How to implement WhatsApp messaging into your business

This post was brought to you by CM Telecom, a leading global mobile service company for messaging and payments.

While many of us consider WhatsApp a handy way for staying in touch with friends and family, the messaging service with 800 million users is also an incredibly powerful tool for businesses.

According to Breda Today, a Dutch local newspaper, when they started experimenting with the platform they had click-through-rates (CTR) of 114 percent for their content. When compared to Facebook’s CTRs of 63 percent, the messaging service suddenly looks like an untapped resource by marketers everywhere.

In this post we’ll explore examples of how others have used WhatsApp in their business, and ways it can help your own company connect with users in more powerful ways.

Use it to instantly connect and interact with audiences

Sending out emails to your customers is an effective way of informing them what’s happening with your company. However, trying to solicit feedback through email is a challenge. On WhatsApp however, users can instantly message you with requests, questions or even content for your business.

Breda Today, also uses WhatsApp to allow readers to send news tips or photos directly to the newsroom. The editor also sends news alerts to the paper’s subscribers, and receives direct feedback via CTR on what stories resonate the most with readers.

The paper also discovered that when they used WhatsApp to ask subscribers to fill-out a user survey, they had a completion rate of 24percent. When you compare that to an average of 5 percent using more conventional methods, you can start to see WhatsApp’s power.

Use it the same way you use email

While WhatsApp is predominantly a mobile based platform, you can still use a desktop to reach those audiences. There’s an email application from CM Telecom that allows you to communicate with your user base more efficiently.

At present WhatsApp has not published an official API and the service doesn’t support third party apps, so CM Telecom has developed an SMS based backup, allowing businesses and clients to stay in touch, whatever happens.

This allows your customer management teams to easily integrate the service into their workflow. It will work with any email program, there’s little or no training involved, and can be easily searched to find previous conversations or keywords. Just like email.

This service allows anyone with an email account to see comments, add photos or videos, and create sub-lists of users so you’re not sending out everything to all of your customers at one time.

Use it to offer a personalized service

Offering a bespoke service on WhatsApp is a free way of making your customers feel valued, even if you’re a web only company. Rare Pink, a bespoke diamond “ring-maker”, offers online consultations to customers who are looking for unique rings via WhatsApp.

WhatsApp makes it easy for Rare Pink’s staff to send videos of the jewels that will be incorporated in the bespoke jewellery, as well as regular progress reports on how their jewellery is coming along. Thanks to WhatsApp’s functionality having video built-in at no extra cost, this means companies can communicate inexpensively in a more immersive way.

In one case, a city worker from the UK used WhatsApp to communicate with the ring-maker because she wasn’t allowed to use her phone at work. The client eventually bought a ring for £13,000 – all because the designer had installed the app on his or her phone.

Save your customers – and your sales teams, time

According to research from CTIA, the wireless association, text messages are read within 90 seconds on average, whereas the response times to emails are around the 90-minute mark.

If you’re working in a time-sensitive environment and you need to contact and communicate with your customers directly, WhatsApp can be a valuable way of cutting down those times.

Fashion designer Roberto Revilla uses the service to communicate with his customers in the high-end tailoring business. “In the past 12 months, we’ve gained more than 320 hours by using instant messaging, which is worth at least £80,000 in revenue,” he told the Telegraph newspaper.

Thanks to WhatsApp messages being easy things to process and respond to, it increases the dialogue between you and your customers.

Use it to report bugs and problems with the service

Many companies have already started using WhatsApp as a way of communicating to users if their services are currently functioning, or even for customers to tell companies their services aren’t running correctly.

In India, the Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC) provides a helpline service for its buses on WhatsApp. Here passengers can file complaints, make suggestions and even find out if the bus is running on time.

Indian Railways (PNR) is another service provider that integrates WhatsApp. It has connected its API for train routing to a number people can add to their contacts and see if there are delays, maintenance works or what time a train is due to arrive.

Take Away

Above are just a few examples of how WhatsApp has been implemented as a service for businesses to use. While the company itself is notoriously anti-advertising, the above methods are unobtrusive ways of communicating with audiences in more meaningful ways that don’t involve huge upfront costs. So, what are you waiting for?

Image credits: WhatsApp, Shutterstock

Users to get unused mobile internet data on next recharge

BSNL has a gift for subscribers of its's pre-paid 2G and 3G services as their unused mobile Internet data will be added to their plans when they go for next recharge.

The company released a statement saying that the facility has been available on BSNL network for both 2G and 3G mobile Internet plans but it was stopped in February.

"This new facility will be applicable for all the GSM 2G and 3G pre-paid mobile customers of all BSNL circles across India," the statement said.

In an apparent effort to cash in on the rising demand for 3G services, BSNL is introducing new 3G mobile Internet plans at prices lower than industry. "BSNL recently introduced Rs 68 Data Special Tariff Voucher (STV) which allows 1 GB 3G Mobile Data for 10 days, never given by any other operator at this cheapest rates in the present market," the statement said.

"Quality of service and customer satisfaction is our top priority and transparency makes us different from other operators," BSNL Director for Consumer Mobility, N K Gupta said.

Tata Nano re-re-relaunch: New GenX automatic seems like a winner

After several false starts, the Tata Motors management may finally have got its act together with the Nano’s re-re-re-relaunch. Unveiling today (19 May) is the automatic version of the car, the GenX Nano, priced in the range of Rs 1.99. lakh and Rs 3 lakh for multiple variants.

Unlike the first version of the Nano, which was developed based on a Ratan Tata hunch that people may upgrade from “unsafe” two-wheelers to “safe” cars if only the pricing was right, this time the company is launching 21 variants of GenX after detailed consumer studies and feedback, reports The Economic Times.

It had better work this time, for Tata cannot afford another flop show. The “Rs 1 lakh car” has more than $1 billion of investments riding on it. If it does not shine this time, the Nano will be more or less history.

The car's basic model is priced at Rs 1,99,000 ex-showroom (Delhi). The price of other variants goes up to Rs 2,89,000.

The Nano’s primary problem has always been its perception. Even before it was launched, it was dubbed the “Rs 1 lakh car” based on a Ratan Tata interview in which he talked about such a pricing. The glib assumption that pricing alone would do the trick turned out to be wrong. The consumer wondered if she was getting a glorified autorickshaw or a poor quality four-wheeler for that kind of money. Lower price was seen as implying lower quality – an impression fanned by news reports about the odd early Nano or two catching fire, which the company’s PR handled poorly. Perception thus became reality in consumer minds.

In its first relaunch, the management goofed again. It focused on affordability, and offered EMIs that matched those for two-wheelers. This reinforced the “cheap” perception and also that this may not be quite a real car, especially in a market where second-hand cars were available in plenty at comparable prices.

The second relaunch, which involved a few minor design tweaks and quality improvements and the creation of a new Nano sub-brand – the Twist - fared a little better, but fundamental impressions did not change. By the time Twist arrived on the scene, most manufacturers had dished out their own cheaper cars –from the Chevrolet Beat to the Hyundai Eon to the Maruti Alto 800.

Now, things seem to be different. At the upper end of the Tata GenX pricing, it is only around Rs 50,000 cheaper than the base Alto 800, which has an on-road price in Mumbai of around Rs 3.5 lakh, including insurance and registration.

While a saving of Rs 50k is nothing to sniff at, clearly this time the Tata Nano is not using price alone as its selling point. It is selling a real car, with the right consumer benefits. It is, according to Girish Wagh, senior Vice-President at Tata Motors, being repositioned in the small hatchback compact car segment.

The ET report says the “GenX Nano is better looking, has a stronger body, and improved fit and finish with key functional features like a small boot, power steering, automatic transmission and fully loaded Bluetooth connectivity.”

We should wait for consumer feedback to check if the new positioning and changes work, but there is little doubt that the Tata Motors bosses have learnt the right lessons from past failures. They are no longer trying to sell a replacement for two-wheelers or a “cheap car”, even though the Nano will indeed attract upgrades from the two-wheeler segment.

It will probably be sold as a Smart City car, which is not a bad position to take for an automatic, since crowded city streets make manual gears tiresome in bumper-to-bumper traffic situations. Also, given its smaller engine, even the fuel-efficiency loss due to the use of automatic transmission will not be a negative for the new Nano. Indian consumers are sensitive to fuel consumption averages, and automatic transmission cars have not taken off for this reason.

The fact that the GenX Nano now comes with 21 variants is interesting. Last year, I had talked about the key changes I would like to see in the Tata Nano if consumers will take a relook at it. These were:

#1: A comfortable and spacier two-seater city car which has some boot space too - and foldable rear seats that can make way for more boot space. (It is not clear if a two-seater is an option with GenX).

#2: A car with big changes in the outward design. The current design is not sexy enough, and the young, who might be potential buyers, would not buy it. College-goers now using bikes may, conceivably, buy a car that looked like the VW Beetle, even if it performed like a - well - Nano. (Some changes have been made to the looks, and they are worthwhile).

#3: An automatic transmission by default - which will target women and senior citizens. Honda scooters is the preferred choice of all those who don't want to be kicking bikes into action. No reason why cars have to be more complicated. The Maruti-Suzuki Celerio is an effort to rope in new car users. The Nano should target the same. (The new Nano has addressed this market)

#4: An electric car priced at a max of Rs 3.5-4 lakh, and which can be charged easily from home power sockets. (This may come later)

#5: A rural Nano version, with a bench-like front seating (where one kid can be accommodated on the lap of the second traveler), and an open carrier (like a micro-truck) at the back to carry goods or more kids. Rural families travel on the backs of mini-trucks like this only (This may still happen.)

#6: A price tag in the range of Rs 2 lakh (on-road) and going upto Rs 3 lakh (which is the current range anyway) (The new pricing is more or less there).

#7: Tubeless tyres as the default option to make the car hassle free on punctures. (This might be an option on GenX)

#8: A diesel version for rural areas; for city areas, mileage is not an issue, since it is meant to be a short-distance car.(This should be coming soon.)

#9: Instant payment options by credit cards; instant EMI options (without elaborate paperwork) like the way smartphones are sold - automatic conversion of loans to EMIs. (It’s a matter of deals with banks.)

#10: A name change. The name Nano was a good one in 2008; today it has the looks of a loser. It is not easy to reposition a loser with cosmetic changes and an old name. A new name will help Tata Motors reinvent the platform(GenX is a sub-brand on the Nano platform. It just may work, but the jury will be out till consumer feedback becomes positive).

My gut feel is the new Nano GenX is a potential winner. The Tatas will be hoping I am right.