Ah, WhatsApp. Love it or hate it, it's a powerful tool for businesses. Chances are you're either constantly on the lookout for messages or in a constant state of stress managing the many different chats. If you fall into the latter, maybe it's time to set up HubSpot's WhatsApp integration for your business.
The idea of applying a WhatsApp integration without a third-party app might surprise you, but, starting in November, 2022, HubSpot introduced this powerful functionality, allowing businesses to work with an integrated chat functionality that includes the biggest messaging app in the world (with over 2 billion active users!) without any third-party software. Keep reading to better understand how to apply this new integration and what your business stands to gain from it.
This powerful new integration allows you to access all of your WhatsApp messages through your HubSpot inbox, following its sharing settings to control which members of your team get access to the messages. So, as long as you're subscribe to either HubSpot Marketing Hub or HubSpot Service Hub (through either the Professional or Enterprise plans), your team gets full access to your message history with your customers.
So, how do we apply this integration to get access to these functionalities? Well, as a starting point, there are some prerequisites:
If you fulfill those requirements, it's time to begin!
Start by going into your HubSpot account, then click on the gear icon in the upper right-hand corner of the screen to open the settings screen. Then, on the left sidebar, scroll down to "Tools", click on "Inbox" and, within the list that appears, click on the new "Inboxes" option.
Clock on "Connect a channel" and you should see the following screen:
Source: HubSpot
From here, click on "WhatsApp" and on the screen that follows, click on "Continue with WhatsApp".
After finishing the previous step, you should get a pop-up window asking you to log into Facebook. If you already have a Meta Business account, you should choose that one - otherwise, you can log in with your personal credentials and click on "Continue as [name]" to configure a new business account.
This step only applies to users without Meta Business and/or WhatsApp Business accounts:
To set up your Meta Business account, you simply need to fill your company's legal and contact info (legal business name, phone number, website and a verifiable business email address). After that's done, you can connect your Meta Business account to a WhatsApp Business account. Meta already recommends a few accounts based on the information you've filled above, you just need to pick the right one that you wish to share with your team through HubSpot. If you still need to create your own WhatsApp Business account, you need to provide some additional info: your display name (which will be seen by your customers on the app) and a phone number to use WhatsApp from - you'll need to verify this number for safety in case it hasn't already been verified with WhatsApp.
After setting up your account, you'll have a chance to check which permissions HubSpot requires to make its WhatsApp integration work, before confirming by clicking on "Ok" to return to HubSpot. Once you're back to the Inbox panel, click on "Connect" and it's done - you now will have configured HubSpot's WhatsApp integration!
By default, your WhatsApp messages will appear alongside other conversations within your inbux, but you do have the option of dedicating a special area for them by going into your inbox settings and, under the "Actions" menu, optiing to "Create a view" and filtering for any conversations where WhatsApp is the source of origin.
To say WhatsApp is a popular tool is quite the understatement, with numbers that might shock even long-time users. According to data gathered by Semrush, WhatsApp users exchange over 100 billion messages every day across the world, with an ever-increasing userbase. The same dataset points to the number of active users globally increasing by 1 billion new users between the years of 2016 and 2020.
Beyond the raw numbers of users, it's also worth pointing to how, among its "top 3" markets, two of them are among the biggest ecommerce markets in the world: Brazil appears in second place, with 108 million active monthly users, quickly followed by the United States, with 75.1 million.
With such a high usage, it's clear WhatsApp goes beyond simply being a powerful communications tool, becoming a huge opportunity for businesses - though, at the same time, the data shows that it's a tool where careful management is required in order to avoid mismanaging so many constant messages.
Additionally, we currently live in a world where companies are moving more and more towards omnichannel strategies, where they serve their customers through multiple different channels all at once, without any disconnect between the different platforms. Such strategies are becoming so popular due to how they bring huge benefits to the consumer, but that also comes with new challenges for the businesses and their managers. The more channels you're dealing with at the same time, the stronger your need for a better and more optimized workflow becomes, preferably if such workflows come with the bonus of reducing the amount of separate solutions you need to keep a constant eye on, creating potential distraction points.
And it's also worth bringing up how the WhatsApp integration also brings more tangible benefits when it comes to cost reduction for your business. Obviously, by having to sign up for fewer solutions, you're also paying for fewer subscriptions every month and saving more money, but another benefit comes in the reduced friction between you and your customers with smoother and faster customer service, facilitating more deal closures.
So, with so many benefits to it, there aren't any reasons to not take advantage of this new integration if you're already a HubSpot user, right?
Hopefully, by making use of the info outlined above, you can reach greater highs in your business results. We'll see you next time!