WhatsApp marketing with the help of a chatbot

Over the years, social media has become an indispensable element of content strategy. In fact, companies now have not only the ‘social media officer’, but also ‘community managers’, ‘social media creatives’, ‘influencer marketers’, and so on. WhatsApp marketing, however, is not often part of the strategy. A big missed opportunity, if you ask us: a campaign in which you use WhatsApp can quickly earn you a lot of engagement! Are you already using WhatsApp for your marketing? In this article you can read what it can bring you!

Good customer service is the best marketing strategy

Good, personal service is a trend that has made a strong comeback over the past year. Your customer service is the point at which you can deliver this personal service through human contact. Pleasant contact and a positive resolution of the customer's question has a growing effect on your marketing. Thanks to social media it is very easy, after all, for your customer to give an opinion about your service.

The benefits of WhatsApp marketing

By making it as easy as possible for your customers to get in touch with you, you at least start the conversation well. Make sure, therefore, that you are on the channels where your customer is too. A broad audience calls for a broad range of channels on which you can reach your customers. In the Netherlands almost 12 million people use WhatsApp, and that number grows every year; last year the number of WhatsApp users rose by 2%. Virtually every audience is to be found on WhatsApp: 97% of young people use WhatsApp as a means of communication. The same goes for more than 90% of Dutch people between 20 and 65. How high do you rate the chance that your customers are on that platform too?

Automatic replies via WhatsApp

By automating part of your customer contact, the human contact gets better and your customer satisfaction higher. We can imagine this sounds a little odd, but it is a phenomenon we see with all our customers. The consumer of 2021 is used to a personal but above all fast service, and that 24/7. A live chat is genuinely seen as live chatting: the consumer expects someone to always be available to chat with immediately. If you want to achieve that with human staff, the hours, and the costs, can mount up considerably.

A chatbot makes sure all the frequently asked questions are answered automatically. That way the customer always has a lightning-fast and correct answer, on the platform where they are already to be found every day. Should the bot not understand the question, or should the customer's question be too complex, the question is forwarded to a customer service agent. The agent can then offer personal support. That way all customers get the attention they need and deserve.

💡 Build your AI Chatbot with WhatsApp

Send images, GIFs, videos and documents

Content in visual form is an important part of your marketing and branding. WhatsApp makes it easy to send images, GIFs, videos and documents. It is an advantage for you as a company and for your customer that WhatsApp offers the possibility of sending all kinds of attachments easily.

Does your customer have a question about an invoice they received, for example? Or have they placed an order that was delivered incorrectly? Then your customer can simply send a photo or a file via WhatsApp. This makes explaining a customer question a good deal easier for both the customer and the customer service agent. It works the same way round, of course: the agent can forward the customer an order status, a ticket or an illustration, for instance.

These attachments are not only handy; you can also use them for your brand's branding. GIFs, for example, can be a fun addition for your company. As a company, make your own GIFs or use existing ones, which are easy to add to a message from within WhatsApp. Why you would use GIFs? That way you show that you have humour as a company and that you keep up with internet trends. Keep the conversation fun and light with a GIF. A picture says more than a thousand words, doesn't it?

Use WhatsApp for your campaigns

WhatsApp marketing is by far the tool to use if you want to boost your engagement. Almost half of the Netherlands uses WhatsApp daily; your customers are therefore most likely among them.

Although proactive communication is possible on some channels, that is not the case for WhatsApp. And that may be just as well: if every company could message every customer, just as it is possible to make a chat window appear on a website, there is a good chance WhatsApp would soon drop in popularity. Reactive communication through a channel the customer likes to use does, however, genuinely contribute to your customer satisfaction. It is therefore advisable to use a campaign to call on your customers to contact you via WhatsApp. A chatbot can help with this WhatsApp marketing too!

💡 Read our WhatsApp API guide

A good example is the Absolut Unique Limited Edition campaign. Absolut launched one of the first campaigns to increase reach through the use of WhatsApp. The campaign began with the announcement of an exclusive party; so exclusive that few people were put on the guest list without question. At the head of this campaign stood the feared bouncer Sven. Did you want to get into the party? Then you had to convince Sven via WhatsApp that you had earned a place on the guest list. That is how it goes on a Saturday night, after all, when there is a queue outside the club. In the end more than 1,000 images, videos and voice memos were sent in an attempt to convince Sven!

Want to know more?

In our view, improving your customer service always remains the best marketing tool. By ‘hiring’ a chatbot for your customer service, customers can reach you easily on a channel where they are already often to be found. On top of that, on WhatsApp you can easily send images, videos and documents, and (personalised) GIFs! Would you like to know more about using chatbots successfully? Download the free whitepaper!