orca.floWhatsApp CRM: turn every chat into a lead you can follow up
If most of your customers reach you on WhatsApp, your sales pipeline lives in your chat list, and it’s easy to lose track of who asked what. A WhatsApp CRM keeps a record of every person who messages you: who they are, what they want, how close they are to buying and what happens next. Here’s what one should do, what to track, and how OrcaFlo fills it in by itself.
Updated
What a WhatsApp CRM is (and isn’t)
A CRM (customer relationship management system) is a list of every customer and lead with their details, history and stage. A WhatsApp CRM is one that fills itself from your WhatsApp conversations, so nobody has to copy names, numbers and notes into a spreadsheet at the end of the day.
It isn’t just a shared inbox. An inbox shows conversations; a CRM shows people, and where each one stands. The useful ones do both: you answer in the chat and the lead record updates on its own.
Lists in the app, a spreadsheet or a CRM?
| Lists in the WhatsApp Business app | A spreadsheet | A WhatsApp CRM | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Filled in by | You, chat by chat | You, copying from chats | Itself, from the conversation |
| Stages and next steps | Only as list names | Columns someone keeps up to date | A stage, a temperature and the next follow-up for every lead |
| Team | Whoever holds the phone and its linked devices | Whoever has the file | A login and a role for each person |
| Follow-ups | From memory | From memory | Timed, and stopped when the customer replies |
| Cost | Free | Free | Paid, or included in your WhatsApp tool |
What to track for every lead
- Name and WhatsApp number, plus email if they give it.
- Where they came from: which ad, your website, a referral, a broadcast.
- What they asked about: the service, product or property.
- Their stage: new, qualified, booked or ordered, won, lost.
- How warm they are: hot, warm or cold.
- The next step and when: a call back, a viewing, a reminder.
- Who on your team owns them.
- The details your business needs: budget and area for real estate, the treatment for a clinic, size and colour for a store.
Keep your main CRM in sync
If your team already works in HubSpot, Salesforce or Zoho CRM, WhatsApp leads should land there too, not in a second list nobody checks. OrcaFlo connects to all three. In HubSpot each lead becomes a contact, every conversation a note and qualified leads a deal, and names, emails and addresses changed in HubSpot come back to OrcaFlo. In Salesforce it creates a lead and logs each conversation as a task; in Zoho CRM, a lead with conversation notes. Before creating anything it looks for an existing record with the same phone number or email, so you don’t get duplicates. Step by step: connect your CRM.
Don’t use a CRM? OrcaFlo can keep a Google Sheet instead, with a row for every new lead and every order (Google Sheets). Every integration and its current status is on the integrations page.
Moving from another WhatsApp tool or a spreadsheet
Switching doesn’t have to mean starting again. OrcaFlo’s Switch to OrcaFlo importer brings contacts, tags, custom fields and lifecycle stages from respond.io, WATI, Interakt, Trengo, HubSpot or any CSV, and past conversations where the old tool can export them. Imported contacts are never messaged automatically. See how to switch, or compare OrcaFlo with respond.io.
Team access and privacy
Give each person their own login, with the access they need: admins manage everything, managers run the day-to-day, agents handle chats and leads, and viewers can only read. Admins can also hide customers’ phone numbers and emails from staff, who then see a masked number and can still reply normally. Details: team roles.
How OrcaFlo fills it in by itself
In OrcaFlo, every chat becomes a lead with a stage and a temperature, and nobody has to type anything in. The assistant can also fill your own contact fields from the conversation, such as “Budget (AED)” or “Treatment interest”, and never overwrites a value your team has set. You can tag contacts, save filters as segments, and send a broadcast to a segment.
Each contact has an activity timeline (conversations, stage changes, bookings, orders, broadcasts and follow-ups), and timed follow-ups go to people who went quiet, stopping as soon as they reply. When a lead is ready to buy or asks for a person, you get an alert on your phone. Some of these features are switched on per business; if you don’t see one in your panel, ask us.
The CRM comes with OrcaFlo, and each staff member gets their own login (pricing). For one industry in detail, see WhatsApp for real estate agencies.
Questions
Not necessarily. If your WhatsApp tool keeps a lead record for every chat, as OrcaFlo does, that may be all you need. If your team already works in HubSpot, Salesforce or Zoho CRM, connect it so WhatsApp leads land there as well.
Yes, through a shared inbox. In OrcaFlo everyone works on the same number with their own login and role, and conversations can be assigned to a person or a team.
Yes. The Switch to OrcaFlo importer brings contacts, tags, custom fields and lifecycle stages from both, and past conversations from respond.io, which exports them. WATI doesn’t export conversations.
Yes. Contacts, conversation notes and deals go to HubSpot, and names, emails and addresses changed in HubSpot come back to OrcaFlo. HubSpot’s free CRM works.
No. Importing only adds people to your contacts. The assistant and follow-ups only start when that person writes to you, or when you send them a broadcast yourself.
Related
Everything OrcaFlo connects to
Read more For real estate agenciesQualify every property lead on WhatsApp before your agents pick up the phone.
Read more OrcaFlo vs respond.ioOrcaFlo vs respond.io: a sales assistant, not another platform to run
Read more GuideWhatsApp follow-ups that bring customers back (without annoying them)
Read moreStop losing customers to slow replies.
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