How to Continue Serving Customers During Critical Situations

Working from home has been one of the main topics among many industries since the global pandemic was announced. As numerous companies switch to at-home solutions, employees are simultaneously trying to create new routines that will help them stay productive with work while also being present with their families.

It’s times like these that society turns to technology for additional support to make certain aspects of life easier and more convenient.

For most consumers, this often means outsourcing meals, groceries, and errands. For on-demand companies, specifically food delivery services, this means new customers, more orders, and some limitations set for ways to serve.

So, how can today’s technology help take the load off delivery customer support agents, couriers, and customers all together?

Using channels such as WhatsApp enables businesses to communicate with customers in a quick, simple, and reliable way. With 2 billion users worldwide, global and local food delivery services can adapt this channel to their audience, business size, and respective needs when emergency situations arise.

With the ability to send proactive rich notifications that include images, videos, documents, and location sharing, businesses can ensure customers receive all the relevant information they need on time and in one place. Additionally, WhatsApp empowers businesses to introduce automated support through simple chatbots, giving customers a self-service option while also offloading queries from customer support agents.

There are a handful of ways to use WhatsApp to optimize your communication with customers when unexpected situations arise, like those we see happening today. Below is a list of steps your business can take to better serve your customers on the channel they use most.

When enabling WhatsApp as a new customer communication channel, make sure to let your existing and potential customers know that your services are available over their favorite chat app.

One way you can do this is to use the Click to WhatsApp feature. Once you activate this feature on your existing Facebook and Instagram business accounts, you will be able to post ads that display a call-to-action that customers can click to initiate a WhatsApp conversation with your business.

The best part about this? Your customers can start a conversation in just one click – making it quick and easy to place orders.

Another way to raise awareness about your new communication channel is through your website by implementing one of the following options:

Since order volumes during this time are most likely high, it’s important to implement quick and reliable solutions to ensure your customers receive answers in an appropriate timeframe, and to ease the workload and pressure put on your customer support staff.

The best solution for any business using WhatsApp is to introduce an automated chatbot. Setting up a simple chatbot to provide instant support to frequently asked questions will give customers the quick responses they want while also minimizing queries for support agents.

You can use your self-service chatbot to share:

Find out how to automate your food ordering process using a chatbot.

Once your customers place an order, you can start informing them about the status of their payment and delivery.

With WhatsApp’s Media Message Templates feature, you can attach images, videos, documents, and locations to a message to ensure customers receive all relevant information at once, such as order confirmations with e-receipts and notifications confirming the delivery address.

You can also enable customers to change the delivery time and/or address through a self-service chatbot.

However, remember to collect opt-ins first.

As consumers take the necessary precautions, it’s important that businesses do too. Critical situations, such as those going on right now, tend to bring communities together. The best that everyone can do is to take the time they can and use the resources they have to make the most of current events.