WhatsApp - a powerful conversion tool

Since we launched the WhatsApp integration for Grasp in closed beta 2 months ago, a few dozen companies have been testing it enthusiastically. Very exciting times for both our testers and our team; together, we discovered the power of WhatsApp as a customer service tool. One of our recent testers reported having made two deals on his very first testing day!

As a reader of this blog, you’re aware by now how crucial it is to meet customers where they are and serve them on their preferred channels. Facebook used to be considered an effective way to do this, but it now has very little reach. With WhatsApp, however, you send a message that your customer receives immediately – on a device (s)he carries along at all times (especially if their wrist is adorned with an Apple Watch). It’s gold.

Let’s talk conversion

OK – so how do you go about it? Fortunately for Grasp users, helping (potential) customers over WhatsApp no longer involves fat fingers or a tiny smartphone screen: users of our WhatsApp integration are comfortably typing away on their desktop, laptop, or tablet/smartphone if they insist. Straight from the Grasp team-inbox, we enable them to have WhatsApp conversations just as easily as conversations through email, live chat or social media.

But let’s talk conversion. Conversion is all about responding in the right way at the right time. And the right time, these days, is as soon as humanly possible. Now, if your company’s name figures in your customers’ WhatsApp contact list, what’s stopping them to ask a question as it pops into their head whilst browsing your website or even reading one of your magazine ads?

Show them you care

If you’re smart enough to respond right away and satisfy their curiosity, they’re well on their way to what might be considered an impulse purchase – a purchase of a product that might not even have been on their wish list if it wasn’t for WhatsApp. WhatsApp is equally interesting for existing customers. Problems with a purchased product? Allow your customers to grab their smartphone and app their question. And surprise them: they’ll be happy to see the words ‘typing…’ underneath their WhatsApp message very soon indeed. You’re coming to their rescue – because you care.

Offer personalised services

In India, where WhatsApp is even hotter than here in the Netherlands, customer service through WhatsApp has an astounding conversion rate – as high as 80%. “India's favourite instant messaging app,” the India Times reports, “is now being used (…) to promote, sell, and offer after-sale-services.”

India’s pioneers in customer service through WhatsApp were small and medium entrepreneurs. Meanwhile, however, even big luxury brands (Cartier, Armani, Diesel) are WhatsApping their way into extraordinary customer service.

Brick-and-mortar businesses are finding that customer service through WhatsApp is the most effective (and cost-effective) way to keep in touch with their regular customers. “Selling luxury is all about offering personalised services,” a CEO explains in the India Times article. “Platforms like WhatsApp enable that, which is why brands encourage their store managers to make an extensive use of it.” What’s that – you’re not making use of it at all? Sign up for a 14 days free trial to test WhatsApp. So let’s boost your conversion and your customer satisfaction rate - before your competitors do.