6 reasons to use WhatsApp Business messaging to engage customers

If you didn’t already know, WhatsApp is the biggest messaging app in the world, with a staggering 2 billion users. WhatsApp prides itself on simple, secure, and reliable messaging so people can catch up with friends and family. And users love it – more than 100 billion messages are sent every day! 

In 2018, WhatsApp opened its doors to businesses to make it just as easy for people to reach a company as it is for them to reach friends and family. Not surprisingly, many businesses have jumped at the chance to use WhatsApp to drive revenue and build closer relationships with their customers. 

For brand communications, WhatsApp Business makes interactions with customers easy by providing tools to automate, sort, and quickly respond to messages. Let’s take a look at a few important reasons why this messaging channel has emerged as such a pivotal part of so many business’ customer engagement strategies.

What is WhatsApp Business messaging?

WhatsApp Business allows brands to have a presence on WhatsApp and communicate with customers to grow their business. This is powerful, but take note: There are key differences between the WhatsApp Business app and WhatsApp. The solution for companies offers a free app for small businesses and an API solution with a conversation-based pricing model for larger enterprises. Meanwhile, standard WhatsApp is a person-to-person solution for people to stay connected with friends and family.  

WhatsApp Business includes robust end-to-end encryption, meaning that messages exchanged between a brand and its customers are highly secure and private. 

WhatsApp Business notifications are tied directly to a single phone number and business name, so your customers will know immediately who they’re talking to. Verified profiles help instill trust and confidence in your organization because your customers can know that your messages are legitimate. 

A bonus? Your WhatsApp Business account can help protect your company from fraud! WhatsApp requires users to verify their identity with two-factor authentication (TFA) via SMS so you can be sure you’re messaging the right customer.

Reasons to use WhatsApp Business messaging

From a business point of view, WhatsApp Business messages offer an exciting opportunity to provide fast, effective customer care. 

Let’s look at the top six reasons companies use WhatsApp Business messaging to drive revenue and build closer, more meaningful relationships with customers.

 

Reason 1: 2 billion users!

Seriously, that’s a massive worldwide audience – no one can argue that. So, if you’re a global brand looking to reach customers, WhatsApp Business messages are a no-brainer.  

More specifically, WhatsApp is huge in Latin America, India, much of Europe and Africa, and some countries in Asia.

Countries where WhatsApp is the number one messaging app. 

WhatsApp is the number two messaging app in many other countries as well. It’s also growing fast in the U.S, with over 85 million (and counting) using it today.  

Most WhatsApp users are below 45, but there’s a significant user base in older age groups too, which makes it an excellent channel to reach a broad audience.

 

Reason 2: Customers want two-way conversations on WhatsApp

People are crying out for easier, more convenient ways to talk to brands. According to our research, 90% of customers want to be able to reply in-message to ask questions. And many are already doing this today, with 175 million messages sent to businesses over WhatsApp every day. 

In a recent episode of Sinch Talks with Meta, we discussed the importance of meeting customers on channels they already use to give them a better experience. Potential clients might be actively building communities, watching branded stories, and attending virtual events with interactive activities directly on WhatsApp. If you’re not aware that your customers spend time on these activities, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to engage with them.

Watch a Sinch Talk video with Meta about how businesses can meet their customers on channels that they already use. 

With features like catalogs, broadcast messages, quick-reply buttons, e-commerce cart notifications, and more, WhatsApp empowers businesses to meet customers where they prefer to engage and provide them with an exceptional customer experience!

 

Reason 3: WhatsApp for marketing helps cut through the noise

Customers are bombarded with marketing notifications everywhere they turn. Conversational channels like WhatsApp allow you to cut through the noise and reach people on the apps they actually use. That must be why the average open rate of WhatsApp messages is over 98%! 

Innovative companies like Carrefour have had great success with WhatsApp marketing. The grocery retail giant switched its printed catalog for a digital one sent via the WhatsApp Business Platform and saw 45% of recipients browse the catalog for an average of three minutes! Reduced printing costs and improved customer analytics – it’s a win-win.

 

Reason 4: WhatsApp Business messaging helps speed up the sales cycle 

More and more businesses are turning to WhatsApp to sell products and services, sometimes right off the back of their marketing campaigns and within the channel itself. With product messages, shopping carts, and the ability to connect with sales teams directly, users can receive a marketing promotion, browse a “WhatsApp shop,” and get pre-sales questions answered, all without leaving the app. Talk about reducing barriers to purchase! 

A great example of how WhatApp can help businesses speed up the sales cycle is online paint retailer MissPompadour, who has a digital-first customer communication strategy with WhatsApp at the core.

MissPompadour offers personalized service on WhatsApp.

With WhatsApp for sales consultations, customers can get personalized advice about their choices, making it a more efficient and highly personal service, with nine out of ten consulting chats leading to a sale.

 

Reason 5: WhatsApp Business for customer support improves customer satisfaction

Did you know that 73% of customers find live chat to be the most satisfying way to communicate with a business? Customers don’t want to spend time on hold to ask a question or get support – they want convenience. And spending time on hold just isn’t the way people want to interact with companies anymore. 

WhatsApp can be easily integrated into some existing contact centers, or you can also add automated messages or chatbots to handle simple FAQs to free up support teams to focus on more complex cases. 

Here’s a real-life example: Car manufacturer BMW added a WhatsApp chatbot to help with massive call volumes, specifically for updates on car repairs. Prior to this solution, they had call center employees answering the same questions from customers over and over again – think of questions like: “Is my car ready?” or “Can you confirm the pick-up time?”. This was both costly and diminished service quality, allowing call center employees to handle more complex issues.

BMW uses WhatsApp Business messages to speed up customer service, answering nearly 80% of daily customer inquiries in real-time through automation.

The results? 80% of all queries were successfully answered by the chatbot, and 90% of customers recommended interacting with it.

 

Reason 6: WhatsApp Business API helps reduce costs

As the BMW example illustrates, traditional support teams don’t always have the tools and resources to focus on customer needs over the never-ending service queue. Using WhatsApp Business messaging tools like templates and chatbots can help you automate FAQs and customer support responses, saving time and money on old CRM systems and making call centers more efficient. 

Here’s where it gets even better: Scalability through WhatsApp Business messaging is seamless, which helps companies grow and increase customer engagement without proportionally increasing support workload. This way, your support teams can focus on trickier issues and customer interactions that need a more personal, human touch. 

Want an example of how WhatsApp has helped with business efficiency? Here’s a good news story from Brazil: iFood, one of South America’s top online food delivery systems, used WhatsApp Business API to ramp up customer support.

WhatsApp Business messaging and Chatlayer have created a fully automated customer support experience at iFood. 

The solution handles and automates 45% of incoming inquiries, resulting in a 70% reduction in delivery costs. Plus, delivery staff onboarded by the chatbot gave iFood a 91% satisfaction score. That’s a real boost for iFood’s bottom line!

Get started with WhatsApp for business communications

With so many people already on WhatsApp, the app is becoming a powerful tool for businesses to reach and engage their customers. With WhatsApp’s two-way communication capabilities, high open rates, and convenience-driven features, it’s no wonder marketers and customer care teams all over the world are already using this channel to help their businesses grow.  

Ready to learn more? Our step-by-step WhatsApp guide is packed with detailed insights about how to get started with your business’ WhatsApp journey. 

 

 

Or, when you’re ready to talk about your WhatsApp Business Solution, get in touch. We’re here to help you build a messaging strategy your customers will love!