WhatsApp Business for Tradespeople: How to Set It Up.

For most trades, yes. WhatsApp Business is a free app that keeps work chats separate from your personal ones, and gives you a business profile, quick replies, an away message and labels for sorting chats.

It works best when customers know when you check it, and there's another way to reach you for anything urgent.

• WhatsApp Business: a separate free app from WhatsApp, made for small businesses.
• Business profile: your business name, address or area, hours and website, shown to customers in the app.
• Quick replies: saved messages you can send with a couple of taps.
• Away message: an automatic reply sent when you're not available.
• Greeting message: an automatic first reply to someone messaging you for the first time.
• Labels: coloured tags for sorting chats, like New enquiry or Quote sent.
• Two step verification: a PIN you set so nobody can move your WhatsApp to another phone without it.

1. Download WhatsApp Business (not plain WhatsApp) from your app store.
2. Use a separate business number, if you can. It keeps work apart and is easier to hand over.
3. Fill in your profile properly: business name, area, opening hours and website.
4. Turn on two step verification in the settings.
5. Set up labels that match how you work, like New enquiry or Quote sent.
6. Write a few quick replies that still sound like you.

Use labels like New enquiry, Visit booked, Quote sent, Waiting on customer and Job done. When a chat changes the job, the price or the date, copy it into the quote, job record or a confirmation email.

• A greeting that asks for the job and postcode, not personal details
• An away message with honest reply times
• Saved replies for booking and access questions
• Photos and documents moved into the right job
• Complaints and safety worries recorded outside the chat
• Old staff and old linked devices removed promptly

Customers will message about urgent things even if you never offered emergencies. Say clearly that the chat isn't watched all the time, and what to do if there's immediate danger.

No. A message isn't a 24 hour promise, as long as you're clear about when you reply.

Confirm any change to the price, the job or the dates in writing, somewhere it won't get lost.

Only ask for what the job needs. Don't ask for bank details or ID over an ordinary chat. Keep your phone locked, and remove access when staff leave.

Replying about a job is fine. Sending offers is marketing, and the marketing rules apply. You need the person's consent, or to meet every condition of the past customer exception: they bought, or asked a price for, something similar from you, you gave them a way to say no when you took their details, and every message offers an easy way to stop.

The ICO says its marketing guidance is being reviewed after a 2025 change in the law, so check it again before you send.