Rakuten Viber Solutions for Brands: Business Messages, Chatbots, Ads, Lenses, Stickers, and Business Inbox feature

As traditional communication channels become increasingly saturated and less effective, companies look to explore solutions that enable them to cut through the noise and reach their target audience easily. In today's rapidly evolving digital landscape, businesses must continually adapt their communication strategies to stay ahead of the curve and maintain a strong connection with consumers.

Enter Rakuten Viber – a messaging superapp that can enhance your direct outreach and engagement efforts. A great help for companies wishing to connect with customers, the app has recently added a Rakuten Viber Business Inbox feature – a dedicated folder for brand-user interactions. In this blog post, we'll delve into the world of Rakuten Viber, explore how the app can enable you to expand your customer reach, and explain why Business Inbox is another reason brands should use the app.

Rakuten Viber as a Messaging App — Benefits for Reaching Customers

First, let’s explore the benefits Rakuten Viber has in virtue of being a messaging app — one with over a billion downloads on Android only and users in more than 190 countries around the world.

• Messaging apps allow companies to better engage with their customers in real time and on a personal level. This helps build stronger relationships and fosters brand loyalty.
• Through automation and chatbot integration, businesses can streamline customer support and provide quick, personalized responses to inquiries.
• Messaging apps enable companies to reach and segment audiences based on various factors, such as demographics and interests. This allows for more targeted and relevant communication, which leads to better conversion rates.
• Messaging apps offer analytics that helps businesses understand their customers better, track marketing performance, and optimize communication strategies.

How Rakuten Viber Helps Businesses Reach More Customers

Rakuten Viber has seen significant growth in brand-user interactions in recent years — take a look at our latest blog post about Rakuten Viber events and key statistics in 2023, showcasing the data from individual markets. As more people adopt Rakuten Viber and benefit from its superapp features for daily communication, brands must establish a presence on the platform to stay connected with their customers. No one can afford to lose an international audience of hundreds of millions of users. That’s why thousands of brands trust Viber.

Rakuten Viber offers excellent messaging and advertising tools to reach its active audience. 

• Companies can send targeted and personalized Rakuten Viber Business Messages — Transactional, Promotional, and Conversational — based on consumers’ history of interaction and preferences. You can integrate Viber Business Messages with your CRM or CDP system to save and access necessary information about customers and make their experience better.
• Rakuten Viber Chatbots is an automated tool that can be configured to answer frequently asked questions and assist people 24/7, while freeing up real agents to deal with complex issues.
• Rakuten Viber Ads is a great way for companies to reach their target audience. There are various native ad placements within the app’s interface that can be targeted based on location, interests, and demographics.
• As part of an advertising suite, Rakuten Viber offers viral marketing tools such as branded Lenses and Stickers. Branded Lenses are creative augmented reality filters that users can add to their photos and videos, and businesses can design these lenses to showcase their brand and message. Companies can also create their own custom branded Stickers, incorporating their branding and messaging for a fun and engaging user experience. Ads, Lenses, and Stickers can be linked to Chatbots, leading your new audience further down the marketing funnel.

Targeted Campaigns

The business solutions listed above enable companies to have targeted campaigns based on customers’ details. Get in touch to learn what works best for your brand.

With Rakuten Viber, businesses can conduct flash sales, special promotions, and limited-time offers. They can also monitor the success of such campaigns with dynamic analytics, enabling them to tweak their strategies for better results.

Launch of Rakuten Viber Business Inbox 

The platform's solutions for brands have proven invaluable for countless companies, helping them achieve their growth objectives and stay ahead of the competition.

In January 2023, Rakuten Viber introduced not one but two game-changing updates to further improve the way brands connect with consumers: Business Inbox and searchable Business Account. 

Rakuten Viber Business Inbox is a dedicated folder where consumers can manage their interactions with brands. Here is how it works: 

• When users receive their first business message, the folder is created in their chat list.
• A tooltip is provided in the Chats screen to guide people who encounter the new folder for the first time.
• An introductory overlay is displayed upon the user's first entry to the Business Inbox.
• All business messages are automatically directed to the Inbox pinned to the top of the list by default.
• Whenever a new message lands in the Business Inbox, a notification is displayed on the locked screen.
• One can pin a specific business conversation to the top of the folder.
• Users can also move any business conversation to the regular Chats screen.

Advantages of Business Inbox for Customer Experience

After exploring the specifics of Rakuten Viber Business Inbox and its smooth integration in the apps interface, it's important to understand how it helps make users more comfortable while communicating with your brand on Rakuten Viber. According to PWC's research, 86% of users are willing to pay more, just to receive a great customer experience when interacting with a business.

• Users can access all business messages in one place, allowing them to quickly and easily find notifications from your brand. It is especially important when you send timely messages and provide customer support.
• With the Business Inbox, users can tailor their Rakuten Viber experience, making interactions with companies more convenient and customizable.
• Improved organization gives more freedom to users, making them feel appreciated and encouraging engagement.
• It enhances the customer experience, streamlines communication, and fosters brand loyalty as a result.
• The Inbox doesn't show messages from personal accounts without a business profile, so users can easily distinguish a company or a business representative from a private account that might be impersonating the brand.

By harnessing the power of Rakuten Viber's global presence and opportunities for personalized messaging, efficient customer support, targeted campaigns, and favorable user experience brands can greatly benefit from marketing through the app.

Recently introduced Business Inbox helps brands to reach people in a convenient, organized, and personalized way, making them even more encouraged to do business. It also facilitates building lasting relationships with people. As we venture into the future, Rakuten Viber continues to push the boundaries of growth, helping businesses thrive in an increasingly connected world.