WhatsApp Rising as Direct Brand-to-Customer Channel

New Delhi:

Instant Messaging Platform WhatsApp belonging to Meta Inc. is gaining huge traction as a direct marketing channel for businesses to connect customers, according to a study by the AI-powered customer interaction platform Haptik. Consumers increasingly seek more personalised touch with companies.

72% of respondents to a research conducted by the Reliance-backed firm claimed that they only communicate with businesses via tailored communications.
Also, 85% of consumers were interested in receiving proactive information, such as product recommendations, notifications for restocking, price adjustments, etc.

According to a poll by Haptik, 72% of customers will only interact with a business through personalised messages.

"With more than 2 billion users in 180 countries, WhatsApp has matured into a powerful marketing tool for businesses to connect and communicate with prospects across the globe," said Aakrit Vaish, co-founder and CEO of Haptik.

WhatsApp Business was launched in 2018 to allow business-to-customer communication. It has been developing its features and services to become an all-encompassing client engagement platform.

According to the report, payments on WhatsApp and business directory searches will become essential tools for WhatsApp Business in the next year.

The messaging platform revealed last month that it was extending 'Directory,' a service comparable to the Yellow Pages that enables users to explore and find local small businesses, in Brazil, with a launch in Indonesia, Mexico, Colombia, and the United Kingdom scheduled.

WhatsApp messages have an open rate of 98% and a click-through rate of 45%, according the Haptik report titled "The State of WhatsApp Marketing 2023."
There were also retail, healthcare, media and entertainment, finance, edtech, travel and hospitality use cases, among others.

Reliance Retail's Jio Mart, an online grocery shop, has been integrated with WhatsApp, enabling customers to place purchases directly from the messaging service.
According to studies conducted by Haptik, JioMart's repeat purchase rate via the WhatsApp channel has averaged 1,500 per day since its launch in November 2021.
CEAT, which cooperated with Haptik to build a WhatsApp chatbot to generate sales leads, has witnessed a sixfold increase in lead production since installing the chatbot, despite a 28% lead-to-conversion rate.

A leading FMCG brand cofirmed that since the time they deployed the WhatsApp chatbot, their chatbot conversations and leads had risen multifold. The chatbot's automation had reduced agent effort in turn reducing acquisition and labour costs.

Also thecompany mentioned that WhatsApp lead generation expenditures were almost 3/4th times lesser than social media networks.