The very intention behind the launch of WhatsApp Business was to make it easy for companies to get in touch with customers personally. The reason why WhatsApp is fast becoming an option better than email or SMS is that it allows for a personal touch for your communication with the target audience with the help chatting. Most people find chatting an easier and more convenient method of conversing with their service providers.
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Importance of using WhatsApp for customer service
According to a survey conducted by some companies dealing with AI-powered tools, about 3 million companies around the world use WhatsApp Business to communicate with and engage their customers. At the same time, 84% SMBs believe that WhatsApp is an effective way to reach their customer and provide customer service.
Advantages of using WhatsApp for customer service
The best part is that leading AI tools providing companies like Botspice are making it easy for marketing teams to create multiple customer engagement journey quite easily. This is because the engagement with the customers can be done with the chatbot platform created by Botspice.
Marketing
With this the different marketing teams regardless of geographical and political borders, can create dynamic customer engagement journey according to their requirement and expertise. This platform allows them to show product catalogues, offers, promotions and discounts from time to time. The chatbot can also engage in communication with the customers who require basic information and will provide the customer contact details to the concerned department for more specific queries. This in turn helps businesses to nurture customers and provide them immediate answers to their queries.
Customer support
The Botspice platform also allows customer support teams to engage with multiple customers at the same time quite easily. This customer journey becomes engaging and can be published to WhatsApp chatbot simply with a click from Botspice. Many other AI tool providing companies are following suit and are providing their customers with this type of ability to enhance the experience of the customers and hence the profitability of the business using these tools.
Setting up your WhatsApp Business account
Creating WhatsApp business account
The best part is that setting up a WhatsApp business account is completely free of cost and you can easily download the app from the Google Play store or Apple App store. Look up the WhatsApp terms of service and click on ‘Agree and continue’. The next step is to select your country from the drop down list then enter the country code and your phone number you will get a 6 digit registration code via phone call or SMS when you tap done or next and OK. Enter this code to complete the registration and get started with a machine learning and AI powered chatbot from Botspice.
You should also build a business profile and fill out your business name along with selecting a category and choosing a profile picture. This is the simple and easy method to create a WhatsApp Business account which can then help you to enhance the customer journey and experience.
Understanding the features of WhatsApp business account
WhatsApp business has many features that will help you in the progress of your business. In order to understand these features, you should tap More Options on Android and Settings on iPhone. Then tap Business Tools. With the help of the Whatsapp Tools you can show case your catalog and share your products and services with your customers.
It also makes it easier for new customers to reach you. An auto generated short link shared with customers enables them to message you. You can also use the WhatsApp messaging templates to build key conversations in advance, where using the chatbots created by a good company like Botspice allows you to do this with more ease and finesse. You can also set the messages that you want to send your customers when you are away and also be able to answer FAQs with the help of a chatbot linked with the WhatsApp app.
Linking your WhatsApp Business account to your website and social media
There are different methods to link your WhatsApp business account to your website or social media account. There are quite a few buttons or widgets in WhatsApp which you can use to link your website and social media account. These buttons should be chosen according to compatibility with your content management system like WordPress or Jimdo.
Managing customer support on WhatsApp
Understanding the customer support process on WhatsApp
While it is easy to understand the process of establishing a customer support platform on WhatsApp. All you need to do is create a business account as discussed above and link it with a chatbot created by a good AI tools providing company like BotSpice. The communication on WhatsApp can be two way, you can connect with your customers and the customers too can connect with you 24×7. The chatbot attached to your WhatsApp account will allow you to answer simple FAQ type of queries and simple doubts with the help of machine learning and access to a basic database.
Setting up response time and availability
This too has been discussed and we know that with the help of a WhatsApp chatbot combination you can transcend time lines and boundaries. You can set up the response of being away or asking the customer to wait for the answer to a complex query.
Setting up automated messages and greetings
Just like the ‘Away’ message you can also automate the greetings on a holiday or a special day for the customer. At the same time, you can set up the WhatsApp response through the chatbot to let the customers know about different offers, discounts and other opportunities you are offering them.
Setting up FAQs section
The technology behind this action is similar to the auto response method on WhatsApp chatbot. The chatbot can be given access to a large database with the answers to queries that customers are most likely to ask. At the same time, you can also enable the machine learning powered chatbot to learn answers to other queries during their interaction with the customer. In this way, when next time any customer asks the same question the chatbot can answer it right away.
Responding to customer inquiries and complaints
It is usually better to deal with these with the help of a human customer support agent. This is because a conversation with a human being will help the customer understand the problem in depth and anything complicated can also be taken care of. Of course the first thing that the customer will encounter will be the chatbot which can be programed to forward the irate customer to the relevant human agent who can respond in the right manner instead of leaving a furious customer to deal with a machine.
Dealing with difficult customers
Chatbots available at present in the market are not completely empowered to deal with difficult customers. It does not make sense to repeat the same thing to apologize to the customer who is agitated with some mistake on part of your company. In this situation, the chatbot on WhatsApp should be programed to check the database for any appropriate answer to the customer’s ire and most of the times it is best to let a human agent deal with the irate customer.
Escalating complex issues to the relevant department
We have discussed the right method to go about a complex query or an irate customer. However you should make sure that the chatbot keeps the customer engaged in a positive manner by the time the customer is directed to the right department. The chatbots created by Botspice allow you to let the chatbot engage with the customer in an empathetic manner and direct then to the right department.
Best practices for customer support on WhatsApp
Setting clear expectations with customers
To a customer who is delighted to be able to chat with a chatbot in the middle of the night should not get the false impression that their complex query will be answered immediately. Instead you should program the chatbot to be able to inform the customer that their query has been escalated to the relevant department and the customer will receive a communication from that department during work hours. Of course if you have a 24×7 customer support system with human agents then it is a good idea to allow the customer to talk to a human agent and get the query cleared immediately. Whatever be the situation, but the customers should not get an idea which is not practically doable.
Providing personalized and timely responses
Needless to say personalization of customer support is a requirement in all businesses in the highly competitive market of today. At the same time, it is also important to answer a customer’s query or resolve a complaint within the shortest time possible, unless you want your customer to go to your competitors. This can be easily done with the help of 24×7 customer service which uses chatbots. The bots can learn the name of the customer by asking them or get their names from your customer database. If the customer is addressed by his or her name they will be pleased and will not feel that a machine is not able to answer their questions.
Using emojis and multimedia to enhance the customer experience
While everyone is using emojis it is necessary to understand that sometimes emojis make the person feel irate. Hence it is necessary to ensure that you use the emojis at the right time. At the same time, you should also use multimedia to make your communication with the customer more interesting. Sometimes, using multimedia can save you a lot of time that you would otherwise spend in explaining details to customers.
Maintaining a professional tone and language
While it is good to use humorous comments now and then, it is necessary that you program your WhatsApp chatbot to enage in a professional language and tone with your customer. A lackadaisical attitude or language will put off the audience and create a negative impression of your company in the mind of the customer.
Respecting customer privacy and data protection laws
The most valuable information about a person including your customer is their personal and financial data. This should not be shared with any third party without the consent of the customer. At the same time, it is necessary to program your bot on WhatsApp in such a way that only the right person receives the information divulged. Then again it is not a good idea to barge into a customer’s privacy without their consent. For instance, you should also give them an option to get out of the automated messages that you send them.
Incorporating feedback to improve service quality
Good chatbots like the ones created by Botspice are machine learning enabled. They learn from their everyday communication with your customers and also learn to take feedback. Not only does feedback from customers allow you to improve service quality, but also helps your customers to feel that their opinion matters to you. This will make them feel valued and this goes as a plus point for you.
How to implement WhatsApp automation for customer service
You can automate WhatsApp account with the help of three easy steps, of course before you implement these step, you will have to connect your WhatsApp business account with an AI powered chatbot. The first step is account approval in which you need to comply with the WhatsApp business policies for your account to be approved. At the same time, WhatsApp does not allow use of its business account for promotional purposes and you should use it only for customer support. The next step is PIN activation, which will follow the approval of your brand by WhatsApp. It is then that you will receive the information to continue setting up your account for customer service. The chatbot also has to be connected to a phone number.
Metrics and evaluation
Measuring the success of your customer service on WhatsApp
Once you are all set with a chatbot and WhatsApp account then it remains to see that the process is a success with your customers. We have also discussed the method of taking feedback from customers and this strategy applies here as well. Also if you notice a significant drop in complaints which have to be handled by human customer support agents, even then you can understand that your customer service automation endeavor is a success.
Key performance indicators for customer support on WhatsApp
There are some metrics which become the key performance indicators for the success of your customer support endeavor on WhatsApp. The first thing that you should notice is the number of messages, sent, delivered, read and received. This is the basic and most important metric and the second to that comes the number of chats over a specific time period to ensure that your customers are actually using your customer support provision on WhatsApp. The average resolution time is also an important metric because if your virtual agent takes too much time in resolving a customer query or complaint then it may agitate them and leave a bad impression of your company.
Tools for monitoring and analyzing customer interactions on WhatsApp
The most common tool for monitoring and analyzing customer interactions on WhatsApp is integrating your WhatsApp business account with a CRM tool. This will not just give you an idea of how well your WhatsApp chatbot customer service automation is working, it will also give you an idea of how to improve it. CRM software will also help you to collect data of audiences which connect with you for the first time and give you an opportunity to convert them into customers. The other method is the bot itself which as mentioned above is machine learning enabled and learns with every interaction with customers.
Conclusion
It appears easy and simple to set up a 24×7 customer support center with the help of a WhatsApp business account. However, it is important to understand the process completely and also ensure that any probable issues are discussed with the company providing the bot. For instance, Botspice ensures that they completely understand the psyche of the audience of your business and design the bot accordingly. For instance, the chatbot on a website selling children’s garments can be a little quirky and funny, but this would be a total no if it is a funeral service website.
There are other finer nuances that need to be attended to so that you can create the right environment for the customers to engage in meaningful conversation and also get a positive impression about your company on the very first go itself. It is also useful to prevent customers from having to sit on their complaints before they are able to vent out their ire over a complaint or a query. Hence we can say that automation of your customer service department can become effective if you choose a good company like Botspice to provide you with the chatbot that you need for this purpose.