.

Step Three: Select the appropriate tools. A simple message could suffice for a small operation. For businesses requiring a more advanced workflow and/or integrations with a CRM, the WhatsApp Business Platform is a better option.

Step 4: Formative messages. Be succinct, relevant and provide guidance on the next step in the automated response. Don't commit to something that you are not able to deliver.

Test and measure (Step 5). Monitor lead response times, follow up completion, qualified leads and conversions. These results can help you to optimize your workflow.

Also Read: How to Reduce Zomato & Swiggy Commissions With Your Own Ordering Website

CartelPlanet Can Help With WhatsApp Automation in a Multitude of Ways

Sending automatic replies is just the beginning of the process of integrating WhatsApp with your business. The true benefits are in integrating customer communication into systems your team is already using.

Business process automation services from CartelPlanet can be useful to integrate the lead capture, CRM workflows, website enquiries, and WhatsApp notifications. A workflow may pass new leads to the appropriate team member, remind them to follow up on the leads, and help prevent repetitive data entry depending on the scope that is agreed upon.

When you're losing inbound enquiries due to delayed answers or lost customer data in various tools, the first step is to find out what part of the process needs improvement. A concentrated automation project might be a good initial approach before moving onto other business processes.

Learn about the options that are offered with CartelPlanet's business automation services.

Final Thoughts

Leads are just the beginning as each one is a potential business opportunity, and it's not enough to just have a lead. Companies require to have a solid means to reply, arrange information and follow up in the proper time.

Using WhatsApp Business Automation can make this process more consistent, enabling the link between customer conversations and lead management, and integrate into business processes on a daily basis. As long as there is one well-defined problem to start with, and you pick the appropriate setup, you can test to see if it will enable your team to respond faster and deal with enquiries more effectively.

It's all about reducing the time you spend in following up on messages and focusing more on developing customer relationships.