Small businesses are using WhatsApp to connect with their end users on a personal level. Conversational commerce is now the new normal for local businesses in India. These businesses are drifting away from legacy methods like newspaper ads or generic websites.
As the end users become more digitally aware, SMBs in India are opting for a more personal, instant, and trusted medium – WhatsApp. From local kirana stores to specialized home kitchens, WhatsApp is becoming the default mandate to scale businesses efficiently and profitably.
Indian SMBs and WhatsApp for Business
The context is undeniable. India is WhatsApp’s largest market globally, with over 535 million people using the application daily. This staggering user base doesn’t just check the app occasionally; they engage deeply, checking it 23–25 times daily.
For an SMB, this means your entire potential customer base is already active, waiting, and receptive in one place. This penetration offers an engagement rate unmatched by any other channel: 98% of WhatsApp messages receive an open rate, significantly higher than the mere 21% observed in email.
Big enterprises have long capitalized on this, using WhatsApp for flash sales, robust customer support, and closing high-value deals in a chat window. But how are small businesses making a mark in this highly competitive market?
Let’s understand it while traversing the journey of a small bakery that achieved exponential growth by transitioning from the basic, limited WhatsApp Business app to the powerful WhatsApp Business API.
Read: Set up WhatsApp Business API in under 10 minutes.
From Home Baker to Digital Powerhouse: Anvi’s Blueprint for WhatsApp API
WhatsApp for local businesses is more than just sending out curated offers. Here we have the story of Anvi, a 34-year old entrepreneur who runs Anvi’s Bake House from her home kitchen. Anvi’s story in our latest WhatsApp Growth Playbook is a testament to how small businesses in India can grow from zero and stand as strong competitors to enterprise brands.
Anvi’s resources were typical when she started – immense passion, great products, and a smartphone. But she had limited capital for a fancy website or a dedicated marketing team. That’s when Anvi heard about mindbird, a premium WhatsApp platform for digital-first brands.
With mindbird, Anvi got access to premium WhatsApp branding that is otherwise accessible to mostly big brands. She could now:
- Broadcast high-impact announcements to thousands instantly (removing the 256-contact restriction)
- Manage all customer relationships through built-in WhatsApp CRM
- Handle support inquiries 24/7 with smart automation
- Showcase her products in a digital catalog
- Run targeted ads that can initiate direct conversations
WhatsApp, when powered by the right set of tools, can give wings to small businesses like Anvi’s. In a snap, WhatsApp becomes a complete e-commerce platform where customer discovery, engagement, transactions, and support happen in one seamless and highly effective flow.
How Can Small Businesses Scale with WhatsApp in India?
All it takes is a simple switch from the basic app to WhatsApp Business API. Small businesses like Anvi’s can switch from operating like a single baker to running a scalable digital enterprise with WhatsApp Business API.
Here’s how. In our latest playbook, Anvi’s story is a masterclass in conversational commerce, proving that small businesses can multiply revenue by transforming customer outreach, management, automation, transaction processing, and advertising – all within the familiar chat interface.
- Mastering Customer Reach: Personalized Broadcast
Anvi’s early attempts at marketing were familiar to many Indian small businesses: relying on the unpredictable Instagram algorithm or sending expensive SMS messages that often went unread. The breakthrough came when she realized the potential of direct, high-volume, yet personal messaging.
Using mindbird’s broadcast feature, Anvi moved away from generic posts. She sent a single message about her freshly baked signature chocolate truffle cakes to her entire opt-in customer list, bypassing the free app’s restrictive 256-contact limit. Crucially, the message arrived not as a group chat notification but as a private, intimate 1-on-1 chat. Her message was a clear call-to-action:
“Fresh chocolate truffle cakes just out of the oven! 🍫🎂 First 10 orders get free delivery. Reply ‘CAKE’ to order!”
The response was immediate and actionable. Her phone buzzed within 15 minutes. Twelve people replied, and eight placed orders. All ten cakes were sold before lunch. Anvi realized that while the same announcement on Instagram yielded “3 likes and zero orders,” on WhatsApp, people actually “replied.” So, what really happened?
- WhatsApp’s unmatched open rate:
WhatsApp’s 98% open rate guarantees message visibility, surpassing email’s 21% open rate. Furthermore, these messages are typically read within 3 minutes of delivery, a stark contrast to email’s average time-to-open of 17 hours.
This speed and certainty are indispensable for timely offers, like a fresh batch of cakes or a limited-time festival discount. The format creates engagement because it feels personal, transforming an announcement into a direct, sales-driving conversation.
- Launching broadcast during the festive season
India is known for its love of festivals. When Anvi launched her offers during the Diwali-to-New Year festive stretch, it directly aligned with the Indian customer behavior.
Meta’s research confirms that a massive 78% of festive shopping conversations in India happen on WhatsApp. Indian consumers actively seek businesses on chat during festivals because they value the personal touch, the ability to customize orders (a must for gifting), and the instant responses.
Anvi’s Diwali broadcast reached 1,800 customers, crushing the 256-contact limit. The results cemented her strategy: by the end of the festive season, she had delivered 127 gift boxes, a phenomenal 300% increase from the previous year.
The New Year campaign secured 45 corporate orders for office parties. Most crucially, she collected 230 new customer contacts from referrals, growing her customer base by 40% in just two months.
The takeaway for Indian SMBs is clear:
Build themed Broadcast Lists (e.g., ‘Corporate Orders,’ ‘Birthday Club’) and broadcast to thousands – an engaged 1,000-contact list beats 10,000 unengaged social media followers.
- Organization and Personalization: The Pocket-Sized CRM
A common challenge for small businesses is disorganization. With over 500 active conversations post-Diwali, Anvi’s WhatsApp chat list became a confusing mix of VIPs, new leads, and corporate inquiries. She struggled to remember details, admitting she almost sent a generic “Place your first order” message to her most loyal customer.
This was until she started using mindbird’s built-in WhatsApp CRM.
mindbird’s in-built WhatsApp CRM = enterprise power, SMB simplicity.
The complexity of connecting WhatsApp to external enterprise-level CRMs like Salesforce or HubSpot is not fruitful in the long run. mindbird’s integrated CRM has all the essential tools required for a growing SMB within the platform. It is less complicated and focuses more on enabling small businesses. This includes the ability to:
- Tag and segment customers with custom labels.
- View complete conversation history.
- Add notes about customer preferences and important dates.
- Filter and search contacts instantly.
- Track the customer lifecycle from first inquiry to repeat buyer.
How mindbird helped with disorganization?
Anvi created a simple, powerful tagging taxonomy:
- VIP (monthly loyalists)
- Corporate (bulk buyers)
- Birthday Club (family birthdays)
- Festive Buyer (seasonal purchasers)
- Pending Payment
- New Leads
This strategic tagging and segmentation allowed for precision marketing: sending a corporate gifting package broadcast only to her ‘Corporate’ contacts or targeting ‘Festive Buyer’ contacts with New Year specials.
- The Human Touch: The Birthday Reminder Case Study
The most effective use of the CRM was the ‘Birthday Club’. Anvi logged family birthdays in the mindbird notes section. A week before the date the following year, she sent a highly personalized, targeted reminder:
“Hi Mrs. Kapoor! 🎂 Rahul’s birthday is coming up on the 15th, right? Should I reserve a chocolate truffle cake like last year, or would you like to try something new this time?”
This level of personalization generated an incredible response. Customers were “shocked” that she remembered and “feel special,” which almost always led to an order, often larger than planned.
This personalized approach, once the domain of expensive software and dedicated staff, is now achieved simply with mindbird’s built-in tools.
According to Meta, 72% of users are more likely to engage with personalized WhatsApp messages, underscoring the significance of human touch in digital commerce.
- The Customer Service Advantage: 24/7 Support
For Indian customers, WhatsApp is the preferred support channel, with 39% of consumers opting to reach businesses here due to its familiarity, informality, and speed. Anvi understood that support on WhatsApp isn’t a cost – it’s a powerful sales engine.
WhatsApp excels in the familiar Indian scenario of a late sale. The parent used that single urgent sale as a powerful source of word-of-mouth marketing.
While a phone call would likely go to voicemail or an Instagram DM unseen until morning, Anvi was able to respond in two minutes, confirming the order and receiving payment via a UPI link by 11:15 PM.
That single urgent sale became a powerful word-of-mouth story for the parent.
- The Automation Safety Net for SMB Owners
To ensure she didn’t burn out while providing 24/7 service, Anvi implemented mindbird’s automation features. The core of this was a highly effective automated away message that activated after 9 PM:
“Hi! 👋 Thanks for reaching out to Anvi’s Bake House! I’m away from my phone right now, but I’ll respond first thing tomorrow morning. In the meantime, check out our menu here: [catalog link]. For urgent orders, mention ‘URGENT’ and I’ll try to respond tonight!”
This message achieved three critical goals: acknowledged the customer immediately, provided useful information (the catalog), and created an ‘escape hatch’ for genuine emergencies, ensuring no one felt ignored.
She also set up quick reply templates for common queries about delivery areas, customization, and pricing, dramatically reducing the manual effort of responding to over 150 million messages sent to businesses on WhatsApp daily.
Anvi understood that each question represents a customer expressing their intent. An inquiry about egg-free options becomes a chance to upsell her eggless chocolate cake. This shift in perspective transformed support into sales.
Infact, 60% of people who message her with a question end up placing an order, a conversion rate far superior to the 10% seen on Instagram.
This high-intent conversion aligns with industry data showing that businesses report 3x higher conversion rates when using WhatsApp throughout the customer journey.
The strategy is simple: turn support into sales by responding quickly, being helpful, and gently guiding toward a purchase.
- WhatsApp Catalog and UPI Integration
For months, the question, “Do you have a website?” plagued Anvi. Big bakeries had slick online ordering systems; she relied on a phone number. But WhatsApp Catalogs eliminated this problem entirely.
WhatsApp Catalog inside mindbird lets businesses create a beautiful, browsable product display directly within the app. For instance, Anvi spent one Sunday photographing her items and uploading them with descriptions and prices. Customers can now tap on her business profile to instantly browse her offerings, which include up to 500 products.
The impact was immediate, with WhatsApp users browsing business catalogs over 40 million times per month.
Conversations became effortless; Anvi could simply direct customers to the ‘Birthday Cakes’ section, allowing them to browse at midnight or during their lunch break.
- Frictionless Ordering with Cart and UPI
The introduction of the Cart feature fundamentally transformed Anvi’s ordering flow. Customers can browse the catalog, add multiple items to their cart, send the entire cart as a single message, and then complete payment via a UPI link.
Customers complete the entire transaction in the chat, eliminating the need for a website, app download, or account creation. Businesses report 35% lower cart abandonment compared to traditional e-commerce sites due to this pure conversational commerce.
This process is uniquely powerful in India due to the UPI revolution. In December 2024, NPCI removed all user caps on WhatsApp Pay, extending UPI services to the platform’s entire 500+ million Indian user base.
For Anvi, this means seamless payment collection: she generates a UPI payment link for the total order and sends it directly in the chat, allowing the customer to pay in two taps. There is no need for bank details, cash-on-delivery complications, or payment follow-ups.
The success is proven at the highest level: JioMart, India’s retail giant, saw a 9x increase in orders after launching WhatsApp shopping, validating the power of the model for every business, big or small.
- Targeted Growth: Ads That Start Conversations
For six months, Anvi’s growth was steady but limited. She knew thousands of potential customers existed in South Delhi. Traditional Instagram ads felt like “shouting into a void,” yielding likes and comments but struggling to convert to actual sales. The solution was Click-to-WhatsApp Ads (CTWA).
CTWA ads differ because they skip the website or landing page, directly opening a WhatsApp chat. One tap, and the potential customer is talking to the business—no forms, no pages to load. Over 200,000 Indian SMBs were already using these ads. Anvi created a simple ad targeting women aged 25-45 in South Delhi for her festive specials, with a modest test budget of ₹500.
- The 37x ROAS: Proof of Intent
The results were phenomenal. The ₹500 test budget brought 23 new people directly into her WhatsApp inbox. Critically, each contact’s phone number was automatically captured, and they were instantly greeted by mindbird’s welcome message. Eleven of those 23 placed an order within a week, generating a total revenue of ₹18,400. This translated to a staggering 37x Return on Ad Spend (ROAS).
This success stems from lead quality. When someone clicks a regular ad, they might just be browsing; when they click to start a WhatsApp chat, they are signaling real intent.
Anvi noted that these conversations felt different; the customer was “already warm,” and her only job was to be helpful and close the sale.
This is a massive advantage, given that 70–80% of traditional ad clicks drop off before conversion.
Additionally, once someone messages through a CTWA ad, the business receives 72 hours of free messaging to follow up, share the catalog, and guide the purchase without incurring any extra costs.
- Scaling Leads with Smart Automation
As her ad campaigns grew, Anvi needed automation to manage the new conversation volume. Using mindbird, she set up a simple automated welcome flow for ad clickers:
Hi! 🎂 Thanks for checking out Anvi’s Bake House! What brings you here today?
1️⃣ Birthday Cake
2️⃣ Anniversary/Celebration
3️⃣ Corporate Order
4️⃣ Just Browsing
This menu instantly qualifies the lead (identifying intent) and creates engagement (a person who responds is much more likely to buy). A sophisticated lead qualification system like this, often requiring large enterprise resources, was built by Anvi in an afternoon using mindbird.
Anvi bridged advertising and conversation with CTWA, delivering real, high-intent leads that the CRM then retains for future broadcasts.
That is a wrap on how small businesses can scale businesses to the enterprise level without having a fancy website or a dedicated store right away. Those might still be something you want to explore when you want to go global 😀
Final Recap:
In just eighteen months, Anvi’s home bakery was transformed. She moved from a notebook and a low-visibility Instagram page to a business with 2,000+ customers in her mindbird CRM, a professional digital catalog, automated systems handling nighttime inquiries, and a consistent stream of new, high-intent leads.
Her revenue has grown 4x, but crucially, her sanity has improved. She is no longer chasing customers, explaining her menu repeatedly, or worrying about missed inquiries.
She achieved all this without expensive external software or an IT team, proving that mindbird provides enterprise-grade tools—the WhatsApp Business API, built-in CRM, automation, and analytics – at an SMB-friendly price point.