Shopify allows you to build and set up a running e-commerce store with ease, managing the store however is completely up to you! One of Bangalore’s organic e-commerce grocery stores realised the need for a strong structure in place to engage with customers to drive their sales and streamline their operations. Realising that they needed a way to go the extra step and directly reach out to their customers, the company began to look out for direct marketing and customer engagement practices to make their delivery management system more user friendly and seamless. The company depended on SMS campaigns/ emails to handle their marketing and customer communication needs, however they noticed a persistent issue of their conversation being dropped, making their messages more one way. In a business that thrives on word of mouth, strong testimonials and client relations, the company realised it’s need for revamping and hence got in touch with Quickwork to discuss automated solutions that could help them manage their customer interactions more seamlessly.

Why WhatsApp?

Groceries are a staple, something that customers need convenient access to! While organic groceries are gaining more momentum in today’s world, they’re often found in farmers markets or tucked away in the shelves of fancy brick and mortar stores. While you can find organic groceries online, the ordeal of ordering them can be annoying as most people want live updates on where their groceries are and when they’ll be delivered, and most times customers realise an item or two to add right after check out! These issues can often lead to order cancellations. The company realised that they only way to seamlessly manage their deliveries, they needed a stable, two way responsive communication model in place. SMS are often ignored and mails can be difficult to keep a track of as well.

After understanding the nature and need of the company, Quickwork suggested WhatsApp as the base for automation. This was primarily because WhatsApp has replaced SMS as the default text messaging application for regular customers in India, meaning that customers are likely to be more active on WhatsApp as compared to texts and emails. Another major reason however was the popularity of the platform as well, with over millions of daily active users in India, multilingual options and APIs that allow to build and modify the capabilities of the platform and freely integrate it with your services is what impacted Quickworks decision to suggest WhatsApp.

How did integrating WhatsApp with Shopify help add value to the business workflow?

WhatsApp as a platform is excellent for having interactive conversations with your customers. Customers find it easier to place orders via text, WhatsApp enabled customers to easily add items to their order in case they missed something at checkout. It also eased the process of sending reminders! Food products have a short shelf life, which is why it’s important to ensure that the orders are confirmed. With WhatsApp the company was able to send timely reminders intimating customers of when their order is due, to ensure they’re ready with cash at time of delivery. Also allowing for customers to cancel pre-shipping reducing the number of cancellations at the time of delivery. Generating feedback is another pain point for businesses that WhatsApp helped ease. The clickable buttons on WhatsApp allowed customers to give quick feedback!

Overall WhatsApp helped in streamlining the process of placing an order, order tracking, post-sale communication. It also made it convenient to stay in touch with customers and generate a user base that can be easily reached out for future marketing.

Now that you know the “Why’s” of adding WhatsApp to your business model, get in touch with us to take care of the “How”!