How to get your first 10 customers on WhatsApp

The short version

Your first 10 customers won't come from strangers. They come from the people already in your phone, and from the people those people send you. On WhatsApp that means four things:

1. Set your WhatsApp up so a customer can order in one tap.
2. Message 30 people you know, one at a time, not as a broadcast.
3. Put one product on your Status every day, with the price and the link.
4. When someone orders, take the order properly, so they trust you with the next one.

1. Make ordering one tap

Most people who ask "how much?" and then go quiet weren't saying no. Finding out how to pay was just too much work. Take the work away.

• Use WhatsApp Business (it's free) and fill in the profile: what you sell, your area, your hours, and your shop link.
• Add your number to your shop as a wa.me link. In Shop Simply that's Settings → Social Media → WhatsApp, in the form https://wa.me/27821234567 (your number with 27 in front and no 0, no spaces).
• With that link saved, every product page on your shop gets an "Order on WhatsApp" button. A buyer taps it and your chat opens with the product name, the option they picked, the price and a link to the product already typed in. All they do is press send.
• The button only works with a plain wa.me/ number link. A group invite, a channel, a catalogue link or a "wa.me/message" short link can't carry a typed-in message, so with those you won't get the button. If you've pasted one of those, swap it for your number link.
• On the same page you can switch on a floating WhatsApp button, so it shows on every page of your shop.

2. Message 30 people, one at a time

Write down 30 names: family, friends, old colleagues, your hairdresser, the parents from school, your church or club. Then message each one yourself, by name, over a few days.

Keep it short and personal:

"Hi Thandi, I've started selling my candles online. Here's the shop: [link]. No pressure at all, but if you know anyone who'd like one, I'd love it if you passed it on."

Two things matter here. First, ask them to pass it on. Your friends may not buy, but the friend of a friend often does. Second, don't send it as a broadcast list. People can tell a broadcast from a personal message, and a broadcast only reaches people who've saved your number anyway.

Ten sales out of 30 messages is a lot. Three or four, plus a few people they tell, is a good start.

3. One product on your Status every day

Status is the shop window your contacts walk past every day, and it's gone after 24 hours, so posting daily doesn't feel like spam.

• One product per day. A clear photo taken in daylight, the price written on it or in the caption, and your shop link.
• Show the real thing: the product being made, packed, or in a customer's hands (ask first). "Packing three orders for Durban today" sells better than another product shot.
• Always the price. "DM for price" loses people who would have bought.

4. Groups: ask before you post

Community, school, suburb and hobby groups are where local buyers already talk. Ask the admin before you post, post once, and make it useful: what it is, the price, the area you deliver to, and the link. Then answer questions in your own chat, not in the group.

5. Take the order properly

The first order is where a customer decides whether to order again.

• Put the order in your shop, even if it started in a chat. In Shop Simply: Orders → New order, add the product and the customer, then "Create order & send invoice". The customer gets an invoice by email.
• Send it into their chat with "Share on WhatsApp" on the order page. It sends the order number, the total, the due date and a link to their order. It never puts your bank details in the chat itself; those are on the order page.
• Bank transfer is fine. The money goes straight into your own account, and Shop Simply never takes a cut of your sales. If you'd rather take cards, connect Paystack or Payfast.
• Tell them when it ships, and send the tracking number if there is one.

6. Turn customer 1 into customers 2 and 3

A week after delivery, message them:

"Hi Sipho, hope the boots fit well! If you're happy with them, would you mind sending me a photo or a line I can share? And if a friend needs a pair, here's the link: [link]."

A real customer's photo on your Status is worth more than anything you can say about your own product. Ask every time.

Count to 10

Write your 10 down as they come in: name, what they bought, and how they found you (your message, Status, a group, a friend). By customer 10 you'll know which of these works for you, and you can do more of it.