Creating Customer Loyalty through WhatsApp

This report focuses on how WhatsApp can be used to create customer value. It discusses the functional, social, emotional, experience, time, place and problem-solving value of WhatsApp. It also highlights the different features of WhatsApp that add functional value to the app. The report also discusses how WhatsApp can be used to foster corporate social responsibility and create emotional appeal. Additionally, it highlights how WhatsApp can be used to create good customer experience and foster customer loyalty.

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Creating customer loyalty through App
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Identify the app- WhatsApp
WhatsApp is an instant messaging application present on different platforms such as iOS,
Android, Windows 10 Mobile, etc. It is undoubtedly the fastest growing communication
application. In its beginning it only sent text messages but now WhatsApp user can send images,
videos, audios, GIFs, location, etc. In addition user can make calls and video calls. WhatsApp
was created by Brain Acton and Jan Koum to make communicating and sending multimedia
messages easier and faster. In 2016, WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook for a final price of
21,800 million dollars, thus becoming part of the services of Mark Zuckerberg's company.
Undoubtedly, its technical characteristics and its usability have turned this app into a
communicative resource suitable for any user. Far from stagnating, thanks in large part to the
wide audience that uses it daily, the development of this application has made possible its use in
other areas of interest, among which is digital marketing1. If an assessment on which mobile
applications are currently most useful, WhatsApp would surely occupy the top positions in the
ranking. Since its inception, the app was already emerging as a medium with high demand, since
it was presented in society as the most direct and interactive instant messaging solution as
opposed to the mobile SMS system, which occupied most of the market until the end of moment.
As much for the daily level of active users, as for the intrinsic characteristics of the application,
WhatsApp is being used and implemented in the digital marketing strategies of companies and
brands. Currently, there are different business sectors whose profitability and communication
objectives are being met through the app thanks to the favorable expectations of customers in
their use. According to Facebook, WhatsApp has just surpassed the whopping figure of 1.5
billion users, and sending 60,000 million messages a day. This announcement coincides with the
1 March, Joshua. Message Me: the Future of Customer Service in the Era of Social Messaging
and Artificial Intelligence. Cork: BookBaby 2017

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launch of one of its most anticipated tools in the business world and the Social Customer
Service, the WhatsApp Business2. However, what is not clear is how WhatsApp help in creating
customer value. It is thus the goal of this report to give a detailed description on how WhatsApp
can be used to create customer value. The report will specifically focus on functional, social,
emotional, experience, time, place and problem-solving value.
Functional value of WhatsApp
It is undisputable that there are many tools that can be used to reach customers. However,
the success of any too depend on its functional value it can bring. The current millennial
generation tend to go for app services that can suit their needs. One of the factors they consider is
the different features found in the app. WhatsApp have virtually all features that the customers
would wish to have. Firstly, it is easy to install. All that is needed is to download the WhatsApp
application and then create an account using the mobile number. WhatsApp has a function or
feature that can allow users to send files3. WhatsApp also has a feature that can allow the
company create a group of customers and send one message to all of them instantly. Another
feature that adds functional value to WhatsApp is that it can enable users to make voice calls and
to record and send videos.
Novelties keep coming to the application that sets the tone in instant messaging. And that
one of its most expected features, video calls, have not yet stuck. WhatsApp has updated its
service in operating systems to include a series of features designed to offer a wider range of
options when sharing images and videos. With version 2.16.12 for the iOS operating system
( previously arrived at Android ), the "app" now allows user to draw or add text and "emojis" to
2 March, Joshua. Message Me: the Future of Customer Service in the Era of Social Messaging
and Artificial Intelligence. Cork: BookBaby 2017
3 March, Joshua. 123

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images and videos4. The editing tool, enlarged, gives the user the possibility to choose even the
thickness of the brush or the type of letter are just a gesture on the screen of the smart mobile
phone. With simple turns user can enrich the audiovisual content shared with the contacts. When
drawing, for example, user can choose between two special brushes, one to pixel or censor the
image and another to remove the color. And is that this type of stickers have stuck strong in
social networks and various mobile messaging applications in recent times and, now, are
enhanced in WhatsApp . These new functions of the camera are aimed at "customize and
improve the photos and videos user share with friends and family around the world. WhatsApp
have also added another option whereby group administrators can send invitation links to add
new contacts. Another way to enhance group conversations, another of the biggest interests of
the subsidiary company of Facebook. Another new feature that WhatsApp has incorporated into
its service is the possibility of using a front flash system that illuminates the screen in low light
conditions, in the style of the camera application present in iOS5
It is also important to note that WhatsApp does not have many algorithms. Unlike
platforms like Twitter , Facebook or Instagram, where user reach the audience organically each
time it seems more like a utopia, when one do marketing through WhatsApp he or she have total
access to Contact List , without any filters in between.
Additionally, WhatsApp allow exchange of media through different formats. Unlike
promotions by SMS, where the maximum number of characters accepted is 160, in WhatsApp
this number amounts to 1000, in addition to that user can choose different formats, which can
make communication with the potential client much more attractive. Videos, audios, GIFs,
4 March, Joshua. Message Me: the Future of Customer Service in the Era of Social Messaging
and Artificial Intelligence. Cork: BookBaby 2017
5 March, Joshua. 167

5
images or text are some of the elements that user can intersperse. It's just about using creativity
to captivate the audience and take full advantage of their great potential. Recently, WhatsApp
created WhatsApp Business to facilitate management and communication between companies
and customers. For now there is not much that is known about it, since it is in a private beta
phase , but apparently it would solve many of the limitations that WhatsApp marketing has
today. It would be a payment service, in which companies would have a business account, apart
from their individual profile. This would allow, for example, to access statistics on campaign
performance, configure automatic responses, enter company information for users to access and
other functionalities that would facilitate the management and scope of the platform to perform
all of these actions6
Social Value
Customers, in addition to good products, expect brands to contribute to solve world
problems and, therefore, more and more are considering putting their resources and capabilities
at the service of an objective: to achieve changes in attitude and in the behavior of their public in
relation to a cause of interest, social, cultural or environmental7. Influencing the behavior of
citizens in favor of a cause not only creates social value but also generates economic value.
WhatsApp, being a messaging app, can be used to disseminate information related to the social
problems. Marketers can amplify their corporate social responsibility by creating a group in
WhatsApp that focuses on each of the corporate social responsibility the company have. In other
6 Swinscoe, Adrian. How to wow: 68 effortless ways to help make every customer experience
amazing.. Harlow, England ; New York : Pearson. 2016.
7 Huang, Chung-Lin, and Chung-Chi Huang. "The Improved Customer Satisfaction Prediction
System on Airlines Service by Using Cloud Computing Based Intelligent Strategy System."
Applied Mechanics and Materials (2015): 965-969.

6
words, WhatsApp can be used to reinforce and amplify existing social responsibilities8. A
number of companies such as Vodka have been using WhatsApp to foster corporate social
responsibilities. Creating promotional draws is an example of how WhatsApp can foster social
value.
Emotional value
The emotional marketing is essential to deliver value and build customer loyalty, which
will provide greater benefits, growth and business success in the long run9. The human being is
an emotional being dominated by his feelings and emotions, rather than for reasons. Based on
this premise, marketing experts have confirmed that new sentimental experiences, with the help
of a studied marketing of emotions, sell more than the same product10. In this way, managing the
emotions of consumers can make an individual associate the consumption of a particular product
with pleasure and satisfaction. These strategies are usually more useful in these times, in which
people tend to be more stressed and looking for some focus of joy and company11. It is here
where the brand arrives as the savior and achieves it through emotional marketing12. The main
tool of this type of marketing is the generation of experiences, pointing to the expectations of
desire and appealing to the sensations of memories. WhatsApp stands out as one of the mobile
8 Bliss, Jeanne.. Chief customer officer 2.0: how to build your customer-driven growth engine.
Accessed 9/7/18
http://ezproxy.uniandes.edu.co:8080/login?url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9781119154853. 2015.
9 Delo, Cotton. "Rise of WhatsApp could slow Facebook's quest for mobile growth." Advertising
Age 84, no. 23 (2013): 8.
10 Ye, Qiang, Rob Law, Bin Gu, and Wei Chen. "The influence of user-generated content on
traveler behavior: An empirical investigation on the effects of e-word- of-mouth to hotel online
bookings." Computers in Human Behavior 27 no 2 (2011): 634- 639.
doi:10.1016/j.chb.2010.04.014
11 North, Ronald J. 2001 "What Ever Happened to Customer Service?." Behavioral Health
Management 21 no 3 (2001): 56.
12 Chahal, Hardeep, and Renu Bala. "Role of Customer Retention Equity in Creating and
Developing Brand Value." Journal Of Relationship Marketing 16 no 2 (2017) : 119-142.

7
applications that can be used to generate experience, point to the expectations of desire and
appeal to the sensations of memories. Given the fact that in WhatsApp, user can create a video
clip and send to other users, then it means that WhatsApp has the ability to create emotional
appeal depending on the content of the message, video or audio disseminated. This means that
WhatsApp, being a tool for communication, facilitate the implementation of emotional value.
Time value
Time is valuable in creation of customer loyalty. Reaching faster market segments
through rapid production, access and distribution of material is very important, not only for
whoever offers the campaign but for the one who is waiting for it13. To be competitive,
organizations need to use channels that are able to deliver messages and content and services in
the shortest time possible14. The marketing strategy of an organization only succeeds when
executed correctly at the right time (Fernekees, 2018, 7). WhatsApp is an application that is
always within the reach of the user. Any communication can be detected easily. WhatsApp
messages come with sound notification15. WhatsApp stands out to be one of the best mobile
application for creating time value. WhatsApp allow instant messaging and does not have a lot of
algorithms.
Experience value
13 Rogelberg, Steven G., and Jeffrey M. Stanton. "Understanding and Dealing With
Organizational Survey Nonresponse." Organizational Research Methods 10 (2007): 195- 209.
doi:10.1177/1094428106294693.
14 Lovelock, Christopher H., Paul Patterson, and Jochen Wirtz.. Services Marketing: An Asia-
Pacific and Australian Perspective. 6. Melbourne: Pearson Australia. 2015.
15 Upadhyaya, Makarand. "Customer satisfaction measurement in airline services: An empirical
study of need -gap analysis." International Journal of Information Business and Management 5
no 1 (2017): 109-122. https://search-proquest .com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/docview/1511120639?
accountid=10382 .

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The customer experience is a multidimensional interactive process between a brand and a
person16. It develops through the points of contact that link them; both those who are under the
control of the organization, and those who are not. It includes all the stages that go from the
recognition of the brand to the recommendation of the same, through its purchase and use17. The
customer experience is a critical strategic process, which should not be reduced to tactical
actions such as events, street marketing, ambient marketing, or merchandising; Although they
can contribute to generate notoriety and engagement, they must be integrated within a coherent
and consistent strategy that brings together all points of contact with corporate objectives,
marketing and branding of a given organization18. WhatsApp can foster customer experience by
ensuring instant feedback and follow up. It allows the customer and the seller to track the
transaction and communicate easily if there is any problem. WhatsApp foster efficiency of
customer services and hence help in creating good customer experience. The better the customer
experience, the greater the likelihood of increasing customer retention, generating new leads,
increasing the average ticket, etc. Nowadays it can be said that the ability of a brand to deliver a
good experience to its customers constitutes per se a competitive advantage.
Place
The utility of place refers to the availability of a product or service in a place that is
convenient for customers. In the commercialization of the business, the place can refer to the
convenience of marketer’s distribution channels or direct sales operations. The WhatsApp
16 Andotra, Neetu, and Pooja. "Optimising Customer-Orientation In Small Business Through
Marketing-Mix Feedback Results." Journal of Services Research 7 no 1 (2007): 181-189, 191-
203. https://search-proquest- com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/docview/195568781?accountid=10382.
17 Subramaniam, Anand. 2017 "Cognitive/AI-Powered Customer Service: Use-Cases and Real-
World Examples." KM World 26 no 8 (2017): S35.
18 Saunders, Laura. "Learning from Our Mistakes: Reflections on Customer Service and How to
Improve It at the Reference Desk." College & Undergraduate Libraries 20 no 2 (2013): 144-155.

9
services are always available to the users who are WhatsApp subscribers. Place is not an
obstacle. So long as a user have smartphone, he or she can access WhatsApp services anytime
anywhere. Having all materials easily accessible, from anywhere, at any time and from any
Internet enabled device allows WhatsApp to act as the management of digital files to store and
send marketing designs, promotional material and brand assets.
Recommendation
Although WhatsApp stands out as the best tool for creating customer value, its
effectiveness depend on a number of factors. The recommendations below are designed to assist
in ensuring that users get optimal benefits from WhatsApp
The first recommendation is that the content of message should be designed
appropriately. It is undisputable that content marketing is, today, an infallible strategy to generate
solid and lasting links with the audience. When one uses this application, he or she should be
clear about this, so as not to send boring and direct sales messages and make better use of user’s
reach to send valuable, fun and attractive campaigns19. To achieve this, marketer has to plan
strategy from the beginning and do not improvise. It is important to consider who the potential
customer is, what communication tone to use, what kind of formats is best, what are the best
schedules to reach them and what the most effective formats could be. Marketer should be very
empathetic, close and creative, so that it does not generate a rejection.
The second recommendation is that effective WhatsApp marketing campaign will require
marketer to segment the customers. This is because it is not the same to address potential
customers, current customers, suppliers, etc. Neither can marketer treat all customers equally. A
marketer may have to send a type of advertising to customers with higher CLV (Costumer
19 Schmidt, Aaron. "Beyond "Designwashing." Library Journal 139 no 4 (2014): 28.

10
Lifetime Value). Or separate between MVC (Most valuable costumers), MGC (Most Growable
Customers) and the rest.
The third recommendation is that it is important to create audiovisual content. The
audiovisual content is more viral. The good contents of audio, video and images are viral very
quickly through this channel.
Conclusion
The report has demonstrated that WhatsApp could be a pearl to any company intending to
boost sales through creation of customer values. WhatsApp can help in creation of customer
values in many ways. However, the success of any marketing depend on content and the
selection of the targeted customers.

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References
Andotra, Neetu, and Pooja. "Optimising Customer-Orientation In Small Business Through
Marketing-Mix Feedback Results." Journal of Services Research 7 no 1 (2007): 181-189,
191-203. https://search-proquest- com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/docview/195568781?
accountid=10382.
Chahal, Hardeep, and Renu Bala. "Role of Customer Retention Equity in Creating and
Developing Brand Value." Journal Of Relationship Marketing 16 no 2 (2017) : 119-142.
Delo, Cotton. "Rise of WhatsApp could slow Facebook's quest for mobile growth." Advertising
Age 84, no. 23 (2013): 8.
Fernekees, Bob. "Smart Customer Service That Wows Customers." CRM Magazine 22 no 5
(2018): 7.
Huang, Chung-Lin, and Chung-Chi Huang. "The Improved Customer Satisfaction Prediction
System on Airlines Service by Using Cloud Computing Based Intelligent Strategy
System." Applied Mechanics and Materials (2015): 965-969.
doi:doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.764-765.965.
Lovelock, Christopher H., Paul Patterson, and Jochen Wirtz.. Services Marketing: An Asia-
Pacific and Australian Perspective. 6. Melbourne: Pearson Australia. 2015.
North, Ronald J. 2001 "What Ever Happened to Customer Service?." Behavioral Health
Management 21 no 3 (2001): 56.
Rogelberg, Steven G., and Jeffrey M. Stanton. "Understanding and Dealing With Organizational
Survey Nonresponse." Organizational Research Methods 10 (2007): 195- 209.
doi:10.1177/1094428106294693.
Saunders, Laura. "Learning from Our Mistakes: Reflections on Customer Service and How to
Improve It at the Reference Desk." College & Undergraduate Libraries 20 no 2 (2013):
144-155.
Schmidt, Aaron. "Beyond "Designwashing." Library Journal 139 no 4 (2014): 28.

12
Subramaniam, Anand. 2017 "Cognitive/AI-Powered Customer Service: Use-Cases and Real-
World Examples." KM World 26 no 8 (2017): S35.
Upadhyaya, Makarand. "Customer satisfaction measurement in airline services: An empirical
study of need -gap analysis." International Journal of Information Business and
Management 5 no 1 (2017): 109-122. https://search-
proquest .com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/docview/1511120639?accountid=10382 .
Ye, Qiang, Rob Law, Bin Gu, and Wei Chen. "The influence of user-generated content on
traveler behavior: An empirical investigation on the effects of e-word- of-mouth to hotel
online bookings." Computers in Human Behavior 27 no 2 (2011): 634- 639.
doi:10.1016/j.chb.2010.04.014.
March, Joshua. Message Me: the Future of Customer Service in the Era of Social Messaging and
Artificial Intelligence. Cork: BookBaby 2017
Bliss, Jeanne.. Chief customer officer 2.0: how to build your customer-driven growth engine.
Accessed 9/7/18
http://ezproxy.uniandes.edu.co:8080/login?url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9781119154853
. 2015.
Swinscoe, Adrian. How to wow: 68 effortless ways to help make every customer experience
amazing.. Harlow, England ; New York : Pearson. 2016.