For many customers WhatsApp is the shortest route to you: confirm an appointment, ask a question, cancel. To make that work in a business you need a number of its own, the right kind of account and a few rules about what you may send. This guide covers WhatsApp Business for small business from choosing the app to a checklist for one afternoon, for salons, practices and workshops.
WhatsApp, WhatsApp Business or the Platform: which one you need
There are three ways to use WhatsApp in a business. The personal app you know from your own phone. The WhatsApp Business app, free, with a business profile, a catalogue, quick replies and an away message. And the WhatsApp Business Platform, formerly called the API, which lets software send messages automatically, for example confirmations from a booking system or replies from a call centre.
The personal app is the wrong choice for a business. Its terms describe it as being for personal use, it has no profile with opening hours, and it is tied to the owner's number. For a salon, a practice or a workshop the Business app is enough in most cases. The Platform pays off when messages should go out automatically or several people answer at the same time from computers.
WhatsApp Business setup starts with the number, never your own
The most important decision comes before you install anything: the number. Never use the owner's personal number. Once customers have it, they write in the evening, on Sundays and during holidays, and if the business is ever handed over, the number stays with the person instead of the shop. A business number belongs to the business, not to whoever runs it right now.
Three routes are common. A second SIM in a dedicated phone that lives in the shop. A dual-SIM phone running the personal app and the Business app side by side, each with its own number. Or the business landline: WhatsApp Business can verify a landline by phone call, so the sign, the website and WhatsApp all show the same number. Someone has to pick up on that exact line during verification, so switch off the hold queue first.
- Choose a business number: second SIM, dual-SIM phone or the business landline
- Install the WhatsApp Business app and verify the number by SMS or phone call
- For a landline: verification by call, someone has to be able to answer
- Put the number on your website, Google profile and business cards
Profile, quick replies, away message: the account in 30 minutes
The business profile is what customers see before they write. The business name exactly as it appears on the sign, address, opening hours, website or booking link, plus a photo of the shop instead of a low-resolution logo. In the catalogue you list services with a price and a picture. For a hairdresser that is the five most common services, for a workshop it is servicing, tyre changes and air conditioning.
Quick replies save the most time. You store short texts with a shortcut, such as /prices, /directions or /cancel, and call them up in the chat with two characters. The away message goes out automatically when someone writes outside opening hours: when you are back and where they can book in the meantime. The greeting on first contact can be short or left out entirely.
- Profile: name, address, opening hours, booking link and a real photo
- Catalogue: the five most common services with price and duration
- Quick replies: prices, directions, parking, cancelling, rescheduling
- Away message: opening hours and the way to book online
What you may send: the 24-hour window and templates
WhatsApp distinguishes two directions. When a customer writes to you, you may reply freely, without limit in the Business app and, on the Platform, within a window of usually 24 hours after their last message. When you write first, stricter rules apply. On the Platform that only works with pre-approved templates, for example for appointment confirmations and reminders.
On top of that comes data protection law, regardless of WhatsApp. A confirmation or reminder for a booked appointment is part of the service the customer ordered. Promotions, offers and birthday greetings are not, and for those you need consent. And because the message ends up on someone else's phone, it must not contain diagnoses or treatment details. This is orientation, not legal advice. If you run a practice, have your data protection officer look over the process once.
Reminders yes, broadcasts no: what a business should write
The most valuable use of WhatsApp Business in a small business is unspectacular: the confirmation after booking and the reminder the day before. Both get read, both cut the number of forgotten appointments, and both come from the number the customer already knows. Anyone who cannot make it replies in the chat, and you fill the slot again.
Doing that by hand is tedious, because someone has to go through tomorrow's appointments every evening. Systems like terminio.ai connect your WhatsApp by QR code and send confirmations and reminders automatically from your own number, with replies landing in your chat. The Free plan includes five reminders a month, Pro is unlimited, with no cost per message. Whichever way you solve it, a few things are best left alone.
- No broadcast lists to every customer, that is advertising without consent
- No health data, diagnoses or treatment details in the chat
- No chasing every hour, one reminder and one short follow-up are enough
- No private chats on the business number and no customers on the private one
- No replies at midnight, that is what the away message is for
One team, one number, and what it all costs
As soon as more than one person answers, you need a rule. The Business app runs on one phone and on a few linked devices, such as the computer at reception and the laptop in the office. That way two colleagues can take turns answering without the phone changing hands. Agree who works through the night's messages in the morning and how you sign replies, for example with initials at the end.
The costs are modest. The WhatsApp Business app is free, you only pay for the SIM or the phone. The Business Platform is billed through providers, usually per conversation and, depending on the provider, with a monthly base fee. For a business with a few dozen messages a day that is mostly more effort than it is worth, for a chain with a call centre it is the right tool.
WhatsApp Business setup checklist for one afternoon
With the number and the phone in hand, the setup is not a project. Two hours are enough if you have written the away message and the quick replies in peace beforehand. The order below is the one that causes the fewest questions in practice.
- Decide on the business number and install the WhatsApp Business app
- Fill in the profile: name, address, opening hours, photo, booking link
- Create the catalogue with your main services and prices
- Write the away message and five quick replies
- Team rule: who answers when, on which device, signed how
- Put the number on the website, Google profile and sign, then send a test message
