How to Create and Manage a WhatsApp Channel: A Complete Guide for E-commerce

WhatsApp: A New Tool for Efficient One-way Communication 

WhatsApp channels are a relatively new feature introduced to the WhatsApp platform, designed to help businesses or individuals efficiently send bulk messages to a large number of users. Although channels are similar in form to WhatsApp groups, the essential difference between the two is that channels support one-way broadcasting rather than two-way interaction. Through channels, members can view your updates and provide feedback via emoticons, but cannot reply to messages directly as they can in a private chat or group. WhatsApp channels are therefore ideal as a one-way channel for communicating updates, brand information, product launches or corporate announcements.

In addition, the channel supports a variety of message formats, including text, images, stickers, links, videos, polls and audio clips, making content distribution richer and more diverse.

 

Global User Data: the Huge Potential of WhatsApp Cannot Be Ignored

Back in 2018, WhatsApp launched WhatsApp Business, an exclusive version for business users.The app has quickly become an important tool for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the globe to reach their customers and improve the efficiency of their services. In just two years since its launch, WhatsApp Business has seen over 500% growth in the number of business users. At the core of its success is WhatsApp's large active user base - covering multiple markets around the world, with particularly high penetration among young consumers.

Most popular global mobile messenger apps as of February 2025（source: Statista）

Compared with traditional communication methods such as email, phone calls or SMS, WhatsApp Business shows obvious advantages in terms of communication efficiency, security, cost control and user experience. Especially for enterprises wishing to expand into overseas markets, proximity to target customer groups is the key to business growth. By region, WhatsApp users in Latin America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia are highly active, which is highly consistent with the market layout of many Chinese overseas enterprises. As a result, WhatsApp Business has become one of the preferred communication tools for overseas enterprises with a global presence.

Number of monthly active WhatsApp users worldwide from April 2013 to March 2020（source: Statista）

As of July 2023, WhatsApp has covered 180 countries around the world, with more than 2.7 billion monthly active users and a daily message processing volume of up to 140 billion messages, and the overall data is still growing rapidly, showing great market potential.

WhatsApp Marketing: Establishing a Closer Connection with Customers 

Against this background, WhatsApp Marketing has emerged as an important strategy for enterprises to establish a direct connection with their users and enhance user stickiness. Through WhatsApp, enterprises are able to achieve one-on-one communication with customers, providing personalized services, exclusive promotion and in-depth interaction. Compared with traditional advertising or marketing channels, WhatsApp private marketing has the significant advantages of strong interactivity, fast response time, and high user participation. Businesses can use text, voice, images, video and other forms of media to further enhance the user experience and increase conversion results through accurate push, promotional activities and customized services.

Why Should You Use WhatsApp Channels in Your Business?

In today's business environment, consumers tend to communicate with businesses through multiple channels, such as email, live chat, phone and social media. Different scenarios dictate different consumer preferences for communication channels. And when seeking timely responses and services, more and more users want to get help quickly through instant messaging tools, which is where WhatsApp's core strength lies.

Opening a WhatsApp channel for an organization not only improves the customer interaction rate, but also conveys the latest brand news to customers in a timely manner. Especially in countries and regions with high WhatsApp penetration, users are extremely dependent on the platform. Therefore, it has become an important part of enhancing customer satisfaction and strengthening customer relationships for overseas enterprises to meet consumers' needs for quick communication and problem solving on preferred channels by operating a good WhatsApp Business account.

Key Advantages WhatsApp Channel Brings to Enterprises

1. Huge user base and extensive global coverage 

As of now, WhatsApp has close to 3 billion monthly active users globally, which is steadily ranked among the most popular messaging apps in the world. This means that enterprises can leverage this huge user network to easily expand into international markets and achieve wider brand exposure and customer coverage.

2. Extremely high user engagement rate

The average open rate of messages sent through WhatsApp is as high as 98%, much higher than the average open rate of 20% for emails. According to statistics, about 85% of consumers prefer to communicate with brands directly through messages. Therefore, choosing to connect with users on WhatsApp, the platform most frequently used by customers, can undoubtedly significantly increase the reach and interaction rate of messages.

Such a high level of engagement not only improves the probability of the message being seen and acted upon by the target users, but also significantly enhances customer engagement and brand stickiness.

3. Share valuable information in real time

WhatsApp channel can be regarded as the “exclusive bulletin board” of your company, allowing you to push important information and dynamic updates to your customers in real time. For example, when a new product is released, you can notify your channel members at the first time, stimulate the market's attention and promote the pre-sale, so as to seize the first opportunity.

4. Diversified Content Formats to Enrich Customer Experience

With WhatsApp, companies can send not only text messages, but also images, videos, emoticons, documents (e.g., PDF files), and other forms of communication to achieve a more three-dimensional communication.

At the same time, enterprises can create product catalogs and set up interactive buttons to help customers quickly understand the details of products and services, greatly improving the user experience.

5. Chatbot Collaboration to Enhance Service Efficiency

Configuring chatbots on WhatsApp can effectively reduce the pressure of manual customer service and realize 7×24-hour automatic response to customer needs. The robot can provide standardized answers to common questions and guide customers to self-service through personalized settings. When encountering complex problems, it can also be seamlessly switched to human customer service intervention to ensure the consistency and satisfaction of the service experience.

6. Seamless API Integration, Unleashing More Potential

Compared with WhatsApp Business APP for SMEs, WhatsApp Business API has higher flexibility, not only the number of users and devices is unlimited, but also can be easily docked to the existing ERP, CRM and other systems of enterprises, helping enterprises to open up the flow of data to improve the overall operational efficiency. At the same time, the API also supports the integration of WhatsApp with other customer contact channels to achieve centralized management on a unified platform.

In addition, the WhatsApp channel is an important tool for organizations to provide clear guidance and support when dealing with matters involving a large number of customers. Through this convenient interpersonal communication channel, companies can respond to customer needs in a timely manner, effectively improving overall customer satisfaction and brand favorability.

A Complete Guide to Creating WhatsApp Channels on Different Devices

Whether you are using a computer or a cell phone, WhatsApp provides a convenient channel creation feature that allows you to quickly build your own communication platform. Here are the detailed steps: 

How to Create a WhatsApp Channel on the Web 

• Open WhatsApp Web
• Access and log in to WhatsApp Web / WhatsApp Desktop in your desktop browser.
• Go to the channel interface

• Click the “Channel” icon on the left sidebar, then click the “➕” button on the top right corner and select “Create Channel”.

• Enter channel information
• Follow the prompts to enter your channel name and description, it is recommended to keep it concise and attractive.
• Customize Channel Appearance
• Upload an avatar and cover image that matches your brand image to enhance the channel's professionalism and recognition.

• Set privacy options
• Configure the visibility and interaction privileges of the channel according to the requirements, such as who can view the channel and who can send messages.
• Invite followers
• Expand your audience by sharing the channel link via social media, email, official website and other channels.

How to Create a WhatsApp Channel on Mobile (Phone) 

• Open the WhatsApp app
• Launch WhatsApp on your cell phone or tablet device.
• Go to the Updates tab
• Click on the “Updates” tab at the bottom, locate the “➕” button in the upper right corner, and select “Create a channel”.
• Enter the channel information
• Fill in the channel name and description to make sure the information is clear and appealing to your target audience.
• Personalize the channel settings
• Upload avatar and cover image to create a channel page that matches your corporate branding style.
• Adjust privacy settings
• Set public/private permissions for your channel, define who can see or join your channel.
• Invite Fans to Follow
• Quickly guide customers to follow your channel by QR code, sharing links and so on.

The Solution Suitable for Large Enterprises: WhatsApp Business API 

For enterprises that need large-scale customer management and automation services, it is recommended to use WhatsApp Business API.

It supports no limit on the number of users, and can be deeply integrated with the ERP/CRM system to help large-scale enterprises realize efficient customer communication and marketing automation and further unleash business potential.

How Can Businesses Operate WhatsApp Accounts Efficiently?

For enterprises, they can publish their corporate WhatsApp accounts through multiple channels such as official websites, media platforms, social media, email signatures, etc., so that users can realize one-click addition.

Guiding customers to connect with the enterprise through WhatsApp is the first step to create a new customer experience. Once the communication channel is established, enterprises can fully utilize the powerful functions of WhatsApp in customer service and marketing interaction.

Practical Tips to Improve WhatsApp Channel Operation

Share engaging content:

Regularly push product updates, promotional information or practical tips to keep customers informed of the latest news and enhance user stickiness and brand awareness. Keep the content fresh so that customers can feel the value and fun in the communication.

Utilize multimedia to enhance attractiveness:

Enrich message content through images, short videos, links and other forms, and utilize visual elements to convey key information more efficiently and increase user click-through and interaction rates.

Actively interact with fans:

Encourage users to comment, feedback or share the content.

Good interaction helps to build user community, enhance brand loyalty and form a virtuous cycle.

Send Dynamic Notifications:

With the consent of users, enterprises can proactively push order processing, logistics status and other service notifications through WhatsApp, realizing instant interaction with customers and enhancing the personalization and timeliness of service experience.

Send Emergency Alerts:

With WhatsApp Business, enterprises can quickly send users notifications of important changes, such as activity adjustments, service interruptions, etc., to ensure that users are aware of the key information at the first time, and to enhance the brand's sense of professionalism and responsibility.

Personalized Marketing:

Based on users' purchase records and behavioral preferences, enterprises can accurately push new product recommendations, exclusive coupons and other marketing content through WhatsApp, achieving higher conversion rates and increasing customer lifecycle value.

Getting User Feedback:

Through WhatsApp, we regularly release satisfaction surveys or simple questionnaires to collect users' real opinions and suggestions, providing powerful data support for product iteration and service optimization.

Display Corporate Information and Product Listings:

Overseas enterprises can utilize the built-in Listing display function of WhatsApp Business to present company information in detail, such as profile, address, business hours, contact information, main products and services, and so on.

In addition, they can also upload product catalogs to show product names, prices, pictures, etc., which is convenient for customers to quickly browse and purchase, and improve conversion efficiency, while avoiding missing potential business opportunities due to opaque information.

Why Respon.ai?

Respon.ai is an AI-enabled multi-end collaboration tool that supports the integration of WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and many other mainstream social platforms.

We are committed to creating a set of omni-channel private domain operation and management solutions to help companies achieve more convenient, efficient and intelligent communication with their customers through AI technology.

Respon.ai simplifies the workflow of marketing, sales support and customer service, helping organizations easily maintain customer relationships, improve communication efficiency, and significantly drive growth in paid conversions.

WhatsApp with Respon.ai: Efficient, Intelligent, Personalized

Messaging that's easy and efficient

With Respon.ai, your team can view and manage all WhatsApp chats in real time, saying goodbye to messy communication and missed messages. Keep every customer conversation organized and responsive, improving overall service efficiency.

Intelligent Role Assignment, Clear and Controllable Permissions

Flexibly set up different roles such as agent, manager, owner, etc. according to the team structure, and accurately assign access rights. This not only protects data security, but also facilitates efficient teamwork, allowing each member to perform their respective roles and unleash their maximum potential.

Personalize your customer experience with

Respon.ai seamlessly connects to your CRM system, automatically synchronizing customer history and interaction preferences. Each conversation precisely matches the customer's needs, making communication warmer and significantly increasing customer satisfaction and conversion rates.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can I create multiple channels on WhatsApp?

A: Yes, you can create multiple channels on WhatsApp to target different audiences or share different types of content. Simply perform the same steps for each channel.

 

Q: Is there a limit to the number of subscribers for WhatsApp channels?

A: Currently, there is no limit to the number of subscribers for WhatsApp channels. The more engaging your content is, the more subscribers you can attract!

 

Q: How do I manage privacy in my WhatsApp channel?

A: You can manage privacy settings during the channel creation process and later in the channel settings. Control who can view your channel and interact with your posts.

 

Q: Is WhatsApp Business free for multiple users?

A: WhatsApp Business is free on up to five devices. If you want to use WhatsApp on up to 10 devices, you can opt for a WhatsApp Premium subscription.

 

Q: Can I use WhatsApp Business on 2 phones?

A: WhatsApp Business is supported on up to five devices, including four devices and one phone linked to each account, but not on two phones at the same time.