Omnichannel Compliance – What Contact Centres Need To Know About Using Social Channels Like WhatsApp

Having the right omnichannel communications systems in place helps to ensure a cohesive, high-quality experience for customers across all touchpoints with your brand. However, if you’re planning to leverage the power of messaging apps for your contact centre operations, you must understand omnichannel compliance rules and regulations.

In this article, we examine the complexities of omnichannel compliance and outline what contact centres need to know about using social channels like WhatsApp as part of their omnichannel strategy.

 

What does omnichannel compliance mean?

 

Omnichannel compliance refers to the rules that govern how businesses can use various communication channels, including social media and messaging apps like WhatsApp.

At its core, omnichannel compliance is all about respecting the privacy of customers and ensuring that they have a say in how their data is used. This can include things like restricting access to personal information, preventing unsolicited marketing communications, and requiring explicit consent before sharing any data with third parties.

To comply with omnichannel regulations, contact centres need to put processes and procedures in place that enable them to consistently and accurately capture, store, and use customer data.

This can include things like

• Using clear opt-in/opt-out processes for marketing communications
• Creating comprehensive privacy policies, and
• Implementing robust security measures to protect sensitive information

 

How WhatsApp messaging works on Twilio

 

WhatsApp is just one example of a social media channel that contact centres are increasingly using to communicate with customers. And with phenomenal results!

Combining the power of Twilio and WhatsApp can provide a brand with a seamless customer experience. However, you must adhere to WhatsApp’s rules and regulations which differ from those of the standard Twilio Programmable SMS and MMS messages.

You’ll need to familiarise yourself with the way WhatsApp categorises messages (‘Templates’ and ‘Sessions’), how to send messages from your Sandbox, and how to use your own Twilio phone numbers and submit your own message templates to WhatsApp for approval.

More in-depth information on this can be found here.

 

 

The benefits of WhatsApp for omnichannel communication

 

WhatsApp provides many benefits for businesses that implement omnichannel communication strategies, including:

 

Access to insightful data

 

Communication channels like WhatsApp generate both historical and real-time data on customer interactions. Not only can this data be used to refine and optimise customer service, but it also provides a strategic view of the company’s processes.

 

Flexibility – hand in hand with omnichannel compliance

 

You can quickly adjust to the changing demands and needs of your business. You can also seamlessly switch between bots and humans, which optimises efficiency and provides users with a two-way communication channel.

This offers the potential to personalise the customer experience even further and allow people to carry out simple tasks themselves, without having to call customer service or send half a dozen emails back and forth.

 

Convenience and ease of use

 

To stand any chance of succeeding in today’s highly competitive landscape, companies need to communicate with customers where they are already communicating and create a high-quality, consistent experience across all channels.

WhatsApp is already the communication platform of choice for millions of people worldwide, and it allows businesses to engage with customers in real time.

 

Challenges of using messaging apps and maintaining omnichannel compliance

 

While messaging apps like WhatsApp offer many benefits for customer engagement, there are also challenges to consider.

For example, it can be difficult to keep track of conversations across multiple channels. In addition, there is a serious risk that private information may be shared inadvertently if employees are not trained properly in omnichannel compliance.

According to Raúl Castañón, senior analyst at 451 Research, a division of S&P Global Market Intelligence, one of the main challenges lies in ‘addressing regulatory requirements around capturing, archiving, and monitoring the use of mobile communications.’

 

 

This is particularly true in the financial sector, where regulators have been clamping down hard on the use of messaging apps like WhatsApp. In recent months, hundreds of millions of dollars in fines have been handed out for non-compliance and failure to keep proper records.

One example is JPMorgan being hit with a combined $200 million in fines from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in December last year.

The investment banking giant admitted failing to correctly monitor and store electronic communications between 2018 and 2020, as well as allowing employees to communicate about business matters through WhatsApp and SMS messages and their personal email accounts.

 

How Twilio Flex can help you to simplify your omnichannel engagement

 

There is no doubt that WhatsApp can be an invaluable component of any omnichannel strategy, provided you take every precaution when it comes to compliance. Twilio Flex is a fully programmable, cloud-based contact centre that offers everything you need to deliver personalised customer experiences across all channels and in one powerful platform.

With Twilio Flex you can easily integrate your contact centre with WhatsApp for Business, allowing you to target multiple points of the customer journey. Twilio handles the complications of managing multiple channels and provides a single platform for omnichannel compliance.

 

Kaptea is your trusted Twilio consulting partner

 

If you are considering deploying Twilio Flex to simplify your omnichannel engagement, talk to a Twilio expert at Kaptea today.

As a Twilio-certified Consulting Partner, our knowledge and experience of the platform can help to ensure maximum productivity, efficiency and profitability. Our team works with companies of all sizes and we’re here to get your Twilio deployment up and running quickly, integrate it seamlessly with your existing CRM, and provide you with the ongoing training and support you need.

In the past 12 months alone we’ve sent over 10 million messages and supported over 240,000 contact centre conversations for our customers. During this time we have strengthened our expertise in the design and development of Twilio and integrating its APIs with other platforms.

If you’re ready to measure the impact of omnichannel customer engagement with meaningful analytics and take charge of your customer experience on every channel, then reach out today to discuss what’s possible!