How to switch to WhatsApp Business, and what your customers see

How many Bahamian businesses still use a personal WhatsApp

Just over half of the Bahamian businesses a customer can reach on WhatsApp, 311, were already running it as a WhatsApp Business account when the index checked. The other 279 were on a personal account, the ordinary WhatsApp app most people use with family and friends. Those are the WhatsApp numbers the Bahamas Digital Readiness Index found open for the businesses it scored in its 2026 edition.

An outside number-checking service made that check in March and July 2026. A business read as personal may have switched since. How the index checked each number is set out on the Methodology webpage, and the score webpage shows what it read for your business.

If your number is still on the personal app, the switch keeps everything you have built on it. It also changes what a customer can see when they message you.

What stays the same: your number and your chats

Your customers do not have to do anything. You keep the same number, so there is no new contact for them to save, and their chat with you stays where it was.

On your side, your chats come across if you allow it. Save any contacts kept only inside WhatsApp to your phone first, because the Business app does not bring them over. The WhatsApp door guide at the end of this article covers the rest, including what to do if you want to keep a personal WhatsApp for family.

What customers see after you switch to WhatsApp Business

A customer who has your number saved can tap your name at the top of the chat and open your profile. After the switch, that profile is labelled as a WhatsApp Business account.

The profile shows what you fill in: your business name, a short description, your address, your hours and up to three categories from WhatsApp’s own list. It also shows the month and year you joined the WhatsApp Business app. You can add your website, an email address and a catalogue of what you sell. A profile left blank shows the label and little else.

In July 2025 the Consumer Protection Commission told shoppers buying through social media marketplaces to check that a seller has a business licence and a working phone number before they pay. The warning followed a complaint about a contractor who took a buyer’s money and then stopped answering calls and WhatsApp messages. Your profile is where you tell a customer who is behind the number, where you are and when you are open.

Why a new customer still sees only your number

Switching does not put your business name in front of a stranger. With a regular WhatsApp Business account, a customer’s chat list shows the name they saved your number under. If they have not saved it, they see only your phone number.

The business name shows to people who have not saved the number only on an Official business account. That is a separate status, with its own rules about who can get it.

So the first time someone writes to you, what tells them they have the right business is the place where they found your number. That place needs your business name beside the number.

A stranger’s first chat shows only your number, so publish it beside your business name.

Three settings for the first message a customer gets

When a customer writes, three settings decide what they get back before you pick up the phone.

The greeting message. WhatsApp sends it on its own when a customer writes to you for the first time. It sends it again when a chat has had no messages for 14 days. Use it to say who they have reached and when you reply. If you later connect Meta Business Agent, Meta’s AI reply assistant, greeting messages switch off.

The away message. It can go out all the time, on a schedule you set, or outside your business hours. The last choice works only after you enter your hours in the profile. When your hours change for a public holiday, change the away message too. The greeting and the away message send only while your phone is connected to the internet.

Quick replies. You can save up to 50 answers you send often, and bring each one up by typing a slash. The app also makes ready answers from your profile, such as your hours and address. A filled-in profile gives you replies you do not have to type.

If you sell goods, a catalogue lets a customer look through what you have before they ask. WhatsApp reviews each item, and customers see it only after it is approved.

Put your WhatsApp number where customers look

WhatsApp has no business search in The Bahamas. Its business directory is available only in Brazil. Business usernames, which may let a customer find you by name, are rolling out gradually and may not have reached you yet. Until they do, a new customer reaches you through a number they found somewhere else.

• Your website. Add the short link the Business app made for you. On a phone it opens a chat with you. In a browser it opens a webpage with your business details and a button to continue to the chat. A plain contact link also works: wa.me/ followed by 1242 and your seven-digit number, with no plus sign, spaces, brackets or dashes.
• Your Facebook Page. On the business page, not your personal profile, link your WhatsApp Business number in the Page’s settings, under Linked accounts, so the Page can show a WhatsApp button. Put the number in the Page’s contact details as well. The Facebook Page door guide covers the rest of the Page.
• Your Google listing. Put the number on your Google Business Profile. Google also offers a WhatsApp chat option, which Google says is available only in select countries and regions, without listing them. Look for it in your listing’s contact settings, and use it if it is there. It asks for your wa.me link. If you also add text messaging, Google shows only the text option.

One kind of link does not reach you. A WhatsApp link that carries a message but no number opens the customer’s own contact list, so they can forward the message to someone else.

Use the same number in every place. If your doors show different numbers, when your business phone number is different on Google and Facebook explains how to bring them back into line.

Can you switch back to regular WhatsApp?

Yes. WhatsApp supports the move back to its ordinary app: back up your Business account, install WhatsApp Messenger, verify the same number and restore the backup. Anything made with Business-only features, such as your catalogue and its collections, does not come back.

Some how-to sites say the switch cannot be undone. WhatsApp’s own help webpage describes the way back.