How to Use Viber Business Messages to Increase Customer Engagement – With Examples

For many consumers, digital channels are becoming the most popular way of interacting with brands. In this blog we explore how adding Viber Business Messages to their channel mix can help brands deliver a rich and engaging experience for customers already using the app to communicate with family and friends.

We also include three examples of companies using Viber successfully to drive demonstrable results, and how they did it.

What are Viber Business Messages?

Viber is one of the most popular messaging apps in the world with over 1 billion registered users in 190+ countries. In addition to standard features like messaging, voice and video calling, group chat and sticker packs, Viber offers enhanced messaging solutions for businesses. Chatbots, business messages, branded stickers and display ads all provide multiple opportunities for companies to engage with customers and prospects at scale.

What makes Viber such an attractive channel for business is that 63% of its user base is made up of people in the key 25 to 50 age bracket. Globally, more than 8,500 brands are already using Viber Business Messages to engage with this dynamic and affluent market and the list is growing. In 2021 alone there was a 55% increase in the number of new Viber Business Messages accounts.

What are the benefits of Viber Business Messages?

According to Insider, in 2021 the number of monthly messaging app users worldwide increased by 6.1% to 3.09 billion. It is anticipated that more than three quarters of internet users worldwide will be using messaging apps by 2024.

As new communication and commerce channels challenge the need for brick-and-mortar stores, both new and established businesses are trying to figure out how to engage with customers who are now far more likely to check their message inbox than their email.

Studies have shown that the focus of B2C communication should be on experience. Specifically, the personalization of communication throughout the overall shopping journey.

It has been proven that consumers who have an emotional connection with a brand have a 306% higher lifetime value. A key first step to start winning this affection is to interact with them on the channel that they prefer.

This is where Viber Business Messages can play a key role. With it, brands can communicate with customers throughout the customer journey, including:

• Sharing welcome messages with new customers and loyalty club members
• Sending personalized promotional messages based on customer behavior
• Providing timely replies to product and stock queries
• Following up with customers who abandon their shopping carts to encourage them to complete their purchase
• Keep customers informed with hyper-accurate transaction and delivery updates
• Customer and product support
• Requesting feedback and reviews

Viber Business Messages therefore helps companies to attract, interact, transact, and stay in contact.

Viber Business Messages examples and use cases

To better understand how brands are using Viber in practice, let’s explore how three leading businesses in the retail, finance, and on-demand markets have incorporated Viber Business Messages into their communication strategy. 

Case study – Primer

With headquarters in the Philippines and a presence in 10 countries from Southeast Asia to Australia and the UK, retailer Primer has a diverse portfolio, covering both industrial and energy efficiency products and services.

During the pandemic the company wanted to provide a safe option for customers to buy the products they needed by encouraging them to purchase online rather than in physical stores.

Viber Business Messages was key to this process. Research showed that the messaging app was heavily used by customers and provided all the tools to engage with customers in a human and empathetic way.

• A discount voucher was sent to customers via Viber that was only redeemable on the eCommerce site
• By using Viber to track which customers were active, Primer was able to focus their messaging and marketing budget on active consumers only

The results were impressive – the brand achieved a 53% code redemption conversion rate and a 401% increase in total sales.

Case study – NLB bank

These days customers expect to be able to interact directly with banks in a conversational way, just like they do with their favorite retail brands. People also expect quick responses to their enquiries and problems. This has required financial institutions to adapt their services to meet the expectations of modern customers.

By adopting Viber as a messaging channel, banks and other financial institutions can support instant two-way communication with customers covering all sorts of useful use-cases including:

• Sending transaction notifications
• Alerting customers to suspicious account activity
• Sending personalized loan offers
• Notifying clients about upcoming policy renewals
• Enabling clients to easily arrange meetings

NLB Bank in Montenegro has been a forerunner in adopting new channels for communication. Noting that Viber was one of the primary messaging apps used by their customers, and that it was able to ensure the security of data, they started to use it for both transactional and event-triggered messaging.

Retaining SMS as a failover channel, the bank used the two-way capability of Viber Business Messages to promote their “Arrange a meeting” offer – resulting in a 30% increase in meeting requests compared to previous campaigns.

By incorporating Viber into the sales process, they have also achieved a 30% increase in sales leads and 15% increase in overall sales – all attributable to the conversational experience that the app provides.

Case study – BlaBlaCar

Companies in the travel, ridesharing, and logistics industries have an ongoing requirement to exchange information quickly, accurately, and easily. Instant messaging tools have become an important part of this process and can be used for all sorts of purposes:

• Sending booking confirmations
• Providing up-to-the-minute service statuses
• Real-time customer support and troubleshooting
• Creating personalized and engaging offers
• Inviting customers to download the company app

The ridesharing company BlaBlaCar had an issue with message delivery and network problems preventing key notifications from being delivered. For example, when drivers had to cancel a trip, customers were sometimes left unaware.

After getting a multitude of requests to introduce Viber as a messaging channel, the company introduced a dual Viber Business Messages and SMS solution to communicate with both drivers and customers. This ensured that messages were still delivered if there was no data signal, and now covers booking confirmations, status updates, and last-minute ride requests.

Crucially, BlaBlaCar’s support team can now track real-time message delivery statuses and respond when required to ensure a smooth customer experience. This has resulted in:

• reduced customer complaints
• faster time to resolution for issues
• positive customer reviews

How to add Viber to your business messaging

Now that you’ve seen the benefits of Viber Business Messages, you will be keen to find out how you can start using it in your own business. Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered with options for any use case.

1. Viber for contact centers

If you have a contact center and are looking to introduce live messaging and chatbot capability you can benefit from the Viber Business Messages solution through our contact solution Conversations and our chatbot building platform Answers. This combination offers a host of benefits:

• Engaging customer experience across all touch points
• Improved agent performance
• Manage all customer interactions from a unified workspace
• Maintain a 360-degree view of every customer

Your live agents and chatbots can work in tandem to address your customers’ queries with a quick, reliable, and seamless experience. Our solution will speed up issue resolution, reduce the burden on the contact center, improve both the customer and employee experience, and become an effective tool for lead generation and sales.

2. Viber for customer engagement

Are you looking to use Viber in your customer engagement campaigns?

No problem, our Moments customer engagement solution enables you to use Viber Business Messages to create connected customer experiences covering every use case from real-time alerts to conversational marketing and nurture flows.

3. Viber customization

If your business already has development resources and you need more customization, the Viber Business Messages API can be used to do this. Incorporate rich messaging and video to create attention grabbing and engaging experiences, with a flexible pricing model that includes either pay-per-message or conversation options.

As digital channels increase in popularity, customers are choosing brands that offer conversational two-way experiences on the messaging apps they already use.

Businesses that can adapt and incorporate popular channels like Viber have an automatic advantage when creating personal brand-to-consumer connections that drive revenue growth.