3 Ways Whatsapp Can Help E-Commerce Companies

Innovation is the key in today’s e-commerce space, where the competition is getting steeper by the day. New techniques to improve customer experience, reduce costs and increase the top line is always on the minds of the upcoming e-commerce companies.

Here are three ways in which Whatsapp can help solve some of these issues for these companies: 

1. Improvise the delivery system

E-commerce companies are looking out for new delivery mechanisms to reduce their cost, optimise spends and decrease the total order delivery cycle. Various new techniques are being adopted: some are taking the kirana route to deliver the goods, setting up pick-up stores and others are tying up with the already existing delivery systems like the Indian Post network and the famous dabba-waalas of Mumbai.

Whatsapp can also help improvise the delivery system of e-commerce companies. Customers can be encouraged to share their location on Whatsapp. Getting the exact coordinates of the delivery location can help the companies in faster delivery by choosing the shortest route to optimise their operational cost. They can plan multiple deliveries along the route to further optimise the delivery mechanism.

2. Faster grievances redressal

Whatsapp is immensely popular among the mobile users and has an active user base of 800 million and it is increasing every day. With Whatsapp’s user friendly chat and call facilities, e-commerce companies can reach out to the customers faster and in an efficient manner. Customers can share the images/pictures of the damaged goods without having to go through the hassles of the current procedure which includes writing an email to the support team, calling customer care innumerable times and waiting for your turn to express the pain point. With Whatsapp, it can be effectively communicated over the chat.

3. Groups can be created for push marketing

Groups can be created on Whatsapp on the basis of customer segments defined and targeted marketing can be achieved at minimal cost. For instance:

: Discount coupons can be sent to price sensitive customers and brand conscious customers can be informed about the sale, discounts and promotional offers applicable on their favorite brand.

: Groups can be created on the basis of geographical regions and location specific information can be shared on the group. Such as, discount coupons on electronics exclusively for people residing in South Delhi

Email-marketing is losing its effectiveness as the customers today are bombarded with promotional emails from restaurants, online stores, banks and even recruitment companies. New avenues to catch the attention of the ‘ever-mobile’ customer needs to be explored and Whatsapp definitely has the potential to be exactly that in the coming months.

(article written by Anamika Singh, Associate Consultant at Mindtree (India).)