MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Rakuten Viber is making Business Calls available to all Filipinos. Designed to enhance communication between businesses and their customers on the app, this solution lets brands establish a new communication channel and allows customers to make free international calls to their landline numbers directly through Rakuten Viber — a unique service in the messaging app industry.
The new offering is particularly valuable for businesses that rely on call centers. In-app calls can serve various purposes, such as assisting with product inquiries, order tracking, and post-sales support in the retail and delivery sector.
Banks can address account inquiries, schedule appointments, manage transactions, and offer financial advice and support, while pharmacies can assist with prescription refills, share branch schedules, and provide consultations on allergic reactions and side effects.
Rakuten Viber brings a powerful tool to businesses across various industries to effectively address customer queries in a convenient place, ultimately enhancing the customer experience — a crucial advantage given that more Filipinos now rank quality customer service over price as a deciding purchasing factor, according to the “2024 Qualtrics Consumer Trends Report.”
Brands can add the Business Calls feature to their Rakuten Viber Business Accounts to further enhance their 1:1 customer chats. After all, the latest release aligns well with current business trends, as studies indicate a projected compound annual growth rate of 20.8% in the conversational commerce industry in the Philippines, reaching a market value of US$9.5 billion by 2028.
With the new feature, Rakuten Viber complements its conversational commerce solutions while giving users the freedom to choose their preferred method of communication with a brand, whether through calling or messaging. By simply pressing the “Free Call” button on a Business Account, users can now initiate a call directly from a chat with a business, for example, reaching out to a delivery service to reschedule a parcel delivery after receiving a notification.
The in-app call option also streamlines calls within the same app, improving brand conversions, resolving queries promptly, and reducing customer frustration. This minimizes negative feedback and reputation damage, creating opportunities for upselling and cross-selling during conversations.
All business calls will be free for customers, regardless of their location. This allows brands to improve global brand accessibility, elevate crisis management, and gain a competitive advantage by providing free support calls for customers anywhere. Businesses can choose to either designate a specific number for Rakuten Viber or continue using their regular call center number.
“Rakuten Viber was the first messaging app to offer business messaging nine years ago, revolutionizing the way businesses communicate with their customers. Since then, we have developed a robust business messaging ecosystem and are now taking a significant step forward by introducing in-app Business Calls, a distinctive offering in the market,” said Cristina Constandache, Chief Revenue Officer at Rakuten Viber.
“Being a superapp means providing our users with as many value-added services as possible throughout their day and offering brands more opportunities to engage with their customers. This update marks our next step in advancing our global superapp strategy.”
Viber Business Calls are now available for integration globally including the Philippines. To use the solution, Filipino brands can inquire with the official partners of Rakuten Viber whether they already support Business Calls or contact the Rakuten Viber team and learn how to get started.
To discover more about Viber Business Calls, visit this page.
