The telco customer journey with WhatsApp

Telcos keep customers connected to people, entertainment and information. But how connected do customers feel to their providers? According to Infobip research, not very:

Customers are looking for convenient ways to connect with telco businesses, with shorter wait times and faster resolution for their queries. Currently 60% of customers prefer communicating with providers over their favorite chat app for ease of use. Telco providers can streamline their operations, improve retention rates and CSAT scores by adding WhatsApp Business Platform to their communication stack.

Adding WhatsApp to your communication mix on the Infobip platform can transform the customer journey and provide simple resolutions to pain points. Bad customer service is one of the main reason customers switch providers, resulting in telcos competing for the best customer experience.

By going digital and being available on WhatsApp, telcos can offer conversational experiences in marketing, sales and support on a single chat app that their customers use regularly.

For that to happen, they need a telco transformation partner who understands the ecosystem and can help deliver effective use cases at every step of the customer journey. Building 700+ direct connections with MNOs around the world has helped us design solutions that lead telcos to succeed.

By working with Infobip, telcos can gain full advantage of everything WhatsApp has to offer with our wide range of SaaS solutions and support services.

Our platform allows for easy integration with any existing system so providers can craft end-to-end journeys using:

Our customer data platform for collecting data and creating detailed customer profiles.

Knowing all you can about your customers can only help you learn what it is they expect from you and your services. WhatsApp has expanded their use cases beyond customer support. Now telco providers can upsell and cross sell products and plans over the chat app. Utilize personalized data collected on People CDP to understand their needs and send them relevant promotions, content and products to browse over the channel and help boost sales.

Our omnichannel customer engagement solution for personalizing interactions and campaigns.

60% of telco customers want to connect with providers over chat apps. With WhatsApp being the world’s most popular channel, providers can increase engagement simply by being available on a channel their customers know and love. Use Moments to create personalized campaigns, payment reminders and customize workflows to create conversational experiences on WhatsApp and improve overall engagement.

Our chatbot building platform for 24/7 service and faster query resolution.

Customers are looking for easier ways to communicate with telco providers. Answers allow providers to create chatbots to support customer queries and boost retention. By providing 24/7 support with a chatbot, telco providers can ensure that customers get their questions answered instantly. These virtual assistants take on high-volume low-value queries so agents can focus on pressing issues. Offering always-on support will help providers retain more customers by reducing pain points and making it easier than ever to resolve their queries.

Our cloud contact center for human-to-human communication.

From decreasing resolution time and cutting call center costs, adding WhatsApp over Conversations to your communication stack will help optimize your existing operations. With Conversations, your call center agents will be more efficient as they will have a full view of all customer interactions and can resolve issues faster than before. Agents can handle up to 5 WhatsApp conversations at once, making sure your customers aren’t waiting in long queues and that your agents are satisfied with more fulfilling roles.

With over 15 years of expertise working with telcos, our CX consulting team is prepared to help you build the best communication strategy over WhatsApp. From customer service design to helping build a chatbot, our team is always available to ensure you can offer your customers the best experiences possible.

Telcos can benefit in more ways than improving engagement and creating unparalleled experiences for their clients when they integrate our solutions. They are in the unique position to monetize on them by selling these solutions to small businesses and enterprises along with network offers. Partnering with Infobip gives telco providers the opportunity to sell WhatsApp as a solution on a reliable and robust platform. Offer your clients the chance to create better experiences and enhance overall engagement over your network with our help.

Read more about how Infobip is the ideal telco partner.

WhatsApp offers marketing, sales and support use cases that make it a great channel for telcos to add to their communication mix. With Infobip solutions you can learn about customers on People CDP, create workflows on Moments, streamline communications with Answers and provide better agent experiences on Conversations. This combination of solutions with WhatsApp and CX support helps telcos provide customers with the convenience they are looking for and leads them to stay loyal to their telco provider.

Maximize your ROI by investing in digital transformations. Build a strong digital channel to acquire customers with the Meta platform and connect your Facebook and Instagram ads with WhatsApp. QR codes or call-to-action buttons can be added to your website, social pages and advertisements giving customers easy access to open a conversation with you.

Add a QR code on physical advertisement or use IVR deflection to bring customers to your WhatsApp channel with minimal effort.

Give customers the opportunity to opt in to a conversation with your brand. Once the customer opens the conversation, you can begin using WhatsApp to send them marketing and sales messages to guide them through their customer journey.

Once your lead has opened a WhatsApp conversation, you can start sending relevant promotional offers to entice them to become a customer. Using rich media and personalized messaging will help you increase conversion rates and add greater value to the conversation for your customers.

Allow customers to browse your newest phones in the WhatsApp conversation. Eliminate the need for them to switch to your website and offer catalogs right in the chat. Customers can read about product details and ask questions instantly, allowing you to create the smoothest experience for potential customers.

If a customer asks for store locations in their area, send them a list of stores or use maps to enrich the experience. A WhatsApp chatbot can make quick work of this and have customers on their way to your stores in no time.

When your lead is ready to convert, manage their orders and contracts in the same conversation. Allow them to purchase or sign in and send them detailed instructions and information on their registration all on one channel.

WhatsApp is a secure chat app that people worldwide trust. Sending OTPs over WhatsApp for internet modem resets or for payTV will keep onboarding and support experiences both safe and convenient.

Register your customers’ SIM over WhatsApp to complete the onboarding experience. Offer them an easier way to set up their SIM card so they can get connected to your services as quickly as possible over WhatsApp.

Send bills and payment confirmations that are sure to be seen on your customer’s favorite channel. WhatsApp has over 95% open rate so messages containing important documents get the visibility they need. Sending monthly statements in WhatsApp makes it easier for customers to pay instantly and avoid late charges.

Reminder messages are a great way to keep your customers engaged and help them avoid late charges on their monthly bills. Use event-triggered messages for customers who have an upcoming payment due date and avoid conflicts about additional charges.

With a self-service chatbot, customers can inquire about upgrade options for their existing plans over WhatsApp. The chatbot can send a list of relevant plans that fit the needs of the customer and allow for easy transfer to an agent when they are ready to switch services.

Remove one of the most common pain points for telco customers- low data or overage charges. Now customers can easily ask about their data balance in WhatsApp and providers can follow up with call-to-action or list messages for them to top-up when they are running low. Customers no longer need to wait in call queues and a pain point can be converted into a simple process.

Providers can also send warning messages to customers when they are running low on data to avoid upset customers complaining about additional charges.

When a customer is experiencing issues with their mobile, home internet modem or payTV, they can send a message over WhatsApp to get assistance instantly. Depending on the issue, a chatbot or agent can walk a customer through a troubleshooting process to fix their problem. Rich messages and video calling are also a great way to help both the agent and the customer resolve the issue as fast as possible.

Now customers can book appointments over WhatsApp for things like upgrading home internet to a faster optical fiber internet connection. They can pick from available time slots that work for them and avoid call centers completely. Scheduling and managing reminders and bookings for field-work appointments has never been easier.

Adding a self-service chatbot will not only speed up resolution time for FAQs, it will also allow agents to focus on complex problems and decrease your spend on customer support resources. The chatbot is custom built over Answers and designed with the local Infobip CX team, who works with your telco business to craft a chatbot your customers will love.

The chatbot will be designed to understand when it can no longer help a customer. That’s when it easily transfers the conversation over to a live agent who will take over. Giving agents access to WhatsApp offers them a full view of the previous conversation and removes the need for customers to repeat themselves. It also allows agents to handle multiple conversations at once, speeding up resolutions and keeping customers satisfied.

Expand exposure of IVR call deflection to WhatsApp to 100% of callers. Give them a faster way to resolve their queries by connecting them to agents over WhatsApp or with a chatbot depending on their questions.

Reward your loyal customers with limited time offers or special promotions on devices or contract plans. When a contract is about to expire, send a message offering the customer a better rate, more data or an upgrade to entice them to keep you as their telco provider. With Moments and People CDP, you can segment your customers based on their loyalty status and send them these promotional messages on WhatsApp. Your messages are sure to be seen and appreciated.

If a customer hasn’t upgraded their phone in some time, send them a list of new or relevant phones that might be of interest to them. List messages are a great way to let customers easily browse product details and make ordering in the chat simple.

Collecting customer feedback is important for telco providers to understand how to improve their service. But long survey forms and switching between apps or browsers makes the experience inconvenient for most customers, leading them to avoid the process all together.

With WhatsApp, telco providers can send surveys within the conversation, and prompt customers to either respond by typing an answer or using CTA buttons to complete the survey without ever leaving the chat. This will improve the rate at which customers respond to surveys and help providers collect feedback.

ComparTfon sales channels suffered from high cart abandonment and low conversions. Introducing the WhatsApp Business Platform, Moments and Conversations as a sale channel helped the telco provider become a data driven and customer centric organization. This led to improved KPIs and happier customers. Read the full customer story.

Jazz, a Pakistani industry leader, struggled with managing long call center queues and slow ticket resolution leading to unsatisfied customers. Adding WhatsApp with Infobip allowed the telco provider to send alerts and streamline processes leading to faster customer service and lower spending. Read the full customer story.

WhatsApp over the Infobip platform will help your telco business create customizable end-to-end customer journeys. Adding WhatsApp to your communication mix allows your customers to avoid call centers and long waiting queues, resolve issues faster and keeps them loyal to your brand longer. With our easy-to-use solutions and always-on support, you can start upselling and cross selling, offer always-on support and send personalized campaigns from a single platform.