WhatsApp has gained a lot of popularity over the years since it launched in 2009. With billions of active users globally, it's one of the best-known apps in the world.

The regular version of WhatsApp is a useful tool to communicate with your friends and family. And if you own a business, WhatsApp Business serves as a great platform to nurture business relations between you and your customers.

So, what are the differences between WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business? Let's take a look.

The Differences Between WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business

The popularity and convenience of WhatsApp has led to more small businesses using it to communicate with customers. Since the platform was originally created for personal use, it became evident that a business-oriented solution was needed—hence the creation of WhatsApp Business. If you have a small business, you might want to consider using WhatsApp for your business.

WhatsApp Business Profile Features

WhatsApp Business allows you to create a profile tailored to suit the products and services offered by your business. Compared to regular WhatsApp, where you can only have a profile photo, name, and description, WhatsApp Business includes additional features.

Here are the WhatsApp Business profile features that you won’t find on the main app:

• Business categories.
• Business hours.
• Business address.
• A link to your website.
• Your catalog.

Business Messaging With WhatsApp

As a business owner, it is important to create a healthy relationship between you and your customers. WhatsApp Business has a few extra messaging features to help you communicate with your customers.

The solution has the following messaging features:

• Labels.
• The opportunity to send a greeting message.
• Quick replies.
• The possibility of leaving an away message.

You'll find a brief overview of each of these features below.

1. Label

Being well-organized is a key factor for any business that wants to succeed in the long run. The labels feature within WhatsApp Business helps you keep your account neat. You can assign different labels for each chat, along with assigning various colors. This will help you track your orders, generate leads, and keep your WhatsApp Business account in check.

2. Greeting Messages

The WhatsApp Business app allows you to set automatic greeting messages. Whenever anyone sends you a text to your WhatsApp Business account for the first time, or after 14 days of no engagement, they will receive a greeting text that you can customize.

3. Quick Replies

As a business owner, you might receive queries from new customers. You will also have to respond and send messages to unsaved WhatsApp numbers.

Your new customers might ask questions that you have answered many times before. To avoid feeling like you're repeating yourself, WhatsApp Business offers a feature called Quick replies. To start, you can go to Settings > Quick replies. Once you've set this up, you'll be able to answer several frequently asked queries.

4. Away Messages

If you are unavailable, you can also set messages to inform your customers that you will get back to them once you're back. To activate this feature, go to the Away message feature on WhatsApp Business and turn it on. Then, set the automatic messages that your customers will receive during your unavailability.

Reach Your Customers

WhatsApp Business includes three features you can use to reach more customers. These features allow potential customers to conveniently contact you after seeing an ad or finding out about your business on social media.

These features are:

• Advertising on Facebook by creating ads that lead to WhatsApp.
• Adding WhatsApp to your business page or profile on Facebook or Instagram.
• Sharing your WhatsApp Business messaging link.

You can also check out our free cheat sheet on WhatsApp tips and tricks for Android and iOS to find out more about what WhatsApp has to offer.

WhatsApp Business: A New Way to Manage Your Company and Customers

As your small business grows, you'll need to manage your customers better. Communication is critical, but you can't expect to stay on duty for 24 hours every day.

WhatsApp Business offers a solution to help you quickly reply to frequently asked questions, along with building better relationships.

If you already have prior experience using WhatsApp, the version for businesses shouldn't be too much of a leap. And now you know how to use it, why not get started?