Following up with messages manually is next to impossible; especially when your business is running marketing, sales and support campaigns on WhatsApp. This is where WhatsApp automation comes in.
In this post, we’re going to discuss the benefits of automating conversations on WhatsApp in detail.
Recap: What is WhatsApp Automation
WhatsApp automation refers to using software to set up AI-powered chatbots, workflows and predefined triggers to streamline customer conversations. Today businesses use automation to handle FAQs, send order updates, reminders, recover abandoned carts, collect feedback and run marketing campaigns – all without manual intervention.
While WhatsApp Business does offer automating aspects like availability, away messages, etc, businesses usually scale campaigns using API providers like Interakt. The solution enables them to set up custom automation workflows for marketing, sales and support functions with ease.
Benefits of automating conversations on WhatsApp
While there are several benefits of WhatsApp automation we’ve discussed before, here are the ones that most businesses are able to immediately experience:
1. Enhanced Customer Engagement
WhatsApp is a commonly used chat app across demographics. This means the chances of your message reaching the right audience at the right time, are higher as compared to others.
Add to that the ability to add multimedia like images, videos, GIFs and PDFs to the messages, makes the interaction even more engaging.
With the help of WhatsApp message automation, businesses can tap into the native features of the chat app and nurture consumer interest until it converts into intent to make a purchase.
We’ve found that WhatsApp automation has helped businesses actively engage their customers and drive 7x higher interaction.
The Souled Store, a fashion and apparel brand, was able to experience 42% engagement rate on WhatsApp using automated workflows and chatbots. Their chatbot let customers set personalized reminders during the Black Friday campaign and gathered valuable insights like gender, age and style preferences, sharing recommendations they were most likely to purchase from.
2. Improved Response Times
WhatsApp gives businesses the ability to set up quick replies. But automation tools go one step further and help them create automated workflows using a series of messages to address queries/ concerns.
This helps improve both the response and resolution time, improving the overall customer experience offered.
Mortana, a top ethnic wear brand leverages WhatsApp automations for broadcasts and quick replies to address customer queries. This has helped the brand improve agent response time by almost 62%.
3. Increased Operational Efficiency
WhatsApp automation tools help businesses tackle multiple queries at the same time; especially during peak sale periods.
While chatbots and AI-powered automation takes care of repetitive tasks like FAQs and order tracking, human agents can focus more on complex queries. The reduced need to handle all queries and manage data entry manually can help increase productivity and operational efficiency.
4. Cost Savings
With optimized operational efficiency, businesses no longer need large customer support teams to keep consumers engaged.
WhatsApp automations help minimize operational costs associated with call centers and hiring support representatives. It also lowers the cost per customer interaction as compared to phone and email support, optimizing resource allocation across departments.
5. Personalized Customer Interactions
AI-powered chatbots that are well integrated with business tools like the CRM, have the ability to access customer data in real-time. This helps personalize responses based on customer demographics, interaction and purchase history, and other parameters.
Businesses can also use WhatsApp automation tools to set up custom triggers for sending personalized product recommendations, relevant offers and reminders.
According to McKinsey, 76% of consumers expect businesses to personalize all communication.
6. 24/7 Availability
With the help of automation, businesses can offer support services at all hours. This also helps them cater to different timezones, even during peak seasons when the volume of queries increases.
Taal, a healthcare company, streamlined their patient care and made themselves available at all times using WhatsApp automations. This helped the company reduce response time by 30% and improve engagement by 50%.
7. Scalability
Be it launching more campaigns for promotions, offering customer assistance in multiple languages or selling products/ services in different currencies, businesses can automate it all when using a WhatsApp Business API solution.
Conclusion
WhatsApp has become the preferred channel of communication for most businesses and consumers.
But just like other channels, gone are the days when conversations could be managed manually. Automations are now a must-have to keep the conversations flowing in a timely and relevant manner.
So if you’ve been thinking about moving most of your customer communication to WhatsApp, it’s time to get started with automations.