Every business sector has challenges to navigate, and the financial sector is no exception. Moreover, 30% of customer is the UK are willing to pay more to receive excellent customer service from the finance sector. Therefore, this is an ideal time for financial service providers to re-evaluate how they communicate with customers and offer something more. Mobile-focused methods are increasingly popular and hugely effective in interacting with your audience, and WhatsApp for banks and financial services is one channel to have in your marketing mix.
The challenge for the finance sector
One of the biggest challenges right now is the surge in call volumes coming into call centres. On average, incoming calls have increased by almost half (44%) since the beginning of 2020, due to a combination of things, including an increased demand for services, customers facing financial hardship and reduced availability of physical branches to visit in person.
This causes customers to wait for a long time over the phone before being able to talk to an agent. But it creates a challenge for banks as well, as their agents cannot be as efficient as they could, as they are able to talk only to one person at a time.
Moreover, 69% of people don’t want to talk to someone about their financial situation and more than 37% would rather self-manage their finances. This is reinforced by the fact that 73% of of bank account holders use mobile banking (smartphone or tablet) to process banking matters in 2024.
So, banks and financial service institutions need to offer customers a new suite of rich interactive functionalities. WhatsApp Business Platform provides a solution to those challenges.
3 ways financial service providers can use WhatsApp
1 . Two-way customer service interactions
The traditional customer service agent/customer interaction doesn’t offer many benefits for either party. Call centres can be costly and customer backlogs often build up due to the fact that an agent can only handle one query at a time. In turn, customers are left infuriated by the inevitable, ‘we are experiencing high call volumes’ message, and the subsequent lengthy time left in a queue or on hold.
When you use WhatsApp Business Platform, you can handle multiple conversations at once. You’ll also be able to provide a rich experience, thanks to the innate ability to send images, videos and other media, interactive buttons and more.
For simpler queries, you can even use bots to handle the entire interaction, with no agent needed at all!
2 . Measuring customer satisfaction
Did you know that nearly a third of consumers (32%) would be happy to complete surveys or write reviews if asked to do so via WhatsApp? So, boost your survey completion rate and successfully gather valuable feedback by using WhatsApp Business Platform to send customer satisfaction (CSAT) surveys.
3 . Sending security alerts
If there’s any suspicious activity on a customer’s account, it’s vital that you alert the customer in the quickest and most engaging way possible. Using WhatsApp for these critical, time-sensitive notifications means that they’re sent directly to the place where customers are most likely to see them immediately.
WhatsApp Business Platform also offers end-to-end encryption so it’s ideal for sending sensitive information.
What are the benefits of using WhatsApp for banks and financial services?
- Extensive customer reach – WhatsApp is the world’s most popular messaging app, with 2 billion monthly active users.
- Financial service customers want to engage via WhatsApp – 67% of mobile messaging app users said they expect to use chat more for communicating with businesses over the next two years.
- Customers are more likely to engage with a business offering WhatsApp touchpoints – 53% of customers say they’re more likely to shop with a business they can message directly.
- Ability to send rich branded messages – As well as being able to add your company logo and profile, providers can use the channel to send images, videos and more. Just like email but via the channel they’re using day-to-day!
How to implement WhatsApp Business Platform for financial service providers
If you’d like more information on how WhatsApp Business Platform can help your business, please contact our dedicated and experienced industry experts today on 0345 356 5758.
In the meantime, find out more on how to take the empathetic approach even via digital means, check out our latest eBook. We include statistics from our latest consumer research and how you can use technology such as WhatsApp Business Platform and AI to support empathetic customer care.
Mayzin Han
Marketing strategist with 8 years of experience, 5+ of which in B2B tech. Currently the Senior Marketing Program Manager at Commify, I work closely with field marketing teams who sit across EMEA and APAC to strategise and create campaigns that meet customer and prospect needs. My background in content marketing means that I'm passionate about all things words, grammar and punctuation. In my free time, I like to run, box and torture myself at spin class because lots of cardio means you can eat what you want!
