Leveraging WhatsApp Business to Boost Customer Retention
25 December 2023
Among the many challenges that eCommerce retailers face throughout their business journey, customer retention proves to be the most difficult to tackle. This is no surprise; impressing customers so that they will stick to your brand for the long term is no walk in the park. Just like how conversation quality determines the success of a romantic date between two parties, online shopping also requires a proper conversation between brands and their target audience since it is essentially now an extension of our social reality. Thankfully, approaching this daunting task of retaining customers through conversation is now made easier with the WhatsApp Business Platform.
WhatsApp Business Platform for Customer Retention
As the art of converting shoppers into repeat customers, customer retention begins with earning the loyalty of your target audience through steps like promptly solving their concerns and questions, providing exceptional products and/or services without fail, and communicating your brand’s ethos.
As of recent, WhatsApp Business has become one of the most powerful tools for both SMEs and larger companies alike to effectively communicate with their target market. Notable brands like Decathlon, Jockey, and Hopscotch are already working with WhatsApp Business Solution Providers to gain access to the WhatsApp Business API and boost their customer attention.
While many of these businesses gravitate towards the WhatsApp Business Platform for its online marketing potential, a significant portion are now using it to improve their brand messaging to retain customers. In fact, Sanuker published a study that states 64% of WhatsApp users claim they find it easier to build personal connections with businesses through the app. This sentiment—the feeling of making a connection and wanting to revisit an online store—makes for the perfect stepping stone in customer retention and one that brands would be remiss not to capitalise on.
How the WhatsApp Business Platform Can Boost Customer Retention Rates
1. Be Proactive at Business-Initiated Messaging
A key component of good customer service involves reaching out to customers before they encounter a potential issue. While WhatsApp allows businesses to initiate a conversation first for several reasons, they can only send a pre-approved message template every 24 hours to ensure customer safety.
Brands may use this tool to provide vital information that every consumer wants to receive, such as pending payment notifications, order status, delivery confirmations, and so on. These updates are the trademark of proactive customer care and foster trust among your customers.
2. Allow Two-Way Communications in Customer Support
As the most critical point of contact between a brand and its following, customer service should not be limited to just answering customer queries or addressing concerns. Since customer service directly affects customer churn rate, it can, in fact, become a prime agent for retention practices.
With its multimedia features and customer-initiated messaging, WhatsApp allows for two-way and interactive conversations that relieve anxiety among shoppers who may not be keen on the formal nature of emails or phone calls. With chats that allow the sending of instructive images and videos, the WhatsApp Business Platform allows customer service teams to expand their service scope.
In addition, most online shoppers are typically between 18 and 35, a demographic that likes quick and casual messaging. So, empowering your customer service team to cater to your audience’s communication preferences makes the latter more confident about reaching out to your brand.
3. Enhance Customer Experience with WhatsApp Groups and Loyalty Programs
Creating a WhatsApp group for your target audience lets you foster a community of loyal followers who can connect and share social proof surrounding your products and services. Having a space where such word-of-mouth publicity is encouraged can significantly help reinforce the quality of your offerings and convince new customers to become repeat buyers.
Of course, loyalty programs should also be included in the equation, as they are specially designed to retain customers through various benefits like expedited delivery, exclusive discounts, promotion events, etc. Since these programs are often closely tied to brand messaging, WhatsApp is the perfect fit for communicating with high-end customers. Forwarding sign-up messages on WhatsApp also takes away the intrusiveness of promotional materials since it is where customers generally opt-in to receive such alerts.
4. Engage in High-Impact Conversations to Improve the Quality of Your Brand Communication
High-impact messaging is about connecting with and providing immediate value to customers. This strategy aims to deepen customer engagement by providing your shoppers with what they want on their own terms, whether it be services or content, which positively impacts customer retention.
With WhatsApp, brands can easily create the foundation for both proactive and reactive messaging. For the former, you get in touch with shoppers through features like automatically generated messaging before they encounter a problem that negatively affects their customer experience. In the latter case, you could start by providing round-the-clock support via 24/7 messaging using custom templates so shoppers are never left hanging.
Conclusion
The untapped potential of the WhatsApp Business Platform for customer retention is gaining traction among many brands today, and given the masses’ preference for conversational messaging these days, there is no doubt that WhatsApp now ranks as one of the best channels for customer communication. Therefore, by maximising the platform today and using it to target the core areas of customer retention, you gain an edge over the competition and get a head start in building a genuine connection with your target audience.
Boost your customer retention efforts today by getting your own WhatsApp Business account with the help of Moobicast, Singapore’s trusted WhatsApp Business Platform provider. With our Moobicast + WhatsApp Business Solution, businesses can achieve more with their marketing and customer engagement thanks to its cutting-edge and powerful features that provide unlimited possibilities.
WhatsApp Business is only one of many options in our comprehensive suite of communication solutions, so don’t hesitate to contact us should you ever need virtual numbers, SIM hosting, or bulk SMS marketing for your business operations.