How WhatsApp Business messenger enables deeper connections between brands & modern consumers
With millions of users already communicating through messaging apps, it hardly seems like a stretch to allow businesses to communicate with customers using these apps too. In fact, in a recent survey from Opinium Research, 65% of participants declared they wanted the option to communicate with businesses using messaging apps.
Facebook Messenger, Viber, and Apple’s iMessage apps all fall into that category, but one app in particular — Facebook-owned, WhatsApp — stands out among the rest with over a billion users worldwide. And with such widespread adoption of the app among today’s consumers, enabling businesses to communicate with those billion+ users seems like a natural next step.
Here’s how WhatsApp Business messenger works:
- Businesses create profiles that give users access to the business’s information, such as a store location, hours of operation, contact info, and a general description of the business. Think of business profiles as a storefront, directory, and “About” page rolled up into one place for easy access.
- WhatsApp allows business to communicate to customers through live chat or through automated messages that deliver answers to frequently asked questions, greetings, or estimates on how long customers will have to wait for a representative’s help.
- And, for added flexibility, WhatsApp enables businesses to message customers using desktop computers and other devices besides just smartphones.
And, with millions of businesses using the app on Android devices already, WhatsApp recently announced it would offer the Business messenger component to businesses using iOS and iPhone technology.
So, how are brands already reaching customers through messaging apps? Just look to Ohio.
There, Aramark, the stadium food and beverage company, partnered with the Cleveland Cavaliers to give fans the ability to order drinks without leaving their seats (or missing the game). By scanning a QR code on the back of their seat, fans can order drinks through Apple Business Chat messaging system and then pay for their drinks using Apple Pay. After sending and receiving a few messages on their iPhone, the customer can return their attention to the game while a stadium employee delivers the ordered beverage to the customer’s seat.
As it turns out, drinks aren’t the only goods messaging apps have the capability to deliver with greater ease. In a partnership with Nike, Facebook used augmented reality (AR) technology to sell newly released shoes to customers using the Facebook Messenger app. By obtaining a series of emojis from some of Nike’s social media influencers, customers entered the emojis into Facebook Messenger in order to view and purchase the newly released shoes. Allegedly, the shoes sold out within less than an hour.
With brands like Nike, Facebook, and Apple along with millions of other businesses already using messaging apps to interact with customers, what can brands do to tap into this opportunity?
Consider the following:
- Find ways to come to life on the platforms customers demonstrate they prefer. If customers use messaging apps to communicate, then meet customers where they’re at already and adopt technology they’re familiar with. A presence on a messaging app gives brands an additional touchpoint to reach customers.
- Leverage new features to simplify the process of communication and the path to purchase. Messaging, in particular, removes common barriers that discourage customers from interacting with brands. Make communicating with your brand easier for the customer.
- Treat the customer like a person, not a number. Through one-on-one conversations, messaging apps give businesses the chance to cater to the personalized needs of each individual customer. That feeling of being taken care of on a personal level could go a long way in bolstering a brand’s image and creating connections between brands and customers.
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The above piece was written by Connor Beck in collaboration with Carter Jensen and the Latitude research team.
Resources and original reporting of the above points covered by the following publications — Retail Dive, Apple, WhatsApp, Tech Crunch, and Opinium Research
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