Encouraging Your Customers to Use Your Website Instead of WhatsApp for Orders
WhatsApp has been the backbone for South African small businesses, from township entrepreneurs and informal businesses to online stores. It is not just a messaging app but a default communication channel between clients and businesses where clients can inquire, place orders, and send proof of payment.
WhatsApp became the number 1 communication channel for businesses because it’s affordable, accessible to multitudes, user-friendly, and feels personal since clients directly talk to business owners. WhatsApp feels safer for customers to directly message the business owners than sharing card details on a website you are visiting for the first time. With these excellent benefits, it’s only beneficial for a certain period of time when the business is still in its growing stage. It could be problematic in the long run when the business is bigger and orders are hard to manage through WhatsApp.
When the business gets bigger, it’s easy for order messages to get lost in the crowd of inquiries, pricing confusion, high possibility of delayed replies, and a burnout possibility. This is where a company website is essential for customers to place orders on their website to manage orders and operations easily. The best solution is to use both WhatsApp and a website instead of choosing one.
Reasons WhatsApp Is The Default Business Tool in South Africa
Before you persuade your customers to move from WhatsApp orders to your website, you need to understand why they trust WhatsApp over everything else. Customers prefer ordering through WhatsApp because it’s more personalized and feels like you are talking directly to a person, and they are given an opportunity to ask any questions before placing an order. More reasons why customers prefer WhatsApp are lower data costs compared to when you are browsing on the website, and a lot of people have been scammed a lot online, so they avoid that. WhatsApp also gives assurance to customers through voice notes, photos, and voice calls for reassurance. WhatsApp works best for small businesses starting out without a complex system; for early stages, it is the best approach because every sale feels personal, and you reply to every question personally without sounding like a robot. It only gets complicated when orders start multiplying and the business grows rapidly.
WhatsApp Orders Hidden Costs
As much as WhatsApp ordering has a lot of benefits, it eventually causes similar problems across all businesses. Having an open WhatsApp business line means that orders come in anytime of the day; customers can send orders in the middle of the night even when you are sleeping, during deliveries, at a party, or even at church, meaning you have no time for rest because late responses decrease trust, yet fast responses steal from your mental health.
There is inconsistent pricing because of customer preferences; stocktaking is also inconsistent because of the multiple orders coming at different times and receipts getting lost in various chats. You end up having customers re-checking if you have received their orders or messages. Besides everything, your business depends on you being constantly online without a break trying to catch up with orders, inquiries, and receipts recording, yet a website can solve all these problems in an instant.
Importance of A Website In A Growing Business
A fully functioning website creates a structure where customers are able to:
- See all prices and read product description without a hassle
- Choose a time to order and delivery options
- Confirm whether your business is legitimate and get automated confirmations
Having a website for your business in South Africa builds trust and screams professionalism. South Africans trust that your business is serious, trustworthy, and not fly-by-night when you have a website. A website helps a lot for first-time customers who are deciding between you and an already existing competitor who is well known. But you still cannot force customers to stop ordering through WhatsApp.
Why WhatsApp Should Not Be Removed Completely
Customers are not really comfortable with overnight change; moving them from WhatsApp to the website should be a gradual process until customers are now comfortable on the other side. WhatsApp can act as a front desk of your business instead of being a cash register. You can keep WhatsApp for customer inquiries and move orders and payments to the website. If you manage to get your customers to use both WhatsApp and the website accordingly, then customers won’t feel forced.
Using Both WhatsApp and Website Together
Most South African online businesses use WhatsApp as a bridge to pass over to the website. Instead of replying with a long message on WhatsApp when a customer asks questions about a product, you kindly provide the link to the website where they will find all the information they need and order options. For example your reply could be
“Hey, here is a link to our website where you can find everything you need, including prices, placing orders, and delivery options. I’m right here for further information.” This kind of approach trains and directs a customer to self-service, provides convenience, and makes WhatsApp a supporting tool, not an operational tool. After a while, customers automatically know where to go directly to order and find more information about your product.
How To Strategically Redirect Customers to Your Website
Being consistent goes a long way. If you are flexible when it comes to switching between website orders and WhatsApp orders, then customers will forever push for the latter. You have to stick to directing WhatsApp conversations to website orders; that way a customer eventually knows where to go directly without passing through WhatsApp. Make sure all your WhatsApp statuses and profile states that orders are strictly done on the website and that WhatsApp is just for inquiries.
Set your autoreply message to guide customers to your website link before they even put in an order. Every response to questions like product prices, product details, or delivery options should be followed by a guide and link to get to the website. All customers need is reassurance and proof that the business is real, so the response gives them the assurance to trust the website.
Understanding Why Some Customers Fear Websites
There have been a lot of online scammers since the internet became popular South Africans do not want to assume that something is safe until you earn their trust.
Most concerns come from the risk of card fraud, fake websites, the possibility of not receiving their order and no one responding after paying.
You can earn their trust through a display of your physical location even when you are home-based, sharing testimonials from other customers, using regularly used payments methods, EFT payment options, and sharing a WhatsApp support link on your website. A visible WhatsApp link on your website increases trust, even when all orders are placed online.
Benefits of Moving Orders to Your Website In The Future
The minute customers get used to using the website, everything will move effortlessly. There will be organized orders, easy tracking of inventory, and products that are doing better than others so that you can restock them in higher numbers. Scaling becomes easy because you don’t need extra people to answer messages or track your product performance. This means your business runs efficiently, can easily be scaled, and can be funded because investors treat businesses with websites more seriously than ones operating only on WhatsApp. Google also favours structured websites with higher visibility online.
Conclusion
Once businesses in South Africa treat WhatsApp as a tool and not a business model, then business owners will be able to move their customers easily to websites without basing their whole operation on WhatsApp, which can be limiting in the future. The best option is to treat WhatsApp as a bridge to arrive at your business website, that way you will have organized orders, manage inventory and recognize best-selling products. WhatsApp is there to help earn trust from clients, while a website can manage all your business operations without needing extra help. The trick is to gradually teach customers to use the website independently by guiding them to the website through links you send on WhatsApp whenever they need help or placing an order. Eventually they will realize how easy it is to place orders, get product information, choose a delivery option, and even track their orders.