Earlier this month, Meta(Earlier Called Facebook) opened up WhatsApp API to businesses of all sizes with their new cloud-based APIs. This is set to revolutionize customer communications and experience. Businesses can now connect with their customers on WhatsApp - a channel of communication that they are most familiar with.

For customers, WhatsApp is a more convenient channel compared to telephony or email. More importantly for the latest billion internet users - WhatsApp is the default channel of communication - many of them not even having an active email address.

Businesses hence need to adapt to this channel of communication. It is also a boon for businesses. Using these APIs, they can leverage features like chatbots, automated message journeys and shared inboxes, and interactive messages for sales, support, and much more. This is both more efficient and cost-effective than traditional communication channels.

A new standard of customer experience is being set and you cannot lag behind.  

What can you do with WhatsApp?

WhatsApp for Marketing

Promotional Campaigns

WhatsApp can be a very effective channel to incentivize your leads/customers to order products/services from your storefront. Additionally, identifying high-intent users to give them a convincing nudge to complete their transaction can improve your overall lead-to-conversion rate, like no other hack. This can be an effective way to tackle abandoned carts and out-of-stock situations.

Broadcasts and newsletters

For the mobile-first generation - information broadcast or periodic updates are best sent via WhatsApp - WhatsApp open rates today are an order of magnitude higher than other communication channels.

WhatsApp for Sales

Pre Sales(Lead Generation)

Many marketers believe that conversations and chats are far more effective than lead generation forms because conversations provide a personalized experience to customers, with a shorter sales cycle. Recently, Cars24, a used cars marketplace, revealed how 33% of their monthly sales came through WhatsApp. A pre-sales conversation that gathers the right customer information easily, matches the right products to the customers' requirements, and solves customer queries to the T, is the ideal starting point for an effective and efficient sales process. And initiating conversations on WhatsApp has never been easier - add the WhatsApp widget to your website, or configure "Click to WhatsApp" ads on your Facebook account.

Order Generation

Setting up an end-to-end shopping or booking experience can now be done on WhatsApp, right from discovery until checkout. WhatsApp enables businesses to build their product catalog that can be shared and promoted to customers. This is particularly beneficial to businesses that don't have a website or mobile app storefront to generate orders. Additionally, customers don't really need to download the business application to place or track orders. For customers who have expressed interest in specific products or services, you can excite your customers with product demos that also rule out common concerns and queries.

WhatsApp for Customer Support

Automated support journeys

Just like any website chat, WhatsApp Business API also provides the prowess of ChatBots. Recurring and common queries can be addressed through the Chatbot. Additionally, you can collect deeper information about the customer's query so that you are able to match the right support specialist to the query.

Post sales support

Reduce agent effort in customer support by leveraging WhatsApp. Order updates and tracking enablement on WhatsApp reduce the amount of tracking-related queries from customers. Unlike email, WhatsApp has a 98% open rate for messages. Proactively sending order updates to customers will have them up to date with crucial order information. Additionally, you can build automated journeys for booking/order cancellations, product/service-related queries, refunds, and customer reviews.

WhatsApp for Operations

Appointment scheduling

If your business involves a service or consultation to be provided to customers, WhatsApp can help you generate customer appointments seamlessly. Provide options to your customers to reserve an appointment with your service, and enable reservation booking within the WhatsApp conversation. Additionally, you can also build out-of-office automation for customers reaching you outside of business hours.

Customer information and documents

Collecting customer information, especially for fintechs has been a big challenge. Sharing documents through email and forms has proven to be ineffective medium. An interactive messaging platform such as WhatsApp is just what you need. Collect rich media information such as documents and photos, and share brochures, offer documents, invoices, and other rich media with your consumers, from your WhatsApp business account.

Payments and collections

Automated payment reminders and links will help the collection rate for your subscription product drastically. Most defaulters need just a nudge to make their monthly obligatory payments. WhatsApp lets you send personalized messages with payment links such that customers don't default on their payments.

How to get your business started on WhatsApp?

You can avail the services of solution partners who can build custom solutions for your business based on WhatsApp.

We at ChakraHQ also offer a full process automation suite on top of WhatsApp. You will not only be able to leverage this new communication channel but also automate many aspects of your customer engagement, sales execution, and relationship management.

Reach out to us on sales [at] chakrahq [dot] com for a quick demo.