Are you still using SMS for sending alerts in your eCommerce business? If yes, then there is a high chance that most of your alerts are lying idle in the spam section of the customer’s inbox.
Yes, you read it right; in today’s world, most promotional messages and alerts automatically end up in the spam folder. To save your money and effort from going down the drain, you must start sending alerts via WhatsApp.
This article will discuss why switching to WhatsApp for eCommerce related communication is good and how you can ace it.
Why is SMS not suitable for e-commerce alerts?
- People are only concerned about SMS regarding bank-related messages like the crediting of salary, bank statements, and more. Other than they usually treat the SMS inbox like a spam box. People want to avoid being associated with SMS marketing due to the increased amount of spam messages.
- Character limit: There is a 160-character limit in text messages, which means you can type messages with more than 160 characters. Hence, the messages in people’s inboxes often end up being primarily short without any proper meaning to grab their attention.
- Less used: most people have DND turned on, which means if you send Bulk SMS to 200 people, it will actually get delivered to only about 10-20 people.
Benefits of WhatsApp as a marketing platform
There is no denying that WhatsApp ensures a better engagement rate than SMS; here are a few more benefits of using WhatsApp as a marketing platform:
- You can get replies with one-click messages.
- It allows people to unsubscribe, which removes the people who are not interested in your products.
- You can use attractive images to make a more appealing pitch to your customers.
6 effective strategies to set up a WhatsApp eCommerce store
- Switch to WhatsApp Business
If you have decided to go with WhatsApp for communication related to your eCommerce store, you must switch to WhatsApp business. Here are a few reasons why you should use this feature:
- It allows you to have a business profile, and it enables an automatic reply feature that can answer most of the FAQs that customers might have regarding your product.
- It offers a bunch of business tools like customized greeting messages, away messages, catalogs, etc. It also allows you to manage contacts by putting them under different labels.
- You can also link your Facebook and Instagram with your business.
- With WhatsApp’s official business API, you can send bulk messages to different customers without getting your account banned.
- Integrate the WhatsApp chat button on your eCommerce website
Good customer service is the key to getting more customers. A customer can have dozens of doubts regarding your product and any given point in time. In such cases, they want someone who can instantly answer their questions. Therefore by adding a WhatsApp chat button on your website, you are providing a convenient way for the customer to easily reach you. This will give you the much-needed brownie points for good customer service.
- Make proper use of WhatsApp chatbots.
If messaging is the primary medium of contact between you and your customers, you should be aware that customer wants their queries to be solved at the earliest.
There can be cases when you might not be able to get in touch with the customer. This will impact customer service and will drive the customer away to a competitor’s website, where they can get an instant reply.
WhatsApp chatbots are ideal for avoiding such situations. Here the chatbots can handle most of the common issues faced by the customers, and if the queries are too complicated, the conversation can be transferred to an expert from your company. In today’s fast-paced world, tons of companies are using the power of chatbots to the fullest.
- Send abandoned cart notifications.
Do you know that cart abandonment is one of the top challenges faced by eCommerce companies? People usually add things to their carts, but they forget to check out.
Giving a virtual reminder is one of the best ways to tackle this problem. Now giving through SMS and through website notifications will not help. The reminders need to come through a platform that people use on a daily basis.
Hence, we can all agree that WhatsApp is an ideal platform for sending such reminders. In order to give them a push to buy the products, you can squeeze in a small discount as well. This will add a personalized touch to the reminder message, which is excellent for getting a sale.
- Give order-related updates on WhatsApp.
When a customer buys a product from your store, they will want to have regular updates regarding their order. They would be eager to know shipping updates, delivery time, and more.
Let’s face it, going to the company’s website to check the status of the order is a painstaking process, and nobody enjoys that. People want automatic updates to be delivered to them.
Since people use WhatsApp on a daily basis, it will be fantastic for them to get updates regarding the much-awaited order straight into their inboxes.
To take things up a notch, you can add a live tracking link to the message where the customer can see the status of their order in real-time.
- Use ads
Instead of posting ads that land people on your website, you directly post some advertisements that will get people to your WhatsApp eCommerce store.
As soon as they enter the WhatsApp chat room, the customers will get a virtual feeling of being in a store and interacting with an employee.
This enhances the overall buying experience and will give you extra points for customer service.
Also, this can be a great trick to get the mobile numbers of customers without making them fill out lengthy forms that people mostly ignore.
