How To Do A Poll In WhatsApp Business

Ever wanted to know what a particular group of people want, think or do – but haven’t had a convenient way to ask them? Enter: WhatsApp polls.

WhatsApp polls are great for finding out all kinds of information, from conducting free market research for your small business to checking when your extended family are free over the holiday season. With just a little know-how, you can start using polls for all kinds of purposes, whether with your friends and family, or clients and colleagues.

Let’s take a closer look at WhatsApp polls, from the history of WhatsApp polls and exactly how they work, to the best ways businesses can create, manage and use polls in their marketing strategies.

What is a WhatsApp poll?

Polls allow you to ask questions and get real-time answers from a group of people on WhatsApp. They’re easy to use and quick to set up.

When you set up a poll, you can type in the question that you want to ask in your own words. You can then specify what the answer options should be, and whether participants will be able to select more than one option, or only one answer at a time.

Poll results update in real-time as participants cast their votes, so you can quickly and easily see what the winning answer is.

A brief history of WhatsApp polls

WhatsApp rolled out polls as a feature in November 2022, allowing users to conduct simple polls directly within chats. It was a highly anticipated update, and quickly became popular for its ease of use and real-time results.

WhatsApp polls have become integral to many users’ experience of WhatsApp, from casual decisions like choosing dinner spots for a family meal to conducting impactful business-related market research. While the feature is simple, it serves a wide range of users by providing quick, actionable feedback with just a few taps.

How to make a WhatsApp poll

It’s quick and easy to make a WhatsApp poll, and the process is the same whether you are using an Android device, iPhone, the Web and Desktop WhatsApp app, or WhatsApp Business.

How to create a poll on Android, Apple or Web & Desktop

• Open the WhatsApp app and go into the chat that you want to post the poll in.
• Choose Attach (this is the paperclip icon), then choose Poll.

• Type your question into the Question field.
• Type your answer options into the Options fields. You can reorder these by tapping and holding on them, then sliding them up and down.

• You can toggle the Allow Multiple Answers setting on or off. If it is on, participants will be able to vote for more than one answer. If it’s off, they’ll only be able to choose one.

• Choose Send to create your poll and share it with the chat.
• Wait for everyone to vote, then view your results!

How to vote on a poll on Android, Apple or Web & Desktop

• Open the WhatsApp app and find the chat which contains the poll.
• Tap or click on the options that you want to vote for. If multiple answers are enabled, you’ll be able to select more than one option. If multiple answers are disabled, you can tap and click again on a selected answer to deselect it, then select another answer if you want to.

Managing and deleting polls in WhatsApp

Managing your poll is simple. Here’s how:

View results

You can see real-time updates as votes come in. Just tap on the poll to view who voted and which options they selected.

Delete a poll

If you need to remove the poll, long-press on the poll message and tap ‘Delete’. This will remove the poll from the chat.

End the poll

Unlike some third-party apps, WhatsApp doesn’t have an official ‘end poll’ function, but you can simply stop considering new responses whenever you’re ready. If you no longer want participants to vote, it may be worth deleting the poll from the chat.

Can you use WhatsApp polls on WhatsApp Business?

Yes – you can share polls the same way through WhatsApp Business. WhatsApp Business is the professional version of WhatsApp, designed with the needs of small-to-medium businesses in mind.

What are WhatsApp polls useful for?

WhatsApp polls can be a useful tool in lots of different situations. Here are some things that WhatsApp polls can be used for:

• Narrowing down options. Perhaps you want to find out which restaurant is most convenient for your group of friends, or ask your colleagues which activity they’d prefer to do for the Christmas party? If you’re a small business selling a service, you might want to find out which day is most popular for a regular event with a particular demographic? Polls are a great way to get quick results that you can act on, fast.
• Generating excitement. Polls are a fun way to create a buzz around an announcement or a new launch, and most people love participating in them. Ask your audience to guess what your news is, or when it will drop.
• Conducting market research. Not sure what your next offering should be? Perhaps you want to find out what your customers most value about your product or service? Polls are free, easy to use, and most people love to be able to have their say at the click of a button – so you’re likely to get some good engagement rates, too.
• Getting feedback. Finding out what your customers are thinking is invaluable when it comes to honing your business strategy, and polls can help you get inside their heads. Ask your customers for their opinions, including what you’re doing well, what you could do better, and what they’d like to see from you in the future.

What is Channel polling on WhatsApp Business?

WhatsApp Channels are one way broadcasts that businesses can use to share updates and announcements with their followers. Channels can be assessed separately from individual and group chats via the Updates tab in the app.

Channel admins can share real-time polls with their followers, including questions of up to 225 characters, with up to 12 options capped at 100 characters each. Admins can choose to allow users to select multiple answers or just one answer. Admins can also access detailed voting information, including voter names, profile images and time of voting, depending on the privacy settings that have been selected.

To create a Channel poll, follow the same instructions above as for individual and group chat polls. It’s worth noting that you can’t edit a poll once it’s been shared, but you can delete and recreate the poll. This will also delete the votes on the previously shared poll.

Find out more about WhatsApp Channels.

Limitations and Advantages of WhatsApp Polls for Business

Advantages of polls on WhatsApp Business

• WhatsApp polls are simple, quick to set up and easy for participants to use.

• WhatsApp polls have high user engagement. You can reach customers directly through their favourite chat app, reducing barriers to participation.
• WhatsApp polls provide real-time results. Responses are instantly updated, helping you make faster decisions.

Limitations of polls on WhatsApp Business

• WhatsApp polls have limited response options. The number of answer choices is capped, and the functionality is fairly basic compared to more advanced polling tools.
• WhatsApp polls don’t include analysis tools. While third-party apps might offer detailed analytics, WhatsApp polls only provide real-time voting without much depth in data analysis.
• Real-time results may sway others to vote similarly. Since all users are able to see the votes, even those who haven’t made a decision, they may be influenced by the way that others have already voted.

Top tips for creating good WhatsApp polls

Polls are a fantastic way to interact in real-time with your customers, but there are some best practice guidelines. Try these tips to help you make the most of polls:

• Make questions clear. If your audience is confused by the wording of your question, they probably won’t interact with your poll. Read the question over a few times and sense check it with a team member to ensure it’s clear and easy to read.
• Limit answer choices. It’s difficult to make a choice if there are too many items to go through. Make each answer unique and avoid repetition or overlap within the answers. Try to keep to a maximum of six options where possible, so your users don’t get frustrated by the amount of time they spend scrolling.
• Use polls sparingly. While most WhatsApp users enjoy interacting with polls, they’re likely to tire of it if you send them every day. Each audience is different, but on average, it’s a good idea to limit polls to once per week so as not to overload your contacts.

Alternative polling methods on WhatsApp

While WhatsApp’s native poll feature is handy as it can be used directly within the app, there are other ways to conduct polls. These typically involve creating a link that you can share within WhatsApp, that participants will click on and enter their responses on a platform that exists outside of WhatsApp. Here are a few options:

How to use third-party apps to conduct polls

Tools like Doodle and Straw Poll allow for more advanced polling. You can create a poll on a separate platform, then share the link in your WhatsApp chat. Third-party tools may offer features like anonymous voting and more comprehensive analysis.

Doodle

Doodle is a handy product that allows you to find the best meeting or event time to suit the majority of people in a group. You can create a group poll and add details including a meeting or event title, description and location. You can then share the potential meeting times with your poll participants on a variety of platforms, and allow them to vote on the best times that fit with your schedule.

Find out more about Doodle.

Straw Poll

Straw Poll is a free polling platform that makes it easy to vote and see the majority opinion of a group of participants in real time. You can enter a question, including an optional description or image if required, and choose your poll type (multiple choice, meeting, image or ranking polls are supported). You can also edit settings including results visibility and voter anonymity, and enable or disable comments and sharing. Once you’ve created your poll, you can share it on a variety of platforms, or embed it into a website using a line of code.

Find out more about Straw Poll.

Google Forms

For in-depth surveys, you can create a form in Google Forms and share the link within WhatsApp. You can enter multiple questions, select from different question types, and drag-and-drop to re-order your survey to build a multi-question flow. You can use a custom logic to display particular questions based on the participant’s previous answers. You can also edit the colours, images, fonts and logos to fit in with your professional branding. Once you’ve created your survey, you can share a link via social media or messaging apps like WhatsApp, or embed the form on your website.

Find out more about Google Forms.

These third-party methods provide more flexibility, especially if you need more complex polls for business or larger groups.

Note: YourBusinessNumber has not tested these third-party apps, and is not affiliated with them. You are advised to carry out your own research to check that these solutions meet your requirements before using these apps.

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