Customer service is one of the pillars of every company, so it is an aspect that must be taken care of constantly. It will be the face you show to the public and a very effective way to promote credibility and trust. It is also one of the most effective ways for an interested and doubtful person to decide to become a customer, and a satisfied one.
For the client, WhatsApp represents the convenience of communication. As the most widespread messaging app, it is the first option to establish communication with a company. There is immediacy and closeness. It is because of this that WhatsApp Business exists, to accommodate B2C communication via this app. But, even so, it is insufficient to solve other problems that arise, and among them is the work overload caused by receiving so many messages.
WhatsApp message overload
As expected, companies will receive more and more messages. For employees, WhatsApp Business is insufficient because it does not allow for an efficient management. Its shortcomings are: having a maximum of agents attending simultaneously, it lacks internal communication between employees, it is not possible to classify customers, and it also does not let you save customer data quickly.
All these shortcomings mean that a company that receives too many messages cannot manage them efficiently. The consequence is an overload of work that prevents agents from being able to do their jobs effectively. Stress and the lack of tools to solve this situation can have a negative impact on employees and, as a consequence, on the company and its customers.
The key is to have the necessary tools and use them properly. Correctly implementing them and training staff to use them is the first thing necessary to have effective results. An effective WhatsApp Business API should be enough to solve the problem of message overload. This is due to the fact that it allows to:
Have several agents operating at the same time
As we have said, WhatsApp Business allows only one to four people to attend a customer at a time. However, WhatsApp Business API allows for more. The functions are provided by a software that integrates WhatsApp into its functions, extending the capabilities that the application already has. The way to get it is via a WhatsApp BSP.
Access to an entire team dedicated to customer service is essential. This will allow several employees to respond to messages at the same time, distributing the workload.
It is important to make effective and efficient schedules. One strategy is to determine the time range in which you receive the most messages and assign more agents to this time slot. Schedules with less workload will have fewer employees in charge of the work.
Establish internal communication between agents
Internal communication between agents will save a lot of time and also decrease the margin of error when talking to a customer. A CRM for WhatsApp allows you to leave notes so that any agent who enters the chat or is reassigned to the chat can read them. This allows for continuity of care, without interrupting it when changing agents.
This reduces work overload also because off-screen chats that require clarification are eliminated. The order will also make the conversation with the customer much faster, so there will be fewer messages to respond to.
Quickly save customer names
It is important to save contact of each client. With that you can achieve a closer communication or send mass messages, for example. With a CRM for WhatsApp, saving data in the address book can be done with a couple of clicks, without the need to use a specific mobile device. Moreover, it can be done by any agent.
Have a communication guide within the company
A communication guide is a protocol that should be followed by employees who are serving the clients via WhatsApp. One objective is to standardize it, in order to have similar results with each agent. It also helps to make a conversation efficient and not to deviate from the goal set, besides helping the customer to communicate what he/she needs.
Regarding the workload, there is also another great help that this guide gives: it subtracts unnecessary mental work. If the employee can follow clear instructions, he/she can focus on following them, without having to think about every case that comes his/her way. This helps to save a lot of energy and concentration.
Automate and schedule messages
Automation is a very powerful practice. The company can route messages with automatic responses, letting the customer navigate on their own, without the need for an agent’s intervention. This allows to remove a significant workload during the message exchange.
To achieve this, it is advisable to have a marketing specialist draw up the routes, according to the company’s needs, and then make the appropriate modifications, depending on the performance.
Another advantage is that the agent serving the customer will already know what the customer is looking for, thanks to the chosen route, so he will be prepared for the answers he will probably have to give. It helps a lot, above all, to have a manual to guide the conversation towards efficient results.
Implement labels
Labels help to classify customers. The criteria are very varied and will depend exclusively on what the company requires. They can be placed at any time and help to have a measurement of what is happening according to each group.
It is important that these labels have clear and easy to understand names. If they are sufficiently assertive, they will give enough information to each agent that attends each customer to offer an efficient service. Examples of these groups can be: sales in process, price-related questions, technical support, language, etc.
A structured message management is key for the simultaneous attention of several communication agents via WhatsApp. This, of course, helps to reduce the workload and maintain order in the messages. Each employee must be trained to follow standardized guidelines and communicate effectively with both the team and the customer.
Standardizing communication processes also makes customers feel more satisfied with the service, which will result in fewer messages being sent and a quicker chat ending.
The emotional health of employees will also improve, as overload is reduced. Order helps concentration and avoids stress and frustration. Employees with good psychological health will do their job better and a favorable environment will be created within the company.
As we have previously mentioned, the overload of messages in WhatsApp is a real problem in companies. It makes your team’s work slower, heavier and more difficult. For this reason, a tool that allows you to eliminate this overload is extremely necessary.
In addition to all the best practices that should be followed by sales or support teams. A platform is needed to manage more efficiently the messages arriving on WhatsApp through the API. This is how we know Callbell, a multi-device and multi-agent platform that helps distribute the chats equally among each agent and improves work efficiency.
Additionally, it offers special features such as tagging, automatic routing, notes and chat between agents to make the work more efficient, if you want to know more about this tool, click here.
Frequent Questions
How to deal with this work overload with WhatsApp Business API?
The key is to have the necessary tools and use them properly. Correctly implementing them and training staff to use them is the first thing to start having effective results. An effective WhatsApp Business API should be enough to solve the problem of message overload.
Is it possible to eliminate message overload to help the company's productivity?
A structured message management is key for the simultaneous attention of several communication agents via WhatsApp. This, of course, helps to reduce the workload and maintain order in the messages. Each employee must be trained to follow standardized guidelines and communicate effectively with both the team and the customer.
Standardizing communication processes also makes customers feel more satisfied with the service, which will result in fewer messages being sent and a quicker chat ending.
About the author: Hello! I am Alan and I am the marketing manager at Callbell, the first communication platform designed to help sales and support teams to collaborate and communicate with customers through direct messaging applications such as WhatsApp, Messenger, Telegram and Instagram Direct
