How we use WhatsApp in Santander X Explorer (II)

In a previous post, we shared how we use WhatsApp as a learning tool in Santander X Explorer: the natural interaction that takes place in groups, the opportunity it provides to transform that interaction into learning, and the ability to manage the micro-communities created. This is something we’ve refined over the course of multiple editions. The messaging app, in turn, continues to implement new features that expand its usability in a programme like ours. And we decided to explore them.

One of the recurring challenges we’ve encountered is the proper completion of the onboarding process. Typically integrated as just another module in the training journey, Explorers, through cards, discover the manual with everything needed to “navigate” the programme or the topics that will be covered over the next 12 weeks; they receive valuable testimonials from Alumni and motivational messages; they’re given an expectations questionnaire and an initial activity.

Our surprise came when we discovered that this welcome process was often incomplete (or not completed at all). The app’s chat would be flooded with conversations at the beginning of each edition asking where the calendar was, how to submit assignments, or what the first steps in the programme were, something that was clearly explained in the onboarding module. But it wasn’t getting through to the participants. The emails they received outlining the process weren’t enough either. Until it occurred to us: again, the solution was right there in front of our eyes. What if we used WhatsApp?

And so we did: thanks to the fantastic work of our developers, we transferred that first welcome module to the app. With simple questions and buttons to confirm responses, Explorers are guided through videos and audios, posts that are useful to them, and of course, the manual and calendar. All within WhatsApp: they stay in an environment where they connect with their peers, **receiving the community’s support **from the very start. And, most importantly, it feels much more natural due to their familiarity with the app, its immediacy, and the ability to pause at any time (the equivalent of “leaving it on read”) and pick up where they left off.

The results from the first A/B tests were promising: the engagement rate was higher among the group that completed the onboarding process in the app compared to the rest. This conclusion has encouraged us to extend it to more groups; shortly (as WhatsApp’s features continue to grow, and our intention is to use them to refine the user experience at such a delicate stage as their entry into the programme), all Explorers will be welcomed this way, in a much more familiar environment for them, where they move around effortlessly.

Photo by Dimitri Karastelev on Unsplash.