WhatsApp in Mexico. Selling in a growing market

According to GWI data cited by DataReportal and Statista, 91.4% of Mexican internet users aged 16 and over used WhatsApp in the second quarter of 2025. For a seller, the takeaway is simple. The buyer is already in the chat, and that is where they will ask about price, size or delivery time, not in a form on your website or over the phone.

This article walks through how to close a deal in chat with a catalog and payment without leaving its traces on a sales rep's phone. It is written for those who sell into Mexico from another country and for companies already operating in Mexico or neighboring Latin American countries.

Key takeaways

• Infobip puts WhatsApp in Mexico at 75%, GWI at 91.4%. The two use different bases, so plan your sales around the lower figure.

• The in-chat catalog and payments are WhatsApp features. Your CRM knows nothing about them until a rep enters the SKU and amount in the deal.

• According to the E-chat help center, a new WhatsApp number can handle 5-10 new conversations a day.

• The customer sends a transfer screenshot or an OXXO receipt to the same chat, and the file stays in the deal history. No more matching payments from memory.

• Address an unfamiliar customer as usted and switch to tu only after they do.

How many Mexicans message businesses on WhatsApp

The two reach figures differ by more than 16 points, and that is not a mistake. GWI counts only internet users aged 16 and over, so people without internet access are not in its base. Infobip, in its overview of popular messaging apps by country, puts WhatsApp in Mexico at 75%. It is safer to plan your lead flow on the lower number, which still leaves WhatsApp far ahead of every other channel. By the same GWI data, 27.6% of Mexicans name it their favorite platform.

Who comes after WhatsApp

In Infobip's data, RCS is second with 50%, followed by Instagram and Messenger at 45% each, and one in four people use Telegram. Instagram and Messenger catch people in their feed and in ads, but they would rather settle a purchase where the rest of their conversations already are.

That is why you need a WhatsApp button on your Instagram profile, your Facebook page, the product page on your website and in your ad copy. Label the phone field in your lead form as a WhatsApp number, too, so the customer is not surprised when you message them in chat.

Buyers expect a reply in chat

A Kantar study for Meta, published by Expansión magazine, found that 71% of adult online users in Mexico find messaging the fastest and easiest way to resolve issues with a company. The online sales association AMVO counted 77.2 million digital shoppers in 2025.

This gives exporters a simple rule. Reply to an inquiry with a message, not a call from a foreign number. People expect text, product photos and a price, not a conversation at a time that suits them poorly.

A deal that happens entirely in chat

A buyer who asked about a product in chat wants to get the invoice there too and will send the receipt to the same place. Trouble starts when all that is left of the story in the CRM is a single note saying the customer came from WhatsApp. The manager cannot see where the buyer got stuck, and a new rep opens the record and has no idea what is going on.

With E-chat, a WhatsApp number connects to your CRM, and conversations run right from the customer card. Messages a rep sends from their phone are saved in the CRM as well. All that remains is to agree which chat event moves the deal through the pipeline.

Pipeline stages based on chat events

We recommend naming stages after what happened in the conversation rather than after internal team terms. "Asked about a product" - the customer wrote first or replied to your message. "Received a selection" - the rep sent photos and prices. "Invoiced" - payment details or a payment link went out in the chat. "Paid" - there is a payment confirmation in the chat, and the rep has checked it. "Shipped" - the customer received a tracking number.

Names like these leave nothing to argue about. If a deal has been sitting at the selection stage for three days, the buyer went quiet after seeing the price, and it is time for the rep to ask whether the option works or they need something else.

Five fields you need to reconstruct a deal

SKUs and quantity, the amount in pesos, the payment method, the address with a postal code, which Mexicans call código postal, and for businesses the RFC, the buyer's tax ID. The rep fills in the first four fields during the conversation, and the fifth is needed if the customer asks for a factura.

There is no need for a separate field for agreements. They are already in the conversation history on the card, while the fields hold what you later build reports on.

Sample workload for a two-person team

Take a store that gets 45 new conversations a day. Say a rep spends 12 minutes of net time per customer on a selection, answering questions and an invoice, provided products and prices are at hand in the CRM. That comes to 540 minutes, exactly nine hours, more than one person's working day.

Add repeat questions about orders already paid for and replies in the evening, when it is the middle of the day in Mexico City. Two reps on one number handle this load with room to spare, and you will need a third for sales events like Buen Fin. E-chat does not limit the number of reps per number, you pay for the number, not for people.

WhatsApp Business catalog and price list in CRM

The catalog is managed in the WhatsApp Business app. The customer browses products with photos and prices, fills a cart and sends the order to the chat. This is a WhatsApp feature, we do not sync the catalog with the CRM, and the catalog price lives separately from the price on the product card.

One price in two places

With twenty products, you can spot mismatches by eye. With two hundred, a customer will one day see an old price in the catalog and send a screenshot, and the rep will have to explain why the invoice is higher.

Assign one person to update the catalog on the same day the price list changes in the CRM. If you adjust prices to the dollar exchange rate, update both copies in one go and record the date in a note to the product list.

A photo selection instead of a link to the whole catalog

A customer who asked about black sneakers in size 27 does not need a 300-item catalog. They need two or three suitable options. The rep sends photos or a short video from the card, with the SKU and price in pesos under each file, and immediately asks about size or color.

Through E-chat, images, videos, documents and voice messages go out from the CRM, and the customer's reply comes back to the same card. Later, the history shows which models were offered and which one the customer responded to.

Links after the customer replies

The E-chat WhatsApp help center lists links in first messages among the reasons for bans. Send a link to your catalog, website or payment page once the customer has replied and the conversation is underway, there are no restrictions in existing chats.

[Expert insight] According to the E-chat help center, WhatsApp bans numbers for mass outreach, complaints, identical templates without personalization, links in first messages and frequent changes of devices and IP addresses. A team serving Mexico from another country can easily miss the last point. Reps in two offices take turns opening the same number from different computers and networks. When the number is connected to the CRM, everyone just works from the card, and the phone with the account stays in one place.

Payment in chat and its trail in CRM

In Mexico, people pay by SPEI transfer, in cash at OXXO, by card, and in some cases right in WhatsApp. It is best for the seller to decide in advance which methods they accept. Keep a list of methods with a short instruction for each in your templates so reps do not have to type payment details from scratch.

E-chat does not accept money or process payments. Our part is to deliver invoice and payment messages in WhatsApp and save them in the CRM.

Payment inside WhatsApp

According to the WhatsApp Help Center, paying registered businesses directly in the app is available in four countries - India, Brazil, Mexico and Indonesia. This feature is enabled on the WhatsApp side, so check the terms for businesses in its help center.

SPEI transfer, cash at OXXO and card

For an SPEI transfer, the customer needs the CLABE, an 18-digit bank number, and the recipient's name. Send them in one message, separate from the greeting, so the number is easy to copy.

For cash payment at OXXO stores, the payment service issues a reference number that the customer gives at the checkout. The reference is valid for a limited time, so state in your message the date it expires.

Send a card payment link once the customer has replied. If you sell electronics or furniture, also keep a template answer about meses sin intereses installments - whether you offer them and from what amount.

The receipt is attached to the deal

After a transfer, Mexican customers usually send a comprobante, a screenshot or photo of the receipt. The file lands in the conversation history on the card, the rep checks the amount against the bank statement and moves the deal to the payment stage.

From there, the CRM takes over. If it has robots or triggers for stage changes, set up a message, and E-chat will deliver it to the customer in WhatsApp. Keep the text short and in Spanish. "Recibimos su pago, gracias. Su pedido sale mañana y le enviaremos el número de guía por este chat".

Factura and tax details

Businesses in Mexico need an electronic CFDI invoice for their accounting, and in everyday speech it is called a factura. If you issue them, collect the details in the same conversation - RFC, registered name, tax regime, CFDI use and the postal code of the tax address.

Move them into the card fields right away, while they are fresh. A month later the customer will come back for a repeat order, and asking for the RFC a second time will be awkward.

The number, the team and first messages

A company number is connected to the CRM once, and every rep on the team can message from it. An employee cannot take the number with them, export the database or move a customer into a personal chat. You can message first from the card even people you have never chatted with before, but within WhatsApp's rules.

How many new conversations a number can handle

According to the E-chat help center, a new WhatsApp account can handle 5-10 new conversations a day, and an older active one 20-30. There are no limits in conversations where the customer has already replied. WhatsApp works through the web version, so the number has the same limits as a personal account.

Take, for example, a list of 400 contacts collected at a trade show in Guadalajara. At 8 first messages per workday from a new number, you will reach 176 contacts in 22 workdays, and the whole list will take more than two months. An older number with a chat history, at 25 a day, will get through it in 16 workdays.

Spread sending out over the whole day, vary your greetings, address customers by name and mention where you met. The help center also lists identical templates without personalization among the reasons for bans, along with spam complaints.

Spanish, usted and business hours

The first message to a stranger is written using usted. "Buenas tardes, le escribimos de la empresa que visitó en la Expo de Guadalajara. ¿Le enviamos los precios que nos pidió?" If the customer replies using tu and cracks jokes, the rep can comfortably match that tone. Going the other way comes across as cold.

Mexico City is on UTC-6 with no daylight saving time. Kyiv is 8 hours ahead in winter and 9 in summer, Madrid 7 and 8. The workday in Mexico City starts when it is 5 or 6 p.m. in Kyiv, and most messages arrive in the evening and at night European time.

A rep on the evening shift can reply from their phone, and the messages will still be saved in the CRM. Before launch, run one test deal through every stage, from the product question to the receipt, and check what remains on the card after each status change.

FAQ

Question: How much does it cost to connect a WhatsApp number to a CRM?

Answer: $15.99 per number per month. Incoming and outgoing messages are unlimited, and you can have as many reps on a number as you like. When you pay for several numbers for 12 months upfront, the discount goes up to 40%, and the first 7 days are free.

Question: My CRM is not on the list of integrations. What should I do?

Answer: Build your own solution on the E-chat API. ApiX-Drive and Wepster connect Viber only, so that route doesn't work for WhatsApp. The ready-made integrations include Kommo, the international version of amoCRM, as well as Bitrix24, Odoo and NetHunt, with more than 20 integrations on the list in total.

Question: What happens to conversations if a rep leaves the company?

Answer: They stay in the CRM, in the customer cards. An employee cannot take the number, export the database or move customers into personal chats, and a new rep will pick up the conversation where it left off.

Question: Can I handle Telegram customers in the same CRM?

Answer: Yes, WhatsApp, Telegram and Viber numbers all connect to one CRM. According to Infobip, 25% of people in Mexico use Telegram, so a second channel will be useful for some buyers. A Telegram number costs $16.99 per month.

Question: How many messages a day can I send to customers who have already replied?

Answer: E-chat does not limit the number of messages. WhatsApp has no limits in conversations where the customer has already chatted with you, restrictions apply only to first messages to new contacts.

Question: How long does setup take?

Answer: Sign up in your account dashboard, add a number and confirm it by scanning a QR code on your phone, then automatic sync and CRM integration following the instructions. The last step takes no more than a minute.