More than 2.5 billion people use WhatsApp per month, worldwide. Its primary function might be to help families and friends stay in touch, but the app can also support brand-to-customer interactions via the WhatsApp Business application and WhatsApp API.
WhatsApp Business allows businesses to reach consumers via messaging, and WhatsApp API is a paid-for integration for CRM that’s designed to help larger businesses achieve a similar goal. It’s more and more crucial to reach customers where they are, and it’s clear that they’re on WhatsApp often, which makes it well worth the effort of integrating the advanced WhatsApp API into your current CRM to manage customer relationships and improve retention.
What Is WhatsApp?
WhatsApp is a global messaging platform that allows users to text, talk, and video call one another. It sports a strong feature suite for businesses, who have recognized its ability to make reaching customers as easy as texting.
Data says that customers are looking for more interaction with brands via social media and SMS, and WhatsApp is at the crossroads of those two categories. Digital-first channels are gaining traction, and that’s where you need to be to make your business successful.
However, before you start using WhatsApp as a part of your marketing strategy, you’ll need to set up your business on the platform. No worries: It’s a pretty straightforward process.
Then you can move on to the next step — integrating WhatsApp into your CRM.
WhatsApp with Your CRM?
Since WhatsApp already has a business function built in, it’s relatively easy to connect it to your CRM. Most integrations allow you to build on the functions that WhatsApp provides natively.
Here are some key features you’ll want to make sure you’re getting out of your CRM integration.
- Workflows. The point of CRM integration is to automate the little things, and WhatsApp plays well with automation tools.
- Chatbot. WhatsApp is, at its core, a communication platform, which means that when customers send your business a message, they expect a prompt answer. And whether or not they view the interaction as positive or negative will be impacted by how quickly and how well your business responds. A good chatbot AI is a must for creating and maintaining customer relationships.
- Agent Routing. Along the same lines as implementing a chatbot, it’s vital that you give attention to customers who need it. For those situations where a chatbot isn’t enough, you need a system that can direct your customers to a real person.
- Data cross referencing. If your CRM is pulling its weight by tracking your customers across multiple channels, adding WhatsApp allows you to go a level deeper with personalizing marketing efforts. Being able to attach a name to an account or acknowledge that they’ve reached out before via your website can be a game changer.
Integrating WhatsApp API into Kustomer’s CRM Platform
If you’re already using Kustomer’s customer service CRM, here’s some tips on how to integrate with WhatsApp API:
- Easy Installation. Plug and play. To get started with WhatsApp API, punch in your API code. This will automatically pull customer data and compile it across channels to give you a complete view of how customers have interacted with your business.
- Self-Service at Scale. Kustomer’s powerful chatbots are available to accelerate problem resolution and route conversations for an increase in effectiveness. Since the chatbots come from the CRM platform and not WhatsApp, Kustomer users can leverage chatbots that connect and interact with data being used in other parts of the platform as well as third-party systems, which makes scaling support on WhatsApp relatively simple.
- Actionable Data. The more data your CRM has, the better. Kustomer’s platform displays transaction history, past conversations, and other key information on a customer timeline so that agents can understand who they are helping and make use of data to improve the CX.
Integration might look different depending on your CRM, but for Kustomer users, all you need is WhatsApp for Business API access and a Twilio or MessageBird WhatsApp account to get the ball rolling. For more help with integrating WhatsApp and Kustomer, visit our help desk.
5 Key Customer Service Tools for WhatsApp
In addition to meeting your customers where they’re at, using WhatsApp to reach your audience leads directly to several key benefits for the customer experience, specifically around keeping them around after their first purchase.
Here are our picks for the top five CX tools your business can leverage by integrating WhatsApp into your current CRM.
1. Proactive Support
Proactive support is when you anticipate your customer needs before they reach out to you. Essentially, you can use WhatsApp to deliver value by taking proactive steps like sharing possible delivery concerns or giving them a link to a quickstart guide when their purchase is scheduled to arrive.
Good proactive support leads to increased customer retention, and WhatsApp makes it simple by allowing your business to contact them directly.
2. 24/7 Support
You can plug in a chatbot to WhatsApp so that it can handle the easy problems whether your customer service agents are available or not. If you have a 24/7 call center in place, WhatsApp becomes another channel that your customers can reach you through. Either way, it’s a big win.
3. Improve CSAT Scores
If you’re effectively using WhatsApp to drive up better customer engagement, you’ll see an improvement in your CSAT scores. If the scores stay the same or go down, you’ll know you haven’t tapped the full potential of the platform yet. Because WhatsApp brings more personalization to your customer experience (which is always a good thing), the numbers should trend positively if you’ve nailed it. As always, CSAT is your compass.
4. Deeper Connections with Your Customers
WhatsApp was designed as a communication platform, which changes how interactions feel to your customers. By approaching and engaging with them in the same app they use to talk to their friends and family, you gain the opportunity to be less formal and more conversational.
Your customers aren’t going to start adding you to group chats, but this will bring you closer to the goal of an omnichannel CX strategy, which will help you become their favorite brand.
5. Long Term Benefits
Customer retention is both a core CX strategy goal and a benefit of using WhatsApp. Once you’ve opened a conversation with a customer, you can send product updates and they can provide reviews of your products or services. Your business won’t be limited to whoever is subscribed to your email list, and your customers will be able to give you direct feedback. This makes it easier to find out where friction exists in your process and what your customers want that you aren’t already offering.
Kustomer Knows WhatsApp
WhatsApp is a great platform for getting closer to the omnichannel ideal of always being right where your customers need you. And Kustomer’s native WhatsApp integration is right where you need it to drive results. We offer an in-platform setup guide, message templates, workflows, chatbot and self-service improvements, and more.
