WhatsApp is renowned for its exceptional open rates. It is often cited as a powerful tool for customer acquisition due to rates surpassing 95%. However, its potential exceeds beyond acquisition. Utilizing WhatsApp for customer retention remains an underexplored strategy that could yield substantial benefits.
WhatsApp is a triple treat for customer retention—it is quick, personal, and convenient. It allows real-time interactions with customers providing immediate responses and tailored recommendations. This helps build a comfortable, trusted relationship with your customers, boosting brand loyalty.
In this post, we’ll explore some of the best WhatsApp retention strategies that brands use every day to keep their customers hooked and keep them coming back for more.
Top 9 Whatsapp Retention Strategies
To tap into WhatsApp marketing as a retention channel, brands need to invest time in understanding user behavior on Whatsapp and become savvy in navigating it. But how? Let’s dive right in.
1. Kickstart Two-Way Chats in Customer Service
Customer service isn’t just a department—it’s the frontline where customers connect with your company, whether they need information or help solving an issue. It’s crucial for maintaining customer satisfaction and loyalty, directly impacting your churn rate.
With WhatsApp’s multimedia messaging, customer-initiated chats open the door to two-way conversations that are more interactive than old-school phone calls or emails. This approach allows customers to use videos or images to clarify their issues, making their support process more engaging and accessible, alleviating concerns in a conversational manner.
Today, the young demographic (ages 16-35) practically lives on quick messaging. Offering customer service in a format they prefer makes them more comfortable and boosts their confidence in reaching out—just like they would with a friend.
Using a WhatsApp business account also integrates with third-party customer engagement platforms, allowing representatives to handle issues directly from their desktop devices. This setup solves problems in real-time and saves all those chat details in WhatsApp for future reference. So, next time a customer pops up for follow-up queries, your customer support executives are already armed with actionable information on the customer.
2. Get Ahead with Business-Initiated Messaging
Proactively reaching out to customers is crucial for exceptional success. WhatsApp lets brands initiate conversations for several reasons, enhancing customer safety. It allows you to send pre-approved messages within a 24-hour window from when the activity is initiated.
You can use this feature to send important updates, such as order statuses, reminders about unpaid bills, confirmation of deliveries, and even notices about any shipping issues. These proactive updates are key to building trust and showing your customers that you’ve got their back.
Amazon does a good job at this as you can see from the image below.
Being proactive isn’t just about avoiding problems; it also enhances customer satisfaction encouraging repeat purchases. By sending timely updates that could influence buying decisions—like price drops or reminders about items they left in their cart—you can encourage customers to complete their purchases, showing them you’re truly committed to their satisfaction.
3. Boost Engagement with Self-Service Options
Educational content is a key element in customer care. Excellent customer service is demonstrated when customers easily discover, connect with, and use content or services that matter to them.
WhatsApp supports the creation of self-paced customer journeys with options and menus at every step. Users can easily access various touchpoints with your brand via the channel.
By showing customers nifty ways to use a product or service and different techniques to manage or maximize their purchase, your brand becomes more accessible.
WhatsApp API can ramp up your customer engagement further—think automated chat flows, PDFs or videos, and links to well-organized blogs. These tools help create a smooth, intuitive journey for customers looking for educational or self-service resources.
Now, with Meta’s GenAI, users can access brand information much faster and with better accuracy.
4. High-Impact Conversations with Customers
High-impact messaging focuses on forging genuine connections with individual customers and delivering instant value. The goal is to boost customer engagement by giving shoppers exactly what they want and how they want it, a vital whatsapp retention tactic. Brands can tap into WhatsApp and plan out entire campaigns using a mix of rich media and call-to-action elements embedded within the WhatsApp chat itself.
High-impact messaging focuses on your top-notch services and content. It has the potential to boost customer retention across the board. Examples of engaging customers via Whatsapp include call-to-action messages, engaging media dialogues, chatbot-powered self-service texts, interactive list menus, and product catalogs.
WhatsApp product catalog carousels. You can send a message (1) along with carousels (2) with different images and two unique CTAs for each slide
Loyal customers can claim rewards directly on WhatsApp with high-impact conversations like this.
WhatsApp boosts both reactive and proactive brand messaging. To maximize this feature, brands can run better, well-oiled campaigns by whipping up custom templates for 24/7 messaging. This approach ensures continuous support and delivers compelling brand messaging to customers in any time zone.
5. Boost Real-Time Customer Query Resolution with Chatbots
Chatbots are a great solution for driving instant, automated conversations between a bot and your customers. By harnessing AI and ML, these chatbots can efficiently manage routine inquiries as soon as a customer reaches out. These asynchronous communications eliminate the need for customer service executives, slash the response time from hours to seconds, and address common questions swiftly.
And here’s the cool part—you can configure chatbots to resolve customer issues using predefined templates or make them more human-like with natural language processing. Offering on-demand support without the dreaded wait times of IVR calls is what makes Whatsapp-powered AI chatbots a favorite among B2C marketing managers.
In the long run, you can step up your game using tools like behavioral analytics to train your chatbots to pick up on customer sentiments. This way, they get better at understanding and proactively addressing customer emotions. With quick responses, you’re saving time and sparing your customers long waits.
6. Win Customer Loyalty with Personalized Touches
Personalization is the holy grail in today’s digital marketplace. In the absence of in-store, face-to-face interaction, personalization bridges the gap by recognizing and connecting with your customer’s unique needs.
WhatsApp offers several ways to tailor your approach for customers with similar needs. Firstly, it lets you segment your customer base into different groups—like distinguishing between one-time users and regulars. Next, it helps you craft messages tailored to their buying habits and browsing history.
This approach ensures your messages are highly relevant and tailored to your audience’s preferences. By understanding what your customers enjoy and how they shop, you can seamlessly address their needs. Use conversational messaging to subtly direct them toward specific products or promotions. This personalized technique not only makes each customer feel valued but also significantly enhances their loyalty to your brand.
Below are some examples of brands leveraging this tactic to target audiences with their latest products and services based on past purchases and website/mobile app interactions.
7. Keep Customers Engaged with Post-Purchase Communication
The journey after a customer hits ‘buy’ is crucial. From checkout onwards, you have a golden chance to keep them engaged and satisfied. This phase is vital for ensuring customers return and enhancing your retention rates.
Typically, post-purchase updates include letting customers know where their order is when it will arrive, and what will happen if there’s a delay. 93% of customers expect to receive these kinds of updates from brands.
Consider leveraging WhatsApp to streamline your post-purchase communication by sending regular updates. You can start by setting up an order status template approved by Facebook Developers. This keeps your customers well-informed about their purchase status, significantly reducing any post-purchase anxiety as they await their items.
8. Increase Lifetime Value with Loyalty Programs and WhatsApp Groups
Loyalty programs are designed to keep customers returning for more. These strategic marketing initiatives typically offer existing customers benefits such as discounts, exclusive items, expedited shipping, hassle-free returns, and access to special events, all aimed at encouraging frequent repeat purchases.
Since loyalty programs can significantly expand your customer base, WhatsApp is ideal for engaging with your top-tier customers. It allows you to send sign-up invitations that are more personal and engaging rather than feeling like typical advertisements.
Brands have also set up WhatsApp groups to build a community among customers who enjoy special perks. This lets them share their experiences and spread the word about your brand through old-fashioned word-of-mouth.
9. Get Ahead by Actively Seeking Customer Feedback
Asking for customer feedback is a fantastic way to show you value your buyers, their opinions, their experiences, and the time they spend with your brand. A study by Spectrum found that 57% of online shoppers like to keep in touch with companies via WhatsApp regularly, making it an ideal channel for gathering feedback.
Consider using ‘list messages’ to send out simple surveys directly via WhatsApp, such as asking customers to rate their experience on a scale of 1 to 10. You can also include a link to a more detailed feedback form. Additionally, WhatsApp allows for the creation of feedback directly within the app, without needing to use a URL or redirect users to another site. This method simplifies the feedback process, making it more accessible for users to provide their input promptly.
Once you start collecting these details, especially on a platform where people are more likely to respond, you’re setting yourself up for some serious customer engagement. That’s a big win in the customer care game.
How Can You Boost Customer Retention With Whatsapp Marketing Via Netcore?
To incorporate these WhatsApp marketing strategies, you need a WhatsApp Business API. To get started, contact a WhatsApp Business Solution Provider (BSP) such as Netcore Cloud.
Netcore’s leading-edge customer engagement platform and expertise in customer retention strategies help B2C brands effectively engage and maintain their target audience. Netcore as a direct business pattern with Meta, directly integrates with your marketing automation platform with no third-party interventions. This means better features, quicker deployments and faster resolution times.
Netcore’s advanced analytics and AI-driven automation allow you to pinpoint key customer behaviors and send personalized messages that truly resonate. This direct connection streamlines every element of WhatsApp marketing, from crafting strategies to managing real-time customer interactions. As a result, you can enhance customer satisfaction and drive meaningful engagement at scale.
