Should a Trade Business Use WhatsApp Business? Setup Guide

A trade owner who already answers customers from a personal phone has a fair question: is switching to WhatsApp Business worth the bother, and what does it actually add? The app is free to download from the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store [1], and WhatsApp pitches it at small businesses who personally manage conversations with customers [2]. Our view is that for most sole traders and small firms already taking enquiries on WhatsApp, it is worth it, mainly for the away message and the labels. The point to understand first is that you are moving a number across, not bolting a second app onto the same one, so read the migration section before you tap anything.

What WhatsApp Business adds

Everything in this section is taken from WhatsApp’s own description of the app [3]. The trade examples are ours.

A business profile

WhatsApp describes the profile as a virtual storefront that can carry your logo, description, opening hours and website [3]. Its small-business guidance adds email and address to that list, and says a profile helps a business look more established to new customers [4]. For a trade, use the description to say what you do and which areas you cover, so a stranger who finds your number knows whether you are worth messaging.

A catalogue

The catalogue lets you showcase products and services in a mobile storefront and group similar items into collections [3]. Customers can browse, select and share the items they are interested in [4], and you can share the whole catalogue or a link to a single item across WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram [3].

Trades sell jobs rather than products, so build it as a short list of your common jobs, for example a boiler service, a blocked drain or a fence repair, each with a photo and a line on what is included. Use each item’s description to say how you quote for it. We could not find a published limit on how many items a catalogue can hold, so check inside the app before you plan a big one.

Quick replies

Quick replies are shortcuts for messages you send often, so common questions get an answer in a few taps [3]. Save the messages you type again and again: your call-out area, how you take payment, what you need to give a quote (photos of the fault, the address) and how to book.

Labels

Labels let you organise and filter customer conversations so you can find the ones that need attention [3]. A simple set for a trade is New enquiry, Quote sent, Booked and Awaiting payment. It is the nearest thing the app has to a job pipeline, and it beats scrolling back for a chat from three weeks ago.

Greeting and away messages

The greeting message is sent automatically to new customers when they start a conversation [3]. The away message replies automatically to messages received outside your business hours, setting expectations and telling customers when you will be back [3].

For someone on a roof or under a sink all day, the away message is probably the most useful feature here. A customer who messages in the evening gets a reply rather than silence. If you take emergency call-outs, put the number to ring in the message, and don’t promise a response time you can’t keep.

More than one person on the account

WhatsApp says you can link up to 10 devices and agents to your account [3], so a partner doing the admin or an office tablet can answer from the same business number. It also lists business broadcasts, which it describes as available to eligible users in select countries [3]. Check whether you see them in the app before you plan around them.

Is it worth switching?

WhatsApp says its platform has more than 2 billion users worldwide [2], so your customers are very likely on it already. Our view on when the switch pays off:

• Customers already message your mobile and you miss some while you’re working.
• You keep retyping the same answers about area, availability and payment.
• You want a new enquirer to see a proper business profile rather than a bare number.

It is worth pausing if the number you’d move is also your family’s number. The backup route described below brings across your messages, media and contacts [4], so personal chats on that number come with it. If you would rather keep family chats separate, a separate business number is the cleaner answer, and it is worth deciding before you move a number you have used for years.

How to move your number across

The route WhatsApp describes runs through the normal set-up screens.

• Back up your current chats first. Do this in your existing WhatsApp, so there is something to restore.
• Install WhatsApp Business. It is free on Google Play and the App Store [1].
• Enter the number you already use. You will get a verification code by text or call, which WhatsApp says is a security step that helps verify your business and prevent fraud [1].
• Restore your backup when asked. WhatsApp’s small-business guide says you can restore a backup from your WhatsApp account to transfer your messages, media and contacts to your business account [4].
• Fill in the basics. The set-up asks for your business name, business category and a logo or profile image [1].
• Then build it out. Our suggested order is profile, catalogue, quick replies, labels, greeting and away message.

This guide does not cover the finer detail of the move. WhatsApp’s Help Center has a page called “About moving between WhatsApp Messenger and the WhatsApp Business app”, and it is the place to check what happens to your contacts and whether both apps can be registered on one number at the same time. We could not read that page when writing this, so treat those two points as things to check, not as settled facts (they are listed in the “Not yet verified” box on this page).

Before you switch

• Back up your chats and confirm the backup finished.
• Decide whether the number you are moving is one you also use for family and friends.
• Tell regular customers you have moved to a business account, so a new profile doesn’t surprise them.
• Keep marketing separate. Answering customers who message you is one thing; sending promotional messages to your customer list is a different matter under UK data protection and marketing rules, and this guide does not cover it.