Customers form an integral part of a business and you need to maintain strong ties with them. Customer Relationship Management tools may have helped your business and countless others to achieve this. Additionally, as technology is constantly evolving you will find more and more businesses and consumers shifting to instant messaging apps to communicate effectively and WhatsApp happens to be the most popular one of them all.
The business version of WhatsApp has over 5 million users worldwide. Now the big question is if we can integrate WhatsApp Business with CRM
Yes, absolutely! The benefits of integrating your CRM with WhatsApp are aplenty! The integration will make your business more visible to customers by creating a more accessible means of communication which will help you build a closer bond with customers. That’s what every business aims to achieve. In this post, we will take you through what WhatsApp CRM is and how to use WhatsApp CRM for business.
What is WhatsApp CRM?
WhatsApp CRM is a tool that can help you build, manage and nurture customer relationships efficiently through WhatsApp. In other words, WhatsApp Customer Relationship Management tool helps to improve your customer interactions and manage relationships, in place of traditional communication channels like emails, SMS or calls.
WhatsApp, by nature, is a more conversational and direct channel. CRM integration with WhatsApp lets you carry out business conversations in a place where your customers are present and active, giving you a strategic edge in terms of aligning with customer interest.
Benefits Of WhatsApp CRM [2024]
1. Streamlined sales approach:
WhatsApp CRM facilitates a more streamlined way of approaching sales processes, resulting in a more positive output. With click to WhatsApp or click to chat buttons on your website and social media handles, customers can easily initiate conversations with your business. You can not only gain leads but also convert them into customers in a more organic, hands-on manner.
2. Post- Sales Support:
WhatsApp CRM integration enables seamless and effective post-sale support, by letting you fully utilize the features WhatsApp Business API provides you. You can directly collect feedback, notify on sales and discounts, request reviews and more, using WhatsApp message notification template features.
3. WhatsApp Automation:
CRM for WhatsApp has the additional benefit of WhatsApp automation capabilities that can work wonders for retaining existing customers. Automating bulk notifications and broadcasts is a great way to engage your loyal customers with minimal effort and manpower.
4. Digitalization communication with customers:
Compared to traditional forms of communication like SMS, WhatsApp CRM integration can save a significant portion of your costs, while letting you converse with customers both locally and internationally.
5. Targeting audience across the globe:
WhatsApp CRM also lets you break geographical barriers by letting you reach customers at a global level.
6. Sharing media rich content:
WhatsApp does not confine you to words alone, as you can send various types of media content to your customers, to enhance the experience, effortlessly.
Types of CRM integration on WhatsApp
1. Integrated CRM
These are third-party integrations to connect WhatsApp with CRM, developed and supported by WhatsApp Business API solution providers like Interakt. These CRM integrations cost more but will often come with advanced customization options and features that might not be present for native CRM integrations.
2. Native CRM
Native CRM integration is when WhatsApp is integrated directly into a CRM platform or the software that’s developed by the CRM provider. Native CRM integrations are comparatively cheaper and users can access the business tools they are familiar with without leaving the CRM.
4 Key features of WhatsApp CRM
Here are some of the key features of the WhatsApp CRM that benefits businesses:
1. Automation
WhatsApp CRM integration lets you set up automation that can work for you round the clock, answering FAQs and providing instant replies to common support queries, even when the team is offline.
Seamless integration with business tools
WhatsApp CRM can be seamlessly integrated with other business tools, for a more connected and streamlined experience.
2. Analytics
With detailed analytics, WhatsApp CRM can provide in-depth insights into your business’s customer interactions. You can track message reads, replies, engagement etc. to better strategize and fetch positive results.
3. End-to-end encryption
WhatsApp chats are private and secure, ensuring the data of both you and your customers are protected. This adds another layer of trust and confidentiality to your business conversations.
4. Supports multiple devices
It can be accessed very easily and supports multiple users on WhatsApp. You can access it from a smartphone, tablet or a PC, from anywhere at any time, giving you more control.
5 Reasons why your marketing team needs WhatsApp CRM
Here are some of the reasons why marketing teams should use a CRM:
1. Better customer segmentation
It is important that you recognize and prioritize customers based on their interests. WhatsApp CRM will allow your marketing team to do so easily, resulting in more personalized campaigns that pack the right impact.
2. Streamline campaign tracking
Your marketing team can track and monitor your campaigns with WhatsApp CRM, which will result in streamlined WhatsApp campaigns that are geared toward success.
3. Boost customer retention
With features like automated follow-ups, personalized messaging etc. WhatsApp CRM can help your marketing team maintain a good relationship with your existing customers and keep them engaged and satisfied.
4. Improved lead management
With WhatsApp CRM the chances of missing out on leads is reduced to a great extent. Your marketing team can monitor, track and organize your leads better which makes it easier for you to assign team members to send follow-ups to further nurture the lead.
5. Improve team communication
WhatsApp CRM can help your marketing team work together and communicate more effectively, with the centralized database to access customer information and contacts. This significantly reduces the chances of miscommunication and ensures that the team is well-aligned with your strategies.
5 Reasons why your sales and support team needs WhatsApp CRM
Here are some of the leading reasons why fast-moving businesses use a CRM in sales and support:
1. Easier activity reporting
Proper track of progress is everything when it comes to improving your sales and support strategies. WhatsApp CRM lets your sales and support team send out their weekly/monthly reports easily, with an automated and transparent process that takes only minutes.
2. Keep the team on the same page
With WhatsApp CRM features like shared calendars, document templates, common databases etc. you can ensure that all the members of the sales team are up-to-date and on the same page. Selling patterns can be shared to let your team understand what works best with your customers.
3. Reduce costs
You need to pay for WhatsApp CRM integration but the costs it can save for you down the line make it a minor price. From setting up automations to segmenting data, the CRM can help save a lot of time and resources when it comes to handling customer and prospect queries for sales and support teams.
4. Personalize customer interactions
By gathering insights into the customer’s interests, preferences and behavior, WhatsApp CRM integration enables the sales and support teams to personalize customer interactions better and provide a more enhanced experience.
5. Reduce admin tasks
By reducing and removing a lot of repetitive, time-consuming actions, WhatsApp CRM can help the sales team cut down on a lot of admin tasks.
WhatsApp CRM Use Cases To Replicate in 2024
Here’s taking a look at some real-life businesses using the WhatsApp CRM and benefiting from it:
For lead generation, nurturing and sales follow-ups
Carigar Tools, a major power tools and machinery brand in India, needed to turn the sea of customer queries into successful sales. With 500-1000 customers coming up with queries regarding assistance, product info and so on, an effective and engaging channel was becoming a necessity.
With WhatsApp and Interakt, Carigar was able to build a strong online presence, resolving queries, generating and nurturing leads and providing reliable after-sales support. They have, with the help of proactive communication with WhatsApp CRM, been able to generate 200-300 leads and confirm 20-50 orders each day.
For customer onboarding
Created by the makers of Finshots, Ditto is a finance brand that helps customers better understand insurance and make informed financial decisions. Insurance policies and the intricacies of financing can be tricky to most people and Ditto with Interakt wanted to simplify the complexities of onboarding for customers.
And to really walk the talk, they utilized Interakt and WhatsApp integration to actively engage with customers using their content. WhatsApp CRM allowed them to see precisely at what stage each customer is which further ensured timeliness. They were able to see triple the increase in open rates, and more than 1000 customers interacting with them on the platform.
For customer segmentation and better engagement
CRM integration with WhatsApp, gives the entire picture of each customer, allowing for better segmentation. The tire industry giant, CEAT, was able to effectively leverage WhatsApp CRM integration, to improve customer engagement and carry out effective communication at a broad scale, both with new and existing customers. With the Interakt chatbot, collecting customer information became seamless, allowing the brand to always remain relevant to its customers.
And considering how CEAT has managed to lower acquisition costs with Interakt by a whopping 70%, CRM for WhatsApp has proven to be a cost-effective addition for businesses.
Conclusion
Integrating WhatsApp with CRM is a great way to allow your business to have direct access to a larger audience. Incorporating WhatsApp into your communication strategy will enable you to have engaging interactions with your customers on a platform they are most comfortable with!
