Now is the time to start using WhatsApp
Consumers today are autonomous in their buying behavior. They can enter the traditional sales funnel at any stage, empowered by their own online or first-hand research. Not using WhatsApp is closing a door they are knocking at.
Personalised experiences don't stop at a coupon code. Your marketing needs to extend further than pre-sale communications. With customer experience already overtaking products and services in terms of importance in some industries, post-sale communications and other engagement tactics should be considered marketing, too.
Allowing your customers to respond to alerts, reminders, and notifications, and receiving them on their favorite messaging app is key to an impressive customer experience that will keep them coming back.
A study conducted in the US shows that 33% of consumers would consider switching companies after just a single instance of poor service. (NYSE: AXP, 2017). Messaging channels like WhatsApp help brands beat negative sentiments that could potentially linger a lifetime.
Do more as a business with WhatsApp
Some facts about WhatsApp:
Fastest-growing communication app.
450 million daily active users.
More monthly active users globally than any other app (2 billion).
60 billion messages are sent per day
As a simple, reliable, and private way to talk to anyone in the world, more than 2 billion people in over 180 countries use WhatsApp to stay in touch with friends, family, and businesses, anytime and anywhere.
WhatsApp Business helps brands and customers connect quickly and easily with fast, simple, and convenient messaging.
Your customers are already using it. Reach them in real time. Relieve strain on call centers and remove friction and formality from your communications.
Send rich content such as images, PDF confirmations, QR code tickets, help and support videos, and more.
Create powerful personalisation for maximum results by including custom data fields, such as name, location, or even previous buying history. Generate an experience that both retains and skyrockets lifetime value.
End-to-end encryption protects your business and your customers. WhatsApp for business means your customers know they are speaking to a verified company and that their data is secure.
Let Dotdigital and our 20+ years of experience in business messaging handle the integration process.
Uses for WhatsApp
WhatsApp is all about providing a good customer experience and facilitating conversations.
To get sending, businesses must send the first outbound message to a customer in a conversation or ‘session’ as a Message Template. Don’t worry; these can be personalised with any data fields you require. The only limitation is that WhatsApp must first approve them before you send them, something we will help you with along the way.
Message Templates can include:
Alert Updates
Appointment reminders and confirmation
Issue Resolution
Payment Update
Personal Finance Update
Reservation Update
Shipping Updates
Ticket Updates
Learn more in creating highly structured messages for WhatsApp.
While WhatsApp does prohibit the sending of marketing messages in its Message Templates, there are no restrictions on replying to customers, whether they are replying to a Message Template or autonomously. This means you can facilitate conversations that lead to sales whilst creating a unique and great customer experience.
Whilst WhatsApp in the past has been used by some brands for outbound marketing, this has always sat outside of their terms of use, and the company is cracking down. You can normally spot these unauthorised uses as they depend on customers sending a message to initiate conversation or saving the brand into their contact book, making it harder to detect. Don’t worry, you can still allow customers to initiate conversations with you on WhatsApp, but unlike unauthorised cases, your use case as an official brand will not depend on it and will allow you to send outbounds using Message Templates also.
Using the WhatsApp API
Think of an API as the waiter in a restaurant. If you or your customers send a message (or make an order), the API waiter is the one who takes that information, communicates it with the kitchen (or backend), and retrieves your order or message in the requested format.
WhatsApp, when used legitimately, is available via API only. However, it’s not as technical as it seems! Our in-house knowledge base and your dedicated account manager will guide you through it every step of the way.
Before you start
The team will walk you through every stage of the process, but it would be useful to make sure you have your Business Manager ID ready.
To be able to use WhatsApp, you need to have a Facebook Business Manager account and your Business Manager ID. Check with your marketing team if you aren’t sure if your business uses a Business Manager.
Learn more in locating your Business Manager ID.
We then use this Business Manager ID to kick off the process of getting you approved.
Set up your WhatsApp API
Contact our sales team for one of our experts to walk you through this new and exciting channel. Once you’re happy, we’ll begin the WhatsApp Business approval process to get you sending as soon as possible.