Are you still of the good old phoning, or would you rather send a WhatsApp? It is becoming increasingly common to WhatsAppen among yourselves instead of calling. Of course, it's nice and quick and totally convenient if you don't need an answer right away.
Because this is so common, we see companies going along with this trend. Because, why call a company when there is also the option to send them an app? This option is becoming more and more possible and more companies are using marketing strategieswith WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger.
Wondering if this is also something for your company? In this blog, we discuss all the benefits associated with it!
What are the benefits of WhatsApp and Messenger?
There are a lot of advantages to using WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger to connect with your customers. We have listed them all especially for you!
Making personal contact
WhatsApp or Messenger is a personal way of connecting with your customers. Because you are using a platform where people mainly talk to family and friends, it immediately comes across as a bit more personal. So there is a profile picture attached and contacts get notifications from their favourite company with a nice update on discounts. It is an easy concept and it offers many possibilities.
Safe way of talking
The WhatsApp service in particular sees security as a priority and makes sure their service is safe for everyone to use. For instance, WhatsApp uses end-to-end encryption. Hearing that for the first time may sound difficult, but to explain it is easy! Namely, it means that WhatsApp ensures that chat messages only get into the hands of the people who send and receive messages. This encryption happens automatically: you don't need to adjust anything for this in the settings on WhatsApp.
Existing platform
Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp are platforms that are already widely used in the United Kingdom, but also worldwide. Majority of the Dutch already use them and are used to dealing with them.
With a WhatsApp contact service, most people can therefore easily app a business number and only need to add it to their contacts list. When contacting via Messenger, they just need to like the Facebook page and click through to Messenger to ask a question. Easy!
New trend
Customer service via WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger is a fairly new trend and not very many companies use it yet. This makes it feel even more special if you make the switch now and can surprise customers with this way of contacting them.
You can interact with customers in different ways through WhatsApp and Messenger. For instance, you can send offers of existing products, or announce new products exclusively!
Free of charge
If you keep the usage in-house and do not outsource to another party, the cost of using WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger is free. So this means no additional unnecessary costs.
Of course, answering questions does take time, and time is money. Just remember that answering questions via WhatsApp or Messenger is much faster than calling. Especially if they are standard questions.
What do you use Messenger and WhatsApp for as a company?
You are now fully aware of the benefits! But what exactly can you use WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger for as a company?
WhatsApp or Messenger for updates
Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp are both useful for sending updates to your customers. There are a number of different ways you can do this and we have prepared some examples for you here!
Voice messaging: Sending voice messages is a convenient way to quickly send a message to your customers. This could include, for example, the announcement of a new product or service. You could compare it to a kind of radio advertisement sent directly to your customer.
Photos or videos: A visual picture can sometimes be more fun and work better than text. For example, consider a beautiful online flyer. Instead of posting it on Instagram or Facebook, send it specifically and purposefully to your customers.
Text: Sending text is, of course, an easy and obvious way of sharing information. Usually this takes the form of Q&A. Probably your website already has a list of frequently asked questions. Use this text or links when people ask questions that have ready-made answers.
WhatsApp or Messenger customer service
Answering frequently asked questions in a quick but personal manner is easy to do via WhatsApp and Messenger. As we mentioned earlier, it is useful to have standard answers ready. This way, you don't have to type each message separately and save a lot of time, but still answer in a personal and friendly way.
Create a script yourself or with your (customer service) staff with questions and answers that can be used and put them in a shared folder.
Are you choosing WhatsApp or Messenger as a means of contact?
Which way of making contact suits you best? Of course, this differs per company: what do you feel comfortable with, who are your customers and do you work with social media at all? All things you should definitely ask yourself beforehand. Analyse the demographics of your company and use this as a basis to assess what is the best fit.
As far as we are concerned, WhatsApp and Messenger are a convenient and quick way to maintain contact with customers in a personal way. Wondering what would work best for your company? We are happy to think along with you! Submit your customer service situation to us and we will see how you can integrate WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger.
