Boosting customer engagement is key to improving customer loyalty, retention, and average lifetime value. But to meet these goals you need to start with the right foundation. This means delivering experiences that drive sales through engaging customers quickly on their interaction channel of choice. With the number of digital engagement channels constantly increasing, keeping up with customer habits is critical. You need to go where your customers are, and this means you need to consider adding WhatsApp messaging to your omnichannel contact center.

Consumer benefits drive adoption

With over 2.24 billion active monthly users WhatsApp is the most widely adopted message app on the planet. Usage continues at an explosive rate, fueled by advanced features such as group messaging, read receipts, and rich media. Further driving adoption, WhatsApp also dramatically lowers consumer communications costs.

The customer messaging app ranks number one in 63 out of 100 countries, making it a top choice for customer engagement. In terms of country breakdown, India has the largest number of users, followed by Brazil, Indonesia, and the United States. Not only is adoption high, but so is usage—70% of users check their WhatsApp messages daily. Even in the United States where free SMS is offered in most mobile plans, 50% of American WhatsApp users reported they access the messenger service daily.

Reduced customer Effort

Customers often prefer the convenience of messaging, in part because it offers easy communication on the go. Engagement is further enhanced by the rich media capabilities WhatsApp provides, -such as document sharing, location mapping, generating QR codes, and more. But what really differentiates WhatsApp among messaging apps is its ability to deliver frictionless experiences. Customers are able to move from text to document sharing and even voice—all without leaving the app. The result is a seamless customer experience that’s hard to beat since customers can resolve complex issues without switching channels.

Business opportunity

Because WhatsApp offers engaging, convenient, and cost-effective communications, the potential benefits for small to medium sized enterprises are massive, effectively leveling the CX playing field with larger enterprises. The end result goes beyond improving operational efficiency to elevate the customer experience and boost customer engagement to increase revenue.

The growth of WhatsApp translates into a massive opportunity. Spending on WhatsApp's business platform is expected to increase to $3.6 billion by 2024, making this an essential customer contact channel for businesses of all sizes.

Deliver targeted alerts and proactive notifications

WhatsApp is an ideal channel to deliver targeted messages and proactive communications that improve operational efficiency, for example reminding customers of upcoming appointments, flight changes, or booking updates. WhatsApp is also an ideal channel for routine payment and account updates, purchase confirmations, and shipping tracking information. Engaging the sale process is another compelling benefit of WhatsApp alerts. Using a customer’s purchase history, a retailer or service provider can send tailored recommendations in the form of alerts to keep customers engaged after they’ve purchased an item and, and ultimately provide opportunities for cross-sell and upsell. Delivering these updates on an unobtrusive channel that customers use in their daily flow of activities improves customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Reap the benefits of omnichannel

To get started reaping the benefits of WhatsApp, the first step is to sign up for a free business account that provides features such as automated messages and templates. The next step is to choose a customer service platform, preferably one such as 8x8 Contact Center that allows you to manage WhatsApp conversations though a single omnichannel interaction routing engine alongside other channels such as web chat, voice, social media, SMS, and email. This ensures customers receive the same standard of service regardless of how they contact your business.

The WhatsApp capabilities in 8x8 Contact Center also accelerate engagement, and therefore sales, by delivering product information on demand. A customer shopping in a physical retail store can scan a WhatsApp QR code located on the product and be connected to the business’s contact center. At that point, the customer can interact with an agent able to answer their questions about the product they are considering purchasing.

Finally, to scale customer engagement, the 8x8 platform also offers the ability to send one to many WhatsApp marketing messages through their CPaaS offering. When customers call into the contact center in response to the alert, information about the marketing communication is available to agents, for personalized service, true omnichannel experience, and higher customer engagement that drives sales.

Stay a step ahead of the competition

If you haven’t already added WhatsApp to your contact center, it's a good idea to start planning for it now. You’ll not only gain the benefits discussed above, but you’ll ensure you stay one step ahead of the competition. According to Dimension Data, 61% of all contact centers globally already offer instant messaging as a contact channel, with another 26% planning to do so in the next year.

By offering personalized messages with rich media and delivering convenient, cost-effective interactions, WhatsApp has become mission-critical for businesses across the globe seeking to engage customers and transform their contact center into a source of strategic business value.

Learn more about how WhatsApp and the omnichannel capabilities of the 8x8 Contact Center can transform your customer experience.