NON-TRANSACTIONAL MESSAGES ON WHATSAPP: ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW
Open communication and a personalized customer experience is at the heart of any business marketing strategy. With a technological environment that is constantly evolving, digital disruptions are paving the way for more efficient means to stay connected with the target audience. As of January 2021, around 59.5% of the global population are active internet users. Such a number places digital mediums as the most effective methods of entering the lives of customers. While there are many social media platforms that support online messaging, WhatsApp has emerged as one of the most engaging platforms for business customer interactions.
With a user base of 1 billion daily active users, over 65 billion messages are exchanged on this platform on a regular basis. This is why more and more businesses are integrating this application to further their marketing efforts to reach customers instantly. But, there are times when the application’s functionality limits businesses and their ability to develop deeper and more meaningful relationships with their customers. Earlier, they could only connect with their customers in a transactional capacity that involved exchange of delivery schedule and payment updates on WhatsApp. But now, the WhatsApp Business API allows businesses to exchange non-transactional messages as well in order to enable brands to personalize their promotional strategy and empower genuine and responsible marketers in real time.
What are non-transactional messages on WhatsApp?
Before June 2021, WhatsApp only allowed messages of transactional nature to go through to their widespread user base due to its strict business messaging policy. This involved notifications about impending deliveries and payments which were sent by brands to their customers. Now that the platform has allowed businesses to send non-transactional messages, brands and their customers can engage in stronger relationships to ensure that both of their needs are met.
Non-transactional messages mainly include notifications about discounts, cashback offers, alerts, reminders, product recommendations and much more. To send these notifications, businesses first need to take a user opt-in, just like an email subscription opt-in. This advanced form of messaging is designed specifically for brands to provide holistic customer support to their clients throughout their journey. This not just helps businesses to strike up conversations with the target audience but also helps them to open up new avenues for marketers.
Ways of effective WhatsApp marketing
WhatsApp has successfully entered the business-customer interaction domain but not without strict guidelines to protect the interests of both business and consumers. For non-transactional messages, WhatsApp offers three tenets to ensure that the brand’s messages are welcome in a customer’s inbox and in accordance with their expectations and opt-in guidelines.
Expected messages
Businesses must get an opt-in from their customers to ensure that the messages they deliver are expected and accepted from the customer’s end to avoid any irritation or unnecessary confusion.
Relevant communication
The brand’s message should be clear, concise and relevant to the company’s service offerings and the client’s needs. They should be personalized with the recipient’s recent interactions with the brand and contain necessary information about the next steps the customer should take.
Timely responses
Customers must receive the brand’s messages when they are relevant in terms of time. This means that the non-transactional message must be sent in a time window that is related to the previous interactions with the customers.
Important use cases of WhatsApp non-transactional messages
Non-transactional messages offer a greater degree of freedom and more opportunities for businesses to create a loyal customer base on WhatsApp. Be it ecommerce, automobile, travel or real estate, many different industries can benefit from this form of proactive messaging.
Promotional messages
Businesses can send various types of promotional messages to their clients such as announcing a sale, launch of a new product range through vouchers and discount offers. Brands can also send product recommendations and enable customers to get all that they require at one place.
Alerts and reminders
By sending various alerts and reminders on WhatsApp, businesses can keep the customer updated with all latest promotions. These messages will keep the customers on track with their appointments, payment schedules or other bookings in a convenient and transparent manner.
Upselling and Cross-selling
Businesses can now access a user’s purchase history to provide them with customized products and services. They can promote additional products and services that are in trend or would be suitable to a client’s needs based on their previous purchases.
Personalized offers
Brands can easily personalize their service offerings and make them more customer-oriented to increase conversions and enhance their return on investment (ROI). They can offer various discount codes that are tailored to meet the specific needs of an individual such as a discount coupon on the occasion of their birthday.
Get started with WhatsApp promotional messaging
WhatsApp has provided some guidelines with respect to its promotional messaging feature for all businesses and users with the following details:
- Businesses must be clear with the opt-in policy from the customer’s end, which means confirmation from the customer’s end is necessary to send all important information and promotional messages after their purchase.
- While sending out non-transactional messages, businesses should comply with the rules and guidelines of the WhatsApp Commerce policy.
- Users can also opt for different categories of messages which they wish to receive, accordingly, they will receive the message of order updates, products recommendations and services.
- Businesses should not spam the users with regular messages/newsletters or by sharing inappropriate content, this can lead to blocking and reporting which can be really bad for a business as WhatsApp observes this pattern and systematically takes action.
- Ensure that your customer has opt-in and opt-out different sections according to the products and services which they wish to choose.
- Clear communication is always beneficial, make sure to have clear-cut communication with your customers so that you can cater to their requirements and provide fruitful solutions.
WhatsApp is an important channel for businesses to reach their customers in a faster and more effortless manner than before. Today, people are not just present on WhatsApp to chat with their friends and family, they also want to connect with their favorite brands on their preferred messaging platform. With the roll out of non-transactional messages, marketers and businesses from various industry verticals can boost brand awareness, enhance online conversations and drive valuable experiences.
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