How to improve customer experience and loyalty with WhatsApp

Whether you work for an established or an emerging brand, winning the loyalty of your customers is critical – but it’s not easy. You need to invest significant resources in nurturing relationships, ensuring that your products and services exceed expectations every time someone gets in touch or makes a purchase. 

WhatsApp, with its 99% open rate and ease of use, is transforming how businesses connect with their audience. By offering a fast, personal, and highly accessible platform for communication, WhatsApp empowers brands to exceed customer expectations and build lasting relationships.

In this article, we’ll explore why customer experience is so crucial to loyalty and how your business can use WhatsApp to improve it. 

Why is customer experience important? 

Those with a loyal customer base can expect to increase their revenue through repeat purchases, higher average spends, and word-of-mouth recommendations. Customer acquisition costs are generally lower too, improving the profitability of both marketing campaigns and the business. 

The shift to ecommerce, online banking, and other digital services has opened up a world of choice to consumers. In competitive markets like retail and financial services, some may be driven by ultra-low prices and special offers, yet price isn’t the only reason why someone would choose one brand over another. 

Many customers prioritise service and a positive experience too – and research suggests that almost a third (31%) are willing to pay more for it. A big part of customer service involves offering the right communications channels, at the right time, to deliver excellent experiences. These experiences can involve anything from proactively promoting relevant products or services, to providing essential information (such as delivery times) or to resolving queries and complaints before they escalate.

While customers still like to pick up the phone and speak to a human agent for some issues, they’re also embracing messaging apps like WhatsApp – a channel that is both easy to use and familiar to most. In fact, according to our research, around 80% would respond to a WhatsApp message from a business. Its high open rate (99%) and conversion rate (40-60%) makes it an effective engagement tool, but how exactly can it build customer loyalty? 

Why are businesses turning to WhatsApp?

WhatsApp is used by over three-quarters of UK adults, so businesses already have a willing and receptive audience. It’s quick, direct and convenient, and offers a wide range of features to engage people. Branded profiles, video and imagery, and CTAs like ‘shop now’ create memorable experiences that can have a direct impact on sales and loyalty. You can broadcast (bulk send) messages, personalise communications, and gain insights into how campaigns are performing . End-to-end encryption keeps conversations secure, while the competitive pricing makes it a cost-effective communication tool. 

The WhatsApp Business App is ideal for self-employed people and very small businesses (like tradespeople or shop owners). You get access to a range of features so you can deliver a professional service – and, best of all, it’s free.

On the other hand, SMEs (businesses with 10-250 employees) will need WhatsApp Business Platform, which allows you to communicate with large numbers of people, using an API linked to your communications platform. You get all the features as the free version, plus many more, including chatbots, via a communications platform like Esendex, which integrates with your CRM.

Learn more: WhatsApp Business vs WhatsApp Business Platform

Building strong customer relationships with WhatsApp

WhatsApp isn’t just useful for one-off promotions, or customer service enquiries. Over time, it can help to build lasting relationships with customers by consistently offering relevant products and deals, and reassuring them that they can communicate with you at a time to suit them. Below are three ways WhatsApp helps you to bolster your customer relationships:

1. Personalisation at scale: Connecting the WhatsApp Business Platform to your CRM allows you to create personalised messages to multiple phone numbers based on demographic details, like age and gender, and addressing the recipient by their first name. These targeted messages connect customers to your brand, and foster loyalty. 

2. Real-time customer care: From automated responses, to intelligent chatbots, to live agent support, there are multiple ways to offer instant customer support within the secure and familiar WhatsApp space.

3. Keep customers up-to-date: Let customers know about the latest products, promotions or company news quickly and directly, so they feel valued.

Improve customer loyalty with WhatsApp

Customers who trust and feel an emotional connection with your brand are more likely to recommend it to friends and family, post positive reviews online, and buy your products or services again.

WhatsApp allows you to proactively engage with current and potential customers, sending them exclusive offers, sneak previews, and useful reminders (like an upcoming restaurant booking or delivery). It’s a great channel for value-added content too, such as make-up tutorials if you’re a beauty brand, or invitations to events with easy-to-use response buttons.

Because of its high engagement rates, WhatsApp is a good way to track customer sentiment and loyalty, so you can address any issues swiftly. For example, a link to a quick survey after a customer service conversation or purchase encourages them to provide insights while it’s fresh in their minds, without being intrusive. Keeping a close eye on open rates, opt-ins/outs, and special offer uptakes will tell you whether your campaigns are hitting the mark or need to be refined. These metrics are also useful for tracking the effectiveness of your loyalty or member programme.

Best practice for using WhatsApp as a business

Communicating with customers at scale is one of the biggest advantages of the WhatsApp Business Platform but it’s important to follow these steps to ensure your conversations comply with data protection laws and generate the best response rates.  

Encourage people to opt-in

Not only is obtaining explicit consent the best way to comply with GDPR, it also allows you to build a database of actively engaged people who want to hear from you. Meta, which owns WhatsApp, also has an opt-in policy, requiring businesses to obtain permission before contacting users.

You can get consent in a number of ways – including website forms, social media, and WhatsApp threads initiated by the customer. Remember to make it quick and easy for them to opt out of future communications too.

Read more: WhatsApp opt-in: How to build a compliant subscriber list

Avoid overcommunication 

None of us want to be bombarded with messages, regardless of the channel. But, while emails might sit in an inbox unread (or get stuck in spam filters), WhatsApp is more personal and immediate – so overcommunication can become intrusive. Even your strongest messages will quickly lose impact if recipients get tired of them. 

Volume-wise four messages a month is a good starting point, depending on your budget and marketing goals, but always A/B test the time and frequency, and adapt your campaigns accordingly. 

Maintain a high quality rating 

Quality matters when it comes to WhatsApp. Spammy messages not only damage your brand, they also impact the number of messages you can send per day. That’s because WhatsApp has three quality ratings: High (green), Medium (yellow), and Low (red), which are designed to protect users from unwanted/unsolicited communications. You can check your ratings in the WhatsApp Business Manager, and they’re based on how your messages were received over the past seven days. If large numbers of users report or block you, your quality rating will go down. 

A Low quality rating means your account may be flagged or restricted so you won’t be able to send as many messages as you’d like. If your account is flagged, you can’t upgrade to the next messaging tier (see below) as it becomes restricted when you hit your messaging limit. Restricted accounts cannot start any more conversations until the next 24-hour window resets although you’re still able to respond to conversations initiated by customers. 

Rating tiers:

• Tier 1: 1,000 messages/day
• Tier 2: 10,000 messages/day
• Tier 3: 100,000 messages/day
• Tier 4: Unlimited messages after surpassing Tier 3

To avoid hitting your messaging limit, your rating must be Medium or High. Improving and maintaining your rating is an ongoing process but can be achieved by following Meta’s policies, reviewing your message templates regularly, and adhering to marketing best practices.

Use automation

Being a human-centric brand is key to customer loyalty – but that doesn’t mean you have to have someone available on the phone at all times. Strategic use of automation, in the form of automated responses and chatbots within WhatsApp, allow customers to resolve straightforward queries when it suits them, while freeing up human agents to manage more complex matters. 

Personalise

Your branding, imagery and other rich features create an instant connection between your business and customers. WhatsApp already feels comfortable and familiar to most of us – but personalising  communications with our first name, relevant offers or birthday deals engages us even more. 

Choose a provider who supports your goals

Launching WhatsApp Business Platform is easy, as long as you choose the right provider. With Esendex, you can be up and running in less than a day – and have all your contacts and tools in one place. You can flexibly move between channels, such as SMS and email, depending on how customers choose to interact.

While WhatsApp offers end-to-end encryption, always check the data security credentials of your Business Platform Provider. Where is customer data stored, do they have relevant accreditations, and how is the data backed up? It’s also worth looking for a provider who can help your team work efficiently, using automations and pre-written and proven templates. 

Get started

As we’ve seen, WhatsApp is the perfect way to drive improved customer engagement and loyalty. People are more likely to return if their experience has been positive, and they’re usually happy to engage with a channel they use regularly in their personal lives. With branded profiles, a high-quality rating, personalisation, and rapid responses, you’ll create a strong connection with your customers and win both their trust and loyalty. 
Book a free demo to find out how WhatsApp Business Platform can help you achieve your customer loyalty goals.