Guide
How to switch to WhatsApp Business, and what your customers see
For owners who take orders on a personal WhatsApp
Professional Services
Professional firms are ahead of the country on websites
The 2026 Bahamas Digital Readiness Index checked 416 professional firms on Google Business Profile, website, Facebook Page (not a personal profile) and WhatsApp.
Share of 416 businesses with each door open
- Google Business Profile : 54.6%. Country 60.5%.
- Website : 54.3%. Country 38.2%.
- Facebook Page : 23.3%. Country 33.2%.
- WhatsApp : 9.1%. Country 22.7%.
Average score 35.2 of 100 · tied rank 5 of 8
The 2026 index
Few Bahamian professional firms have opened WhatsApp yet.
9.1%
-
99.3%
of these professional firms have a phone number in public listings, the numbers the index checked for WhatsApp.
In a 2021 survey for URCA, the Bahamian communications regulator, more than nine in ten people asked had used WhatsApp to call or message in the past month. For most firms the index did not find the listed number on WhatsApp, so a client with a quick question, such as what to bring, has to call or email. The WhatsApp Business app is free, and setting it up with office hours and an away message takes an evening or more.
The Google Business Profile, website and WhatsApp count most for professional firms.
Clients find a firm on Google, judge it on its website and send the first question on WhatsApp.
-
Google Business Profile
Required · 30 points
Clients Google a lawyer or an accountant before they call, and the Google Business Profile with its reviews is where they first judge whether you are credible.
-
Website
Required · 30 points
The website is where even a referred client checks your scope and competence before making contact. A thin one can lose the inquiry to a firm with a better one.
-
Facebook Page
Optional · 10 points
Clients rarely choose a firm from a Facebook Page, so Facebook adds little to how they find or vet you here.
-
WhatsApp
Required · 30 points
A client who has judged you on your Google Business Profile and your website can send the first question here before booking a call.
Required: central to how this industry’s customers find, trust and contact a business, so it carries the most points.
Optional: this industry’s customers rarely use it to find or choose a business, so it carries the fewest points.
The points on the four cards add up to 100, the most any business can score in any industry.
How professional firms compare with the country, door by door.
The index found a Facebook Page for 23.3% of professional firms, about ten percentage points under the country’s 33.2%.
Check your score
Free · no account needed
Professional Services open share by door · the 2026 index All eight industries, compared
AI assistants answer clients from what is published about each firm.
ChatGPT and Google’s AI Mode both work in The Bahamas, and Google names an up-to-date Business Profile among the basics that still matter for its AI answers. In a BrightLocal study of local AI answers in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, most of the websites cited belonged to individual businesses. Bahamian professional firms are already well ahead on websites, so the room is in what those websites say: each service named in plain words, who handles it, and how to ask a first question. Google asks for important content to be written as text, so a service shown only in an image or a scanned brochure gives an assistant nothing to quote.
Sources: OpenAI Help Center and Google Search Help, read 26 September 2026 · Google Search Central, AI features, read 26 September 2026 · BrightLocal, AI directory sources, read 26 September 2026
Of the Four Digital Doors, WhatsApp comes next for most professional firms.
The Google Business Profile and the website, where clients find and judge a firm, come first, and 38% of firms already have both.
-
Google Business Profile
Required
Clients find you here. They look the firm up by name before calling, and see what it does and what other clients say.
Short to start, days to a week or more for Google’s check, an evening to fill in
- Set it up properly
- Claim and verify it. Search the firm on Google and complete the check Google asks for, then add office hours, the contact number and an office photo. Claiming is free.
Make it work harder
List each service with a short description, where Google offers services for your category. Add an appointment link. Ask every client for a review and answer each one in the firm’s name. Once a month, read its count of calls and website clicks.
-
Website
Required
This is the one door you own, and where trust is built. A client reads what the firm does, and who does it, before the first call.
A few evenings with a builder, weeks with a professional
- Set it up properly
- A website that names the services, the people and how to reach the firm. A website builder or a professional. Domain and hosting carry a yearly cost.
Make it work harder
Put a contact button and the WhatsApp link on every webpage. Describe each service in plain words, with who handles it and what to bring. Keep the people current. Google Search Console shows which searches bring visitors.
-
WhatsApp Business
Required
Clients talk to you here. A first question, the documents to bring and an appointment confirmation can all go by message.
Short to register, an evening or more to set up
- Set it up properly
- Register WhatsApp Business on a number kept for the firm. The app is free. Fill in the business profile with office hours and services.
Make it work harder
Set office hours and an away message for when the office is closed. Write quick replies for what to bring and how to book a consultation. Send confirmations from the chat. Put the firm’s name beside the number everywhere.
-
Facebook Page
Optional
Clients rarely choose a firm from its Facebook Page, but news such as a new person or a new service reaches people who were not looking for a firm today.
An evening if the photos are to hand, longer from nothing
- Set it up properly
- Create a Facebook Page for the firm. Do not run the business from a personal profile. Fill in the category, About section, hours and address. Publish a first post.
Make it work harder
Post the news a client should know about, a new person joining or a service added, with the WhatsApp number in the post. Add the WhatsApp button. Answer messages within a working day. Meta Business Suite shows what each post reached.
After the doors are open
Open doors need a weekly habit: the same hours, prices and contact number on every door, and every message answered. A client can find the firm on your Google Business Profile, judge it on your website and send the first question in WhatsApp Business. Your WhatsApp chats show which services clients ask about first, and a claimed Google Business Profile shows the searches that found the firm and how many clicked through to its website.
Need help opening these doors or getting more from them? DDigiLeads does this work for Bahamian businesses. Talk to us
See what customers see when they check you.
Free · no account needed
Send this to someone at another firm
The Bahamas Digital Readiness Index found Bahamian professional firms well ahead of the country on websites.