From acquiring and qualifying leads to building relationships with your customers – and future customers, WhatsApp can be an important communication channel and support salespeople to perform better during follow-up.
In this article, we will show you how to align this amazing tool with your Bitrix24.CRM to automate sending messages throughout the cadence flow.
We will also show how salespeople can activate WhatsApp integrated with CRM at strategic moments to maintain a close relationship and reduce the sales cycle.
When to insert WhatsApp into the Sales Funnel?
The simple answer is: at all stages, but as we – and probably you who are reading this article – also care about the experience of our future customers, it may be important to take into account the maturity of the leads and the moment of the relationship with them .
Let's start with the bad examples so we don't repeat them. You create a form with a WhatsApp capture field in the lead funnel , but the material isn't bottom of the funnel and, what's more, that contact hasn't yet shown interest in your solution. Will your contact appreciate being approached on WhatsApp just because they wanted to consume your educational content?
WhatsApp is a tool for close relationships – your company is side by side with your contact’s mother, son, wife. There’s nothing more annoying than being called by a number that’s not in your address book and, on top of that, offering something that’s not useful at that moment.
Now, if you put the WhatsApp field in a quote request form or chat with your consultants, it will make perfect sense to use WhatsApp to get in touch. They know your company and asked for your contact information.Tip: A good practice is to let them know that you will or may use WhatsApp as a contact channel before they even fill out the form. You can also let them choose the best option for them.
Did you understand the difference?
It's one thing for your contact to know that this channel exists and that you'll use it to pass on useful information about the service or to share details of the negotiation. It's another thing to use WhatsApp just to skip the steps of the relationship – and if that happens, your number could be reported as spam and blocked by the user .
Image with a blue background, written Best CRMs on the market: a comparison to help you choose yours. In the image there is a computer with the Bitrix24 screen.
Applying WhatsApp to Bitrix24 Cadence Flow
It is possible to automate the sending of messages at different moments of your Sales Cadence Flow – and even post-sales – using a WhatsApp integrator for Bitrix24.
Important: You need to have a Bitrix24 plan with marketing japan telemarketing data automation (Basic, Standard, Professional), otherwise it will not be possible.
To do this, when you define the trigger and choose the type of delivery, simply choose a WhatsApp message instead of an email or scheduling a phone call.
The example above is from the WhatsApp Integration API, developed by us at Br24.
But at what moment would it be interesting to take this shot?
Consider the previous topic and ask yourself some questions:
Did my opportunity request my contact?Has this person already contacted me on another channel?Does this person know my name?In many cases, you don't need to check all three questions, such as a quote request, but it helps you reflect on the experience.
But I want to talk to a qualified lead sent by marketing. Well, maybe a more traditional channel like email makes more sense – you left a letter on the doorstep for the opportunity to see whenever they want, but you didn’t come knocking on the door selling your product and interrupting the lead while they were cooking.
This is a good time to move on to the next topic: follow-up using WhatsApp.
Using WhatsApp for efficient follow-up
The follow-up strategy – or the attempts to contact the opportunity – in Bitrix24 can be automated or manual – so if your Bitrix24 plan doesn’t have marketing automation, don’t worry. You can still get great results by integrating WhatsApp with Contact Center .
PowerZAP WhatsApp API
Well, you already know that it’s not a good practice to contact someone via WhatsApp first – unless your opportunity has made that clear.
You can start your follow-up with an email, try a phone call and then, as a last resort, send a WhatsApp message. A good example would be:
“Hi, João! This is Eduarda from Br24. I sent you an email a few days ago about your interest in Bitrix24, but I haven’t heard back from you yet. Did you get my email? What did you think of the proposal?”
Or who knows:
“Hi, João! This is Eduarda from Br24. I called you, but I think you were busy. Can we talk here about your interest in Bitrix24?”
Tip: You can use Bitrix24 variables to send your automated message to the opportunity's WhatsApp to make the message more personal.
In both examples, the contact did not return the call and WhatsApp was used as a last resort to avoid giving up. To give you an idea, WhatsApp has an average engagement rate of 70% , much higher than traditional channels used for follow-up.
Of course, you can make other attempts before sending a message via WhatsApp. You can still, after the WhatsApp message, if you don't see a response, send another email or make more attempts to call.
Everything will depend on your follow-up strategy and the results of the tests in the cadence flow to increase response rates and, most importantly, scheduling meetings and gaining customers.
But what happens when there is feedback from another channel before the seller or automation activates WhatsApp? Why use this channel and how to approach it to achieve the best results?
As WhatsApp is an instant messaging channel, if you use it well you can shorten the sales cycle .