Why Viber’s New Unified Messaging Means Simpler, More Cost Effective Customer Interactions

Manuela

Marques

Product Marketing Director

Nov 01

6min read

Viber Business

One of the world’s most popular chat channels has simplified its Business Messages offering to create more manageable and feature-rich customer comms, all at a lower cost.

Savvy brands already understand the multiple CX benefits offered by chat apps — Viber in particular. With its one billion-plus users globally and deep penetration rates in South East Asia (59%), Central and Eastern Europe (76%), and CIS (76%), the platform is also ideal for engaging with younger audiences — especially 25-34 year-olds — who use the social channel extensively in their personal and professional lives.

Crucially, research shows that chat channels including Viber are far more cost-effective and efficient than, say, traditional SMS as the latter is hamstrung by technical limitations including restrictive character limits and a lack of multimedia options.

Viber’s Achilles heel: Managing multiple Sender IDs at once

However, up until October, Viber did suffer from one drawback, namely requiring brands to have – and pay for – an individual Sender ID for each one of the platform’s three business messaging types:

1WAY (One-way)
The company sends out notifications and alerts with the customer unable to reply. These can be used for promotional or transactional messages.

2WAY (Two-way)
The company starts the conversation and the customer can reply, creating deeper interactions. These can be used for promotional or transactional messages.

Sessions
The customer initiates the conversation with the company so they can access support or services.

For brands using two or more messaging types, it could become a challenge to manage and coordinate the different Sender IDs required — and critically, any resulting subscription costs.

Why unification is a game-changer for Viber Business Messages

To help brands successfully untangle this potential knot of IDs and messaging types, Viber has now massively simplified the process. It has taken the three messaging types and unified them into a single channel, all managed via a single Sender ID, instead of several:

One ID to rule them all: Top CX benefits for brands and customers

The unified messaging approach offers several CX advantages as well as new functionalities to enhance the Viber experience:

For brands

Streamlined comms
Instead of needing to switch between individual messaging types, brands can now send out promotional/transactional messages and chat with customers, all from within a single Viber Business Profile.

Greater value
Brands no longer have to pay a minimum monthly fee per individual messaging types. Instead, there is now a single, more cost-effective monthly minimum spend covering all types, delivered via one business Sender ID.

New file sharing options
Like Viber’s private and group chats, brands and customers can now share different file types with each other so long as they are no bigger than 200MB:

Documents including pdf, doc, and docx
Spreadsheets including xls and xlsx
Text files including txt, rtf, dot, dotx, odt, odf, fodt, and info
Graphic formats including xps, pdax, and eps.

This functionality is ideal for booking confirmations, pricing, invoices, and more.

Increased clarity

If a brand only wishes to have the 1WAY functionality — i.e., the customer cannot contact them — but the consumer still tries to reach out on Viber, a new non-customizable auto-reply is sent. This informs the customer that the brand does not currently receive messages on the chat app, and redirects them to the relevant contact channels.

For customers

Cleaner navigation
Customers can see all their communications with a brand within a single unified thread so they can easily browse any messaging in one place, instead of up to three.

Simplified replies
Like WhatsApp and Messenger, customers can now use the reply gesture to respond to individual messages within any brand conversation. This removes the need for the consumer to manually reference a particular message.

Clearer messaging
To help with chats about, say, tickets, delivery statuses, and more, the related message or thread can be ‘pinned’ at the top of the chat for easy reference. This ability can also be used by brands to aid in customer service and support.

Better photo/video sharing
Customers can share photos and videos using a new range of supported file formats with upload restrictions applied only to GIFs (24MB max.) and videos (100MB max.):

Image formats including jpg, jpeg, png, bmp, gif, svg, and webp
Video formats including avi, wmv, mov, and mp4.

This functionality is ideal for after-sales support, customer complaints, ID certification, and more.

These new functionalities as well as the service unification have already been rolled out by tyntec, with companies not required to make any changes to access them. Existing promotional and transactional message templates (including text/image/text + button/text + image + button) can still be used — but now all within the unified channel.

Adopting Viber Business Messages: How to get started in five simple steps

Brands can add the chat channel to their omnichannel strategy by partnering with tyntec and creating an official Viber Business Profile:

Sign up for a tyntec account
Provide the information required and fill out the Setup Form
Sign the standard Viber Warranty Letter (this includes officially opting-in and the anti-spam agreement)
Your Viber Business profile will be reviewed by Viber and activated at the requested date. Once approved, begin messaging immediately and use your 1,500 complimentary messages!

Check our complete Viber onboarding guide

The tyntec way: Introducing and managing Viber made effortless

A major benefit of teaming up with tyntec is removing the ‘busywork’ of integrating the Viber platform into a brand’s existing comms infrastructure. tyntec offers two integration solutions:

#1 - Conversations API

The Conversations API that integrates and syncs the social channel with existing enterprise systems including CRMs. This allows live agents to deliver personalized interactions with existing customers based on their past purchases and queries. Crucially, any information gleaned from the customer – new or existing – is fed back into the CRM so all information is kept up to date.

#2 – Conversations Inbox

For companies with large customer bases, tyntec also offers its powerful Conversations Inbox solution. This simple, intuitive omnichannel-focused platform enables brands to interconnect multiple live agents and bots, all within a single ‘window’ for optimized customer management. The platform also allows conversations to be assigned to relevant specialists in moments and critically, answer customer inquiries from any connected channel.

tyntec’s Conversations Inbox already supports over 1,500 companies worldwide, ensuring no matter how popular a brand’s channels become, the company is able to coordinate and manage hundreds of customer conversations with ease.

Combined with Viber’s unified Business Messages, either integration option represents a genuine opportunity for brands to deliver CX that wins over consumers — and, critically, to take greater control of their customers’ journeys.