Unilever: Promoting new products with a WhatsApp Business chatbot

Challenge

Comfort, Unilever’s leading fabric softener brand in Brazil, was launching a new line of products: a washing powder and a washing liquid with new and improved capabilities.

Unilever was looking for a new and unique approach in their promotional efforts, one that was equally disruptive as the product itself, and that would guarantee an impact.

After some research, the multinational consumer goods corporation realized that the best way to promote the products was to approach the customers in a way they’re familiar with and that would mimic the way such products get recommended organically.

Solution

Since WhatsApp is the world’s most popular chat app, and is used among consumers to communicate with their family and friends daily, Unilever decided to use the channel to connect with consumers in a way that’s familiar – by having a conversation with their audience and using the opportunity to raise awareness about their new products.

In August 2019, Unilever decided to run a WhatsApp Business campaign where they put up 1,000 posters around Sao Paulo that displayed teaser messages followed by a WhatsApp number.

Once interested consumers contacted the number, a chatbot called MadameBot would give advice on how to take care of clothes, and introduce the new products using rich media, such as audio and memes.

At the end of the chat, customers received 50% off the new products, along with free shipping.

The self-service keyword chatbot was built on Infobip’s Answers platform.

Result

It was Comfort’s first campaign using WhatsApp, and the engagement exceeded all expectations. In the first 12 hours, 6,335 unique users interacted with Comfort’s chatbots, exchanging 145,000 messages – far exceeding the expected goal of 600 interactions. Because of this, the three-day campaign was extended for another week. In seven days, 12 thousand unique customers engaged with the brand, with over 290,000 exchanged messages.

Having a friendly conversation through WhatsApp with potential customers turned out to be a huge success.

The conversational campaign resulted in 14 times higher sales than on ordinary days, forcing the company to add external partners to meet the demands. Additionally, Unilever’s call center received many calls praising the campaign.

Unilever saw the benefits of conversational commerce firsthand and is now considering adding a WhatsApp number directly to the product package.