With Chinese consumers’ demand for overseas products continuously rising and their consumption levels being upgraded, merchants around the world are paying special attention to the Chinese market.Since 1.1 billion users open WeChat on a daily basis, it’s safe to say that basically all the traffic of acquittance socialization is in the hand of Tencent. Thus, the WeChat official account is foreign enterprises’ best platform to familiarize themselves with Chinese consumers and boost their sales.
However, many Singapore companies don’t know how to apply for a service account. In this article, the procedures of registration and verification of an overseas service account are summarized to answer your questions.
I. Before registration
First, what are overseas official accounts? They are accounts registered by foreign entities and verified as such. The biggest goal to set up such an account is for people both in and out of China to keep themselves updated on a certain international brand.Overseas entities cannot independently do the registration, but they can turn to third-party service providers like W-axis Technology for help.
Second, the paperwork needed for verification includes:
1) “Enterprise Registration Certificate” or “Business License”: photo or photocopy of the original files or of the photocopy of the original file stamped with the corporate seal;
2) Colored photocopy of the contact person’s ID card, front and back;
3) Registration and Verification Application Form in Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and English);
4) Contact person’s phone statement, or, if not available, the company’s office phone statement (with official seal) or bank account statement;
5) Other certification materials (if the account is named with a trademark, please choose the correct trademark registration form or trademark authorization).
Samples of the Application Form (Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and English)
II. Registration and Verification Procedures
1.Enter the WeChat official account platform
Open your web browser and input mp.weixin.qq.com in the address bar.
2.Sign up
Click Sign Up in the top-right corner.
3.Choose service account
Official accounts are divided into subscription accounts, service accounts and corporate accounts (which have been upgraded to WeChat Work). An individual can only apply for a subscription account; corporate entities can apply for any kind of accounts; overseas entities, however, can only have service accounts at the moment.
4. Enter an E-Mail address
The e-mail should be one that has never been used to register official accounts or WeChat.
5.Choose your region (country)
Take Singapore as an example.
6.Choose the account type
Only service accounts are supported in Singapore. Read our previous articles to learn more about differences between account types and how to choose one.
7. Fill in corporate and admin information
8. Fill in basic information about the account
9. Verify the overseas account
Verification application needs to be submitted within 30 days after the notification, or the account will be cancelled.
10. Get the documents for verification prepared
11. Fill in verification information
1) Corporate qualification
2) Contact person for verification
3) Upload the documents
4) Upload the business license
Format: photo or photocopy of the original document or of the photocopy affixed with an official seal; .jpg, .jpeg, .bmp, .gif, .png are supported; file size should not exceed 5M.
12. Confirm the account name
If it is changed after verification, another verification needs to be done.
13. Invoice needed or not
You won’t get a second chance to have your invoice, so be careful.
14. Choose payment method
WeChat Pay and bank card payment (Visa/Master only) are supported for overseas accounts.
15. Wait for verification after payment
After the payment is made, the verification will be finished in 7-15 workdays after qualification materials are submitted completely.
3.Conclusions
Above is the complete procedure for a Singaporean company to register and verify a WeChat service account.
With the help of third-party service providers like W-axis Technology, foreign companies can set up corporate service accounts to do publicity and get themselves established in the Chinese market. With the account, you can build WeChat mini-stores, personal centers for customers and VIP systems. Customers around the world can subscribe to your account, be updated and make purchases on online stores. More Chinese customers will know about your brand on this platform.
