How to Use WhatsApp for Customer Service

WhatsApp is a messaging app that lets users send messages and share media with others throughout the world. It works over the Internet and is available on smartphones, tablets and computers.

Our research finds that 65% of consumers say they use messenger apps like WhatsApp to engage with companies. WhatsApp ranks high on the list of most popular apps worldwide — making it a great channel to communicate with customers.

Let’s look at how to use WhatsApp for customer service and why you should make it part of your business strategy.

• What is WhatsApp?
• What are the benefits of using WhatsApp in customer service?
• How do you use WhatsApp in customer service?
• Best practices for using WhatsApp for customer service
• Measuring WhatsApp for customer service success and ROI
• WhatsApp for Service Cloud
• Conveniently connect with customers on WhatsApp

WhatsApp is a popular communications app owned by Meta that enables instant messaging and file sharing capabilities. WhatsApp is available to users for free on Android and Apple devices and can also be used on desktops.

WhatsApp Business is a business-to-business (B2B) platform. It provides tools, such as Quick Replies and Automated Messages, that businesses of all sizes can use to communicate with customers at scale.

Adding WhatsApp as a customer service channel makes sense for several reasons:

• Your customers are using it: It’s important to meet customers where they are. With over 2 billion users worldwide, it's likely that many of your customers are already on WhatsApp. If your business wants to improve omnichannel customer engagement, offering WhatsApp for customer service gives you one more way to connect with customers in a channel they prefer.
• It's convenient: WhatsApp for customer service allows for asynchronous communication. Customers can send you a message when it's convenient for them, rather than during specific business hours. They trust that they'll get help — whether from an AI agent that solves their problem straightaway or a live agent as soon as one is available.
• It offers rich media options: WhatsApp goes beyond text. You can also share rich media content with customers such as images and videos. Rich media features can help you make customer service conversations feel more friendly, engaging and personalised. Our research underscores this: 81% of service pros say customers expect a personal touch more than they used to.
• It's secure: WhatsApp uses end-to-end, industry-leading Signal encryption to keep private messages between you and your customers. Meta uses layers of protection to ensure data security and avoid any vulnerabilities in the platform's code and they've ensured the WhatsApp Business Platform is compliant with the General Data Protection Legislation (GDPR) and other major regulatory requirements.

Depending on your business size, there are two ways to use WhatsApp for customer service:

• WhatsApp business app: This is a good option for small businesses or sole proprietors. Simply download the business app to a device, register your business account and follow the set-up process to build your business profile. The business app is free but is limited to one device.
• WhatsApp Business Platform: Designed for medium and large businesses, the WhatsApp Business Platform provides features to help organisations efficiently deliver service at scale on WhatsApp. One big benefit is that you can integrate the WhatsApp API with your customer relationship management (CRM). This integration allows you to seamlessly bring WhatsApp conversations into your existing customer service operations and makes customer data accessible for personalisation.

To get the most from the WhatsApp platform, consider a few main tips:

Set up automated messages for simple issues

With both WhatsApp business options, you can use automation to provide swift responses. On the app, there are two main ways to use this feature:

• Greeting message: Send a greeting message to all new customers.
• Away message: Create an away message that lets customers know you're not available and when they can expect a response.

Businesses that use the WhatsApp Business Platform can further enhance its automation capabilities with AI chatbots.

Reply fast

Chatbots can help service teams scale by providing immediate support 24/7. More sophisticated autonomous agents like Agentforce Service Agent can understand and take action on a broad range of service issues without preprogrammed scenarios. A live agent can handle issues that require critical thinking and the human touch.

No matter how you help your customers, make sure that you get quick responses out to every message. You can use templates to speed up the process of writing replies. This feature is called Quick Replies on the business app and Message Templates on the business platform. Make sure that you tailor each message to the situation and review for accuracy before sending.

Use rich media features

You can enhance your WhatsApp messages with rich media such as videos and images. For certain customer service issues, sharing tutorial videos or pairing instructions with screenshots or photos can offer a more helpful solution.. Incorporating elements like emojis to other rich media can help to convey tone and add a sense of fun to a message.

Personalise your messages

Business platform users who integrate WhatsApp with a CRM can access even more customer information, including their interaction history across channels and departments. This gives you more customer data to personalise the interaction and ensure that you provide an accurate answer based on a full picture of their situation.

Our research shows that 70% of respondents expect all customer service agents to have the same information about them. And 56% complained about having to repeat themselves with new representatives. Connecting WhatsApp to your CRM ensures that your agents always have the same information on one unified platform.

Your WhatsApp strategy should include clear customer service goals that you can measure. Define what success looks like for you and track relevant customer service metrics. These may include:

• The number of messages sent, received, delivered and read on the platform
• Average response and resolution times for WhatsApp conversations
• Gathering customer satisfaction score (CSAT) or net promoter score (NPS) ratings for WhatsApp interactions
• Tracking conversion and renewal numbers tied to customer service interactions to help determine your WhatsApp ROI

WhatsApp provides some analytics for business app users. But here’s how WhatsApp in a CRM can make it more powerful. Your CRM can help you gain insights into how your WhatsApp conversations fit into your larger customer service strategy. With a wider view of customer service analytics, you can measure how WhatsApp performs against key customer service metrics such as customer satisfaction compared with other channels.

Now that we’ve explored the ins and outs of WhatsApp for customer service, let’s look at some capabilities in WhatsApp for Service Cloud that can you help deliver a connected and consistent customer experience across your business:

• Unified interface: Reduce complexity and costs by consolidating all channels onto one unified platform. Your agents can access all customer data and tools they need to deliver faster, more personalised service.
• Case management: Each WhatsApp conversation can be tracked as a case within Service Cloud . This allows for better management of customer issues, tracking of case history and analysis of service metrics.
• AI: Our agent-facing AI capabilities like Service Relies and Conversation Summaries help save agents time and deliver more efficient service experiences with AI-generated replies and conversation summaries. This enhances the overall customer experience by ensuring agent responses are timely and relevant.
• Automation: Deflect cases to self-service and resolve issues faster with AI-powered chatbots that automate everything from simple, repetitive questions like, “Where’s my order?” to complex, multi-step processes such as replacing a missing item.
• Omni-Channel Routeing: Customer enquiries received via WhatsApp are directed to the right service agent based on criteria such as availability, skill set and nature of the issue. This ensures each customer receives timely and effective service.
• Multimedia communication: Agents can exchange text, images, videos and knowledge base articles with customers, enabling a richer communication experience that can be more effective in solving customer problems.

WhatsApp for Service Cloud innovations

Salesforce continually releases new features to enhance its WhatsApp for Service Cloud solution. One of our recent innovations is Unified Conversations for WhatsApp which transforms one-way marketing promotions into dynamic, two-way conversations on a single WhatsApp number. Instead of receiving separate threads for support, your customers can automatically receive personalised individual support all within a single WhatsApp chat between them and your business.

Generative AI is already transforming WhatsApp for Service Cloud by automatically generating personalised responses based on real-time sources, such as data from customer interactions or your company’s knowledge base. This reduces agent handle time — enabling them to deliver faster service and improve customer satisfaction.

These are just a couple of examples of how Salesforce is innovating now with WhatsApp for Service. The future may bring more WhatsApp for Service enhancements — watch Salesforce News & Insights for updates.

WhatsApp has a lot to offer businesses and customers. With so many ways to communicate (texts, multimedia and more), WhatsApp combines two things modern customers love: the ease of convenience and the value of choice. By adding it to your customer service offerings, you can make your business more accessible to customers who use the app. Get started with WhatsApp for Service today to uplevel customer experience.