HFC bank: Adopting WhatsApp Business Platform to extract maximum value from its digital banking platform

Challenge:

With the launch of its digital banking platform dubbed HF Whizz, HFC set its target segment as college and university students (aged 18-24) and micro-entrepreneurs.

Most customers in this segment were mainly interested in instant loans, short-term credit, and other small-value transactions. However, they lacked financial education about repaying these loans on time, or at all, posing a significant hurdle for HFC.

When launching HF Whizz, the company wanted to find a way to offer a broader range of services to its customers through its digital banking platform.

While its customer engagement was conducted mainly via email, SMS, USSD and WhatsApp channels, it sought to understand better the customers who utilized its digital banking platform. They also sought more ways of increasing the number of transactions per customer and the range of products and services they were typically using.

The bank determined that it needed a commonly used platform to share information with this younger customer demographic. At the same time, it also realized that it could leverage its digital banking platform to tap into its existing customer base to upsell its products and services.

Solution:

In 2018, HFC defined its digital strategy and established its requirements through a consultative effort involving cross-functional internal teams and an external consultant. They identified the WhatsApp Business Platform, coupled with a two-way SMS to complement its USSD and App platforms as the ideal solutions for their needs.

The solution would have to be agile to implement and customizable in a short time. It also needed to offer flexibility in terms of innovation and pricing and have simple Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that HFC could connect to.

Most importantly, the bank sought a partner to provide 24-hour support and a designated team to implement the project.

After issuing requests for proposals, Infobip was chosen as the successful bidder, based its willingness to fully understand HFC’s vision and its ability to provide a technology solution that met all the bank’s requirements.

Result:

To subscribe to this service, customers are required to save the bank’s WhatsApp phone number – meaning access to the chat is granted on an individual and personalized basis.

Infobip’s solution has been a huge game-changer that has enabled the bank to have more customer interactions.

The customer journey has changed entirely, and they are happy that Infobip understood their vision and delivered on their requirements.