Nissan Saudi Arabia: 138% increase in leads generated with a WhatsApp chatbot

Buying the right car is a big decision for anyone — whether they’re after a luxury EV or a little runaround. For many years, thousands of people a day have been visiting Nissan Saudi Arabia showrooms or scouring the Nissan website for information that will help them make the right decision.

But customer behavior is changing fast in Saudi Arabia. More than 92% of people own a smartphone. And 70% of the population is under the age of 30. So it’s no surprise that there’s an ever-growing demand for innovative digital solutions to help with buying decisions.

The Nissan Saudi Arabia team wanted to find ways to improve the car-buying journey for customers, while making life easier for their dealerships and employees. More specifically, they wanted to cut waiting times for customers’ inquiries and offer quick resolutions to problems and questions 24/7.

Nissan Saudi Arabia had experimented with a website chatbot, which would route customers to call center operatives in working hours. This wasn’t a great experience for car hunters who tend to dream about their next vehicle at all times of the day and night — and often want their questions answered in an instant.

Analysis by the Nissan Saudi Arabia team found that the limitations of their communication setup were frustrating potential customers and leading to missed sales. A new communication channel that made two-way communication instant and easy was the answer.

Using WhatsApp Business Platform was an obvious move. WhatsApp is the number one chat app in Saudi Arabia with an incredible 75% of the population using it. Nissan Saudi Arabia turned to Infobip as an implementation partner due to its telco experience in the region, omnichannel capability, and chatbot-building expertise. 

Firstly, we added a fully verified and compliant WhatsApp Business channel that was directly integrated into their existing business systems such as their CRM tool, Salesforce. Secondly, we developed an AI-based WhatsApp chatbot service with our chatbot building platform, Answers. Answers did all the heavy lifting by creating the chatbot code based on rules that the Nissan team helped to define. 

The chatbot — named Kaito — could be accessed via a number or QR Code. It fielded all customer questions — in English or Arabic languages. Several specialist features were also introduced, including allowing customers to explore models and colors, watch model videos, download brochures, and find the nearest showrooms.

Suddenly, Nissan Saudi Arabia had a tool to continuously engage customers throughout the car-buying process. It was able to support customers 24/7, while sending updates and information on offers and sales in real time.

The results surpassed expectations. The WhatsApp Business chatbot transformed Nissan Saudi Arabia’s customer reach by being available and responsive to customer inquiries night and day over the most popular communication channel in the Kingdom. 

In the first three months of deploying, Nissan Saudi Arabia enjoyed significant boosts in customer engagement, customer satisfaction rates, and brand awareness, including:

Compared to the website chatbot, Infobip’s WhatsApp chatbot quickly generated: