A tailor in Pietermaritzburg spent months building a website with an online booking form. Hardly anyone uses it. But her personal WhatsApp buzzes all day: customers sending photos of a dress they want altered, asking whether she can fit them in before a wedding, sharing voice notes about the length of a hem.
She treats these messages as an interruption to her “real” marketing. In fact, WhatsApp has quietly become her most important sales channel. She just hasn’t organised it.
In South Africa, as in much of Africa and Latin America, WhatsApp is woven into everyday life. People use it to talk to family, organise their communities and, increasingly, deal with businesses. For many small businesses, it’s already where customers prefer to start a conversation, whether or not the business has planned for it.
One Like insight: Meet customers in the channel they already open dozens of times a day.
How widely South Africans use WhatsApp
WhatsApp is consistently one of the most used digital platforms in South Africa. Research by the technology research firm World Wide Worx, reported in 2021, found that WhatsApp and YouTube were the most used platforms, with around 93% of internet users using them each month. More recent industry research, summarised by The Outlier, found WhatsApp to be the country’s biggest instant-messaging platform, with 68% usage on its measure.
The exact figures vary depending on who is surveyed and how usage is defined, so they should be treated as indicative rather than precise. But the broad picture is consistent: a large majority of South Africans who are online use WhatsApp regularly, often many times a day.
For businesses, that matters for a simple reason. Customers tend to prefer channels they already use and trust. A WhatsApp message feels personal, quick and low-effort compared with filling in a form or waiting on hold. And because messages arrive alongside conversations with friends and family, a business that communicates well on WhatsApp can feel more like a trusted contact than a faceless company.
WhatsApp also offers dedicated tools for businesses. The free WhatsApp Business app allows a business profile, catalogue, quick replies, labels for organising chats and automated greeting and away messages. Larger businesses can use the WhatsApp Business Platform for more advanced automation.
Using WhatsApp well, and lawfully
Treating WhatsApp as a proper business channel usually involves a few simple steps.
Separate business from personal. Move customer conversations to the WhatsApp Business app on a dedicated number, so they don’t get lost among family chats and so someone else can help when you’re away.
Set up your profile. Add your business hours, address, website and a short description. Create a catalogue of key products or services with prices.
Use quick replies and labels. Save answers to common questions, such as prices, availability and directions, and label chats as “new enquiry”, “quote sent” or “paid” so nothing slips through.
Set expectations. An automatic greeting can tell customers when you’ll reply. As we explored in The Enquiry You Answered on Monday Went to Someone Else on Friday, speed matters.
Respect consent. Replying to a customer who contacted you is very different from sending promotional messages to people who never asked. As we explored in POPIA Has Teeth Now, direct marketing requires consent, and recipients must be able to opt out easily. Don’t add customers to broadcast lists or groups without permission.
Keep it consistent. Make sure prices and information on WhatsApp match your other channels, as explored in Customers Don’t Think in Channels.
[Infographic placement] From personal chat to business channel. Two phone screens. Left, “Unorganised”: customer messages mixed with family chats, no hours, slow replies. Right, “Organised”: WhatsApp Business profile with hours and catalogue, quick replies, labels (New enquiry · Quote sent · Paid), automatic greeting. Caption: WhatsApp is among South Africa’s most used platforms (World Wide Worx; The Outlier). Market only to people who’ve opted in.
Getting started this week
If customers already message you on WhatsApp, start by moving to the Business app and setting up your profile, catalogue and three or four quick replies for your most common questions. Add your WhatsApp number, with a click-to-chat link, to your website, Google Business Profile and social media. Then keep an eye on how many enquiries arrive and how quickly you reply.
If you want to send updates or offers, invite customers to opt in, perhaps with a simple “Reply YES to receive our monthly specials”, and make opting out just as easy.
A few questions can help:
- How many customer enquiries already reach us through WhatsApp?
- Are those conversations organised, or mixed with personal chats?
- How quickly do we usually reply?
- Do we have clear consent before sending any promotional messages?
Which brings us back to the tailor and her buzzing phone. Her customers had already chosen how they wanted to reach her. A separate business number, a catalogue of alteration prices, a few quick replies and labels for each order would turn that daily stream of messages from an interruption into her most organised, and most profitable, sales channel.
Sources
- World Wide Worx research, as reported by BusinessTech, July 2021.
- The Outlier, chart summarising South African social media landscape research (2024), reporting WhatsApp at 68% usage.
