Thanks to WhatsApp Business, now for a business, customers are just a message away. WhatsApp Business has closed a huge gap between customers and businesses and provides a medium for direct and instant communication.
Personal interactions with customers have really helped turn things around for many businesses. But many times, things can go utterly wrong and lead to a bad business reputation. As a business, it can lead to the loss of new as well as existing customers. And may take months or even years to recover from the damage. It necessary for businesses to be thoughtful with the context and approach while dealing with customers. As not every customer may see or feel things the way you do.
Though there is no holy grail for the perfect customer business conversation, there are certain mistakes that should be avoided at all costs.
9 Common Mistakes to Avoid on WhatsApp Business
Here are certain mistakes to avoid on WhatsApp Business while you interact with your customers as a part of customer relationship management:
1. Failing to listen
A customer’s experience, opinion, and feedback can be very important for businesses. As it can contribute greatly to improving the overall user experience and shaping the future of upcoming products and services. By not listening to what they got to say, you can miss out on the basics of a good customerexperience. It could result in a bad customer experience and may even lead to the loss of valuable customers.
So, if a customer reaches out to you and shares their point of view, listen to it attentively. It can help you in many ways.
2. Not respecting personal boundaries
Everybody is protective of their personal boundaries. By being ‘extra friendly’ or too casual with your conversations, you can make your customers feel intimidated. Also when it comes to sharing any personal information. Not everyone would not be willing to share every piece of information with you. As a business, you need to respect their personal boundaries. Be it while interacting with them or while collecting any information for your business.
3. Reacting negatively to customer feedback
Once in a while, it may happen that your customers may not be happy with your product or service and may express it in their feedback. Never act defensive or getting into any kind of argument. One should focus on fixing the issue and compensate the customer in some form so as win their trust back. By doing so, you can show your customers that you care about them. And this would build a positive brand image for your business.
4. Not giving customers the option to opt-out of service
One of the most annoying experiences that a customer has to go through is not having the option to opt-out. Be it from a service, a group, or an event. Especially in the case of WhatsApp marketing, it is important that you give them the option to opt-out of the service any time they wish to. Doing this, you can eliminate the risk of getting blocked by clients and get better engagement from them.
5. Sending irrelevant notification and updates
A common mistake that most businesses make is sending the same notification updates to every customer. Though the notification may be useful to a few, for others it can be totally irrelevant. And through a period of time, it can seem annoying and lead to your customers losing interest in your business.
Rather, sending creative, meaningful, and personalized content can help in increasing their engagement with your brand.
6. Censoring
The disadvantage of online communication is that it gives people a sense of freedom of speech and in many cases, people end up disrespecting or trolling others. The same may happen with you or your business. But getting back at them or blocking them is never a good solution for a business. Rather, you can act responsibly in your response turn things around.
7. Use of insensitive marketing
When marketing to a large audience, a business has to be extra careful. Careful so as not to step on the toes of a certain community, race, religion, or group. Using insensitive content to promote your brand or business can soon turn into a nightmare. Especially, if a certain group of your customers feels it offending or disrespectful.
The best idea is to keep all your marketing content generic. Do not touch any aspect that your customers can find racist or bigotry.
8. Shifting blame
The worst thing that a business can do is to ignore its own shortcomings. And its a disaster if you shift the blame to someone else, especially the customers. In case, a customer comes to you and reports an issue in your service, or staff behavior, listen to them. Never ever brush them away by shifting the blame on them. It’s of the mistakes to avoid at all cost. The reason the customer comes to you to report the issue is that they trust your brand. And they believe that you can help them find relief. By shifting the blame on them, you instantly lose the trust and respect they have for you. This can badly impact your reputation among other customers as well.
9. Keeping customers waiting
We live in a time where customers have multiple options to choose from for the product or service. Keeping your customers waiting can really hurt your business. Especially if your customer is reaching out on WhatsApp, they would expect sooner responses to their queries. Make sure to send instant responses, greetings and acknowledge the receipt of their query. You can boost your customer experience to a great extent.
Concluding Words
Winning a customer’s trust may not be the easiest task but it is totally worth the effort. By being open to meaningful conversations and respecting your customer’s opinions, you can avoid losing your customers. You simply have to keep in mind the above-mentioned mistakes to avoid while dealing with customers on WhatsApp Business. And you can establish a strong and healthy relationship with them.
You can also read about ways to get customers to opt-in on WhatsApp Business and the role of WhatsApp SCRM tool SocialEpoch in customer management.
