Event recap: The Future of Messaging in the Philippines

June 30 was a very exciting and eventful day for our team. After a dynamic media event in Manila, Philippines, we jumped right into our shoptalk with industry leaders: “The Future of Messaging”. 

The industry landscape: current trends and challenges 

Our CRO, Cristina Constandache, opened the event by outlining the industry landscape and the latest global and local trends. The world is becoming increasingly more mobile: in the Philippines alone, 83% of the total population are social media and chat apps users. People are spending a tremendous amount of time on their phones and expect their apps, including messengers, to do more for them: 77% of time users spend on their top 3 apps and 50% of that time—in one single app, so each app needs to offer multiple services in one place. In particular, messengers can be the channel of communication with brands: globally, 71% of consumers want to have convenient access to communication with a business. In APAC, 69% of consumers prefer using mobile messaging for customer service.

Rakuten Viber for Business Solutions for every stage of your marketing funnel  

Our Senior Global Sales & B2B Marketing Director, Etienne Dupont explained how Rakuten Viber for Business Solutions and features worked for every stage of a marketing funnel. 

• To build brand awareness, businesses can use Rakuten Viber Advertising Solutions, branded stickers, and viral Rakuten Viber Lenses.
• To influence customer considerations, brands can nurture leads with Rakuten Viber Chatbots, send promotional Rakuten Viber Business Messages, and make themselves easy to find with a Commercial Account (a new feature coming soon).
• Driving conversions through conversations makes great use of data-driven insights, leverages personalized communication and Rakuten Viber’s rich media capabilities, and is seamless, thanks to 24/7 support and user-friendly features.
• To nurture brand loyalty, Rakuten Viber provides Messaging Solutions that allow managing orders and deliveries, offering convenient post-sales support, and collecting customer feedback.

Rakuten Viber for Business: what's next?

Moty Rokach, our Senior Director, Business Product shared our vision for the future of Viber. He mentioned Rakuten Viber’s plans to create an all-in-one business entity, Commercial Account—a seamless, cost-efficient way to maintain online presence that makes it easy to find, reach, and do business with brands. Rakuten Viber also provides secure and cost-efficient OTP solutions, and is working towards integration with third-party tools that will streamline customer communication and support.

How brands succeed with Rakuten Viber for Business

Then, to illustrate how effective Rakuten Viber for Business can be, our clients presented their own success stories using Rakuten Viber business solutions. Among presenters were:

• Wence Wenceslao, Digital Hub Lead at Unilever, showcased how Rakuten Viber helped achieve high conversion and effectiveness at scale, thanks to a collaboration with our messaging partner, Infobip.
• Raffy Vicente, Commercial Director at QuadX Inc., shared fantastic customer acquisition and unique customer loyalty solutions, powered by Rakuten Viber Messaging Solutions and implemented with the help of our messaging partner, Promotexter.
• Ariane Nava, PACE Head at Globe, explained how Globe’s Ugnay, a learning platform, leveraged Rakuten Viber Business Messages to provide accessible communications and bite-sized learning materials to their users. In collaboration with our messaging partner, m360, Globe has achieved high engagement rates and positive user feedback.

Personalizing customer experience

The official part of the event concluded with a conversation. A panel discussion about the advantages and challenges of personalizing customer experience was moderated by our amazing host, Aziza N. Mondoñedo, and featured:

• Cristina Constandache, Chief Revenue Officer, Rakuten Viber
• Chris Keys, Director of Product & DPO, Promotexter
• Cecile Perez Tizon, Regional Manager APAC, Infobip
• Miko Ignacio, Product Head, m360

The Rakuten Viber team was delighted to meet with brands and partners in Manila! Watch the video of the best moments and highlights of the evening below to relive it with us.

If you have questions about the event or would like to learn more about Rakuten Viber for Business solutions, don’t hesitate to contact us.