Infobip has now launched its support for WhatsApp messaging, but to protect the consumer and messaging, WhatsApp has limited the communication to either “notifications” or “customer support”.
In Africa WhatsApp is by far the leading messaging app with more than 1 billion registered accounts, and statistics show that WhatsApp users are more active than others: WhatsApp ranks far ahead of other social platforms in all countries, and has by a wide margin established itself as the continent’s most-loved messaging app (source: MessengerPeople.com).
So if WhatsApp is the preferred messaging app, how can we make use of it for Fintech services, and will the consumer accept the intrusion of the commercial messages that come with WhatsApp?
“85% want to have a text conversation with a business, not just receive information”.*
The answer is yes, but it is important to allow users to be in the driver’s seat and let them initiate the dialogue with your Fintech service.
By combining the “notifications” with a customer support “WhatsApp bot” we achieve exactly this: whenever a transaction involving a consumer’s account takes place, we can notify the consumer via WhatsApp and at the same time ask for a “confirmation of the transaction”, “utilize funds received” or “offer to allocate funds to a high interest bearing account”. If the consumer decides to respond, the WhatsApp business interface now provides a 24-hours’ open dialogue with the consumer.
And best news of all, with the limited network capacity in Africa, there is always a concern whether the consumer actually received your message and simply decided not to respond, as SMS DR reports are not always reliable. With the WhatsApp dialogue you are always sure the consumer is online when the message delivery is confirmed.
Bancore’s upcoming Monny.me consumer launch in Nigeria will take advantage of WhatsApp in combination with SMS alerts, USSD complete service menu, and an advanced Monny.me App – all working to create the best possible consumer experience.
*Source: “Motivations and Mindsets in Messaging” by Sentient Decision Science
Brian Larsen,
Bancore Group A/S