6 Tips for Making the Best Use of WhatsApp Business API
19 Dec 2022
WhatsApp is one of, if not the most popular mobile social apps to date, with well over 2 billion monthly active users, as per Meta’s recent data.
With such a large user base, businesses have plenty of opportunities to interact with their target audience on the platform and seamlessly drive increased sales through customer engagement.
The WhatsApp Business API, in conjunction with official WhatsApp Business Partners, is the driving force behind all of this.
But as with any technology, there is a learning curve involved in effectively using it.
Below, we share tips and tricks to ensure you make the most of your WhatsApp business messaging.
1. Ensure timely responses to customer queries
WhatsApp requires businesses to reply to customer inquiries within 24 hours to ensure a great customer experience.
WhatsApp emphasises the importance of this requirement by charging businesses a fee for each message whenever they fail to comply.
By actively listening to what your audience is saying, you can better improve your support services by fixing where it falls short and ultimately ensure returning customers.
2. Be friendly but not casual
WhatsApp was originally designed to be a platform for individuals to connect with their family and friends, hence the informal touch to how most users typically create their messages.
Businesses that are unaware of this and use an overly formal tone of voice will inevitably stick out like a sore thumb.
But at the same time, it is vital not to lose touch with your ethos and brand identity, so try to incorporate an open, personal, and warm tone in your business casual messaging to come off as welcoming yet professional to your customers.
3. Keep your messages short, sweet, and to the point
WhatsApp wants to ensure that customers have a positive overall experience and that companies continue to have positive interactions with their clients.
A message quality rating measures how well a message has been formed and presented.
Quality ratings are used to evaluate the effectiveness of communication in terms of clarity, accuracy, and relevance.
These ratings provide valuable insights to improve your communication processes and ensure your target audiences understand your messages.
Quality ratings can help ensure that the right message is delivered in the right way, making it easier to achieve desired outcomes.
Being direct and avoiding any fluff in your messages is the best way to achieve a high-quality rating.
This will ensure the good standing of your overall phone number status and messaging limit, keeping your daily operations unaffected.
As a refresher, your WhatsApp Business phone numbers’ quality rating is determined by the sentiment of your users, as WhatsApp relies on this feedback to measure the quality of a service.
Essentially, if users report or block your messages, WhatsApp will flag your number and limit the number of templates you can send per day, which may derail your marketing campaigns.
Thus, avoid introductory messages or open-ended greetings and only send clear, personalised, and, most importantly, useful content that takes no more than eight to ten seconds of your customer’s time.
4. Keep things human
Although automation can handle the brunt of most customer queries, this does not mean it can fully replace human customer service agents. Where possible, customers will always prefer human agents to bots, so WhatsApp made it compulsory to have a Human Escalation pathway. Therefore, there should be human agents available at all times, if possible, to handle a chatbot-human handoff. Otherwise, set up message templates to notify when an agent will return to address their question or issue.
5. Be creative by using multimedia and different message formats
With today’s messaging culture no longer limited to just text, it is vital to be creative so that your customers find your business messaging engaging. With WhatsApp being a visual messaging app, you can send videos, photos, GIFs, emojis, files, and more. Use them to showcase your brand’s personality and avoid a bland customer experience. Just be sure that whatever you use is still relevant and adds value for the customer.
6. Don’t forget to ask for post-sales feedback
WhatsApp Business API is not just for staying in touch with customers up until their purchase, but also well after the conclusion of a sale. Therefore, consider including post-sales feedback requests in your automated messaging templates to inquire about the customer’s purchase experience or follow up on them to see how they are enjoying the product after using it for some time. Doing so shows how much you care about your customer’s satisfaction and provides indispensable insights on optimising your offerings, services, and overall operations.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that the WhatsApp Business API is a powerful tool for any business serious about elevating its customer experience and messaging potential.
Still, it is also easy to miss out on its full potential.
Hopefully, the contents above give you a good idea of where to start and make the most effective use of its array of features and capabilities.
With Moobicast, get access to the WhatsApp Business API solution that lets you create and schedule personalised messages with multiple options regarding the number of recipients, specific delivery times and dates, and even message campaigns.
Should you need assistance getting started with your WhatsApp or SMS API in Singapore, please reach out to our customer service team at +65 8799 6394 via WhatsApp or SMS.
Alternatively, you can use our online support.