Three Ways to Step Up Your Customer Communications With WhatsApp for Business
With 65B messages sent every day and 1B monthly active users, WhatsApp has carved out a clear space in the industry as the world’s most popular messaging app*. For businesses, accessible customer communications are a cornerstone of sustainable growth, and as such, it’s critical to be where the customers are.
So, how can you best take advantage of the WhatsApp for Business offering? Below, we’ve laid out the three ways to effectively use the platform to both connect with and provide value for your audience.
Customer Support
WhatsApp empowers businesses to modernize clunky support processes thanks to its accessibility, convenience, and rich media capabilities. Share locations, videos, and images to support a customer through the buying cycle and beyond.
Two-way conversations work elegantly through WhatsApp for Business. Customers can use a platform that comes naturally to them, and your business can remain present to answer any questions they might have. Guide customers through any issues that may arise, adding visual and contextual aids wherever needed. Support issues can be solved quickly by giving customers the ability to send images instead of just describing the issue they are faced with.
Have you already put together a robust FAQ? By leveraging MessageBird Flow Builder and using automated responses via WhatsApp, customers gain access to the answers they need at greater speed, and your customer support teams repeat themselves with less frequency. Join the overwhelming 80% of businesses who plan to integrate chatbots into their customer-facing products by 2020* and offer 24/7 availability, instant responses to customer questions, and more.
At MessageBird, we help you communicate with customers as if you’re talking to a friend. When a customer can reach out to your business for help or guidance on a platform they use socially, you’ve empowered them to communicate with you the same way.
Alerts and Notifications
When it comes to mission-critical alerts and notifications, meeting customers on their most-used channels is paramount. From order confirmations to appointment reminders, delivery alerts to flight updates, automated notifications on WhatsApp can bypass a busy email inbox. The results for your business can entail increased NPS scores, lowered cost of operations due to less missed deliveries, and more. And it’s not just your business that benefits.
If you set up alerts to inform Frank that his carton of pistachio gelato will arrive a day early, you give him a chance to clear out his freezer beforehand, bypassing a sticky situation and a potential negative review. When you drop a WhatsApp to Lena that her flight to Brisbane is running four hours behind, you give her the opportunity to load up on snacks and Dan Brown novels for the wait. By reminding Andi about tomorrow’s doctor appointment, she has a lower chance of showing up late, or missing it altogether. It’s a happier situation all around, without an enormous time investment on your end.
Account Security
When it comes to data breaches globally, approximately 24K malicious mobile apps are blocked every day and damage related to cybercrime is projected to hit $6T annually by 2021*. In order to build trust in your brand, it’s critical to provide your users with the ability to secure their accounts to the best of their ability.
The good news is that some small moves can make big ripples. Google released statistics in May showing that simply adding a recovery phone number to your account can block up to 100% of automated bots, 99% of bulk phishing attacks, and 66% of targeted attacks*. WhatsApp is an excellent channel for 2FA due to their end-to-end encryption. This encryption means that only you and the person you’re speaking with can read or listen in, even WhatsApp doesn’t have access to your communications.
The best part is that the process is straightforward in practice. When onboarding a new user, send a One-Time Password to their device through WhatsApp’s encrypted platform, and enable them to re-enter the password on your app. Two-Factor Authentication provides an added level of legitimacy that can carry on beyond just the onboarding phase.
In an increasingly complex digital landscape, customers are delighted when you can make security easier for them to manage.
So, why use MessageBird for any or all of the above?
MessageBird makes it simple to implement any of these solutions. And, it’s not all or nothing. Businesses often start with one or two actions then expand to other solutions as they gain familiarity with the platform. As a verified WhatsApp partner, MessageBird is here to help address the needs of your business as they change.
A few of the features that are enabling businesses to take customer communications to the next level.
SMS Fallback
No internet, no problem. MessageBird is a communications platform with roots in SMS. If a customer is not online for whatever reason and you need to contact them urgently, send a fallback message via SMS. This is particularly easy to set up with MessageBird’s no-code required tool, Flow Builder.
Unparalleled Performance
Process up to 1000 requests per second. The MessageBird platform is designed to meet the demands of your business, from startup to global enterprise.
Omnichannel Capabilities
Want a communications strategy that embraces the full customer growth cycle? Wherever your customers are, from WhatsApp to WeChat, from SMS to Messenger and more, MessageBird provides the platform that reaches customers on the channels that they prefer today and those they may prefer tomorrow.
Ready to get right into it? We’ve got a free Sandbox Environment for you to dive into. You can try out pre-approved message templates and start building today.
