We’ve spent the better part of two decades helping businesses generate leads through digital marketing building the kind of funnels that start with a website form and (hopefully) end in a signed deal. And in truth, that model still works. There’s comfort in structure.
Form. CRM. Email. Call. Quote. Close. It’s measurable, predictable but…slow.
The reality however is that the world doesn’t operate at that pace anymore. Not online, not on mobile and certainly not in the minds of today’s customers. What used to be a standard journey now feels like a marathon and most people don’t have the patience to run it.
Which brings us to something deceptively simple, wildly underused, and sitting in the palm of your hand: WhatsApp.
Let’s look at how a traditional funnel actually works for most businesses:
|
Step |
Activity |
|
One |
A user lands on your website |
|
Two |
They fill in a form or they scroll and perhaps client on “Contact Us” |
|
Three |
Once an enquiry is received, you send them an email |
|
Four |
You go back and forth for a few days |
|
Five |
Maybe you schedule a call |
|
Six |
Then, at some point down the line, a deal might be done |
That’s at least five friction points before any real momentum begins. Looking at this, it's easy to see why 70–90% of leads drop off before meaningful engagement even happens (MarketingSherpa, 2023). People don’t want slow anymore, they want simple, instant and informal.
Now, imagine this instead:
That’s not just a funnel, just a simple way of communicating and selling using a platform that makes the entire process infinitely easier.
Let’s get one thing clear, WhatsApp is no longer just a communication app, it’s a transactional platform, a customer service window and even a deal room. Importantly, it’s where your customers are already spending their time. The data speaks for itself:
Texting is the earliest form of mobile to mobile communication and therefore, WhatsApp works because it’s:
It feels less like entering a funnel and more like… having a conversation.
With pure online, text based communication, there’s a behavioural nuance here that’s often missed and this applies to Whatsapp as well and that's when customers message you on WhatsApp, they’re not just looking for info, they’re often more open, more direct and more confident. We've all heard of the term “keyboard warriors” to describe people who would perhaps act differently over text than they would in real-life. In a business context, this works to the advantage of both companies and consumers. Text removes social friction.
Because of this, people are more likely to:
Smart businesses should be able to handle those moments with clarity and confidence allowing them to move faster and accelerate trust building.
The real blocker isn’t a lack of tools or technical know-how, it's habit, that's the issue. A lot of businesses have spent years getting comfortable with their CRM, their sales process and their way of working. So when something as simple as WhatsApp comes along, the reaction is often:
But that mindset is rooted in internal comfort, not external behaviour and the truth is, customer behaviour has already moved on.
Many companies saw this trend coming and tried to solve it with either automated or pre-programmed chatbots. While this did offer some benefit, many companies saw the time spent managing chats as a waste and as a consequence, the user experience suffered. Delayed responses to messages from not automated chatbots with loops that typically went nowhere. Customers would often complain about being put on 'hold’ blankly staring at the chat widget hoping for some form of action or response. Human-handoffs for important customer or support chats were sometimes broken, exacerbating frustration. It just never felt natural nor human.
This is where WhatsApp is different because it's more personal, it's mobile-first and if managed correctly, it offers real-time communication. Importantly, it's a native app to a customer's phone. That means they no longer need to sit on a website to communicate with the company they are trying to do business with. So when WhatsApp is done right, it gives your customer a direct line to your brand and a fast track to a decision.
During a recent family trip to Thailand, I wasn’t consciously trying to use WhatsApp. But time after time, it became the easiest, fastest way to get things done. My day job takes up a lot of my time and because of this, spending hours researching, comparing and booking activities or support services for a vacation is not a viable option for me. That doesn't mean I don't care or are not emotionally invested in making the most of my time off. It simply means that I want to research fast and make confirmations even quicker.
The widespread use of WhatsApp in Asia allowed me to do exactly this. As a family, we had a list of things we wanted to do during the trip and within minutes of starting the research process for each of these things we'd managed to make confirmed bookings.
This included the booking of airport transfers, specialist wellness appointments, we made a high-end Michelin-star restaurant booking, including a Chef’s Table experience for a special birthday and the booking of tours. In each case we confirmed prices, preferences and even made payments, all via WhatsApp. There were no apps to download, no calls made, no emails sent and importantly, no chasing.
Each time, the business that responded first got my business. It was a real-world reminder that convenience wins and WhatsApp delivers that better than anything else right now.
Harvard Business Review found that businesses responding to new leads within 5 minutes are 21x more likely to convert them compared to slower responders (HBR, 2022).
When that response happens in WhatsApp, the impact is even greater. It signals to a customer that the business is available, that they're responsive and that they are easy to work with. Quick and professional responses also suggest that if for whatever reason, the customer needs post-purchase support later down the line, that this company would be both responsive and supportive.
WhatsApp usage in the GCC, especially the UAE is amongst the highest globally with over 80% of the population using the app WhatsApp daily (Statista, 2024) and Is actually the most used communication app in the UAE and Saudi Arabia And yet, most businesses still default to forms and email as their primary channels.
That’s the paradox. But it’s also a signal.
If WhatsApp is this widely adopted on the consumer side and still underused by businesses, it shows how big the opportunity is. For businesses outside the GCC, this should serve as a strategic insight. If even in hyper-connected regions like the UAE, WhatsApp sales strategies are under-leveraged, that means businesses elsewhere still have time to get ahead. That's a direct message to parts of the world such as Europe and North America, where WhatsApp utilisation for businesses is significantly lower than the Middle East, South America and Asia.
It's important to clarify that this isn’t an either/or decision, when it comes to a companies CRM and sales process. Forms still have their place and CRMs are still essential. In fact, calls are also valuable and play an important role. But the top of your funnel, where and that moment of intent, is where WhatsApp can truly shine. By integrating messaging with your CRM, you create a system that is both responsive and trackable.
Exactly why we’ve made sure our solution, ConviAI works seamlessly with platforms like HubSpot.
If you’ve made it this far, you already know the opportunity.
WhatsApp isn’t just a messaging app. It’s the most underutilised sales and customer engagement channel available to businesses today, especially in regions like the GCC, where consumer usage is sky-high but business adoption is still catching up.
That’s exactly why we built Convo AI, inside the NEXA AI Lab, long before this became a mainstream trend.
Because we didn’t just want to follow where the market was going, we wanted to shape it.
Convo AI connects the dots:
If you’re ready to rethink your sales funnel and not just tweak it, this is your moment.
📲 Message us on WhatsApp. Let us show you what five seconds can do.