Guide
How to switch to WhatsApp Business, and what your customers see
For owners who take orders on a personal WhatsApp
Bahamas Digital Readiness Index
Customers talk to you once your number opens WhatsApp.
Bahamians already use WhatsApp, but only customers with your number can message you, so open it, then share it.
National Reading
Share of 2,600 businesses with this door open
22.7%
The 2026 index
Reachable: WhatsApp
The sale is arranged on WhatsApp, after Google or Facebook.
It is where the price is asked, the order confirmed and the payment link sent, in one thread both sides keep.
In a 2021 survey for URCA, the communications regulator, 93% of people asked had used WhatsApp to call or send a message in the past month. So a customer here most likely has the app already. What they may not have is your number: WhatsApp has no business directory a customer can search here, so the number has to be on your Google Business Profile, your Facebook Page (the business page, not your personal profile) and your website.
A typical Bahamian sale in six steps: find the business on Google or see it on Facebook; message it with a question; the business replies; the order or time is confirmed; payment by a payment link or in person; collect the order or come in. Every step from the message to the visit is arranged on WhatsApp.
The 2026 index’s report, the commerce flow · URCA, retail mobile market review, survey of July to August 2021 How the Four Digital Doors work together
Phone numbers on record
Almost all Bahamian businesses list a phone number.
Registering that number on WhatsApp Business, or listing the number already on it, opens this door.
96.6%
WhatsApp is the door open least often of the four. For most businesses, opening it means setting up the number they already list on WhatsApp.
To check yours, find the number a customer sees when they search the business name, and open wa.me followed by that number, with the country and area code. If a chat opens with your business, the door is open.
64.2%
of businesses with three doors open in the 2026 index publish no WhatsApp number a customer can find.
See whether a customer finds a WhatsApp number for your business, and how your other three doors read.
Check your score
Free · no account needed
Phone numbers on record · the 2026 index Open WhatsApp, the first step
What was counted
A phone number on record is a number the index found for the business in public sources, on any of its doors or listings. It counts on the WhatsApp door when a customer who finds it can open a chat with it, on a personal or a Business account.
Grand Bahama
Fewer Grand Bahama businesses publish a WhatsApp number.
If your business is on Grand Bahama and already on Google, make the number on that listing open a WhatsApp chat.
The 2026 index read 239 businesses on Grand Bahama. On the other three doors the two places differ less: a Google listing is more common on Grand Bahama, a website slightly more common, and a Facebook Page less common. WhatsApp shows the widest difference, and in Nassau and Paradise Island too it is the door open least often.
A reach programme on Grand Bahama would start with the numbers owners already list. An adviser from a Small Business Development Centre or a Chamber branch registers each on WhatsApp Business and puts its chat link on the Google listing the business already has.
Share of businesses with a WhatsApp number a customer can find: Nassau and Paradise Island 24.0%, Grand Bahama 8.4%, the Grand Bahama share resting on 20 businesses.
Businesses by island · the 2026 index · scale 0 to 25% The 2026 index, industry by industry
The counts behind each bar, and the other three doors
| Island | Businesses read | WhatsApp open | Google Business Profile | Website | Facebook Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nassau and Paradise Island | 2,325 | 559 (24.0%) | 59.3% | 37.5% | 33.8% |
| Grand Bahama | 239 | 20 (8.4%) | 68.6% | 39.3% | 26.4% |
The other 36 businesses in the 2026 index are on seven other islands. Each has fewer than thirty, too few to give that island its own row.
How to open it, and what comes next
How to open WhatsApp, then build it out
Not found means no number that opens a chat turned up in public sources, which is not proof there is none.
Open it: Open means a listed number is registered on WhatsApp.
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Register the number you list Short, on a phone Can I use my landline?
Yes, if the business owns it. WhatsApp registers either kind of number. A landline listed on its own, never set up on WhatsApp, does not open a chat, so the index reads it as Not found for this door.
Download the WhatsApp Business app, which is free, and register the number customers already see for the business. Internet-calling and toll-free numbers cannot be registered.
Already on ordinary WhatsApp? Moving that number is the first step under Build it out.
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List the number where customers look Short on each door Can people find me in WhatsApp?
No. WhatsApp’s business directory is only available in Brazil, so a customer who does not already have your number cannot search their way to you in the app. A new customer finds the number on your other doors.
If the number you registered is not the one customers already see, put it on your Google Business Profile, Facebook Page and website as the business’s phone number.
Owners also ask
The index found no number, but customers message me every day. Why?
The index did not find a number published anywhere it looked, which is not proof there is none. It counted numbers a customer who has never dealt with the business could find, on a Google Business Profile, a Facebook Page, a website or a public listing. A number available only to existing customers is what this door does not see.
Open. Past this line, the door counts as open.
Build it out: What a WhatsApp number needs once it is open
Step three sets up what your score reads: a Business account, used by just over half the businesses the index found on WhatsApp.
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Move to WhatsApp Business Short, on the phone that holds the number Do I lose my chats if I switch?
No. The number moves to the WhatsApp Business app with its chats and media. Contacts saved only inside WhatsApp do not move, so save them to the phone first.
Use the Business app for the business. It adds a profile with the hours and address, a catalogue, and greeting and away messages.
Reversing the move, and a second line
The move can be reversed, but a catalogue does not come back with it. To keep the personal number separate, register a second line for the business instead. Not sure which app you use? Open WhatsApp on the phone that holds the number and see whether it is the Business app.
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Fill in the business profile An evening or more, with details ready Hours, address and website.
Add the business name, category, hours, address, a short description and your website. A customer sees these before writing.
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Set greeting and away messages Short, once the hours are set Will it take over my day?
Not if the app replies for you. Once the hours are set in your profile, the away message can send outside them and tell a customer when an answer comes.
A greeting goes to a new customer, an away message covers the hours you are closed, and quick replies hold the answers you send most.
When the greeting sends, and profile replies
The greeting also goes to someone writing again after two weeks of quiet. Quick replies can include answers built from the profile, such as the hours and the address.
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Put a chat link where customers look Short on each door A link that opens a chat with you.
Beside the number on your Google Business Profile, Facebook Page and website, add the app’s short link and the business name, since a customer who has not saved the number may see only the number.
Chat links, and the Facebook button
A “share on WhatsApp” button sends your webpage to a friend and does not open a chat with you. A wa.me link does: it is wa.me followed by the full number with the country and area code, with no plus sign or spaces. On a Facebook Page, the WhatsApp button is linked from the Page’s settings.
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Build a catalogue An evening or more, with photos ready Outside help can pay off Products or services, with photos.
List products or services with photos. Add prices if the app offers a price field here. A cart sends the order to you as a message and takes no payment.
Item rules, and the shop storefront
Each item needs a title and at least one image, and WhatsApp approves items before they show. The shop storefront has gone from the Business app, so the catalogue is the tool.
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Send a payment link in the chat Short, once a provider is set up Outside help can pay off Can customers pay in WhatsApp?
Not through WhatsApp’s own payments, which work only in India, Brazil, Mexico and Indonesia. A customer here pays through a payment link you send in the chat, or in person.
Set up payment links with a Bahamian bank or payment provider, then send one in the chat.
Payment links without a website
Bahamian banks and local providers offer payment links that work by WhatsApp, email or social media, with no website needed.
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Add staff on linked devices Can staff use their own phones?
Yes. The WhatsApp Business app links up to four other devices to the main phone, all on the one number, so staff can answer without sharing one phone.
Keep it open
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Keep the profile and replies current Short in the app, and on each door Check the chat link still opens.
Keep the hours, address, description and catalogue current, and check that the number still opens a chat from your Google listing, Facebook Page and website.
Some of these steps go faster with a professional’s help. Get a free professional reading of your Four Digital Doors, and the steps we can help with
From WhatsApp, the website link on your business profile and on catalogue items sends a customer on to your website, for the full offer. On your Facebook Page, the WhatsApp button opens a chat with you in one tap.
Is your WhatsApp door open?
Type the business name and see how a customer finds this door and your other three.
Free · no account needed
Send this to another business owner
Almost every Bahamian business already lists a phone number. This webpage shows how to make that number open a WhatsApp chat.