WhatsApp Business is a free business version of WhatsApp created for Business Owners. Using WhatsApp Business can help you in communicating information to your customers and speed up the process of responding to enquiries.
WhatsApp Business Features like,
- Business Profile Information
- Catalogs
- Chat Labels
- Automated Messaging
these are extremely helpful to successfully run & manage your villa’s bookings. This guide will help you correctly setup your villa’s WhatsApp Business account step-by-step.
Step 1 : Install the application and register your mobile number.
- Go to the Play store (Android Users) or the App Store (I phone Users) and search for “WhatsApp Business”
- Click ‘Install’ and open the App
- Register your mobile number by verifying it through OTP
- We recommend using a dedicated number to manage bookings for your villa.
Step 2: Create your Villa’s WhatsApp Business profile
- Add a profile picture – Use a good picture of the exterior of your villa.
- Business Name – Add your villa’s name.
- Select Category – ‘Holiday Home Rental’ can be selected for your villa.
- Description – Write a short description about your villa’s features and amenities, one famous place near by, etc.
- Business Address – Add the correct address of your villa. If you have correctly setup your Google My Business profile, you should be able to accurately set the location.
Step 3: Create a Catalogue
Catalogues help you easily showcase your products or services to your customers. In your case, the catalogue will contain details about various packages for renting your villa.
Navigation Click on the triple dots > Business Tools > Catalog > Add Item
Steps
- Package Name
- Photos
- Description – Details of the Rental Package
- Prices – Charges of the Rental Package
Step 4: Set Working hours
WhatsApp allows you to set the working hours of your business and displays the same on your WhatsApp Business profile. This let’s customers know about your availability.
To set the working hours: Click on the triple dots > Business Tools > Business Profile > Click on the pen icon
For your villa setting, the working hours to always open reduces confusion in the minds of customers.
Step 5: Set Quick Replies
Every customer will enquire about the basic details of your villa. Setting quick replies for these basic enquiries can help you save a lot of time and make things easy. To set quick replies: Click on the triple dots > Business Tools >Quick Replies > Click ‘+’
Steps
- Set a shortcut – a word that will quickly retrieve this reply
- You can Enter Text or Media per Quick Reply
- Save
Step 6: Set Automated Messages
WhatsApp allows you to set an automated ‘Greetings’ message and an ‘Away’ message.
To set the Greetings Message: Click on the triple dots > Business Tools > Greeting Message > Toggle the ‘send greeting message’ switch
- Click on the ‘pen’ to type the Greeting Message
- Select Recipients
- Everyone
- Everyone not in address book
- Everyone Except
- Only send to
- Save
A greeting message is extremely useful to let customers know about some basic information and automatically ask for a few details such as Check In, Check Out and No. of Guests.
To set the Away Message: Click on the triple dots > Business Tools > Away Message > Toggle the ‘send away message’ switch.
- Click on the ‘pen’ to type the Away Message
- Schedule Send
- Always
- Outside Business Hours
- Custom Hours
- Select Recipients
- Everyone
- Everyone not in address book
- Everyone Except
- Only send to
- Save
An away message is extremely useful to let customers know that you are away from your phone and will get back to them as soon as possible.
Step 7: Set Labels
Another great feature with WhatsApp business is the facility to set labels to your chats. As your villa starts getting more and more enquiries it can become extremely difficult to manage all the chats.
Labels help you organize your customer chats into types
- New Customers
- Old Customers
- Completed Bookings
- Upcoming Bookings
To Create Labels: Click on the triple dots > Business Tools > Labels > Click ‘+’ to create custom labels like above > Hold to select a chat > click on label icon to sort the chat into a specific type.
Step 8: Add Website and Email
Whatsapp allows you to set upto 2 Websites and 1 Email Id on your profile.
It is important to add the link to your villa’s website and the Email-ID.
To add : Click on the triple dots > Business Tools > Business Profile
Step 9: Facebook & Instagram Integration
You can even integrate your villa’s WhatsApp Business account to it’s Facebook business page and Instagram Page. Any visitor on your Facebook and Instagram profile will be able to connect with you on WhatsApp Business. You can even sync WhatsApp Business profile info with the villa’s Facebook business page to save time, but make sure your Facebook business page is updated.
