WhatsApp Business best-kept customer service & marketing secret: are you using it correctly?

CapeTalk's Lester Kiewit speaks to the author of `The Hitchhiker's Guide to AI' and Founder of World Wide Worx, Arthur Goldstuck.

Listen below: 

WhatsApp Business might be South Africa’s best-kept business secret... until now, says Goldstuck.

Across the country, businesses have turned WhatsApp into their most reliable storefront. With most South African customers already active on the app, WhatsApp Business offers a fast, simple, and personal way to connect, without the hassle of slow-loading websites or clunky online stores.

Unlike traditional platforms, WhatsApp feels less like a sales pitch and more like a conversation. You message a store, and they reply like a real human, not a bot or a call centre script.

Its core features aren’t flashy, but they’re effective: auto-greetings, labels, product catalogues, tools that wouldn’t turn heads at a developer conference but make a big impact in everyday customer service.

"There's a fascinating statistic, when people get a WhatsApp, the open rate which is how likely they are to read it is 85%... on email, you're lucky if you get 5%." 

- Arthur Goldstuck, Founder - World Wide Worx

Why WhatsApp Business punches above its weight:

• In-chat product catalogues so customers never need to leave the app or wrestle with a broken website.
• Quick replies & auto-responses that save time answering repeat questions.
• Conversation labels and tags to sort chats into “maybe,” “paid,” or even “problematic.”
• Click-to-chat links that turn your Instagram or Facebook profile into a proper shopfront.
• Broadcast lists for one-way updates that feel personal, even when sent to hundreds.
• Multi-device support so more than one team member can respond from different phones.
• Simple payment options that let customers pay without leaving the app or fumbling with browser pop-ups.

And perhaps the biggest draw? It’s a free marketing tool. 

Goldstuck notes the pros and cons of WhatsApp Business:

Cons:

Meta owns the platform: meaning your customer interactions are tied to a system you don’t control.

Managing responses at scale can overwhelm small teams without extra tools or automation.

Customer trust is fragile: too many robotic replies and people may simply stop engaging.

Pros:

It’s already familiar to your customers: no learning curve, no friction.

It’s free, simple, and works on any smartphone.

It allows even the smallest business to deliver fast, personal, and professional service.

"Most retailers still think of WhatsApp as an extension of SMS so they use it for spam broadcasting whereas customers treat it as their own private space so you can't use it as a spam channel. Retailers have to wake up to these possibilities and the way customers want to use it."

- Arthur Goldstuck, Founder - World Wide Worx

Read Goldstuck's full article, here.

Scroll up to the audio player for more.