How SMEs can differentiate from 87% of competition

As many as 87 percent of surveyed SMEs have told CX Network that they do not have a full customer service support system that enables them to engage with the customer via multiple channels, like WhatsApp.

The insights were sourced from a CX Network survey, conducted earlier in 2022, and published in the report How SMEs are using WhatsApp to offer better customer service, in partnership with Trengo.

Of this 87 percent, 31 percent depend on basic customer support via a website, phone or email, while 25 percent have a small customer service team, itself dependent on a lightweight ticketing system.

With a focus on e-commerce businesses, the report also found that 21 percent of respondents have an established service team to back up self-service options.

Those SMEs should take the next step to optimize the workflows of these teams with the right tools and processes to boost their customer engagement, reduce repetitive tasks for their agents, and direct questions to the right person by integrating rules into their team inbox.

Whether it is cash flow, staffing or supply chains, SME owners have a lot to think about, however, none can afford for customer service to drop down the priority list. Being available on a customer’s channel of choice creates new business and sales opportunities, simply because it aligns with customers’ expectations.

Messaging for SMEs

The power of messaging cannot be denied. In the absence of widespread RCS use, platforms such as Messenger, Telegram and WhatsApp are now recognized customer service touch points.

For customer-facing SMEs, a channel-based messaging service is a personnel-light tool to automate repetitive work, thus freeing up small service teams for other tasks.

Patrick Meutzner, CEO of Trengo, says WhatsApp can be a useful tool in industries such as e- commerce, retail, hospitality, travel and automotive. “By using the right automations, such as rules, quick replies or chatbots, you would be able to add a channel without extending your team,” he adds.

A study by YouGov found that of those who use WhatsApp to communicate with businesses, 54 percent of respondents used the channel for customer service, followed by pre-sales service at 42 percent.

“Messaging apps strengthen the warm and personal connection SMEs have with their customers,” Meutzner continues.

“On WhatsApp, the tone is often more informal and conversational than via email and comes way closer to a conversation you would have in a physical store. With the templates it is easier to automate your outreach to your customers,” he adds.

Getting started with Omnichannel

As this CX Network guide explains, there are many things to understand when implementing an omnichannel model.

For those SMEs that are ready to take the full suite omnichannel approach, Saki Takeda, director of product management at Netflix, says there are two major pitfalls to avoid.

Speaking to CX Network last year, she said: “The top things to avoid are expanding channels blindly for the sake of being omnichannel or ‘needing to show the brand presence’ and creating unnecessary silos by segmenting/grouping support agents per channel.”

She added: “It is important to understand the differences between multichannel and omnichannel and placing a strong focus on customer journey.”

With SMEs naturally forced to keep pace with their enterprise competition, the 13 percent that do have full suite capabilities are at a clear advantage.

To read the report How SMEs are using WhatsApp to offer better customer service, click here.