WhatsApp Business grows in Brazil with 70% of companies using it for sales, study shows

With a presence in virtually all mobile phones in Brazil, WhatsApp has consolidated itself as a working tool for small and medium-sized companies throughout the country. The app is installed in 99% of mobile phones in Brazil and maintains 147 million users, according to the study Digital 2024: Brazil.

For service channel specialists, what was once just an informal means of contact now plays a strategic role: more and more companies are automating processes, organizing their operations and selling directly through the application.

According to Opinion Box report, 82% of Brazilians already use WhatsApp to communicate with companies, and 60% claim to have already made purchases by the app. It is no wonder that the number of businesses that use the business version 821 WhatsApp Business 2024 has also grown: Brazil is one of the largest markets in the world for the solution. About 70% of Brazilian companies already use the app as part of their marketing, sales and relationship strategies, according to the Panorama of Marketing and Sales 2024, RD Station.

“Before, everything was manual. Today, I can talk to dozens of customers at the same time, without leaving anyone waiting for”, says Gabriel Savio, director of a furniture store in Goias. After automating the service and sales by WhatsApp, he claims to have multiplied the billing by six. “Organization and agility made all the difference”. He uses the Poli Digital service platform in his operations, also a company from Goias, which has chatbot, automations and CRM for customer service.

The automation-driven platform can be a true sales engine for a company. There is a big difference between fulfilling an order and operating an intelligent, scalable and efficient commercial process”, says Alberto Filho, CEO of Poli Digital.

Cases like Gabriel's are not isolated.A Meta survey (2023) heard 6.5 thousand adults from 13 countries, including Brazil, and showed that 81% of Brazilians said they found it easier to send messages to a company than to access a website to have this contact, and 78% claim to have a better chance of closing a purchase when they can solve everything there 'from the first contact to payment.

Alessandra Bona, from Burntech Boilers Industrial Equipment, also a Poli Digital customer, mentions that the possibility of responding to customers on the same screen, serving several channels at the same time, made everyday life much easier. “Allowing everything to be recorded in a pre-sales funnel (messages and calls) was a decisive factor”. 

In addition to improving conversations, WhatsApp also boosts sales with integrated features. One of the most used is Click-to-WhatsApp, which transforms ads on Instagram and Facebook into direct conversations on the customer service platform. According to Meta, more than 40% of Brazilian advertisers have already adopted this functionality sign that WhatsApp has become a central point in the buying journey.

Another highlight is the Poly Pay, a tool developed by Poli Digital that works as a direct order management system by WhatsApp and Instagram. It allows companies to send and receive charges directly through chat, with integrated product catalog and shopping cart. The functionality has moved about R$ 7 million since its launch in 2020. The conversion rate achieved with Poli Pay was 46%, twice the average of traditional e-commerce.

“Or, with support and organization, we can grow even with a lean team. WhatsApp is the app that is already in your pocket, it is agile, direct and convenient & has a huge competitive advantage”, says Alessandra Bona.

Unlike robust solutions created for large companies, which are often expensive and difficult to deploy, WhatsApp Business offers an affordable gateway to the digitization of SMEs.“Automate service, record conversation histories, train teams and integrate direct payment by chat. All this is already possible, and does not require large investments”, says Alberto Filho.