WhatsApp Business for your business

Why the normal app isn't enough

You can work from the personal app, but you lose four things:

• **No business profile** with hours, address or a link to your site.
• **No auto-reply**, so whoever writes at eleven at night gets nothing until morning.
• **No saved replies**, so you type the same thing twenty times a day.
• **No separation.** Your customer sees your birthday status and your chats get mixed together.

The Business version is free, it's the same app, with those things solved.

How to set it up in an afternoon

**1. A separate number if you can.** Google Voice is free and gives you a second number. That way you can switch off on Sunday without losing personal messages. If you're using the same one, at least set up the business profile.

**2. A complete profile.** Business name exactly as on Google, category, real hours, city, and the link to your site or booking.

**3. Greeting message.** What first-time messagers get:

"Thanks for contacting Rivera Plumbing. We work in Hialeah, Miami Lakes and Doral. Tell me what you need and your area and I'll get back to you within two hours."

It does three things: confirms it arrived, says where you work, and asks upfront for what you need to know.

**4. Away message.** The after-hours one:

"Thanks for writing. I'm on a job, I'll reply before six. If it's an emergency, call (305) 490-7151."

This alone keeps a lot of people who would otherwise move to the next name.

**5. Quick replies.** The things you type every day, saved behind a shortcut: prices, areas you cover, your Google review link, your address. Written once, sent with two taps.

**6. Labels.** New, quote sent, booked, done. It's what lets you see at a glance who's owed a reply.

The catalog, and what it's for

In nails, barbering, spa and detailing, where services have fixed prices, the catalog is genuinely useful: each service with its photo, price and description.

The customer browses it inside the chat without leaving, and you stop typing prices every time.

In trades where you have to go and look, the catalog matters less. There what works is a quick reply with the price range.

How to reply without being glued to the phone

**Two or three fixed times.** Mid-morning, after lunch, and at the end of the day. The away message already said when you reply.

**Reply within two hours during working hours.** Not instantly, but the same day. By the next day they've hired someone else.

**Always close with a question.** "Does tomorrow at ten work?" moves things far more than "let me know."

**Switch to a call when it gets complicated.** If it's five messages back and forth, call. Two minutes solves what takes half an hour in writing.

The button on your site and on Google

None of this matters if it isn't visible.

Put the WhatsApp button at the top of your site next to the phone number, and the link on your Google listing and Instagram bio. It's a link that opens the chat directly, without anyone having to save your number first, which is where half of them get lost.