The New York- and Quito-based company says its software has already handled more than $100 million in real financial operations, including payments, account openings and credit decisions, all completed inside chat conversations. 

The new capital will be used to expand Brain, its core platform, and strengthen its expansion into the US small business market.

Messages have replaced calls and emails, but money still moves elsewhere. Customers are usually pushed into apps, forms or call centres at the most critical point. That break costs time, trust and revenue. 

Jelou’s system is built to remove that break.

The Series A round was led by Wellington Access Ventures, with backing from Krealo, the venture arm of Credicorp, and Collide Capital. 

With this raise, Jelou’s total funding now stands at $13 million, following an earlier seed round supported by Act One Ventures and Arca Continental Ventures.

Rather than acting as a help desk, Brain is designed to carry out tasks. Businesses can use it to collect missing customer details, confirm identities, trigger payments and move financial processes forward without leaving WhatsApp. 

It links directly to a company’s existing systems and runs at scale, while allowing human teams to monitor and step in when needed.

“When customers are most ready to act, things usually fall apart,” said Luis Loaiza, chief executive and founder of Jelou. “They get redirected out of the conversation, put on hold, or asked to repeat themselves across systems. 

“We built Brain so businesses can meet customers where they already are and complete the entire operation securely inside chat. This round allows us to scale that model across the Americas and push conversational AI beyond talk into execution.”

Jelou started in Ecuador in 2017, impacted by an observation. People were already buying, selling and asking questions through messaging apps, but the actual transactions were still scattered across insecure and outdated channels. 

Loaiza and his team, drawing on years of work in encrypted communications, set out to make chat a place where serious business could be completed, not just discussed.

That approach has gained traction. The company now works with more than 500 businesses across 13 countries, including banks, retailers and consumer goods firms. 

Operating in Latin America forced Jelou to build with regulation, security and scale in mind from the start, a discipline that now underpins its US expansion.

Investors see the timing as favourable because businesses are working to reduce expenses and close sales faster, while customers expect everything to happen in one place, without friction.

“Jelou recognises that the future of AI is centered around communication channels embedded within the everyday workflow,” said Jackson Cummings, head of Wellington Access Ventures. 

“They are developing a platform that integrates voice AI, chat AI, payments, and identity into a single application layer. This strategic approach positions Jelou as an early mover in bringing transactional AI to messaging in Latin America.”

Jelou plans to turn Brain into a bigger operating layer for conversational business, allowing companies to build and run full WhatsApp-based services from a single interface. 

The company wants to change the norm, where businesses have to happen on websites or apps. Now it’s bringing it inside the conversations people already trust.

With that scale, we definitely can’t limit the app’s description to a tool just for messaging. For many MSMEs across Africa, WhatsApp is their business platform, the hub for sales, customer service, operations, and payments.

Across large parts of the continent, small businesses don’t run on standalone websites or dedicated point-of-sale systems. They conduct nearly all of their commerce via chat. 

The very ubiquity that makes WhatsApp powerful also creates a subtle but persistent drag on growth. 

This article focuses on how African SMEs use WhatsApp, explores the advantages it brings, examines the limitations it imposes, and argues why we must build infrastructure on top of it, before these enterprises outgrow their conversational foundation.

WhatsApp Business vs Telegram Channels: Competing for SME Communication

Two facts make WhatsApp essential to Africa’s MSME economy. First, WhatsApp’s global reach is enormous, over 3 billion people use it every month, according to Meta’s 2025 report.

Second, mobile technology is a cornerstone of Africa’s economy. According to the GSMA, in 2024, mobile technologies and services accounted for 7.7% of Africa’s GDP, driven by growing smartphone adoption and expanding mobile internet access. 

When mobile is the primary economic gateway, top messaging apps naturally become the infrastructure for business.

Together, these trends mean that WhatsApp sits at the intersection of accessibility and scale, a near-universal app accessed via the phone, the tool of choice for entrepreneurs with limited capital and moderate technical capacity.

How SMEs Use WhatsApp: Business Workflows in Chat

For many African SMEs, WhatsApp is their default workspace. Here’s how:

• Sales and discovery: Merchants use WhatsApp catalogues, broadcast lists and group chats as their storefronts. Buyers browse images and voice notes, ask questions, and place orders, all within the same chat.
• Customer service: Returns, complaints, confirmations, everything happens via chat. Because responses are usually fast and personal, buyers trust the exchange more than a faceless email or website form.
• Payments and invoicing: Sellers coordinate payments via mobile money, bank transfers or USSD. Customers share payment confirmations in chat. Some businesses then issue invoices as photos or PDFs inside WhatsApp itself.
• Operations and logistics: Orders are coordinated through group chats with delivery drivers or warehouse staff. Drivers get drop-off locations, customer photos, and verbal instructions, all in real time.
• Team coordination: Small teams manage tasks, schedules and recruitment through voice notes and chat groups, minimising friction in low-infrastructure environments.

These workflows mean that for many micro-entrepreneurs, moving off WhatsApp would slow them down and weaken the personal, trusted communication that underpins their sales.

The Upside: Why WhatsApp Triggers Growth

The benefits that come with this arrangement are real and substantial:

• Reduced entry cost: It is free to create a catalogue and share it. No need for a website or expensive digital tools.
• Trust-building: Real-time chat, voice messages and pictures create direct, human engagement. Buyers feel more secure.
• High engagement: Chat messages beat traditional outreach: responses are faster, and conversion rates are higher.
• Financial inclusion: Entrepreneurs who lack formal infrastructure can still transact, document orders and build a client base.
• Scalability: For many African SMEs, WhatsApp provides a way to scale activity without investing heavily in physical or digital infrastructure up front.

The Digital Ceiling: Limits to Scale

Despite the strengths, WhatsApp’s consumer-app roots embed limitations that become more obvious as businesses try to grow.

1. Account and device friction
   A WhatsApp account is typically tied to a single phone number and device, making collaboration difficult. Shared inboxes are awkward, unless businesses adopt the Business API, which comes with onboarding costs.
2. Absence of native data analytics
   Conversations in chat are unstructured. There is no built-in way to run analytics on customer behaviour, funnel performance or churn, unless external tools are used.
3. Limited integration with business systems
   There is no native link between WhatsApp and inventory management, accounting or fulfilment systems. Many firms must reconcile chat-based orders manually.
4. Payment reconciliation challenges
   Payments come through diverse channels, mobile money, bank transfers, USSD. Sellers rely on customers to share confirmation screenshots in chat, then manually reconcile records.
5. Platform risk
   Companies using WhatsApp face real vulnerability from outages or policy changes. The six-hour Facebook/WhatsApp outage in October 2021, and more recent API policy changes, show how a private platform can become a systemic risk.
6. Regulatory and formalisation gaps
   Transactions in chat are opaque to regulators, tax authorities and lenders. Without structured receipts or formal records, many businesses remain informal and credit-invisible.

These challenges add friction, cost and risk, particularly for businesses that want to scale beyond a single phone or a small customer base.

The Layer-2 Ecosystem: Building on What Exists

Recognising these limits, a growing ecosystem is building on top of WhatsApp. Providers include:

• Business Solution Providers (BSPs) that connect WhatsApp Business API to CRMs and customer-service dashboards.
• Chat-commerce platforms that standardise order intake and use templates to turn chat into structured data.
• Reconciliation tools that match payment confirmations to orders, reducing manual labour.
• Voice-to-text or voice-to-structure tools that convert voice notes into itemised orders.

These companies leverage WhatsApp’s reach while adding the structure, analytics and automation SMEs need to scale. But access is uneven: expenses, regional availability and ease-of-use vary, and many small merchants are still excluded.

Macro Risks and Policy Implications

The WhatsApp-first model of commerce presents bigger economic issues:

• Systemic concentration: When trade sits on a single privately-owned messaging platform, any disruption (technical or policy) carries significant economic risk.
• Tax and credit invisibility: Governments lose visibility into business transactions, making effective taxation and credit provision difficult.
• Lack of open data standards: Without a standard for business metadata inside chat (orders, receipts, invoices), each provider builds its own silo.
• Consumer protection: Disputes in private chat are hard to adjudicate. Regulators need clearer safeguards for transactions that begin and end in WhatsApp.
• Digital sovereignty: African economies must balance the benefits of low-cost communication infrastructure with the risk of over-dependence on a platform owned by a global company.

To address these risks, policymakers should incentivise interoperable messaging standards, support layer-2 tools for reconciliation and analytics, and promote subsidised digital infrastructure for SMEs.

A Founders’ and Investors’ Playbook

For entrepreneurs:

• Use structured order-forms or templates within chat.
• Invest in a Business API integration early if you anticipate growth.
• Automate payment reconciliation: match client screenshots with invoices or orders.
• Maintain fallback channels (SMS, email, USSD) to mitigate against outages.
• Record structured data from day one, it supports credit, compliance and scale.

For investors:

• Invest in SaaS firms building shared inboxes, CRMs or reconciliation tools for chat-based businesses.
• Prioritise companies that enable multi-user chat accounts or group-based order management.
• Look for voice-commerce technology: voice-to-text or structured templates that work in low-literacy markets.
• Support developers working on open messaging standards or APIs for business metadata.

WhatsApp has gone beyond being just messaging for African SMEs; it’s the bedrock of commerce for millions. It gives speed, trust, low cost, and inclusion. 

But it was not built for enterprise scale. Many businesses will hit a ceiling if they rely exclusively on conversational workflows.

We now face a choice. Do we treat WhatsApp as the final platform, or as the base layer for a richer infrastructure? 

To turn conversations into scalable economic value, we need to invest in structured data tools, open standards, and lightweight business platforms that build on and elevate what WhatsApp offers. Only then can we fully activate the possibilities of this de facto operating system.

Meanwhile, WhatsApp already has over 3 billion MAUs in 2025, with projections heading to ~3.14 billion by year-end. 

For any small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) thinking about customer engagement and brand storytelling, that’s opportunity.

Every day your customers open apps, swap messages, and watch updates. If your brand isn’t in the right channel, you might just be invisible. 

Today on brand comparison, we’re looking at two well-known competitors, WhatsApp and Telegram. We’ll compare them from the standpoint of customer engagement and brand storytelling, with a goal to help you decide which platform fits your brand’s voice, your community and your vision.

WhatsApp

Owned by Meta Platforms, WhatsApp is everywhere. With over 3 billion users in 2025, it is the most used global messaging app. 

In business mode, its dedicated apps (WhatsApp Business & Business API) have over 1.2 billion lifetime downloads.

Telegram

Telegram, founded in 2013, once niche and privacy-focused, has exploded. It hit ~1 billion MAUs in early 2025. It provides public channels, large communities and automation via bots.

Why this “quiet competition”?

Because these tools are evolving into platforms where brands tell stories, not just chat. SMEs usually treat messaging apps as one-more channel for support. But with these tools, you can build community, broadcast, and engage directly. Where you place your brand does matter.

Core Capacity & Feature Comparison for SMEs

Here’s how they stack up in terms of a brand that wants engagement + storytelling.

1. Reach & Audience

• WhatsApp: Huge global footprint; available in 180+ countries. Because many customers already “live” there, using WhatsApp may require less effort to reach them.
• Telegram: Smaller than WhatsApp in raw numbers, but quickly growing and especially strong among tech-savvy or globally dispersed communities. Some markets show very high penetration. For a brand looking to build a new community beyond its immediate locale, Telegram provides interesting reach.

If your brand’s community is primarily local, familiar with WhatsApp, that may be the safe option. If you’re aiming for global, cross-region, open-community storytelling, Telegram gives you more scope.

2. Engagement & Interaction

• WhatsApp: Primarily one-to-one or small group messaging. Business version supports quick replies, catalogues, broadcast lists. Because users open WhatsApp often (3–4 times per day) in many markets. 
• Telegram: Supports large-scale one-to-many “channels”, huge public groups, file sharing, bots for automation, no heavy algorithm filtering of content.
  For storytelling: Telegram lets you publish posts, updates, content that stays accessible; WhatsApp is more intimate, direct, conversational.

3. Storytelling & Brand Content

Storytelling means narrative, rich media, sustained engagement.

• On WhatsApp, you might run weekly updates, share behind-the-scenes via Status, respond personally to customers. But broadcast reach is limited (you rely on contact lists or groups).
• On Telegram you can build a channel of thousands, even tens of thousands, post multimedia updates, pin content, create bots or automated sequences. Because your messages go directly to subscribers, you avoid feed algorithms that bury your content.

So if your brand story is: “We’re a local crafts business, we want to talk personally to each customer, answer questions, build trust” → WhatsApp makes sense. If your story is: “We’re a thought-leader brand, we want to publish content, build a large audience, run community events” → Telegram has the edge.

4. Automation, Scale & Community Management

• Telegram: Very strong here. Bots, open API, large group sizes, flexible administration. Ideal if you want to scale to big audiences and automate. 
• WhatsApp: Also provides Business API integrations, but with more limitations (device number, message templates, opt-in rules). Excellent for customer service, personal outreach. So if your brand wants to scale quickly with automation, Telegram might win. If you want high-touch personalised engagement, WhatsApp may serve better.

5. Privacy, Trust & Compliance

Trust is important for SMEs.

• WhatsApp uses end-to-end encryption by default in chats; its global scale and association with Meta raise regulatory questions. In the EU it has been classed as a “Very Large Online Platform.”
• Telegram offers encryption too, though not always default for all chats, and its business tools are still evolving.
  From an SME perspective: if your customers care about privacy, both platforms are acceptable, but WhatsApp’s ubiquity may give you more trust on the ground.

6. Costs, Monetisation & Business Model

• WhatsApp generated estimated revenue of approximately $1.785 billion in 2024, mostly via WhatsApp for Business. Also spending on WhatsApp Business is projected to hit ~$3.6 billion by 2025.
• Telegram revenue in 2023 was ~$342 million, growing quickly.
  For SMEs: WhatsApp has mature business tools but cost/messaging templates are important. Telegram offers lower barrier and greater freedom for broadcasting, but monetisation is less structured. Consider implementation effort, cost of maintenance, and whether you’ll need paid messaging or automation.

Use-Case Scenarios: Which Platform for What Type of SME/Brand Story

Let’s pick practical scenarios.

• Local service business in Lagos (e.g., an artisan workshop)
  Needs to build personal trust, answer queries, send reminders, and share pictures of finished work. WhatsApp Business suits perfectly. Direct, familiar, high open-rate.
• Creator brand/online education brand (global audience)
  Wants to publish weekly content, build community, run live sessions, and sell subscriptions. Telegram Channel + bots is the stronger fit. You can send broadcast content, automate sign-ups, and manage large audience.
• Hybrid approach
  Why pick one? Use WhatsApp for customer support, one-to-one conversations. Use Telegram for broadcast storytelling (company updates, insider content, community events). Each platform handles a different job.

Regional & Market Considerations (with focus on Nigeria/Africa)

In Nigeria and Africa at large, Many users already use WhatsApp daily for personal communication. Using WhatsApp means you meet customers where they are. 

Telegram is growing but may lag local adoption depending on segment. According to research, Telegram has strong uptake in countries like Nigeria, Malaysia, Indonesia. For a Lagos-based SME, the choice may depend on your target audience: if they’re urban, tech-savvy, globally oriented, Telegram works. If they’re local, mobile-first, WhatsApp might be better.

Also consider data costs, phone compatibility, and feature familiarity. If you assume your audience might not download and consistently engage with a new platform, going with WhatsApp is safer.

Challenges, Risks & Pitfalls

No platform is perfect.

• WhatsApp: Broadcast reach is limited; heavy reliance on contact lists; group size and broadcast list size constraints. Also, because everyone uses it, noise is high and users may ignore brand messages if they feel spammy. Being “just chat” may limit narrative depth.
• Telegram: Community building demands content discipline. Having a large channel is one thing; keeping subscribers engaged is another. Also, in some markets, Telegram may have lesser penetration, so your reach could be weaker. Automation requires skill; if mishandled you risk disengagement.
• Spam & trust risk: Both platforms have misuse potential. For example, WhatsApp has been used for fraudulent message campaigns. If your brand uses messaging badly, you risk being ignored or marked as spam.
• Compliance/regulation: WhatsApp’s size means it is under regulatory eyes (e.g., EU rules). Telegram, with less centralised control, may raise questions about moderation. SMEs must ensure opt-in, respect privacy laws, manage data properly.
• Content fatigue: Sending too many messages, poor quality content, or irrelevant updates can kill engagement fast. On Telegram you may publish to large numbers, but if you publish too irregularly or too often without value, people unsubscribe.
  Mitigation: treat each channel, both WhatsApp and Telegram, like media, plan schedule, content calendar, varied formats, monitor metrics, adapt.

Recommendations & Strategy Framework

Here’s a roadmap for SMEs to decide and act.

Step 1: Audit your audience and communication needs

• Where are your customers now? WhatsApp? Telegram? Both?
• Do you want direct support (one-to-one) or community building/broadcast (one-to-many)?
• What resources do you have (time, content, automation ability)?

Step 2: Choose your platform(s)

• If your brand’s priority = direct interaction, local service, WhatsApp is priority.
• If priority = broader narrative, content publishing, community growth, Telegram is strong.
• Consider using both: each for a distinct role.

Step 3: Content strategy

• For WhatsApp: set up a Business profile, define broadcast list strategy, schedule updates, use rich media (images, short videos), keep it conversational.
• For Telegram: establish a channel name, content themes (story arcs, behind-the-scenes, exclusive updates), schedule posts, possibly integrate a bot for registrations/feedback.

Step 4: Engagement/automation plan

• Use automation where sensible (quick replies, FAQs) but avoid losing human touch.
• On Telegram you can use bots for subscriptions, polls, and user-generated content.
• On WhatsApp, you may keep direct responses for high-value queries, and broadcast for regular updates.

Step 5: Measurement & refinement
Track metrics like: open/view rate (on Telegram channel posts you can see views), reply rate, unsubscribe/leave rate, conversion rate (e.g., from message to sale or booking).
Refine: If a broadcast sees low views, tweak time or content. If you see unsubscribes, review frequency. Over time you’ll know which platform is giving better ROI.

Example: A fictional Lagos‐based boutique “Elegance Lagos”

• Use WhatsApp Business to send appointment reminders, new arrival photos, one-to-one styles advice.
• Launch a Telegram Channel “Elegance Community” where you post weekly style stories, behind-the-scenes, customer spotlight, teaser previews, create a poll for next collection.
• Measure: WhatsApp replies and bookings; Telegram channel growth and click-through to website.

So, both WhatsApp and Telegram are solid, but they serve different purposes for the SME brand. If I had to pick one, I’d say: for immediate, direct customer engagement and trust building, go with WhatsApp. 

For building a larger scale brand narrative, community and broadcast capability, go with Telegram. But the smartest brands will use both, with clear roles for each.

Don’t treat either as just “chat” platforms. Treat them as storytelling platforms. Because your customers are not just messaging, they’re expecting experience, community and value. 

And in this competition of channels, WhatsApp and Telegram, the winner will be the brand that sells where its audience already lives.

Now: you are ready. Pick your platform, set your plan, start telling your story.

That figure, confirmed by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg during the company’s first-quarter earnings call, puts the messaging app in a league of its own, alongside Facebook.

This shows how deeply WhatsApp has embedded itself in people’s lives across continents. The app, which Facebook bought for $19 billion in 2014, has grown without ads, subscription fees, or flashy features. It’s stayed simple, and that’s worked.

For Meta, however, WhatsApp has gone beyond a messaging tool, it’s now a pillar in a much bigger business play. The company is using it to quietly roll out more commercial services, particularly around AI and business messaging. CFO Susan Li said: “WhatsApp continues to see the strongest Meta AI usage across our family of apps.”

This isn’t about fun stickers or chat groups. Meta has been embedding AI tools into WhatsApp to create an intelligent front door for businesses and users. Most of the AI engagement still happens in private one-on-one chats, but the volume and potential are enormous.

And while WhatsApp tops outside the U.S., things are different at home. Americans still stick with SMS or iMessage. Zuckerberg knows this. That’s why Meta launched a standalone Meta AI app focused on the U.S. market. 

“We hope to become the leader over time [in the U.S. messaging market], but we’re in a different position there than we are in most of the rest of the world on WhatsApp,” he said. “So I think that the Meta AI app as a standalone is going to be particularly important in the United States to establish leadership.”

In business, Meta reported that its family of apps generated $510 million in business-related revenue, with WhatsApp Business playing a central role. That product is expanding in both reach and intelligence. 

The company is testing tools that let businesses train Meta’s AI using their website content, Instagram and Facebook profiles, or even their WhatsApp business page. It’s also trying out AI chatbots to handle customer messages.

Meta is laying the foundation for something bigger: a platform where businesses interact with customers at scale, powered by AI and driven through WhatsApp. If that sounds familiar, it’s because that model has worked before — in China, with WeChat.

The bigger context? Meta’s apps are pulling in 3.43 billion daily active users across the board, that’s Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Threads combined. Ads are still the bigger results: Meta delivered more of them this quarter, and at a higher price. Total revenue hit $42.31 billion, up 16% from last year.

WhatsApp has become one of the most important pipes in the system, a direct link to billions of users, and a space the company is steadily turning into a business and AI giant.

With over 200 million monthly users of WhatsApp Business, the surge in promotional messages has been unpleasant among users who previously had limited options to manage such communications.

Aiming to tackle this, the messaging platform is testing new features to allow users to fine-tune the types of messages they receive. 

These controls include buttons like “interested/not interested” and “stop/resume,” enabling users to provide feedback on categories such as marketing messages, offers, or updates. 

Before now, WhatsApp used an all-or-nothing approach, where users could only block businesses or allow all messages.

The global testing phase will roll out gradually, and users will have the flexibility to pause specific categories, such as promotional messages while continuing to receive transactional updates like order confirmations or one-time passwords. 

Again, the feature also allows users to resume paused messages during special occasions, such as festive periods.

WhatsApp’s API groups messages into four categories for businesses: marketing (promotions and offers), utility (transaction updates), authentication (security codes), and service (customer support).

Previously, users had no option to opt out of specific categories, often leading to frustration and spam complaints.

This is particularly relevant in regions like India and Brazil, where WhatsApp is a primary communication channel. Unlike email, which often includes an “unsubscribe” feature, WhatsApp lacked clear options for users to manage business messages, leading to an overload of unwanted content.

Nikila Srinivasan, Meta’s vice president of Product Management for Messaging Monetisation, commented on the company’s focus on transparency and user preferences. 

Speaking at a WhatsApp Business event in India earlier this year, Srinivasan emphasised the importance of giving users granular control over their interactions with businesses. She also stressed the need to educate businesses on adhering to platform standards, which she believes will help reduce spam over time.

In addition to user controls, WhatsApp has begun limiting the number of marketing messages users can receive daily. While the platform has not disclosed specific limits, the initiative reflects its intent to balance business communication with user experience.

WhatsApp has evolved in recent years, expanding beyond personal conversations to include features such as communities, broadcast channels, and business interactions. 

However, business messages still appear in users’ primary inboxes, contributing to clutter. While Meta has hinted at exploring separate spaces for business messages, Srinivasan noted that improving user controls and maintaining high inbox standards are currently the platform’s priorities.

The company’s Q3 2024 financial report reveals the importance of WhatsApp Business as a revenue driver, generating $434 million during the quarter. 

With these new measures, WhatsApp aims to strike a balance, offering users more control over their messaging experience while maintaining its appeal as an inclusive communication tool for personal and professional use.

This dynamic tool is rapidly emerging as a powerhouse, presenting a myriad of advantages for organisations seeking to elevate their outreach and engagement.

Unlike traditional ads that direct users to an advertiser’s website or prompt them to fill out a form, click-to-chat ads facilitate direct communication through messaging apps by instantly redirecting customers to a chat window where they can initiate a conversation with the brand or organisation.

The main benefits of click-to-chat ads include increased engagement, improved customer lifetime value and zero-cost re-engagement.

In addition, businesses are able to measure the success of their click-to-chat ads using analytics that provide a comprehensive view of the end-to-end customer journey.

When a user clicks on a social media ad – such as on Facebook or Instagram – the seamless transition to a WhatsApp chat window provides not only a smooth user experience but also facilitates a more personalised interaction, as the WhatsApp platform provides businesses with the ability to craft a personalised and direct engagement with their customers.

Additionally, click-to-chat ads can further enhance customer engagement by providing an aspect of immediate communication, allowing customer queries to be addressed faster.

This efficiency and convenience can be extended further by integrating chatbots onto the WhatsApp platform that enable automated responses on a 24/7/365 basis.

Insight into customer journey

Another key advantage comes from the analytics associated with click-to-chat ads that provide insights into the entire customer journey.

There are numerous key metrics and data that these analytics offer, starting with the tracking of the initial interaction between the customer and the ad.

This can provide valuable insights into what type of content catches the attention of customers and what prompts them to engage with the brand. This data can be used to improve the ad design in future to attract more customers.

Click-to-chat ads also allow businesses to analyse conversation progression and understand the most common queries, concerns, and interests of customers, revealing the critical points in their decision-making process.

Analytics can also assist with conversation tracking, which gives businesses insight into the effectiveness of a chat in terms of driving the desired business action which could be the sale of a product, a booking, a registration, or a sign-up to a service.

Another key metric around the customer journey is the insight into the post-interaction behaviour of the customer, which includes repeat purchases, website visits and engagements with any subsequent marketing campaigns that the brand might be running.

Other important data insights that businesses can glean from click-to-chat ads include clickthrough rates, response times to customer queries, the number of messages exchanged and the length of the conversation, as well as customer satisfaction levels.

Define the target audience

Businesses that are looking to integrate their Facebook Business pages with WhatsApp Business accounts to leverage click-to-chat ads effectively must ensure that they can define their target audience by leveraging tools such as Facebook Insights to understand their customer demographics, behaviours, and preferences.

This is critical to tailoring more effective ad content.

Equally important is the Call To Action (CTA), such as “send message” or “swipe up to chat”, contained within a click-to-chat ad.

The CTA should clearly indicate what exactly the customer is able to do by clicking on it, whether it is chatting to get more information, initiating a support inquiry, or sending a message to start an engagement with the business. The CTA must be simple, clear, concise, and easy to understand.

On the other hand, businesses must be ready to receive incoming messages that are going to come as a result of customers engaging with their click-to-chat ads.

They can do this by setting up automated responses or integrating chatbots in their WhatsApp channel to ensure that when customers reach out, they get immediate feedback.

Considering the benefits of click-to-chat ads, businesses should be encouraged to leverage the power of this type of advertising.

Not only do click-to-chat ads bring value to the entire customer journey, but organisations can leverage a host of analytics to make better decisions and improve their marketing campaigns.

Fortunately, digitisation has made it very easy and convenient for young people to start, develop and advance their businesses.

There are a range of tools, resources, and information for you to familiarize yourself with, start honing your entrepreneurial skills and ultimately thrive in your expertise.

Haven’t thought of starting a side hustle? Or perhaps you have, but need further support with growing your business?

Look no further than AppGallery or Petal Search that enables users to search, download, manage, and share relevant apps. Discover and explore suitable platforms to accelerate your presence in the marketplace and make your way to create a successful business.

Here are a few suggested apps to help you start and grow your small business:

TikTok

Creating your own content is one of the easiest and inexpensive way to promote your business on TikTok. Plus. One of the main benefits of TikTok is that you don’t need to create highly polished videos. 

If you use TikTok in the right way, you can introduce your business, whether its services or products, to an extensive audience worldwide.

With over 500 million users, you can create informative and entertaining videos to build brand awareness and loyalty.

You can also extend your marketing efforts further through the following: a hashtag challenge, campaigns, collaboration, or even add an account.

The great thing about TikTok is that it’s fun. As a young person who might be already hooked on social media platforms, you’ll find this platform simple to navigate and grow your following.

Canva 

The modern world is a visual place, and as Africans, we love exciting, eye-catching, and compelling imagery. This has only become truer with new social media platforms and a shift to more engagement online. As a result, your business must have high-quality branded images to compete, be seen and succeed by your desired target audience.

If you’ve never designed before or are too busy with other parts of your business, creating images can be overwhelming. Don’t worry, we recommend using Canva, an online drag-and-drop image builder that helps you design social media graphics, presentations, flyers, infographics and much more.

Canva is especially useful if you are working on a low budget. It offers an unlimited free account with many useful features. You get access to hundreds of templates, stock photos, icons, and other elements right away. You don’t require any design experience, just an eye for what you like.

WhatsApp Business

 Use WhatsApp Business and offer your customers a more personal experience, so you can better run your business. WhatsApp Business is a free to download app that was built with the small business owner in mind. You can create a catalog to showcase your products and services, connect with your customers easily by using tools to automate, sort and quickly respond to messages.

What are you waiting for? You can transform your business, engage audiences, accelerate sales, and drive better customer support outcomes on this platform. 

Business Ideas

Discover new opportunities to generate income without leaving your home. If you are ambitious and dedicated to starting something, the digital world offers countless opportunities to create your own startup business.

Get ideas on the Business Ideas for Entrepreneurs & Startups app. You can discover practical tips, tools, and details about what you need to start your next online project. This app is ideal for those entrepreneurs who want to start an alternative business but do not know where to start or do not have a budget.

We love that the Business Ideas for Entrepreneurs & Startup app, incorporates new ideas, as well as basic financial education tips to start your business as soon as possible.

This app focuses on business ideas and contains articles on these business entrepreneurial topics.

Meeting your expectations

For most start-ups, resources like printers and scanners may take longer to acquire especially at the beginning stages.

However, this doesn’t mean you have to go to others to print, scan or edit your important documents, this is because apps like PDF Scanner are powerful applications for scanning documents anywhere and anytime.

If you spend a lot of time on the move you will be able to send documents to clients and contracts even when you are out of the office, this is because PDF generation is completely offline and requires no internet connection. It saves your PDF file in history and can be accessed quickly by accessing your recently used documents.

The documents scanned in PDF Scanner are not uploaded to any server for any processing and you can scan almost anything, be it documents, invoices, notes, or business cards all into PDF files. 

Piggy Goals: Money Saving

Running a side hustle is exciting and challenging, just like saving money. Especially as a young person, who wants to enjoy life to its fullest.

The Piggy Goals: Money Saving app, is designed to motivate you and help you save money, by either having a piggy bank where you can save cash any time or create daily, weekly or monthly goals.

The app will track your progress and remind you with push notifications about your money saving objectives. The coolest feature is that the app is completely free.

If you save well, you’ll be able to allocate a budget to other areas of your side hustle, grow your business and potentially develop another business.

Now that you are aware of apps to market your side hustle, create professional posters, keep customers happy and save money, all whilst enjoying the entrepreneurial journey, you can go ahead and focus on expanding your skillsets.

Explore AppGallery for more apps!