WhatsApp has over 2 billion users in more than 180 countries, being the most accessed application for messaging in Latin America. 96% of the Brazilian population uses WhatsApp (according to a Statista survey). This implies that, regardless of your target audience, it is almost certain that he has WhatsApp as one of his favorite communication channels, and perhaps it is already one of the best channels to establish a business dialogue with this audience
For a culture where the customer must be at the center of every communication action, marketing, propaganda or advertising, start the dialogue through the customer's favorite channel, just having it as an option for a transfer is already a step in the right direction to engage much more
That said, it is important to remember that engagement goes beyond "communicating", it represents a much closer relationship between consumer and brand and does not come without efforts related to personalization. The 2024 Twilio Customer Engagement Report indicated that 82% of interactions between customers and brands are digital and that 36% of people spend more with companies that personalize their communications. Through personalization, if there is engagement, what, finally, generates financial return
With this line of thought drawn, it's time to think about how to achieve financial return, in this case starting from WhatsApp as a tool for a personalized and engaging dialogue. Recently, Twilio launched an e-book titled "The Power of WhatsApp to Engage Customers: A Practical Guide”. He presents a lot of relevant information on this subject, in addition to bringing powerful insights about the topic
Starting from this, I want to provide an overview of what is discussed in the material, in order to make them curious to check the full material and start embracing WhatsApp in their journey to improve the relationship between you and your clients. Therefore, let's reflect on the direction of WhatsApp in the customer journey and six hot tips on how to start the customer engagement journey with WhatsApp
For which functions to direct WhatsApp
WhatsApp can be a tool used for sending promotional messages, such as loyalty programs, engagement campaigns, customer acquisition, lead qualification, after-sales and customer loyalty, self-service via chatbot, among other possibilities
Meta recently launched, and Twilio is now in beta testing with clients for the new WhatsApp Business Calling feature, where the user can make a voice call to the company using the WhatsApp app with Twilio Programmable Voice With WhatsApp Business Calling customers and brands will have the voice channel to communicate, for various use cases, being service, customer support, sales, post-sales among others
This powerful application, when combined with customer engagement platforms, becomes a channel with automated campaigns, without losing their personalized nature. It is possible, inclusive, use predictive AI to collect, integrate and deeply analyze customer data, that will be used in the dialogues via the app
Despite that, it is important to remember that for a more robust customization, it is important to collect quality data, first-party data or primary customer data, it is an open channel of dialogue, like WhatsApp, is ideal for that
Using WhatsApp in marketing and sales
- Know your audience in detail – everything starts with understanding who your audience is. There is no strategy without prior knowledge of preferences, needs, pains, wishes, language, service channels, produtos/serviços mais amados etc
- Segmentation – personalization is closely linked to segmentation, that delineates common characteristics and behaviors among customers. Here it is possible to use AIs to analyze large volumes of data and track changes
- Plan– the customer journey needs to be thought out step by step. It's not enough to start a dialogue, it is necessary to have a marketing flow that leads to sales within the communication designed for WhatsApp
- Be creative – it is important to explore the various message formats, sending conversational messages with texts, images, videos and links from the site, posts on the blog or even news related to the segment. To make this more automated, it is possible to implement an intelligent chatbot to serve the public through selected buttons or according to keywords
- Mental triggers– how messages are instant, if you have little time to capture someone's attention. Mental triggers are techniques that encourage a person to take a certain action. There are several types of triggers, as urgency, social proof and authority
- Click-to-Ads for WhatsApp – the idea is to have a link that directs the customer straight to the brand's WhatsApp, being able to start a conversation without needing to have the number saved in the contacts. It is worth remembering that it is important to monitor the click-through rate, the number of people who actually start a conversation and the average response time of the attendants
Furthermore, as a bonus tip, when to use the WhatsApp Business API integrated with Twilio's customer engagement platforms, one gains in scalability and customization of campaigns and messages; high delivery capacity; integration of chatbot and intelligent virtual assistant into the application; multichannel support in a single API. third-party data collection in a safer manner and in accordance with the legislation; data sending to over 400 applications with predefined integrations; and automation of processes and campaign deliveries, contents and notifications
With these tips, I hope I have left you intrigued to learn a little more about how to start using this communication channel as a powerful tool for personalization, engage and achieve a better return, financial and in relationship with your clients. If you want to know more, the complete e-book on the subject is available atThe Power of WhatsApp to Engage Customers: A Practical Guide.
*Vivian Jonesis the vice president of Twilio for Latin America
