Business Platform
Farmacias del Ahorro
Making medical consultations easy
Brand
The health and pharmaceutical retailer implemented WhatsApp Flows to streamline the customer journey of requesting a free consultation with a medical specialist, and reported a 160% increase in medical consultations.*
160%
increase in medical consultations compared to the previous approach*
88%
of customers surveyed prefer the new consultation experience*
*Results are self-reported and not identifiably repeatable. Generally expected individual results will differ.
Their Story
Convenient medical consultations
Farmacias del Ahorro is a health and pharmaceutical retailer that services nearly 15 million customers across Mexico each month. In addition to providing access to prescription and over-the-counter medicines and wellness treatments, Farmacias del Ahorro offers customers the chance to speak with a general practice expert or a medical specialist to answer questions and address their needs virtually in real time, for free.
Their Goal
Improving the customer experience
Farmacias del Ahorro’s previous approach to consultation requests was slow and difficult to navigate. This led to longer wait times and created more friction for customers. The team was looking for a faster, easier-to-use appointment request process.
Their Solution
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Reducing friction with Flows
In order to create a more convenient experience requesting a consultation, Farmacias del Ahorro partnered with Yalo, a Meta Business Partner that specializes in chat-based commerce solutions, to implement WhatsApp Flows and streamline the experience. WhatsApp Flows is an API-based solution that can help businesses design and build bespoke customer experiences within WhatsApp. The team used WhatsApp Flows features such as dropdown menus and input fields to reduce the time it took for customers to request a consultation. With Flows, customers were able to meet with a specialist as quickly as one minute after requesting a consultation.
“After implementing WhatsApp Flows, our successful conversion rate to request a free medical consultation increased 160%. And in our customer survey, nearly nine in 10 respondents said it was easier to use WhatsApp Flows than our previous approach. We saw great value from adding WhatsApp Flows to our customer experience. After this, we decided to start implementing Flows in our most representative use cases.”
Hernán Garza Lozano
WhatsApp Product Owner, Farmacias del Ahorro
The team decided to test the effectiveness of the new WhatsApp Flows experience by promoting it with WhatsApp messages to an existing WhatsApp customer base of 400,000 people in Mexico. After tapping on a link in the message, customers could request a consultation by choosing the type of care they needed (general physician, dentist, nutritionist, dermatologist, pediatrician or mental health specialist). After providing their name and contact information, they could complete the request in a few simple steps. Patients received reminders in WhatsApp once a specialist was assigned and it was time for their consultation.
Their Success
Farmacias del Ahorro and Yalo measured the results of this October 2023 campaign and reported:
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A solution customers prefer
- 160% increase in medical consultations compared to the previous approach*
- 88% of respondents surveyed after going through the experience said the new approach was easier to use than the company’s previous approach*
*Results are self-reported and not identifiably repeatable. Generally expected individual results will differ.
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