The Definitive Guide to Successfully Implementing WhatsApp for Business.

WhatsApp is one of the Social Media Apps that’s being widely used for daily communication throughout all levels of society. More so here in Malaysia, WhatsApp is certainly the number one communication tool between families, friends and businesses either official chat groups or unofficial ones.

One can say it’s a “multi-generation” communication tool, even more so for the many baby boomers who did not have the privilege in education thus not being able to type text, however they are able to communicate through WhatsApp voice message. Enabling them to be part of a community of friends, and still be connected with their children who might be working in the main cities.

Highlighting the significance of WhatsApp as a widely used communication platform in Malaysia, it is important to acknowledge the untapped potential of WhatsApp Business API adoption, particularly among SMEs. Despite its well-established presence as a customer service platform, the utilization of WhatsApp Business API remains relatively low in Malaysia.

One crucial inquiry arises: What truly fosters customer engagement in brand conversations? The answer is far from being complex. It boils down to the simple principle of having your needs promptly addressed. The key lies in meeting or even surpassing your expectations by providing the appropriate or, at the very least, a satisfactory response to your pre-purchase inquiries or service-related questions.

One-part of the concept in building conversation which the App creators have in mind is Effective Communication. Ever since Facebook, now known as Meta, bought over the platform it has propelled these services further to greater heights. Always in constant evolution and improvement to benefit not only social users, but the commercial usage as well.

🔥How Businesses can Leverage on Business Messaging and the difference in an API!

Humans are tied to emotions, and the majority in one way or another appreciate or subconsciously crave some form of connection. It’s no secret that the main ingredient in the final step of closing a deal, is the right match of chemistry between customer & sales agent or even customer service support agent.

In today’s fast-paced world, the WhatsApp Business App enables prompt customer responses and personalized assistance. With the assistance of a WhatsApp Bot, it allows for instant replies, addressing frequently asked questions, and guiding users to the relevant landing page.

Here’s an example!!

WhatsApp Business is a state of the art Marketing tool. All within few clicks and uploading of information. It is indeed very easy to use, it’s the perfect tool for Marketing personnel who are bursting with ideas. Be it either based on yearly target planned campaigns or ad-hoc ones which sometimes can generate a ‘viral storm’!

a. Here are few easy-peasy steps on how to PROMOTE on WhatsApp Business application. Of course, sharing the WhatsApp link is KEY. These links should be shared via your website, social media profiles, or marketing materials. Would suggest to use customize link names to catch Consumers attention for call-to-action. Link’s name can be customized through sites for free such as Bitly.com and more.

b. Through the pool of date, you are able to run targeted ad campaigns to encourage users to message your business directly.

c. Use WhatsApp’s click-to-chat feature to initiate personlize conversations with customers through clickable links.

d. WhatsApp Business is a great way to blast out messages which catches the attention through visual or audio. Use multimedia messages, such as photos, videos, or voice notes, to enhance communication. Share product catalogs or brochures to showcase your offerings.

WhatsApp business allows you and your teams of marketing cohorts to pre-set this information beforehand and just let it run on the set duration.

📌Automated Greetings: Set up a warm welcome message for new customers or when they contact you outside business hours.
📌Quick Replies: Create predefined responses for frequently asked questions or common queries.
📌Away Messages: Inform customers about your availability or expected response time when you are away.

Where is diving a little deeper into with WhatsApp Business API it allows for more customization. You can explore the WhatsApp Business API for advanced business features and integrations. The best part of API is that it can be integrated with your existing customer support tools or CRM systems. Working with your CX solution partner to closely develop chatbots or automation workflows to handle routine inquiries efficiently. At times, the lines are blurred whereby customers can’t tell if the reply is from a bot or from a human agent.

THE WORD:
“2022 Meta-commissioned study found that 58% of marketers reported an increase in lead generation after incorporating business messaging.Source by WhatsApp”

Reports are important numbers to be crunched, process, turned into opportunity for improvements and re-direction of marketing strategies. When computers replaced ledgers, it was truly a wonder. Now with applications advancements – generating reports by sub-categories can be made with a few clicks.

WhatsApp Business API allows marketing departments to track important metrics such as message response time, customer engagement, and conversion rates. One may also use WhatsApp Business API analytics or third-party tools to gain insights into user behavior. Continuously analyze and optimize your messaging strategy based on the data collected.

Familiarize yourself with WhatsApp’s business policies and guidelines. The system is build in such a way that it respects user privacy and avoid spamming or sending unsolicited messages. Year on year the system is in constant improvement to ensure, Secure customer data and adhere to applicable data protection regulations.

Hence, it’s always a good choice to choose a CX enhancement partner that is locally based such as Accordia Global, where you can easily reach out.

THE WORD:
2022 study found that up to 70% of customer inquiries on Meta business messaging platforms are successfully answered via automation alone. Source by WhatsApp.

WhatsApp Business provides a powerful platform for businesses to connect and engage with customers. By following this ultimate implementation guide, you can effectively leverage WhatsApp’s features and functionalities to enhance customer support, promote your products or services, and drive business growth. Stay responsive, provide valuable assistance, and maintain a professional approach to build strong relationships with your customers through WhatsApp Business.

We’re here to help you to build strong relationships with existing customers and help new ones embark on the journey of loyalty to your brand. Speak to us to kick-start your WhatsApp for Business!

Three Benefits of Omni-Channel Contact Center that You Should Know A la Accordia

Jakarta, June 2023 – As businesses look to digitalise their operations, customer service is an important area that will also be undergoing transformation. Often, an omni-channel approach is considered to improve customer interactions, and mine better customer insights for business growth and as a competitive differentiator.

Indonesia has a large and growing consumer market, driven by a growing middle class, urbanization, and increasing disposable income. Consumer preferences have been evolving, with a greater demand for quality products and services. Thus, the demand has increased for better engagement, personalization, and service as customers want to be heard and valued.

According to CX Trends 2023, 71 percent of customers expect immediate assistance when they contact a business. However, providing 24/7 support can be costly and integrating all customers’ communications into a single platform, including customer care, experience, and satisfaction – often becomes a challenge for local businesses looking to upgrade their systems and workforce.

Regional Director of Accordia Solution, Bernard Yeong says, “Customer behavior is constantly evolving. As such, businesses need a robust and dynamic omni-channel customer service solution that is customer-centric. This will help the business to pivot quickly, gain a better understanding of their customers’ preferences, behaviors, and expectations to foster stronger client loyalty and advocacy. Even though the idea of omni-channel customer service is simple, it is one that many companies struggle with. Companies often make common mistakes, such as lack of coordination, focusing on technology over strategy, having incomplete data, lack of training and education, and not measuring the success rate that can lead to failure.”

Partnering with a trusted contact center solutions provider, like Accordia can make the implementation process much easier, removing much of the complexities and ensuring the right modules are deployed at the right time.

The beauty of an omni-channel solution is that it can be deployed either in the cloud, where it is hosted and maintained on a subscription basis by a cloud contact center solution, or either, where it is completely owned and run. With the support of Accordia’s integrated cloud and technologies, businesses can streamline their customer service operations which will ultimately improve operations and boost revenue.

As a leading omni-channel Cloud Contact Center solution, Accordia is at the forefront of customer experience providing a strong focus on strategic customer engagement, innovation, and reliable cloud solutions to small and medium enterprises. The company offers a range of solutions that integrate different channels of communication, including Voice, Chat, Desk, and Social. In addition, Accordia’s solution is scalable and cost-effective making it an attractive option to businesses serving a wide variety of customers and customer engagement capabilities across multiple touchpoints.

Today, 80 percent of Accordia’s customer inquiries are all about omni-channel. Various industries, including e-commerce, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), financial institutions, internet service providers, airlines, and the public sector are embracing this trend, with customers seeking chatbots that can integrate with social channels.

1.Elevate your business with enhanced Customer Satisfaction, Loyalty, Reputation, and Sales.

Customers are more likely to be satisfied with your service and may become more loyal to your business if the company delivers a seamless, consistent customer experience across all channels, which also can help to build trust and credibility. This is proven by a study by Aberdeen Group Inc, where they managed to retain 89 percent of their customers with a strong omni-channel customer strategy.

On average, Accordia’s solutions have contributed in increasing 25 percent of partners’ sales and gained more than 80 percent satisfactory rate. Accordia helped a telecommunications company achieve significant benefits by enabling self-service requests, resulting in reduced call volumes and a higher Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) rating.

2. Enhance Customer Data

Businesses can gain useful information to identify common pain points and gain real-time insights into customer interactions through omni-channel customer service. Customers can view easily from a dashboard that presents intelligence insights and available metrics in accordance with the Service Level Agreement (SLA) best practices. This data-driven interface and reporting tools enable management leaders to make smarter business decisions, increase productivity and can be utilized to target specific customers with marketing campaigns. The system that Accordia has is simpler and it enables customers to enhance their customer data from the system.

This is proven by one of Accordia’s clients from the automotive industry as Accordia provides IVR CSAT to obtain real-time data and help expand customer base and gain greater customer insights.

3. Reduce Cost

Although the implementation of an omni-channel customer service strategy might call for an initial investment in technology and maintenance, it has the potential to reduce costs over time by boosting productivity and facilitating better resource allocation. Digital transformation is a journey, not a destination. Businesses can pursue a single technology enhancement such as Chatbot or tap into a Cloud subscription model that is more affordable compared to an upgrade on the entire digital infrastructure.

In order to cater any business size needs, Accordia offers customized value for money solutions. Accordia has supported one of its clients in the health sector by providing cost effective and reliable contact center solutions that enable the sales and marketing teams to operate more efficiently with the ability to promote relevant services to their customers.

Bernard adds, “The first thing that companies should do when implementing omni-channel customer service is to understand their customer, provide a dependable customer experience, invest in the right technology, train the employees, measure, and maintain improvement.

By leveraging our deep expertise and proven processes in designing, deploying and managing contact centers, we can support companies in developing the strategy required to deliver superior customer experiences across all channels.”

Accordia is supported by the Malaysian Research Accelerator for Technology and Innovation (MRANTI) – a government agency under the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation.

To find out how Accordia can help your business to elevate the customer service, click here ACCORDIA SOLUTIONS for more information.

Press Release Indonesia

Effective Effortless Omnichannel Customer Service Solution

In whichever business you embark on, commerce truly makes the world GO-ROUND. Sitting in a “mamak”, a typical local Malaysian (Malay-decent) eatery stall or a warung as they call it in Indonesia, one can’t help but to experience the hustle and bustle of commerce filled with wholesome customer relationships that’s going on. At this particular stall, it’s a bit more localized, hence the banter between customers and owners are such a “joie de vivre” to experience. Of course coupled with the combination of great food and good humor. It makes a pleasant morning, lifting up the spirits of even an “outsider-customer” … obviously “me-the-copywriter”.

An eureka moment lighted 💡! Why not deploy omnichannel powered chatbots to lay the ground for the perfect forefront meet & greet. Many businesses have always faced the problem of constant quality customer service. How can one transfer this “genuine light happy banter” before kicking in to the more serious business of closing down the sale? In my humble opinion, yes your business might be worth much much more than this humble stall, however if you take a step back and analyze deeper. In the end, isn’t most customers’ behavior the same? The key word is GENUINE = GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE. A truth applicable across industries.

I’m sure the many business owners or customer service agencies have employed – Customer Service staff or external CX agents. It takes time to train by imparting the company’s DNA or culture, equipping them with an overview of the company policies (while hoping they might read-up through the night) which usually don’t happen i might say, and then poof! They are placed up-front in the front lines to battle the onslaught of customer’s inquiries and managing complaints.

How far do you think these newbies can cope before they hit a burn-out? What is the ratio of your hiring versus retention of talent? That’s where Omnichannel Customer Service Solutions come into play. Here are the many benefits that will help you with the first-customer-response and at the same time help you retain valuable talent. Talent which you have place in resources of time and money to train.

🔥4 Effective Effortless Omnichannel CX Solution!!

“Gartner has predicted that, by 2020, customers will manage 85% of their relationship with the enterprise without interacting with a human. However, in the following decade, even these simpler apps and automated systems will be replaced with advanced AI technologies designed to improve the overall customer experience by being proactive, anticipating customer needs and engaging on an emotional level.”

Before immersing into Big AI, Chatbots are the best front-line soldiers to assist in giving out the first impressions. As compared to traditional CX agents, calls must be answered in 3 rings. Comparatively a chat with a chatbot will accord the customer an instant response! Psychologically you have scored a point. The next step that a chatbot can do is to identify the type of question. Should it be an FAQ, the bot will direct the customer accordingly. *Company’s should have a set of FAQs prepared for the chatbot system to qualify accordingly.

After filtering, the chatbot can then direct to the right Live Agent who can then help the customers. Chatbots are able to filter based on preliminary customer profile. This will help to lessen the emotions such as anger and allow the customers to think more rationally before speaking to a Live Agent. Reducing the friction of high-temper emotions. A very valid example!

Ensuring there’s a connection between CRM support is vital. An implementation of Accordia Desk, your agents gain a 360 degree view of customers’ data. In return, they are able to provide a fulfilling customer’s journey as they are able to address the customer’s history. Enhancing the experiences for both parties, while fostering brand loyalty, and your business gains customer retention.

Not forgetting CRM integration helps in reducing cost in the long run. At the same time increasing sales, in a more personalized manner. Instead of just an off-the-mill sales call pitch. A bonus point is that the system allows integration with your preferred CRM partner, or you can also explore the different CRM platforms Accordia works with!

When choosing a system, one should go for flexibility. Catering to both SMEs or well established corporations, deployment with scalability is a luxury. There’s certainly no requirements to lock the system in.

We grow in pace with your business, Cloud deployment affords you flexibility with a “Plug-and-play concept”. Or should your company have a collocated budget fitting with the business plan expansion, opt for On-Premise deployment. Choosing your own team of IT Support to manage the systems closely.

“The Digital Advertising market is growing because people’s behavior has shifted from the offline to the online world. Within 10 years, the number of internet users has grown to twice its size from 2.3 billion in 2012 to 5.1 billion in 2022. (Source: Digital Advertising – Malaysia, Statista) ”

Big data at your fingertips. Enhancement for Marketing or Digital marketing campaigns for your company is possible. Now with digital marketing taking flight, there is a need among many SMEs who are looking to engage in these routes for marketing. With an Omnichannel system in place, you are able to draw out data for marketing strategies or even reports.

Employee or agent retention is another plus point to adopt this solution. Saving you time and effort plus gaining higher employee satisfaction overall.

The key to customer satisfaction is through smooth first greetings, sufficient given information mid-journey, and a satisfied ending of the whole experience. Gaining genuine trust and loyalty for many years to come. Happy customers are the strongest product and service advocates.

Take a step further by engaging with us on how we can help you reach your Customer Service goals.

B2B communication involves multiple touchpoints, ranging from lead generation and customer support to sales and post-sales engagement. Omnichannel chatbots play a vital role in streamlining these interactions by offering the following benefits:

Omnichannel allows private educational institutions to provide a seamless and consistent experience to students throughout their journey.

The world economy has experienced four global recessions over the past seven decades: in 1975, 1982, 1991, and 2009: Source – Global Recessions by M. Ayhan Kose, Naotaka Sugawara, Marco E. Terrones

“Almost two-thirds of chief economists believe a global recession is likely in 2023; of which 18% consider it extremely likely – more than twice as many as in the previous survey conducted in September 2022,

These challenges are expected to lead multinational businesses to cut costs, with many chief economists expecting firms to reduce operational expenses (86%), lay off workers (78%) and optimize supply chains (77%).As reported by the World Economic Forum.”

Not so much as a whisper but seemingly coming to pass, economists predicted this year would be the year of recession. Some corporations have begun experiencing recessions. As reported by The Star news portal, Singapore’s retrenchments have doubled towards the end of 2022.

Building resilient business with an Omnichannel in place, gives SMEs a head start, firm foundation, agility and the flexibility in growing even through tough times. Here are three reasons why Omnichannel is great for businesses:

By deploying chatbots, or WhatsApp chatbots, that can be linked directly to your social media, you are indirectly cutting down requirements for human presence. It’s a brilliant first implementation towards automation.

Allow these miracle workers to ask qualifying questions, troubleshoot or even solve simple customer’s issues with just a few clicks. Assisting your CX agents to dive right-in and resolve the matter professionally, allowing more time for the soft skills side of customer relationship retention strategies, with small talks, leading to promoting the latest product or services. A great conversationalist creates a happy experience for customers, and in-return customer loyalty!

The Marketing team too is able to benefit with an Omnichannel linked CRM system. Live inventory reporting made possible. The team is able to track live, what are the products which are not moving, and immediately come-up with a marketing solution. Capitalizing on time, and disposal of un-movable inventory capitalizing on the return-of-investment (ROI).

BNM has assured fellow Malaysians, especially SMEs who make-up 98% of businesses in Malaysia, that we will weather through this recession. But, it’s always best to have some strategy and preparedness ahead that can help towards laying a strong foundation.

Many businesses in Malaysia are still hesitant to invest in an Omnichannel with reservations that it requires a hefty investment. With Accordia’s Omnichannel, an option to have it Cloud based is possible. As it’s much more cost effective, by subscription basis therefore cheaper as compared to fully owned, and the great news is that it’s scalable to your business size.

Allow the Omnichannel to grow with your company, while you maintain the cost of investment. Or if you have the means, adopt a fully owned solution. The government of Malaysia also has different initiatives headed by Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), and grants in encouraging businesses to adopt digitization and automation.

Tapping on the strength of partners, and vice versa is crucial for business growth. In such challenging times human capital management is crucial to take care of your company’s hiring and training cost.

An Omnichannel contact centre helps to address these needs by a seamless integration to your preferred CRM Partner. Allowing multiple teams of Agents a unified 360 view of customer’s data, enabling confidence in solving the customers issue. In directly promoting high customer satisfaction and retention. With the system in place you can also limit the access of customer’s information, should you be worried about PDPA, and generate real-time tracking reports.

One should not wait when times are good, don’t get caught should recession hit instead be well prepared. As we’ve recently experienced the uncertainties back in the blip years of the year 2020 Covid19 era. SMEs who had digitized their businesses could survive better and excel. Lay your foundation for the future. We can’t deny digitization is the way to go. Hence, why not start now with an Omnichannel, building the platform and expanding further when your business grows.

Speak to our Omni experts today for the best solution to your business. On which level of digitization you should adopt today.

The recent news of the end of 6-month’s trial which started in June 2023, the infamous 4 – days Work Week programme has been reported widely across major news channels. Citing great success both in terms of employee wellbeing, and most importantly work performances, and revenue of the companies which had taken part in this pilot programme.

“A recent study in the United Kingdom followed the experiences of 2,500 workers in 61 organizations across various industries who changed their schedules to work four days a week versus five. The researchers found that the change increased team members’ happiness, reduced stress and burnout, and did not hurt productivity. Employees reported feeling less stressed and overwhelmed and said they were better able to manage their workloads. Stress, of course, is a major contributor to poor mental health and can lead to physical health problems. Source article, Is The 4-Day Workweek The Next Big Thing? by Adrian Gostick, Forbes.”

Here in Malaysia, surprisingly enough, a small number of home grown tech-startups are adopting it. It’s understandable why the take-up would not be popular with local employers, either calculating cost of each employee in-put, the time it takes to complete the task on hand, or simply the trust between employer and employee.

However, fellow employers should not totally dismiss the idea, instead let the possibility of the idea brew while taking proper steps towards laying the foundation either in the near or far future. AUTOMATION is the key to laying that strong foundation. “Never say never” is a motto that one should carry in this time and age. Especially for those whose businesses fall within SME’s range. Think about it as attracting quality talent such as Gen Alpha’s, versus having to be in the constant limbo of dangling the carrot of higher-pay which might not work for the new generation. Instead work-life balance is what they seek.

Laying a strong Foundation with Automation comes with unparalleled benefits regardless if your company’s work culture is the standard five days or a four days work week arrangement. Attracting the right talent, and retaining the current generation – Gen Alpha will be more inclined to new technology, growing-up in an environment where they’re constantly connected.

With automation in place, employers can be rest assured with peace of mind. The systems can be programmed to function till a “human agent” is available to take over, training this new generation to be an efficient workforce of CX support will be a breeze.

One should always zoom out to see the bigger picture, while at the same time being able to meet in the middle with the current workforce that makes up most of the current workforce.

According to research, Call centers in the US are made up of a gender ratio of 69.2% female and 30.8% male, and the average age of call center agents is 40 years old. Source, Call Centre Agent Demographics and Statistics in the US by Zippia Career Expert.

The current situation of many CX contact centers is to contain the high turn-over, and combat the current employee’s focus. A disgruntled CX agent does more harm than help to your overall business.

A 4-day work week would be benefiting the current CX workforce by having lower employee turnover, higher employee satisfaction, and lower medical leave application. With the demographic report above, working mothers and single mothers which makes-up the larger pie of the female ratio therefore a 4-day work week will benefit you greatly, boosting morale and increasing motivation in completing and at the same time excelling on given tasks.

Thus with automation, the possibility of migrating to a 4 day work week is not far off, and should not be the only reason for automating your CX Support.

Across industries, allowing your customers to be able to reach you in an instant is the key to success. Be it if your business caters to B2B customers or B2C customers alike. Not only external customers, but also internally – your employees, middle management as well as stakeholders. With automation, it can solve many of the traditional problems which require human presence.

The introduction of OMNICHANNEL is not new, but it is also not widely adopted as yet. Many are hesitant at the cost, but can’t deny some form of automation is required. A team to handle WhatsApp inquiry, might be different from the team that is handling queries through social media or from the website. However, this only leads to customer confusion and frustration.

By implementing Omnichannel solutions, it helps companies who wish to automate by integrating all channels of communication on a single platform. Meeting companies at where they are, and growing together through a flexible approach where the resources are scalable by Cloud implementation.

📌 Connecting the dots with Chatbots, or WhatsApp bots implementation, who are the first in-line to greet customers instead of the constant ringing tone when lines are busy.
📌 Automating the simple task such as tracking delivery status, to simple tasks such as setting of appointments thereby saving time.
📌 Probing and screening through the call-in before connecting to the right live agent who can handle customers well, will surely earn your company loyalty.
📌 Further to these, supervisors are able to monitor agents all on a single platform, draw out reports for the management team, enabling the latest updates and when updating stakeholders.

When there’s a strong foundation in your CX Support for both internal and external customers, confidence in your brand will come naturally. Using the tools an Omnichannel has in place would be the next best step for Marketing strategies having all data on hand. Especially for companies within Malaysia where the target market is key to the greater market share.

Test and experience an Omnichannel’s ability with a FREE DEMO by our Omni-experts. Seek advice on which solution suits your business best.

2023 WINS for MSMEs – Malaysia Madani Revised Budget 2023

Let not your customer’s beauty be only Skin Deep, but Flourish Online!