Rakuten Viber for Business live from Vietnam: Event recap

Rakuten Viber, a global leader in cross-platform messaging and voice-based communication, shares insights on how Viber for Business solutions empower brand-user interactions globally and in Vietnam.

On October 16, 2023, Rakuten Viber's senior management showcased the business offer of the world-renowned app at its first business-focused media roundtable in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. The company’s team discussed Rakuten Viber's global and local presence in Vietnam, its growing audience, and Rakuten Viber for Business solutions for effective and convenient communication between brands and consumers.

Vietnamese spend 2h 32m per day on social media and messaging apps, staying one minute longer than the average global user. Local businesses can reach their audiences through messaging as 73% of Vietnamese customers also prefer to interact with brands through chat. Rakuten Viber is well-placed to help Vietnamese businesses make the most of these trends with its growing payable audience in Vietnam where the app saw an astounding 642% spike in private calls, 24% growth in messages exchanged in channels, and a 12% increase in private messages during the first half of 2023.

Being used by more than 20,000 brands worldwide, Rakuten Viber for Business offers advertising solutions (native ads, branded stickers and lenses), messaging solutions (business messages, chatbots), forthcoming business calls and an OTP solution. Rakuten Viber for Business ecosystem helps brands solve their business needs: build brand awareness and generate new leads, boost sales & increase ROI, effectively foster customer loyalty, and more.

Vietnamese businesses are already benefiting from these solutions as Rakuten Viber records a growing interest in local brand-user interactions in the first half of 2023. This includes:

• Average daily Rakuten Viber Ads impressions reached 6.4M, with Vietnamese brands using ads to enhance their visibility and attract new users.
• 30M stickers exchanged between users, accompanied by a remarkable 210% increase in AR-powered lens engagements. Businesses are creating branded Rakuten Viber Stickers and Lenses to express themselves in a way that is more appealing, entertaining, and fun, as well as reach a younger audience.
• A significant 63% YOY growth in delivered Rakuten Viber Business Messages, with brands increasingly using this tool to send personal 1-2-1 messages to their existing client base who gave consent to receive brand notifications.
• A notable 31% increase in Rakuten Viber Chatbots, revealing the popularity of this automated tool for round-the-clock customer support and sales assistance.

In addition to Rakuten Viber's comprehensive ecosystem of business tools, brands also benefit from the app's robust security measures. Being graded among top-3 messaging and calling apps based on security by the German consumer organization Stiftung Warentest, Rakuten Viber offers end-to-end encryption for all private, group chats and private calls – something of a gold standard for private communication. It also uses the closest thing to it for brand-user communication – encryption in transit – an exceptionally high level of security for brands. The messages are not stored on Viber’s servers, connections are secure and HTTPS only – all the measures undertaken to keep the Viber experience safe for both users and brands. 

Rakuten Viber has recently taken a significant step forward in its global strategy with its toolkit for all businesses. The company has announced the launch of a new suite of business tools designed for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), introducing a free, self-serve business account for small and micro businesses. Initially, the service was opened for a testing phase in the Philippines before gradually rolling out worldwide, including in Vietnam.

The company is actively developing solutions and features to cater to enterprise-level businesses. Future updates include free business calls for users, an all-new OTP solution, enhanced-protection messages to confirm users' identity, engaging click-to-message ads, and more.

"As we expand our business portfolio, we are committed to tailoring solutions to the unique needs of businesses of different scales and locations," says Berina Tanovic, Sales Director at Rakuten Viber. "As more Vietnamese brands turn to Rakuten Viber for customer communication, we're providing solutions that enable them to connect with international and local audiences. With Viber, these businesses gain access to a secure, feature-rich communication platform that addresses their specific business needs."