WhatsApp Business has gradually emerged as the preferred channel for customer service. It is estimated that around a billion people use WhatsApp every day. Now, with the Business account, companies worldwide are enhancing their business with omnichannel marketing and support.
WhatsApp Business ensures that customers have a conversational engagement available at their fingertips. Businesses, with the help of two-way communication using bots, can resolve customer issues and automate responses conveniently. However, it is quite evident that without a seamless escalation path, omnichannel customer experience with WhatsApp can be frustrating for specific queries.
Therefore, to overcome the challenge, as per their new updates, WhatsApp has announced that businesses that partially automate their customer communication by chatbots have to ensure that customers have the option to escalate to direct human customer service for specific issues that cannot be solved with bots.
Before discussing the enforcement procedure, let’s look at a gist of the original policy.
WhatsApp Business Policy
To initiate a conversation, companies need to receive opt-in permission, confirming that the customer is ready for future messages from you on WhatsApp. It is the responsibility of the organization to secure all the information and data collected while this communication goes on. WhatsApp has established tight guidelines on the privacy of personal information and quality of customer experience.
According to the WhatsApp Business Policy, if a person initiates a chat with bots, the chat can be continued via WhatsApp for up to 24 hours. Using automation for customer service is acceptable as long as there is a prompt and direct escalation path to human agents. This may include human agent handoffs, a phone number, email service, or even a web support form.
However, many companies were not following the protocols clearly; hence the enforcement of the policy came along.
How will the enforcement work?
WhatsApp’s new tighter enforcement of the Business Policy will mean that the quality ratings of the business will determine how many business-initiated messages and notifications can be sent out by a phone number. Without a seamless human escalation path, the phone number can be flagged, which is going to affect the business account’s reputation.
Those who get flagged via WhatsApp will get an email update and when hovering over the Quality Rating in Business Manager, the business will see a message informing them about the low rating due to the unavailability of an escalation path.
In case the issue of quality ratings and escalation is not appropriately resolved within 7 days, the company, unfortunately, will get rate-limited in quality, restricting their notifications, businesses-initiated messages, and further communication altogether.
Also, adding to this effect, solutions which escalate to accounts like Facebook Messenger, Twitter, Telegram, or Instagram and others will not be considered, because they require a separate login account. Indirect channels like a help center webpage or a link to an app also would not meet the requirement.
WhatsApp Business regularly reviews companies in terms of their customer services. Those who do not have a human escalation path will experience limitations causing high disruptions in their customer retention rate.
How can Talisma Digital Platform help?
WhatsApp Bots, although extremely efficient, still possess an impersonal aspect. For even, slightly complicated assistance, interacting with an agent is needed. Having a tightly integrated solution, Talisma can seamlessly migrate a conversation from WhatsApp (or any other channel) to a live agent with full context.
With Talisma’s Digital Platform, you can build a unified customer experience that improves brand trust by showing dedication, rather than forcing customers to hover through different channels to solve an issue or translate their grievances.
With the power of Talisma’s WhatsApp Solution, you can create a two-way customer service experience that provides a seamless transition from a bot service to an agent service without any hassles. Our offerings include:
· Two-way Customer Service Chat between Agent and Customer
· Two-way Chat integrated with the Talisma Omni Bot
· Push Notifications
Our existing features of Talisma Chat, like sending Canned Responses, Conference Chats, Delivery Notifications, etc., will be included in our WhatsApp Business solution as well, giving businesses a whole new way of customer service management.
Do you want to ensure that your business secures itself from the risks of being flagged by WhatsApp Business? Contact us to know more about our platform here.
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