Removing friction in customer service with WhatsApp automation
One simple catch-all flow on WhatsApp can create an efficient, scalable customer service solution in the absence of manual support.
The challenge: disconnect between customer expectations and service delivery
BURNHARD, a German outdoor cooking brand, specializing in gas grills, pizza ovens, and accessories, have a WhatsApp newsletter that customers can sign up for on their website and also become a member of their BURNHARD Club.
With that, they faced a common scenario in their customer service operations: since they do not currently offer live/manual support, they often had customers messaging them via WhatsApp with questions – thus using WhatsApp as a live customer support channel.
Their current solution was to send these customers a message asking them to: "Please send an email here..."
This traditional approach of directing customers to email support from WhatsApp was creating a disconnect between customer expectations for instant messaging and the actual service delivery – resulting in a less than optimal customer experience.
Before diving into BURNHARD's success story, it's important to understand what a WhatsApp catch-all flow is.
In WhatsApp Business messaging, a catch-all flow acts as an intelligent safety net - it's an automated conversation sequence that engages users when they send messages that don't match specific keywords or planned conversation paths. Think of it as a digital concierge that ensures no customer query goes unanswered, even if it doesn't fit into predefined categories.
Let's say you have a clothing store. You might have specific flows for "order tracking," "size inquiries," and "returns." Your catch-all flow could include:
- "Hi there! How can I help you today?"
- "Here are some helpful links:" (Include links to your website, product catalog, and FAQs)"
- Or, you can reply with one of these options:" (List relevant keywords like "order," "size," "return," "contact")
By implementing a well-designed catch-all flow, you can enhance the overall user experience on your WhatsApp channel and build stronger relationships with your customers.
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Here's how the WhatsApp catch-all flow for BURNHARD looks like in the charles platform
The Innovation: "Burnie The BBQ-Bot" – a WhatsApp catch-all flow
BURNHARD had a very creative approach to this friction point by implementing "Burnie the BBQ-Bot," a sophisticated WhatsApp catch-all flow system. Here's how it works:
- Initial engagement
- Customers message outside of business hours or with unrecognized queries to BURNHARD's WhatsApp channel
- Instead of a generic "email us" response, Burnie introduces itself as a digital BBQ expert
- The bot uses casual, friendly language aligned with BURNHARD's brand voice
- Smart problem classification
- Burnie's flow presents clear categories for customer selection:
🔥 Product Information
📦 Orders & Delivery Status
🔄 Returns & Support
🎯 Club & Loyalty Program
- Burnie's flow presents clear categories for customer selection:
- Progressive resolution path
- Each category branches into specific sub-topics
- Questions become increasingly focused
- Burnie identifies the exact issue through guided conversation
- And then delivers targeted solutions through:
- Help articles
- Video tutorials
- Exact links to specific pages on the website
- Intelligent fallback options
- Collects relevant information before making a conclusion or redirecting customers with a link to the 'Contact Us' page on the brand's website
- Measuring impact
- In order to gauge the success of Burnie, at the end of the flow, customers are asked the question: "Did we solve your problem?"
- If the customers say "Yes", they receive no further service email. And if customers say "No", they receive a service email, offering further assistance
- The aim is to reduce service requests by identifying those who need further help and could eat up the capacity of the service team. And also helps gauge the efficiency of the setup.
Results: 35% reduction in service requests
Out of 140 customers, who answered the question of whether their problem was solved or not – 50 reported that the interaction helped solve their issue. And 90 reported that the interaction did not help them and wanted to contact the service team.
This means that almost every 1 in 3 service requests was successfully resolved by Burnie the BBQ-Bot.
Conclusion: Enhanced customer service experience
The success of BURNHARD's implementation demonstrates that effective WhatsApp catch-all flows can upgrade customer service from a reactive and less seamless experience into a proactive, automated solution that enhances customer experience while reducing operational overhead. The key is not just in the automation itself, but in creating a conversational experience that feels natural and helpful, while systematically guiding customers to solutions.
This example shows how modern messaging platforms like WhatsApp Business, when properly leveraged, can create simple and efficient customer service solutions that maintain a personal touch while still delivering round-the-clock support.
Interested to read more about WhatsApp flows in action? See how our customer Jack Wolfskin uses a smart welcome flow to gather subscribers, zero party data and personalize communications successfully.
And coming up in 2025, with our recent Spectrm acquisition, expect more exciting developments with AI agents focused on service use cases such as product recommenders, FAQs and more.
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