WhatsApp has become the most widely used messaging platform for users globally in recent years. Along with the growth in demand and use, the company has developed tools (such as WhatsApp for Business) so that companies can carry out their communications with customers more efficiently and take their marketing strategy to the next level.
I imagine that if you are reading this blog, your company's omnichannel customer service strategy (one of the factors that generates greatest growth in companies today) is important to you.
WhatsApp wants interactions to be relevant and personalized. This shows that it respects users and wants their experiences when interacting on this channel to be valuable and useful. Omnichannel at its finest!
In its quest to continue growing in its use and customer experience, the channel itself encourages brands to send messages that improve the customer experience. For this purpose, it created the HSM outbound message sending.
In case you haven't heard of them, “HSM” (Highly Structured Message) is, in translation: “Highly Structured Message”. It is a template that is enabled by WhatsApp so that companies can proactively start a conversation. They are made up of static phrases and dynamic fields, where specific data about each client or their interactions can be entered.
So, can I send marketing promotions to my customers through WhatsApp for Business?
The answer is: Yeah! And this is something new, since in the past it was not allowed to send promotional messages.
What kind of messages can you send? And how should HSMs be structured and written? We'll tell you what to do and what to do when using WhatsApp for your business like a pro.
Italmundo uses WhatsApp for companies to send payment reminders to their clients. They can send their payment receipts through the same channel and settle their debt in a quick and accessible way.
About the Templates approval process
All message templates are reviewed on a case-by-case basis by WhatsApp. A template that was approved for one business may be rejected for yours. Additionally, it may take several attempts for a message template to be approved. Please note that this is normal and happens with all brands and businesses.
What kind of messages can we send?:
- Account Update
- Alert Update
- Appointment Update
- Troubleshooting
- Payment Update
- Personal Finance Update
- Booking Update
- Shipping Update
- Update of entries
- Transport Update
* You can find all the technical details about the writing and structure of these messages in Our Wiki.
What messages should look like:
According to the guidelines offered by the WhatsApp platform for companies, we created a guide that summarizes what you should keep in mind when creating HSM templates and achieving quick approval.
- Privacy and Consent: The customer experience when receiving communications should not be lost focus. So, what do we recommend to preserve their privacy? Have their consent. This can be obtained by different actions. Once they agree to receive your messages, it will be of great value that they are relevant and useful. Otherwise, if the customer feels that they are being sent information that is not useful, they will find it annoying and even feel invaded.
- Personalization: A good practice is to personalize messages using variable fields in which you can mention each client's data such as: their name, order status, purchase history, among others. In this way, the user will understand that the company knows them and this will generate greater commitment and a closer relationship. Another recommendation is that your templates be flexible. How is flexibility applied in these messages? By introducing these same dynamic fields, so that the messages are adaptable to different communications and types of users.
- Spelling: Whether it's spelling or grammatical errors, the WhatsApp message will be rejected by the platform. We recommend that you avoid local or overly informal expressions, which may not be understood by the approval team.
- Rich content: Adding multimedia content will allow you to provide an enhanced experience to your users and develop more engaging interactions. When we talk about multimedia, we are referring to formats such as: documents, images, stickers, audios and videos.
- Clarity: Less is more, in marketing and in life. (You can learn more about this in our post on CX and experiences). Returning to the main topic of this post, the most important thing regarding HSMs is that the content of the message is concise. This also applies to the length of the messages, make sure they are not too long. Remember that the shorter and clearer the message, the easier it will be to capture the attention of your users.
- Message Limits: exist guidelines in terms of the frequency and reach of these structured messages. In other words, WhatsApp determines what is recommended in terms of the unique users that your business can contact on a daily basis. There is no limit to the number of messages your business can send, but rather to the number of users to whom you want to send those messages. This does not apply to messages that are sent in response to a user-initiated message within a 24-hour period.
- Settings: A small tweak can make all the difference. By this we mean that sometimes, changing a word within a template can affect whether or not the message is approved by WhatsApp.
WhatsApp as an Omnichannel Tool
We've already said it, WhatsApp is the channel when it comes to accessibility and practicality. Today you can be able to start a conversation with your customers proactively on WhatsApp through your bot. This was a guide to making your conversations more efficient and offering more value to your customers.
Our client, The Bolivian Ciacruz, use our chatbot (Wittybots) to carry out the self-inspection process for new policyholders. The entire process is carried out via WhatsApp by the same user, saving time, resources and improving the customer experience.
If you found this content interesting, follow our Blog for more content related to WhatsApp, trends in business communications, experience optimization and innovation through telephony, AI and automation.
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