Nowadays it is very difficult to imagine our life without applications such as WhatsApp or Telegram. With them we can communicate with our friends and family, regardless of their age or condition, as their interface is so intuitive that it can be used by anyone. Thus, more and more people use it as a preferred means of contact, and that is why companies cannot ignore its potential, as it allows them to provide answers quickly, as demanded by today’s consumers. But this is not the only benefit instant messaging for companies can offer.
Today at Fonvirtual we want you to know everything that these channels can bring to your customer service.
Benefits of instant messaging in customer service
In the digital age in which we live, we are constantly connected to the world through our mobile phones. So when contacting a company, consumers expect a quick and personalised response. This is precisely what WhatsApp and Telegram enable: real-time communication that helps companies meet their customers’ expectations. But also, instant messaging for companies has many others benefits such as :
Eliminate waiting queues
Customer service via Whatsapp or any other instant messaging for companies channel eliminates waiting queues, as the customer sends their request and continues to carry out other activities until they receive their answer. It is no longer necessary to stay on the phone for several minutes waiting to be answered.
Achieving a higher level of engagement with customers
Customer service via WhatsApp offers users a convenient means of communication that they know how to use. Thus, the image they perceive is of a company committed to its customers that wants to make it easy for them by offering them the option of communicating through the medium they consider most convenient at any given time.
It is a secure way of communicating
One of the particularities of WhatsApp is that communications are end-to-end encrypted. This means that the conversation is secure, and only the parties can see the content of the conversation. Furthermore, security can also be seen in the fact that in the case of WhatsApp API we are talking about a service that requires the approval of Facebook, so we can be sure that at all times we will be in communication with a real company and not with anyone else, avoiding possible scams.
Integration with other tools
Although WhatsApp is the preferred way of contact, there are still those who prefer to make a call to discuss certain matters. In this sense, omnichannel communication plays a key role in both cases. In the case of WhatsApp API, unlike the version for freelancers and small businesses (WhatsApp Business), it can be connected to the company’s CRM, to your business telephony solution and thus keep all our channels on the same platform from which to manage them.
Personalisation of message delivery
When integrating with the virtual PBX or the call center software mentioned above, you can decide how you want the messages to be distributed among the agents. In this way, you can create groups in which there are several agents and establish if you want an equal distribution, if you want them all to receive them at the same time and if you want them to be answered by whoever is available… You also have the possibility of transferring messages between the different extensions.
Implementing Artificial Intelligence systems to automate processes
To increase the efficiency of your customer service, it is possible to make use of chatbots that can deal with simple requests and transfer the more qualified ones to an agent, and you can even configure the automatic responses that these systems will give depending on the situation.
Sending multimedia content and sharing your location
Another of the elements that differentiate customer service via WhatsApp from the rest is the possibility of sending files of different types, such as voice notes, images and videos. It also allows you to share your location, something that can be very useful for certain uses, such as, for example, in the case of a claim report, to find out where a vehicle is located.
Know the customer who contacts the company
Unlike other instant messaging for companies channels such as Livechat, the use of Whatsapp for companies allows you to know the customer’s mobile number and therefore identify them in order to offer a higher quality service.
It is free for the customers
Any customer can interact with the company via Whatsapp completely free of charge even if they contact the company from abroad.
Knowing the advantages offered by instant messaging for companies, many have found it to be an effective way of attending to their customers. From providing information and resolving queries, as in the case of the financial institution CaixaBank, which offers the possibility of contacting your bank advisor directly via WhatsApp with its “WhatsApp Muro” system, to allowing the reporting of a claim, as the insurance company Mapfre does, the uses you can make of these applications are unlimited.
However, to be able to offer a customer service channel such as WhatsApp, you must have the appropriate systems that facilitate the management of other forms of communication such as telephone calls, as there are people who still prefer to contact companies in this way. Omnichannel communication plays a fundamental role in this sense, since you must perceive all forms of communication with your customers as an integrated whole and use tools such as the virtual PBX that we offer in Fonvirtual and that allows integration with WhatsApp API. With it, we will be able to use all our channels from the same interface, increasing the productivity of our business and offering a quality service.
If you would like more information, please do not hesitate to contact us. We will accompany and advise you throughout the process so that you can implement instant messaging for companies successfully.
