With the prevalence of the verified tick icon on modern social media such as Instagram, Twitter, and even WhatsApp, your consumers look for this sign to know if an account is trustworthy. After all, it’s easy to impersonate a business even though it goes against the service provider’s guidelines policy.
Since phishing attacks have increased during and after the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Statista, consumers are understandably concerned when interacting with a business account online. Amidst the concern of brand impersonation and phishing, this is where the highly coveted WhatsApp Business green tick comes into play.
Obtaining the WhatsApp green tick indicates that your consumers can safely communicate with your business via WhatsApp. The green tick icon also means that your brand is recognizable on a larger scale; the verification team on WhatsApp acknowledges that fact.
You may wonder how the WhatsApp Business green tick looks and how to get verified on WhatsApp green tick for your account. Find out what it is and how you can get your business verified with WhatsApp green tick in this article.
Let’s start with identifying a WhatsApp green tick on the application. Simply put, the WhatsApp green tick indicates a verified official business account on WhatsApp. You can find this checkmark badge next to a business name on the header of your chat window. If you tap on the chat window title containing the business identity, you can see the green tick icon on the detailed contact view page to the right of the name.
You may think verifying your WhatsApp business account is limited to clicking a link on your registered email address and activating two-factor authentication. That’s not the case, though. The WhatsApp team has stated on their FAQ page that not all business accounts can receive the green tick; the verified official account badge is for just a small number of businesses.
In other words, the WhatsApp Business green tick distinguishes between regular business accounts and officially recognized business accounts. As you read on, you will discover the distinction between these two accounts and the category of business accounts eligible for verification.
WhatsApp Business is a free-to-download app for small businesses to communicate with their customers through the WhatsApp messaging platform. All accounts on WhatsApp Business will have their respective business profile with essential details such as the business introduction, phone number, opening hours, and product catalogs.
Consumers can chat and buy products from WhatsApp business profiles if the respective account has successfully passed the verification steps. However, there are two types of WhatsApp business accounts, as explained in the following subsections.
As previously mentioned, “business account” is the default umbrella term for all accounts registered on the WhatsApp for Business app. You can tell if a WhatsApp account is a business account by looking for the “Business Account” line under the business phone number. Tapping on the chat window header with a business account will display a sentence saying “This is a business account” under the business name and phone number.
Since WhatsApp ensures all business accounts registered on their service are faithful, only business accounts that have passed the verification process on the Meta Business Manager can display the business account indicator.
After a successful verification, standard business accounts have editing access to their About section, opening hours, and product view page. By default, this account type can activate their business profile's shopping and cart feature.
One notable characteristic of any default WhatsApp business account is that if users haven’t added their number to their contacts, they will only be able to view the business phone number. Only after adding the phone number as a new contact will they see the business name as intended. This trait differs from another type of WhatsApp business account, as detailed below.
Official WhatsApp business accounts undergo the same verification process on Meta Business Manager, similar to standard business accounts. Therefore, they can also use the same features, such as a personalized business page that allows them to add product catalogs, an introduction in the About section, and opening hours. However, official business accounts have one distinguishing feature that regular business accounts don’t: the green check mark badge.
You can recognize this type of account from the WhatsApp business green tick next to its name at the top part of the chat window. This green tick will remain visible even when you view the detailed contact information page of the business. An official business account with this badge means that when consumers interact with them via WhatsApp, rest assured that they’re talking to the faithful owner or an official business representative.
WhatsApp reserves this mark for only a select few globally recognized businesses. In other words, fledgling businesses may be less likely to obtain WhatsApp green tick on their business profile. However, receiving the badge doesn’t mean that WhatsApp endorses said business; they only acknowledge its publicity scale.
Getting a green tick on WhatsApp indicates that a user's account has been verified by the platform and that the account is authentic. While the green tick provides some level of assurance that you are communicating with the right person, it is not a guarantee of the user's identity.
If you run a large-scale business, getting your account verified on WhatsApp with a green tick is worth the effort. In contrast, if you’re just starting your business, you can begin by building the publicity of your brand so that your WhatsApp business account has a better chance of obtaining the verified badge.
No matter the size of your business, getting a green tick on WhatsApp brings significant pluses to your business should you wish to tap into the market of WhatsApp users. As shown by a graph from Infogram, this strategy may be profitable for you as the number of active WhatsApp users keeps growing and peaking at almost 2.5 billion during the second quarter of 2022.
If you want to learn how the green tick will benefit your business, below are some of the perks of having an official WhatsApp business account.
According to a figure from Statista, as of January 2022, many U.S. adults across various age groups who use social media agree that identity verification is necessary to create a social media account. The respondents’ sentiment also applies to organizations and businesses that wish to register on social media. This opinion likely correlates to an all-time high number of phishing attacks recorded by research in 2021.
The findings above demonstrate that your consumers seek reassurance that they’re interacting with a live person behind an account. In the case of business accounts, your consumers want to feel that it’s safe for them to let a business handle their personal information when communicating by WhatsApp. Therefore, the verified green checkmark icon is vital in making your business seem more authentic and credible to your consumers.
Since by default, official WhatsApp business accounts with a green tick display their business name instead of their phone number, your potential consumers will know who’s contacting them. While consumers can still see your business name on the detailed view page, it saves them time just knowing your business identity at a glance.
A study revealed that buyers only need 50 milliseconds or 0.05 seconds to form a positive or negative impression on a website. Furthermore, Pam Moore stated that it takes an average of 5 to 7 brand impressions before your consumer remembers your business. You can also apply both of these principles to your WhatsApp business account.
Having your business logo and name visible to consumers is one of the first steps you can take to make your business seem more open, according to Lead Origin. A green tick on WhatsApp increases brand awareness by providing a visual cue to users that the account is authentic and verified. If your consumer knows your business's identity, they can start learning about what your business has to offer to them.
Insiteful’s article stated that making an interactive landing page, especially with videos, can increase your business’ conversion rate by 86%. Although the finding mainly talks about web pages, you can also implement this result to your WhatsApp official business account.
After receiving an automated greeting at the beginning of the chat, your consumer will receive a prompt message. They can type a number or sentence to state what they’re looking for from your business. However, there’s a chance that the chatbot may not understand the command, making your consumer feel confused or frustrated.
Instead of the manual input method, you can use WhatsApp for Business’ interactive CTA (call to action) buttons for your chats. Users tap on one of the prompts or options they want, and they’ll receive a reply or redirect to your other business channels. The interactive feature lets you and your consumers attach a product from your catalog.
A WhatsApp live chat bot automates frequently asked questions, provides quick responses to customer inquiries, and improves the overall customer experience.The use of a live chat bot can also reduce response times, allowing businesses to handle multiple customer interactions simultaneously.
These practical features reduce your consumers’ effort and improve conversion rates. A study published by PwC discovered that positive customer experience significantly influences 65% of consumers’ purchasing decisions more than advertising. Therefore, having an official WhatsApp business account with a green tick is beneficial.
If you want to experience the main advantages of WhatsApp green tick for your business, you may be curious about how to apply for WhatsApp business account verification. To reap the benefits, you must follow several steps to get the WhatsApp green tick mark.
The application process is straightforward, and to help you prepare whatever you need, we’ve broken down each step of how to get WhatsApp green tick in the following subsections.
Verifying your WhatsApp business account costs money, so you should plan your expenses and cross-check your budget. The first two things you need to purchase for the verification process are a dedicated messaging inbox and a dedicated phone number.
Another crucial product you must buy is access to WhatsApp Business API. You can already start using the various features offered by the WhatsApp for Business application for free, but the WhatsApp Business API is different from it.
The WhatsApp API is a more advanced iteration of WhatsApp Business, tailored for medium to large businesses. It comes equipped with sophisticated tools for automated messaging, handling customer inquiries, and seamlessly integrating WhatsApp into existing systems and processes.
It’s worth noting that according to a post from respond.io, WhatsApp only offers its business API to partnered WhatsApp Business Solution Providers (BSP) to reduce headcount costs and spamming frequency. You need to look for a BSP to make your business account official.
In order to utilize the WhatsApp Business API platform, companies must secure approval from WhatsApp and abide by its policies and guidelines. Eligibility for integration with the API requires a business to have a physical presence in one of the Meta-specified countries, maintain a favorable reputation, and comply with all laws and regulations relevant to their operations.
A BSP hosts the business service on their servers, so you must pay fees to cover the server upkeep costs and gain access to the API. Aside from accessing the API, you can utilize the educational resources and phone number porting services your chosen BSP provides.
The pricing model for WhatsApp Business API depends on each BSP, be it per message the business sends, message bundling, or monthly active users interacting with your business. Your pricing model depends on how often you send messages to your consumers.
For instance, the per-message model is suitable for smaller firms or companies that rarely initiate conversations with their users. Meanwhile, the message bundling plan is a perfect fit for customer support, and the monthly plan is a good choice for large businesses.
Another factor you must consider when budgeting your expenses for WhatsApp green tick verification is the pricing plan for the WhatsApp Business Platform. The costs of the platform include a maximum number of conversations that your business can initiate, but they also apply to the amount of user-initiated chats.
To help you offset some of the expenses, WhatsApp Business Platform offers free-of-charge service for your first 1,000 conversations, so you can only start paying once your business has grown in scale.
According to Desk360’s post, one of the factors that may influence your WhatsApp green tick verification outcome is your message quality rating. Naturally, this means that you should start sending WhatsApp campaigns so that the system can evaluate the quality of the interaction between your business and your consumers. The more messages you send to your users, the more samples there will be for the scoring system.
Aside from the frequency and quantity of outgoing messages, you should also pay attention to the quality of your campaign templates. The evaluation considers how many users have blocked your business account, and you can also see why they reported your business if the reasons are available for viewing. Some of the reasons for reporting include Didn’t Sign Up, No Longer Needed, Offensive Messages, and Spam.
SurveyMonkey.com's findings show that 74% of consumers hate being overwhelmed by advertisements, and 63% of them don’t like seeing repetitive promotions. This insight should help you plan your WhatsApp campaigns to avoid devising marketing strategies that may drive your consumers away, such as spamming them with advertisements frequently.
On the other hand, you can use some of the best marketing practices from Digital Defynd that emphasizes creating an engaging brand personality and offer an incentive for your consumers to give their phone number to your business.
For instance, you can create a fictional character with which your consumers can interact to represent your business. This fictional character should resonate with what your target demographics are looking for in a product, and you can incorporate this into the character’s personality.
In the meantime, you can combine this strategy with engaging your consumers in an activity that helps you build a phone number database for your business to get more new leads. Maintaining a high-quality interaction with your consumers in your WhatsApp campaigns helps bolster your quality score, so you should make it count.
Once you feel ready to take the next step of verifying your WhatsApp business account and getting that green tick, you can start registering for the process. You can do this yourself, but applying for the green checkmark badge through your BSP is more practical. If you’d like to use the assistance from your BSP, you need to prepare these documents:
Before applying for the green tick verification process through your BSP, you must verify your Meta Business Manager account beforehand. This verification step ensures that your business is a legitimate legal entity and that you’re the faithful owner of the firm. While Meta doesn’t require all types of businesses to undergo this process, signing up for WhatsApp Business API is one of the criteria that call for Meta Business verification.
If you’d like to obtain the Verified status for your Meta Business Manager account, make sure to follow these steps:
After waiting until the verification team approves your Meta Business Manager account, the BSP can take over your Meta Business Manager account and handle the rest of the green tick verification process. To jump-start this process, you need to approve the BSP’s request. Also, double-check that your business details are complete before letting your BSP do their work.
Once you’ve completed the Meta Business Manager verification steps and submitted the necessary documents for the green tick application to your BSP, you must wait for the results. The checking process takes up to 2 weeks, compared to the duration for verifying standard business accounts, which is 48 hours. Once you’ve reached this step, you can wait for the announcement.
To pass the time while waiting, you can use this opportunity to grow your business. Review your past WhatsApp campaigns and see how you can improve your marketing strategies. You can also analyze your business performance to gain insight into the consumers’ pain points. This way, you can pinpoint ways to improve your customer service experience. After all, a study from Adobe shows that 76% of respondents prefer businesses that can empathize with their consumers while providing service or approaching them.
It’s worth noting that even if you’ve submitted all of the required evidence and data, WhatsApp decides the result of your application at its sole discretion. They may approve your request for the green tick but can also reject it. It’s good news if your business gets the elusive checkmark badge next to its name, but what should you do if the situation is different? Find the solution to your problem in the next section.
You can’t appeal WhatsApp’s decision to reject your green badge application, but don’t feel disheartened. You can always try again in three months. Moreover, you’ll have three chances to verify your WhatsApp business account with the green tick.
If you’d like to learn the reason for the rejection, you can always visit the Security Center menu of your WhatsApp Business Manager account. To prevent the same rejection from reoccurring, you should pay attention to the most common errors that can make the WhatsApp team turn down your green badge application.
The Most Common Errors That Can Make
The WhatsApp Team Turn Down Your Green Badge Application
According to Sendinblue, the WhatsApp verification team only accepts legal documents for the green tick application process. Some examples include certificates of incorporation, articles of association, business license permits, tax registration certificates, business bank account statements, and business utility bills.
On the other hand, they won’t accept invoices, purchase order forms, tax returns, and business flyers. That’s why it’s essential to ensure that you only submit official and valid documents.
If your WhatsApp verification documents are incomplete, ensure you have met the requirements, submit missing information, reach out to WhatsApp support for help if needed, be patient during the verification process, and reapply if necessary. A complete and accurate application is essential for a smooth verification process.
Your documents should contain no information different from any details in your supporting documents. Also, ensure that your submitted files have all the crucial identification details.
For example, if the process asks for your legal business name, business phone number, complete physical address, and official website, the documents you send should contain all the information. Not submitting anything that can verify the integrity of your business details will result in rejection.
Meta supports only several languages for their services. If your business documents are in another language, you can employ a sworn translator agency to translate your documents into English. Using a sworn translator’s service provides you with the official stamp required for the business verification process. Refer to this list of supported languages for more information:
Your records should be clear, recent, and easily readable. Avoid sending a blurred or cropped scan of your documents so that the verification team can check the required details. Also, check if you can open the files smoothly before submitting them to your BSP. The reviewer can’t work with a corrupted file and won’t take risks, so they’ll reject your green badge application altogether.
Before considering applying for a green tick on WhatsApp, ensure you fulfill the requirements to be eligible for the business account verification process. Aside from verifying your Meta Business Manager account as detailed in the previous subsections, there are some things you need to check from your business. Refer to this list to know what you should look for from your spot check.
WhatsApp Commerce Policy prohibits certain types of businesses from operating with their services. Companies that fall under the forbidden categories according to the policy will not see their verification process approved. Check if the product or services you offer are on the following list of prohibited businesses:
There are four tiers of WhatsApp business accounts, which will determine the number of messages you can send to your consumers. In other words, achieving a higher level allows you to send more messages.
You can check the current position of your business account in the Insights tab, which you can find in the Overview Dashboard of your WhatsApp Manager menu. This list breaks down each tier and its benefits to help you identify the level at which your account is sitting.
This tier is the starting point for all WhatsApp business accounts. It allows businesses to initiate up to 1,000 conversations with their consumers.
Once you’ve reached out to 500 unique users, or new consumers in the last seven days, you’ll ascend to this tier. If your account is in this position, you can send up to 10,000 messages to your consumers.
You can reach this tier by contacting 5,000 different consumers in the last week. You can send up to 100,000 messages to users while you remain at this level.
After reaching out to 50,000 different users in the previous seven days, you’ll receive the privilege of sending unlimited messages to consumers in this tier.
The number of unique users you can contact isn’t the only determining factor for your account level. Other considerations, such as your phone number status and quality score, can also impact your position. Your phone number status should be “Connected” to be eligible for the tier ascension. Meanwhile, your phone number quality score should be Medium or High.
If the system determines that your quality rating has been Low for one week, your tier will automatically decrease by one. Therefore, it’s essential to watch your position and establish a high-quality interaction with new and existing consumers.
Since Meta doesn’t officially disclose the reason behind their judgment for the verification process, many people have been speculating on the most decisive aspect of getting verified with a green tick. Nevertheless, one specific thing that helps business owners get the official green checkmark icon is their business's notability.
What does this mean? As shown in documentation from Docs360, brands often appearing in the news and other media have a better chance of getting verified on WhatsApp. In other words, brands with an international audience share are more likely to obtain the green checkmark. The other media that serve as part of the reviewer team’s considerations don’t include promoted content and business listings. This fact also dispels the widespread belief that you must have a verified Facebook page and Instagram account.
You can refer to this list to help you understand some of the most significant factors that help your WhatsApp green tick verification.
Statistics from Databox reveal that Facebook ads generate more than 25% of new leads for 75% of the surveyed enterprises. Since notability is a crucial factor in determining your business’ verification process, having a more significant number of new leads or unique consumers helps your account rise to a higher quality tier. You can establish more consumer interactions with more messaging capacity, increasing your publicity.
This threshold isn’t cumulative for both your Facebook and Instagram accounts. Having many likes and followers shows that you establish quality interactions with your consumers. Psychological research on social media confirms that 68% of the 412 surveyed users follow an account on social media because they want to keep in touch and communicate with the respective account owner.
While this primarily applies to personal accounts, it’s a valuable insight for businesses to implement two-way communication strategies to increase brand awareness. Since 40% of the respondents said that they shared a post containing practical information they need, according to the same study, maintaining social media engagement at a high level by providing valuable tips helps your business gain better publicity.
A Wikipedia page containing detailed information about your company provides evidence that your brand is famous, especially since Wikipedia’s Conflict of Interest Policy doesn’t allow business owners or anyone affiliated with the said brand to edit an article about a company. Another thing to note is that Wikipedia publishes articles on a company only if it’s notable.
Although the word “notable” is subjective, Content Marketing Institute provides helpful information on what this term means in the context of Wikipedia articles. A notable business should have reports and news about itself written by others, especially by active journalists. However, this doesn’t include press releases from the said company; all references for a Wikipedia article should come from notable sources to prevent bias.
Despite the difficulty of getting verified on WhatsApp with a green tick next to your business account name, a green tick on your WhatsApp business account benefits your brand credibility and awareness, resulting in better conversion rates for your business. In the long run, a verified check mark for your WhatsApp business account brings an excellent return on investment.
You must undergo several processes to verify your business account and reap the benefits a WhatsApp green tick will get you. You must start by procuring a dedicated phone number and messaging inbox for your business. Next, look for a WhatsApp Business API BSP who will help you set up your API access and go through the green tick verification process.
Once confident, you can start applying for the green tick verification process through your BSP and wait up to 14 days for the result. Should your application get rejected, don’t be afraid to try again after waiting for 90 days, and you have three chances to try again.
In the meantime, you can reduce the likelihood of rejection by eliminating the most common mistakes in your document submission. It’s also a good idea to cross-check WhatsApp’s commercial policy to ensure your business doesn’t violate the prohibitions.
Maximizing your chances of getting verified on WhatsApp may involve purchasing a Facebook ad listing spot through your Facebook Business Ad account or gaining a significant following on Instagram and Facebook (10,000 likes and followers). Having a comprehensive Wikipedia page about your business, with references from credible media sources, can also indicate the notable status of your business. Keep in mind that there is no official, objective criteria for notability, but these steps can help increase your chances of success.
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The green tick on WhatsApp indicates that the business account you’re interacting with is authentic, as verified by the WhatsApp team. This icon means that you can safely provide your data as necessary when chatting with the respective account.
To get the green tick on your WhatsApp business account, you must undergo the verification process outlined by the WhatsApp team. This process requires you to submit your business's legal documents to the Meta Business Manager website. You can do it by yourself or with the assistance of third-party service providers.
Before verifying your WhatsApp business account, you must purchase WhatsApp business API access and reach Quality Tier 2. You can qualify for a higher level by sending out WhatsApp campaigns to a specified number of new consumers in the last week, as seen on your WhatsApp Business Manager menu. Once you’ve attained the minimum tier, you can start preparing the documents needed for verification.
While the verification document submission process is free, you must pay for access to WhatsApp business API provided by a partnered Business Service Provider (BSP). The API’s pricing model varies from one BSP to another, ranging from the per-message model to per-active users. The BSP will also submit the documents on your behalf and walk you through the process for a better chance of success.
You must pass the official business account verification process to get the green tick on WhatsApp. To maximize your success rate, ensure that your legal documents are readable and complete. If your documents are in a foreign language, you should employ a sworn translator agency to translate your papers to a language supported by Meta. Furthermore, your products and services mustn’t violate WhatsApp’s commerce policy, or the verification team won’t consider your application.
You will have a better chance of getting a green tick on WhatsApp by following the guidelines from the WhatsApp team and growing your business to a more notable scale. Although WhatsApp has never officially disclosed the notability requirements, you can improve your success with some strategies. Consider purchasing an ad listing on Facebook Business Ad, cultivating a massive number of followers on Facebook and Instagram, and having an in-depth article about your business written by someone else on Wikipedia.
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