WhatsApp for customer service?

We all know and love using WhatsApp to talk to friends and family, but did you know that brands have slowly been turning Whatsapp into a customer service machine?! WhatsApp is the third-most-used social media platform in the world, behind Facebook and YouTube. With 2 billion users, it has more than double the user base of Facebook Messenger. And people trust WhatsApp more than other messaging apps, and it is the most used messaging app amongst internet users aged 16-64. The numbers alone scream for brands to get on it.

And many already are. Brands like Zara, Levi’s, KLM, and even Hellman’s have been paving the way by using WhatsApp as a customer service tool. After all, what better way to send marketing messages and customer service messages direct to customers without the faff of a website login or app. By making it easy, using an app they already have and trust earns loyalty to a brand whether users realise it or not.

So how does it work?

WhatsApp makes it easier to interact with and engage customers through direct messaging. You can either use community managers to respond in real-time or use AI and chatbots to automate your messages so that customers don’t have to wait for a response. You can even create a FAQ section on your WhatsApp info page to make it super easy for the consumer to find. For users of Facebook Messenger for business pages, these features will be pretty familiar.

In a test conducted by Hootsuite, 77% of people that had used WhatsApp to contact a business stated they preferred to talk to Customer Services via WhatsApp on their phones rather than via a website’s chat box or through email because it seems more instant. Not to mention you can leave an interaction and still get notified of an update to the conversation without having to keep your computer open. Plus, using WhatsApp like you would talk to a friend or family member just helps make the brand a bit more human, doesn’t it? And getting your marketing to be more human is a big win.

So have you ever used Whatsapp to get in touch with a brand’s customer service team? Would you?! Or do you prefer other methods like chatbots, phone calls (the horror), or maybe even a sternly written letter?