How Does WhatsApp Help Companies Deliver Better Customer Support?
With close to 3 billion users across 180 countries, WhatsApp is by far the world’s most preferred communication app. And businesses across verticals are rapidly embracing this platform to offer unmatched convenience to customers for service delivery.
WhatsApp enables customer support reps to safely and privately engage with customers, making it a great platform for customer service delivery for organizations that have an omnichannel strategy.
WhatsApp can significantly enhance the customer service experience by responding to questions and sending out notifications and updates. The enterprise-grade encryption of WhatsApp can help companies re-imagine customer interactions that can truly befit both the business and the customer.
The advantages of leveraging WhatsApp for customer service
By offering customer support over WhatsApp, you can enhance service delivery and take customer engagement to a new level. Businesses stand to benefit in several ways by WhatsApp-enabling customer support operations.
A massive user base
There’s no denying the popularity of WhatsApp. Regardless of age and location, people prefer to stay in touch with friends and family via WhatsApp. It is only logical to conclude that if businesses are available where their customers are, it will help them to significantly extend their reach and realize their true potential.
Team inbox
One advantage of using WhatsApp for business is that it has a team inbox. It lets you assign customer messages to multiple service reps simultaneously, enhancing the quality of service delivery.
Chatbot functionality
You can enhance your company's customer support and automate responses by using a chatbot to power WhatsApp-based customer support. These bots can help businesses to extend support over the world's most popular messaging platform enabling you to effortlessly manage customer support at scale.
API Access
The WhatsApp Business API is simple to use and allows your business to integrate with third-party platforms like Salesforce. This allows businesses to leverage centralized CRM data to enhance the efficacy of customer service.
Rich media enablement
Images, videos, documents, audio files, links to online videos, and instructional material can all be shared easily over WhatsApp. This takes customer service engagement to a whole new level. Businesses can also share their product catalogs over WhatsApp.
Setting up WhatsApp for Customer Service
Setting up the WhatsApp Business API is the easiest way to begin using WhatsApp-enabled customer support. The API verifies your business and displays a green checkmark next to your business name, which helps build trust and demonstrates to customers that you are a legitimate company, in contrast to the typical WhatsApp Business account.
The WhatsApp Business API provides greater stability and support, while the normal account may have limits. GirikSMS is an authorized WhatsApp Business solution provider giving you full and easy access to the WhatsApp business API.
To begin using GirikSMS for WhatsApp-powered customer support, follow these steps:
- Go to "Channels," select the WhatsApp API settings, and then log into your GirikSMS account. Click "Connect."
- Go ahead and purchase a WhatsApp Business API add-on by selecting your number and completing the payment.
- In the GirikSMS console, choose "Connect Cloud API with a new number" under "How to connect." Select "Next."
- Login to your Facebook Business Manager account in the window that pops up.
- After reviewing and agreeing to the permissions GirikSMS needs, select "Get started."
- Complete and review your company information. Choose your business portfolio, and press "Next."
- Follow the steps intuitively to create a new WhatsApp Business profile.
- Next, enter the business category, business display name, and WhatsApp Business API account name.
- Choose how you wish to verify your business and number (text or call) after entering your phone number with the country code. When asked, enter the code.
- Your account is linked after verification. In GirikSMS, select the newly formed WhatsApp profile, enter a personal "Channel name" for internal use, and then navigate to "Channel settings" to create customer service-related templates.
Why should businesses use WhatsApp for customer service?
There are several justifications for using WhatsApp for customer support. Above all, it is the most widely used app with a global user base, which makes it ideal for businesses looking to extend their reach. WhatsApp also has a number of features that make it ideal for use cases involving customer support:
Flexible
Although WhatsApp is mainly a mobile messaging app, you can access it on a browser to have customer interactions from a work computer such as a laptop or PC.
Everything is computerized.
WhatsApp is a helpful tool for customer support because it lets you personalize messages and respond quickly.
Makes information accessible
You can get a complete view of the scale of your outreach and how much costs you're saving by using WhatsApp.
Completely legal
Your users must consent to receive messages from your business over WhatsApp, so you don't have to bother them with cold calls or emails.
Convenient
You want your audience to feel as though they are having a conversation with a human, not just receiving robotic emails.
Delivers excellent customer service
Customers don't like being placed on hold. It's no surprise therefore that they are increasingly choosing to text businesses using messaging apps rather than emailing customer support or filling up online forms.
How to use WhatsApp to provide best-in-class customer service?
Now that your WhatsApp Business API is configured, it's time to start using it to its full potential. Here are some best practices to remember if you want to truly take your customer service to the next level:
Deploy a chatbot for self-service.
Provide your prospects and customers with quick replies to their questions. Order updates, frequently asked questions, and more may be easily handled by a self-service chatbot. This frees up your team to spend more time and energy on other critical tasks. Additionally, it gives customers access to round-the-clock support.
Assign conversations by leveraging chatbot interaction data.
Determine when a human service rep should step in by analyzing chatbot conversations. Direct customers to an agent who can provide personalized support if a conversation seems complicated or if they seem to fret over the lack of progress in the resolution of their issue. This keeps the customer experience seamless.
Connect to a CRM to sync data.
You can see every detail about each customer, including prior transactions and preferences, by integrating WhatsApp with your CRM. As a result, service reps can tailor their responses by leveraging CRM data to improve customer satisfaction.
WhatsApp CRM integration
What is a WhatsApp CRM tool?
It’s a solution that integrates your WhatsApp business account with your CRM. It is always a good idea to use a native messaging tool like the GirikSMS Salesforce messaging app which seamlessly accesses CRM data to personalize every customer service interaction. Your service reps can provide tailored support and stay updated on every interaction.
In a nutshell, you can use a single platform to manage all WhatsApp conversations, track engagement, and build customer relationships.
Benefits of using GirikSMS for WhatsApp-Powered Customer Service
Why should you integrate WhatsApp with your CRM? This is why.
Unified customer data
Compile and save all customer interactions across platforms and devices in one place. The single platform seamlessly organizes all data and gives your team a comprehensive view of customer interaction history and a clear context for every interaction.
Seamless customer experience
The secret to happy customers is personalization. With features like automated follow-ups and personalized conversation flows, a WhatsApp CRM tool like GirikSMS makes sure no lead is overlooked. A seamless, uniform experience across all touchpoints also makes it simpler to better engage customers.
Automation at scale
Imagine being able to email order confirmations, appointment reminders, and feedback surveys automatically. You can automate repetitive processes with WhatsApp CRM, allowing your staff to focus on more strategic and creative tasks.
Improved team collaboration
There is no longer any uncertainty when your team members work on the same customer conversations. Everyone is in sync when customer data and interaction histories are shared, which promotes quicker resolutions and more efficient teamwork.
With AI capabilities, you can take customer service to the next level and create AI-driven responses without writing any code.
By virtue of being a 100% native Salesforce SMS app, GirikSMS has AI capabilities built in. You can even train your AI model on your organizational data and knowledge base to make your agent truly reflect your brand's image. This results in faster and more accurate customer service interactions that boost customer satisfaction.
How to choose a WhatsApp CRM tool?
Because moving systems can be expensive, you should choose your WhatsApp CRM platform wisely. Transferring and migrating all of the organizational data takes time. On top of that, it may also take some time for your teams to become familiar with the new interface. The following are the things to think about:
Integration: It should seamlessly integrate with popular e-commerce platforms, CRM platforms, and other third-party systems and apps used by your business.
Convenience: Select a platform that users can access via an app or on a web browser. Furthermore, an approved Meta Business Solution Provider (BSP) guarantees that you are using an approved WhatsApp business solution and are making use of the most recent WhatsApp Business capabilities.
Support: To find out whether the platform supports your business, ask for a demonstration or register for a free trial.
Scalability: Your CRM should grow hand in hand with your company. Choose a platform that can accommodate additional users, manage growing message volumes, and provide cutting-edge features like multi-channel assistance and chatbots driven by AI.
Automated workflows: If you want to streamline sales, marketing, customer service, or any other function, you need to automate. Make sure the platform you choose allows you to automate important processes like follow-up reminders, lead creation, customer segmentation, and personalized messaging. This will not only save a lot of time for your staff but also improve engagement.
Data privacy and compliance: Data security and privacy should be topmost priority for the tool you select. This will ensure that all customer data is safely managed and complies with GDPR or other applicable data privacy laws.
Easily communicate with customers over WhatsApp.
WhatsApp offers many benefits for customers as well as businesses. WhatsApp combines two elements that today's users adore: choice and convenience. People who use the app will find your business easier to reach if you incorporate it into your customer service operations. To supercharge the customer service experience, start using WhatsApp for Business today.