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Online shopping experiences for most buyers are usually accompanied by purchase anxiety one way or the other. And this definitely happens to everyone, be it before or after a purchase.
Think of last winter when you wanted a new sweatshirt, or the time when you were about to buy a pair of sneakers but were unsure about sizing. And the conundrum of the UK size chart and US size chart?! Or think of how a few days went by after you placed an order and you were worried out of your wits whether the order will get to you in time.
Similar anxiety inducing instances can happen as a customer anticipates anything or everything going wrong while making a purchase. This is where they will seek assistance and customer support, and as the seller, it is your job to address your customer’s anxiety and make for a smooth purchase experience.
As an eCommerce business you will already be there to provide customer support on email, phone and/or on social media platforms like Instagram, so that your buyers can reach out to you with their queries and complaints.
These platforms could work for you to a certain degree, but they are limited in certain ways and this could be a roadblock on your mission to provide some quality customer service. The truth is that managing customer service in all these channels will require you to be glued onto your devices. Also you will end up with a very intimidating support ticket box that will be difficult to tackle.
This is where you should start to consider WhatsApp for Customer Support.
Why Use WhatsApp For Customer Support?
Brands all over the globe are switching to WhatsApp for customer services and there is a good reason why it is becoming a top messaging app to provide exceptional customer support. Customers today look for swift, personalized and real-time responses.
WhatsApp is a trust-worthy platform and fits into these criteria perfectly and it can engage the customers very effectively as it’s something they use every day (every few hours).
WhatsApp for Customer Support is ideal because:
-> Higher active users: WhatsApp has over 2 Billion active monthly users globally. That is way more than any messaging app today. This opens up great prospects of expanding your company’s reach as there are more people on WhatsApp.
-> Chatbot Features: You can effectively manage customers, improve your business capabilities and automate responses by using Chatbot features with an official WhatsApp Business API app like QuickReply.ai.
-> Media contents: Creating and sending quality media to increase customer engagement is another key feature. You can even make good product catalogues, share videos, images and more to enhance customer engagement.
-> Team Inbox: You can assign customer chats to your multiple support agents while using WhatsApp for business with the team inbox feature. By doing so you can significantly improve the quality of the customer service that you provide.
-> Availability of API: Because of WhatsApp’s Official API you can collect customer data better, using third party tools and apps. Collecting customer data in one place will let you carry out better customer support on WhatsApp.
Different Ways to use WhatsApp for Customer Support
Being a rising eCommerce venture, it is important that you are utilizing the potential of every channel that is available to you, especially those platforms where your customers will most likely be. And WhatsApp most definitely is one such platform, using which you can provide quality customer service.
WhatsApp customer service is already becoming very popular among eCommerce businesses and you should be there too. This is the next step you definitely need to take in order for your business to establish itself as a trusted standard among your buyers. Why settle for less?!
Here are a few ways you can use WhatsApp for Customer Support:
1. Handling Common Customer Queries
Today customers prefer a more hands on approach from the service provider or the seller, that is, quick response to the queries with which they are reaching out to you.
Using WhatsApp for customer services provides you a way for instant one-on-one communication between you (or your team) and the customer. This real-time slick response will set you apart, and are very good to develop good customer relations and generate trust with your brand.
But to respond with such rapidity and address the customer’s issues, you need to be ready to face them and understand the expectations of the buyer. The queries that will arise can be related to anything, like information about the product, about the payment, a complaint related to the product, delivery, refund etc.
A good response to queries can be like this:
Hello {Name}.
Thank you for reaching out to us with your complaint. We are sorry for the delay with the delivery of {Product}.
There is a chance of 24 to 48 hours delay because of restrictions due to the pandemic. We hope the product reaches you safely. Feel free to reply with any other queries.
Thank you for your cooperation!
Here’s how you can use WhatsApp for addressing Customer queries:
-> Make your WhatsApp number available on all platforms that your business is active on, like your business website, your social media accounts like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, your email signatures etc. so customers can find you with their queries
-> Provide your WhatsApp number on the Contact Us section; you can also provide a chat button so that your customers can easily communicate with you.
2. Collect Customer Feedback
Around 52% of customers think that companies need to develop good feedback systems. A good customer feedback system will be crucial for your companies to grow as you understand customer demands better, that will influence even the support you offer to them.
Having a great platform like WhatsApp, it shouldn’t be a matter of debate to reach out to your buyers and ask for their feedback. With the nature of communication that is common to WhatsApp, you will find it easier to sense the customer’s mood and the conversational tone will help you to connect better with them. This is precisely why customer feedback collection will become smoother for you on WhatsApp.
Companies like Goibibo, which is a tour and travel agency, have successfully used WhatsApp to get better customer feedback. You can get a similar result too. Here’s why:
-> The easy and intuitive quality of a WhatsApp conversation will help in generating customer reviews
-> Your business can get real-time feedback from your customers because of the easily accessible two way nature of WhatsApp
-> You can instantly respond with suggestions to engage them and make their experiences smoother
Here’s an example of a WhatsApp broadcast message to collect customer feedback using QuickReply.ai:
Hello!
It has been an absolutely awesome experience doing business with you! You know what would be even better? Your valuable feedback!
How would you rate your purchase experience on a scale of 1-10?
Simply reply with the number and let us know if we can make the experience better for you next time.
3. Sending Product And Order Status Updates
One of the best things about being on WhatsApp Business for customer support is the ability to send regular status updates to buyers about order placements, order confirmations, tracking shipments etc.
This considerably reduces the customer's anxiety related to the purchase. You can inform them about the status of an order in the purchase funnel, about shipment locations and ETA, and other order details.
Informing buyers with status updates is key to growing your customer support system and with it your business. A few good practices for using WhatsApp for status updates are:
-> Informing customers about “back in stock” products in their wish-list that were out of stock earlier. An example of this:
“Hi {Name}. Great news! We are happy to inform you that {Product} is back on stock again.”
-> Using WhatsApp for confirming every new order instead of email confirmations. This will likely give you higher opening rates. It can be something like this:
“Dear {Name}. Your order has been placed successfully. Thank you for shopping with us.”
-> Boost conversion by dropping quick notifications to inform customers about on-going or upcoming discounts and offers on products. Like this:
“Hey! Good news! 30% Off on {Product}. Offer lasts till midnight so you better get to it Champ!”
A good status update about orders and products a customer has shown interest in, can bolster your customer engagement rate, and also get your customer support brownie points for being proactive.
4. Share Notifications Proactively
Make use of the WhatsApp Business API app to send out strategic notifications and reminders to your buyers. Creatively enhance their experience with your business. These messages can be related to placing an order, pending payments, cart recovery etc.
This is more likely to be read as people are usually more interested in WhatsApp messages than a typical email notification. With a third party tool, you can even automate this process. Here are a few types of these notifications that you can use for better customer service on WhatsApp:
-> Delivery Status: Inform your customers about the shipping status or delivery status of their product. Take a look at this example:
“Your order has been shipped! You can track your package on the provided link. Feel free to reach out to us with further queries.”
-> Billing Invoice Notification: You can sell billing invoices and payment requests from your customers on WhatsApp, keeping the customers informed on dues and payment status. A good example of this is:
“Dear {Name}. Your payment of Rs.{X} for the product (Product} has been successfully completed. Here is your Order ID for future references: {Order ID}. Thank you for shopping with us.”
5. Highlight Your Product And Services
It is important that your products now find their audiences and prospective buyers. You should utilize WhatsApp Business’ various features to highlight the products and services that you provide so that customers can find them and hopefully increase engagement. You can create and add catalogs to showcase products and ultimately grow sales and move closer to your goals as a marketer.
Make use of the chatbot feature to automate queries on WhatsApp and efficiently respond to your customers.
It’s as seamless as offering support to a customer who’s making a purchase from a brick and mortar store.
6. Offer A Smooth Booking Process
Providing all the booking related information in a single platform will greatly improve your customers' purchase experience. It's smoother and hassle-free. This is the reason why most customers these days tend to prefer getting their booking info on WhatsApp rather than other platforms.
You can use WhatsApp to provide all the booking info together in a smooth and seamless way, offering better customer support. This will remove any anxiety related to booking order and defuse any need to contact the support team. Moreover, this will be a more practical way than sending an email.
Some good practices in using WhatsApp for bookings are:
-> Send out automated notifications for taking bookings and confirming them
-> Set up FAQ automation on WhatsApp to answer common queries around bookings
-> Share a broadcast message to customers who book a product/ service to set what they can expect from you next
7. Send Personalized Product Recommendations
WhatsApp is a remarkable platform for your eCommerce store and customer support precisely due to how it enables two-way communication. Use this to your advantage by recommending products to the buyers. This gives you a higher chance of increasing sales and might also create loyal and frequent customers.
When a customer completes a purchase or reaches out to you for support, provide a new and relevant product recommendation for them to consider. For example, when someone has completed an order or enquired about a certain pair of jeans. You can reply with recommendations for a matching shirt or other accessories. Here’s an example:
Hi {Name}.
You have successfully placed your order on {Brand Name} Shirt.
Check out these collections of Premium Denims that we think will go well with your shirt.
And when someone reaches out to you asking for more variants, you could use something like:
Hey {Name},
Thanks for reaching out. You have picked one of our top-selling products!
You can find a size guide over here: size.guide/link
But if you’d like to see what other customers are buying, I’d love to recommend checking out these pair of jeans too: jeans.link/shop
How to Start Using WhatsApp for Customer Support
Step 1
Start by signing up on a WhatsApp Marketing App like QuickReply.ai, that uses the official WhatsApp Business API.
It also offers the ability to set up automations to respond to common customer queries that come in for support, using 40+ eCommerce chatbots.
Step 2
Set up and complete your Business Profile. This includes your logo, brand name, catalog etc. The idea is to make interacting with you during support more personal, and recognisable.
Step 3
Automate answers for your FAQs. This will be easier as QuickReply.ai comes with 40+ pre-trained chatbots to handle customer’s queries while providing customer support.
These automated replies can be about common enquiries like product sizing, product policy, order status etc. You can also further customize and tailor the automated support you offer to buyers!
Step 4
Equip yourself for two-way conversational support.
Automations are definitely a great way to keep customers engaged but at times you will need to step in and deal with things hands-on. With an app like QuickReply.ai handling your customer support system, all your incoming queries reach you in a single inbox.
This helps you automatically assign an agent to conversations, and also identify the open conversations that need looking into immediately.
Start using WhatsApp for Customer Support Right Away!
Your anxiety about your customers anxieties is about to be over as you move over to a more efficient way of managing customer support. Using WhatsApp for customer service is definitely a win-win for both you and your customer as you get closer to addressing any expectations the customer has from you as a business.
You will be able to score faster response times while supporting your customer at a very crucial stage of making a purchase from you.
But more importantly, you will be able to provide that light nudge to make the customer complete a purchase during the conversation.
FAQ-
Q1. Why provide customer service via WhatsApp?
Ans: With nearly 2 billion active users, WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app in the world. WhatsApp has an average open rate of 98%.
Q2. What are the benefits of using WhatsApp for customer service?
Ans: WhatsApp allows you to reach out to customers even after they leave your website and is especially effective when targeting a mobile-first audience.
Q3. Is WhatsApp for business free?
Ans: WhatsApp Business is a free app available on Android and iPhone that was designed with small business owners in mind. WhatsApp Business facilitates customer interaction by providing tools to automate, sort, and respond to messages quickly.
Ready to leverage WhatsApp for customer support? Install QuickReply.ai today or book a demo.
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