Whatsapp-Business- API-insider-guide-whitepaper

THE WHATSAPP INSIDER’S GUIDE TO EFFECTIVE ACQUISITION AND RETENTION

Table of Contents

Introduction

What makes the WhatsApp Business Platform a powerful tool for D2C brands?

How to acquire the most opt-ins possible for your WhatsApp service?

Use Case: Retail

Use Case: E-commerce

Use Case: Education

Use Case: Fintech

Use Case: Banks

Use Case: Travel and Hospitality

Use Case: Telecommunications

Karix acquisition and retention success story: Panasonic Conclusion

Introduction

The customer of today has no dearth of options. Whether they want a shoe, a t-shirt or a financial solution, there are multiple well-established brands vying for their attention.

As a result, today’s consumers have a few unique demands

• They want instant answers to their problems

• They expect the best-in-class customer experience each time they interact with a brand

• Their tolerance for delays or unsatisfactory solutions is exceptionally low

Studies have shown that 86% of buyers are ready to pay more if it means they receive a better customer experience (CX), and 89% of them will not hesitate to do business with your competitor if they do not have a pleasant experience with your brand.

(Source: Lumoa)

Here are some more eye-opening CX statistics

• Companies that focus on delivering a great customer experience see over 1.5x higher year-on-year growth in customer retention, repeat purchases and customer lifetime value over the competition (Source: Forrester)

• 87% of customers will make repeat purchases if they receive a great customer experience previously (Source: Experience Matters)

• 72% of people who have a great customer experience will share that story with 6 or more people (Source: Nice Reply)

• 92% of customers will forget about a brand after two negative customer experiences (Source: Super Office)

So, as a D2C brand in 2022, you need

• An always-online, 24/7 customer support presence

• Omnichannel presence to cast as wide a net as possible

• Highly-efficient customer service that allows for rapid resolutions to incoming queries

• The ability to instantly reach and deliver pertinent information and updates at scale

As it stands, WhatsApp Business Platform is the one-stop solution to all these demands. With the WhatsApp Business Platform, you can position your brand as the efficient, dependable, and customerfocused entity you need to be to stand out from the competition.

To accelerate your customer acquisition efforts, you need to be present where a lion’s share of your audience already isWhatsApp. With over 2 billion users and unfettered global reach, it is no longer an option to have a thriving WhatsApp presence - it is a necessity.

At Karix, we have decades of combined experience helping brands across every sector of business deploy technological and automation solutions that wow customers and enable them to have a deeper, more fulfilling experience with the brands they choose to do business with.

In this guide, we will be revealing some of our most-guarded secrets, tips, and tricks to put you on the fast-track to creating exceptional customer experiences with WhatsApp.

Let us begin.

A truly global presence

WhatsApp has an extremely high rate of penetration across the globe across several continents. Whether your prospective customers are in Germany, Malaysia, Latin America, Europe, or Africa, you can rest easy knowing that WhatsApp is highly likely their preferred messaging app.

Interactive communication

With the WhatsApp Business Platform, your customer support agents can instantly reply to incoming support messages. To add more detail and context to their assistance, your agents can use audio, video, images, documents, and templates.

If your customer is having trouble assembling the furniture you sent them, you can send them a video over WhatsApp showing them the exact steps for how to do the assembly.

Highly secure messaging

Customers and businesses can be secure knowing that their WhatsApp communications with each other are secured with end-to-end encryption and two-factor authentication.

Strengthening your brand

By allowing you to confer personalized attention on customers via a 1-on-1 conversation, WhatsApp Business Platform allows you to build strong relationships with your customers.

An optimal customer experience

By implementing automation and intelligent solutions with the WhatsApp Business Platform in conjunction with WhatsApp Business Solution Providers such as Karix, you can offer customers near-instantaneous replies to their questions.

You can also guide their customer journey with WhatsApp’s multimedia capabilities by offering an assisted buying experience, product usage guides and send them important updates like invoices, booking confirmations and status updates right to their phone.

What makes the WhatsApp Business Platform a powerhouse tool for D2C Brands?

How to acquire the most opt-ins possible for your WhatsApp service?

It is recommended that you collect a clear opt-in from the user before you can start sending any communication on WhatsApp. This will reduce the chances of users receiving your messages to mark them as spam, thereby reducing your quality score.

Use all of your existing online assets and channels such as SMS, Email, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and any other platforms you may have a brand presence on to spread the word about your WhatsApp customer channel.

Use the most prominently seen screen on your website – your homepage, banner area, footers, and your Contact Us Page to advertise your WhatsApp channel.

Instruct your customer service agents in your call centre/IVR hub to let customers know you have a WhatsApp service for priority customer support.

Put WhatsApp chat QR codes wherever appropriate.

Any physical stores and kiosks you have must prominently display your WhatsApp number with a clear call-to-action, requesting customers to take advantage of the chat service.

On your sign-up and registration forms, let users opt-in to WhatsApp as an alternative channel for customer support.

Make sure your branded materials such as boxes, bags, containers, apparel, and other collaterals mention your WhatsApp number.

Remember it is a good practice for you to collect opt-in before sending marketing communication to your users as it reduces the chances of users marking your message as spam, thereby diminishing your quality score.

It is your responsibility as a customer-focused D2C brand to honour this opt-in and ensure that you do not spam them or send irrelevant information.

To further illustrate the art of effective customer retention and acquisition over WhatsApp, we shall now take a look at some industry-specific use cases. These are our recommendations, based on decades of experience and research, for how brands in these spaces can use WhatsApp to deliver unforgettable customer experiences.

Retail

Retail brands can dramatically improve the customer experience with the WhatsApp Business Platform. With real-time access to their customers through their favourite chat app, brands like yours can seamlessly guide them through the various stages of the shopping journey.

At each step of the process – Discovery, Consideration, Purchase and Post-Purchase, WhatsApp Business Platform can help you guide customers by sending them valuable information and being available to resolve any issues or doubts that come up.

Some of the things retail brands can do with WhatsApp Business Platform

Product availability – Give customers the option to check over WhatsApp if a particular product they are interested in is in stock.

Order status – Customers should have the option to see what the current status of their order is. Let them know if the order is being processed, has been shipped or is out for delivery.

Quick price checks – Provide prospects with price information and the ability to compare and contrast the prices of related products in your catalogue.

Seamless refunds – One of the major roadblocks to a good customer experience is that refunds are usually processed slowly and take a lot of back-and-forth communication over email and/or waiting in a queue and speaking to human agents. By allowing customers to claim and resolve refund requests over WhatsApp, you can massively improve customer satisfaction.

Physical store locator – Often, prospective buyers will want to know if there is a physical store nearby they can visit to know more about a product that they are interested in. You can build in this capability into your automation flows with WhatsApp Business Platform.

E-Commerce

For e-commerce businesses, there are a slew of ways in which WhatsApp Business Platform can improve customer retention and acquisition. With the combination of technology, automation, and relevant content, you can position your e-commerce business to give customers an even better experience than they could have hoped for.

Digital assistant for guided shopping

One of the most important ways you can use WhatsApp’s platform capabilities as an e-commerce brand is to offer an assisted shopping experience for online buyers. Too many prospects do not end up converting because they either have too many options on the store or are not exactly sure which product will work for them.

With WhatsApp’s automation capabilities, you can design a conversational flow that guides users through a series of questions which understands their preferences and suggests products they might be interested in accordingly. If your products are of a bespoke nature, you can assign a customer agent to take over this process and guide a prospect to the sale.

Send important notifications to users over WhatsApp

Whether it is order confirmations, shipping updates, delivery notifications or sensitive information like invoices, WhatsApp’s end-to-end encrypted communication allows you to share critical information with your customers in a secure fashion.

Highlight your products with catalogues

Catalogues are a terrific way to let your customers browse your inventory without needing to leave the confines of their chat window. You can add price, description, and links to the catalogue to make selecting a product and buying it as easy as possible for your prospects.

Education

The education sector stands to benefit greatly when it comes to adopting modern technology like AI-powered chatbots and automated customer queries. This represents a major opportunity for forward-thinking brands in the education space to distance themselves from the competition by using the WhatsApp Business Platform.

For students, education brands can offer several helpful features over WhatsApp such as

Secure account access with One Time Passwords (OTPs) sent to their WhatsApp for authentication

The ability to view course curriculum over a chat conversation

Access to their marksheet and other academic performance metrics

Easily view upcoming class and exam schedules

For parents, brands can provide a lot of valuable information too

Personalized messages about their child’s performance in class

Important feedback about student’s behaviour

Fee payment reminders and confirmations

Marksheets for their children

Attendance information to ensure their children are regularly present in class

Notify students when they have an important event such as a test or a presentation coming up

Update students when the schedule for a lecture they are supposed to attend changes

Notify students when there are holidays or other breaks in the calendar

Homework requirements and any special equipment they will need to attend online classes

Fintech

Fintech brands can use WhatsApp Business Platform to dramatically improve their customer experience by offering robust, priority customer support, dramatically reduce query resolution time and strengthen brand loyalty by making it easier than ever for customers to have two-way conversations with the brand.

WhatsApp click-to-chat banners and notifications over your other online channels can become a good way to generate high-quality leads for your new fintech customer support channel.

Businesses can use the secure, end-to-end encrypted conversations provided by WhatsApp Business Platform to send important updates and notifications to customers about

Account status (Checking account

Policy details (When is the due date, which documents need to be submitted, when does the policy expire etc)

Payment reminders and confirmations

Outstanding dues

New financial schemes they can take advantage of

Loan details (How to check eligibility, how to apply, book support call with human agent for queries)

Mortgage status

Financial advice based on their activity

Banks

Like fintech businesses, banks are well-suited to the WhatsApp platform due to the secure communication capabilities making customers feel comfortable discussing sensitive financial information.

Banks can offer an outstanding experience to their customers on the WhatsApp Business Platform in the following ways.

24/7, always-online customer support

A lot of customer inquiries that banks receive are of an urgent nature, such as a lost credit card or unauthorized purchases being made from their account. As a result, having a real-time support channel with WhatsApp goes a long way in reducing customer stress since they do not have to endure the agonizing wait in a queue while they are worried about irregular financial activity.

Mobile-banking support

With intelligent solutions powered by BSPs like Karix, banks can offer most of their online banking features to customers over WhatsApp. Instead of having to wade through a sea of FAQs and confusing menus on the website, the ability to instantly access information such as their account balance, the status of a submitted application or the procedures to apply for a scheme or a loan on their favourite chat app makes it a hassle-free banking experience for customers.

Insurance

A lot of financial instruments like Insurance are notoriously complicated to parse. For banks looking to appeal to prospects in the age of chatbots, look at building a flow within WhatsApp which allows people to opt for and claim insurance without leaving the chat window.

For existing insurance customers, banks can send reminders to their customers about appointments for medical check-ups, payment confirmations and reminders, any updates to their policy details, the amount of their insurance, their claim details and so forth.

Banks can also initiate and complete the KYC process over WhatsApp by asking users to submit the required details and intimate them if the documents are approved or require any modifications.

Travel and Hospitality

The travel space offers a lot of space for creativity and personalized engagement, making WhatsApp Business Platform an excellent choice for brands.

Personalized engagement

The ability to customize packages and share them quickly over chat with supplementary videos, photos and brochures can make the difference between a prospect choosing your brand vs another when planning their next holiday or business trip.

You can also offer prospects an assisted buying experience by asking them questions such as

• Where did you go for your most recent memorable trip?

• What kind of lodging facilities are you looking for?

• What would you like to do once you are there – adventure/relaxation?

• What is your budget?

You can get this information either through an automated chatbot flow or through the intervention of a human agent and then suggest a personalized travel package based on the answers you get.

Real-time updates

Logistics and scheduling are the two major stressors for customers during a vacation or a business trip. Through the WhatsApp Business Platform, you can relieve most of this stress by offering all of the relevant information travellers might need –

• Flight booking details

• Boarding passes

• Hotel reservations

• Payment confirmations

• Travel itineraries right on their phone where they can refer to it whenever required.

Any OTPs and live location information such as for cab rides and driver information should also be provided over a chat conversation.

Telecom businesses can utilize WhatsApp Business Platform in several exciting ways to streamline the customer experience.

Some of the ways in which a WhatsApp channel can help are as follows:

Ask questions about data and calling plans

Letting customers know about special packages or upgrade plans

Send billing updates and recharge confirmations

Find out about coverage areas

Request to activate or deactivate special services

Top up user accounts

Karix Acquisition and Retention Success Story: Panasonic

Today’s customers perform an exhaustive amount of online research before stepping into a physical store. Panasonic reached out to Karix to implement a WhatsApp chat solution that could reach and target these customers during the initial buying phase.

Acquisition Phase

Karix undertook a number of initiatives to ensure that as many people as possible knew about Panasonic’s new customer support channel.

1. Ensuring that Panasonic’s website clearly and prominently featured their WhatsApp number

2. Overseeing the deployment of WhatsApp QR codes on all product collaterals and Point of Sale materials released by Panasonic

3. Displaying and promoting the Panasonic WhatsApp channel on all branded online and social media platforms

4. Working with outlet representatives to let in-store visitors know about connecting with Panasonic over WhatsApp

The results:

Increase in number of users engaged, opt-ins and total conversions

Retention Phase

On the backend, the WhatsApp channel was powered by Karix’s best-in-class automation engine to provide several new features to customers

1. On-demand product information

2. Easy access for partners to distribute and access product details

3. Booking service requests over chat

4. Nearby store locator

5. Gather customer feedback

The results:

The campaign was a resounding success on several fronts.

• Massive increase in the speed at which customer queries are resolved

• Increased adoption of the channel in rural areas

• Improved brand penetration

• Across-the-board improved customer satisfaction scores

• Happier customers

• 500% increase in conversions

• More than 90% conversions for opt-ins

• Over 200,000 opt-ins in the first 6 months itself

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