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Daniella • 5 minute read • 21/07/2022

Live chat: how does it work?

You see it all the time: you visit a website and a pop-up in the bottom right corner of your screen asks if you need help. That’s live chat, and a growing number of companies are using it as a form of online customer contact. It’s a valuable addition to online services, but for many companies it is still new and unknown. This article will explain what live chat is, its similarities and differences with other forms of online customer contact, and how you can get started with live chat.

• 19/04/2022

Spotler Group Acquires OBI4wan

Today, Spotler Group announced the acquisition of OBI4wan B.V., an omnichannel customer service and marketing solution t...

OBI4wan • 4 minute read • 21/07/2022

The right balance between chatbots and personal contact

We hear it all the time: service should be good, fast and personal. The bar has been set high. Digitalisation of custome...

Daniella • 3 minute read • 12/05/2022

What is reputation management and how to take it to the next level?

Reputation management has become an integral part of the current media landscape. Brand reputation has been closely moni...

Pearl • 7 minute read • 01/06/2021

What’s the difference between live chat and WhatsApp?

Buying online has never been easier. With a few clicks of a button, you’ve bought those beautiful new shoes or that us...

OBI4wan • 7 minute read • 25/05/2020

8 tips for Community Management 2.0

The ideal social media community manager knows his target audience from the inside out and can tell which content and fo...

Linsey • 7 minute read • 28/04/2020

Crisis management: from social shitstorm to trending topic

When a crisis breaks, it is important to know what is going on around your organisation. For this, social media are both...

Marieke • 6 minute read • 19/08/2021

Create your own chatbot? Here’s how!

The die is cast – you want to build a chatbot and implement it into your organisation. The good news is that new chatb...

Pearl • 9 minute read • 09/02/2021

10 Smart examples of the use of chatbots

A virtual service representative who can handle questions, do prep work, and ease the pressure that’s on customer serv...

Linsey • 5 minute read • 15/09/2021

Online customer service is more than just providing assistance

Social media remains the terrain of the client, where s/he is free to post, complain and make requests. ‘online custom...

OBI4wan • 6 minute read • 01/09/2021

The difference between social media monitoring and social listening

As social media professional you have probably heard about social listening and social media monitoring. These two terms...

Marieke • 7 minute read • 04/04/2023

7 tips for giving your customers an effortless experience

Happy and loyal customers, that’s what all organisations want. But customers are becoming more and more demanding, and...

Pearl • 5 minute read • 16/03/2021

How to tackle the challenges of using WhatsApp as a service channel

WhatsApp is frequently used by both young and old. This highly accessible messaging channel is being used more and more ...

Linsey • 6 minute read • 27/11/2020

Communications professionals: this is how to create an annual report!

As a communications professional you’re probably thinking, after this rather turbulent year: what happened exactly?! N...

Linsey • 8 minute read • 06/07/2021

Infographic: 8 tips for the best media monitoring results

Media monitoring brings a wealth of valuable insights into your target audience, competitors, stakeholders, the industry...

OBI4wan • 7 minute read • 27/09/2021

Develop a chatbot in 5 easy steps

Companies are facing the challenge of an increasing need to be available to consumers at all times and of being present ...

Pearl • 6 minute read • 06/08/2021

6 signs that you are ready for a chatbot

Help! Customer service is overflowing with questions and customer satisfaction is going down due to increasing wait time...

Chavelly • 4 minute read • 09/03/2021

How chatbots can boost your marketing strategy: 3 tips

Did you know marketing and chatbots go really well together? Service and webcare departments often start their interacti...

• 5 minute read • 06/09/2021

Appcare: How to successfully use WhatsApp as a service channel?

Since messaging apps such as Facebook Messenger, Twitter and WhatsApp are being used massively, messaging as a form of c...

OBI4wan • 4 minute read • 23/08/2022

The significance of media monitoring in crisis communication

If you’re looking to limit or prevent any damage to the reputation of your brand or organisation then media monitoring...

Levi • 4 minute read • 27/05/2021

Chatbots: a game changer for online customer service

In the coming years, contact between people and organisations will be handled more and more by chatbots that have human ...

Levi • 6 minute read • 04/12/2020

Conversational in 2021: the trends for voice and chatbots

The conversational AI market is booming, with forecasted growth from 4.8 billion to 13.9 billion over the next 5 years. ...

Linsey • 4 minute read • 28/04/2021

An efficiency boost in service that e-commerce can profit from

Last week I ordered something from webshop x. Something went wrong with my order. The package disappeared and I turned t...

Linsey • 4 minute read • 02/02/2021

Optimise webcare with statistics for an effortless customer experience

Webcare is dynamic, which means that contact with your customers can be different every day. The questions that customer...

Linsey • 6 minute read • 03/05/2021

Chatbots: the six biggest advantages for your organisation

Many organisations would like to incorporate chatbots into their organisation, and it is only logical to want to know mo...

Marieke • 6 minute read • 03/12/2020

5 tips for insurance companies considering a chatbot

The end of the year is approaching — the time for consumers to take a closer look at their insurance policies. For hea...

Daniella • 7 minute read • 26/07/2022

Insights info: 7 pillars for reputation management

In a world where brand reputation can be completely ruined overnight, it’s essential to have a good overview of your b...

Linsey • 7 minute read • 05/10/2020

Chatbots hype: Where are we now?

With the evolution of no-code chatbot platforms almost everybody can build a chatbot. What has been in the hands of IT a...

Linsey • 7 minute read • 15/09/2020

Skills & data; the best combination for efficient customer service

The digitsation of customer contact means that organisations are looking for new ways to organise webcare and customer s...

OBI4wan • 5 minute read • 08/09/2020

Why Customer Service Employees shouldn’t be afraid of chatbots

By 2021 15% of all customer service interactions worldwide will be handled completely by AI. Does this prediction by Gar...

OBI4wan • 7 minute read • 31/08/2020

Onboarding a chatbot: how to ensure a smooth start

As soon as a company decides to implement a chatbot in their service process, the actual development of the chatbot can ...

Pearl • 6 minute read • 08/06/2021

What is the best way to carry out online customer support activities?

De afgelopen 6 jaar is er veel veranderd op het gebied van webcare. Waar er in de begintijden van webcare vooral geëxpe...

Linsey • 2 minute read • 14/12/2020

OBI4wan official WhatsApp Business Solution Provider

The word is out! We are officially WhatsApp Business Solution Provider. We have integrated the WhatsApp Business API dir...

OBI4wan • 5 minute read • 15/10/2020

Goals in digital customer service that go beyond average handling time

There is no doubt that response and average handling time play a major role in customer service and customer satisfactio...

Linsey • 5 minute read • 11/08/2020

How to optimise your online customer service in 5 steps

The days of webcare being purely a form of customer service are long gone. Social media is an indispensable part of our ...

Linsey • 6 minute read • 03/08/2020

How data-driven chatbots can ensure success

We can no longer ignore the chatbots hype. They’ve been on the rise for years, but in 2020 the chatbot era is flourish...

Linsey • 7 minute read • 27/07/2020

Optimal customer satisfaction: know the customer for the right webcare

Understanding your customer is the key to good service. Online customer support teams, now commonly referred to as Webca...

OBI4wan • 4 minute read • 21/07/2020

Effortless engagement and sustainable customer relationships using CRM

From the moment you first meet your customer, you begin to build a relationship. A relationship that you can continue to...

Pearl • 7 minute read • 08/04/2021

How to respond to current developments in online customer support

Countless organisations are struggling with an increase in the number of questions that come in through online channels....

Linsey • 4 minute read • 26/06/2020

Google’s Business Messages is live! Results of HEMA and AS Watson

We have started a pilot for Business Messages in collaboration with Google. OBI4wan is part of Google’s program for Go...

OBI4wan • 4 minute read • 24/06/2020

How customer service automation can help your business

The number of service messages that come in via social media and messaging channels increased significantly over the pas...

OBI4wan • 6 minute read • 09/06/2020

From public contact to 1 on 1; the opportunities messaging offers

Messaging platforms, that make 1 on 1 contact with customers possible, are constantly evolving. Throughout the year, new...

OBI4wan • 6 minute read • 02/06/2020

More engagement on social media? Analyse your content!

An important objective for social media managers is to increase engagement rates on social media channels. It also helps...

OBI4wan • 7 minute read • 07/05/2020

Effortless customer engagement from the home office: 3 tips

Not so long ago it was unthinkable for many of us to keep an organisation running if everybody would work remotely. But ...

Linsey • 6 minute read • 23/04/2020

The 6 most important do’s & don’ts of social media monitoring

For many organisations, online media monitoring is quite important when making strategic choices. More and more communic...

• 4 minute read • 15/04/2020

6 tips for data-driven reputation management

Communications and marketing departments have a large amount of data at their disposal. From opinion and reputation scor...

Levi • 3 minute read • 03/06/2021

Instagram messaging now available in OBI Engage

Tijdens F8 Refresh op 2 juni, kondigde Messenger van Facebook aan dat de Messenger API voor Instagram openbaar zal worde...

• 5 minute read • 05/02/2020

Social media usage increases again in 2020

The rising trend of social media users will continue in 2020, according to NewCom’s National Social Media Survey. The ...

OBI4wan • 8 minute read • 13/10/2020

The right strategy to provide effortless engagement to your customers

How to find the right customer service strategy in a complex and fast moving world where new channels arise while tradit...

OBI4wan • 5 minute read • 26/11/2019

Why customer service agents are the ideal chatbot developers

As the face of an organisation, customer service agents ensure that potential and existing customers have the best possi...

• 7 minute read • 05/11/2019

4 trends for Conversational in 2020

Conversational is perhaps the container concept of 2019. Sprinkle a little AI over it and you’ll quickly grab the atte...

OBI4wan • 5 minute read • 22/10/2019

A 10 step guide to create search queries for media monitoring

Social media and the web offer companies a wealth of freely accessible data that is extremely useful with regard to repu...

OBI4wan • 5 minute read • 26/09/2019

Fact checking with: Bart Scholts, Sales Consultant at OBI4wan

In the series "Fact checking with" we interview our colleagues from OBI4wan about their responsibilities, vision and the...

OBI4wan • 5 minute read • 27/08/2020

Grip on your reputation thanks to our action-oriented insights

Sometimes it takes a while to find the right way to measure your brand reputation, which is why there are many different...

OBI4wan • 5 minute read • 14/08/2019

Fact checking with: Alexander de Ruiter – CEO

As CEO and founder of OBI4wan Alexander has realized an enormous growth of the company together with co-founder Alex Sla...

• 7 minute read • 22/07/2019

AMEC Summit key take-outs you don’t want to miss

Reputation Management is increasingly challenging. We are dealing with a more polarized world, divided by facts and fict...

Linsey • 7 minute read • 03/06/2019

Holistic reputation management: the road to collective impact

Nowadays reputation management & media monitoring go hand in hand. After all, without monitoring it is impossible to get...

Linsey • 6 minute read • 30/04/2019

The impact of PR; from playroom to boardroom

In the 1st blog of this series, we discussed the importance of media monitoring and the shift that is needed in order to...

OBI4wan • 5 minute read • 26/04/2019

Chatbot conference 2019: the highlights

The 25th of April OBI4wan was present as partner of the second edition of the Chatbot Conference in Utrecht. About 400 ...

Linsey • 7 minute read • 21/03/2019

Media monitoring 2.0: from output to insight

Media monitoring is hot and indispensable in the life of the Marketing and Communications professional. Measuring is kno...

OBI4wan • 5 minute read • 18/03/2019

Fact checking with: Danielle, Senior Media Analyst & Product Owner

In the series “Fact checking with” we interview our colleagues from OBI4wan about their responsibilities, vision and...

OBI4wan • 9 minute read • 14/05/2020

What is artificial intelligence? AI explained from A to I

What is artificial intelligence? Is that a computer? A robot? A self-steering car? The future? How do the experts define...

Linsey • 7 minute read • 17/12/2018

6 trends in social media customer service in 2019

In recent years, social media customer service has become one of the most important service points of organisations in n...

OBI4wan • 1 minute read • 20/08/2020

Chatbot & AI Glossary: everything you need to know about chatbots & AI

AI is in full swing and the latest technologies are helping organisations move forward and innovate. The meanings of som...

Linsey • 6 minute read • 04/09/2018

Intelligent chatbots and AI are the future of webcare

As we said earlier this year, the chatbot era is set to take off in 2018. We have all become familiar with the typical q...

OBI4wan • 5 minute read • 21/04/2020

Instagram success: 4 rather amazing Instagram campaigns

The number of active daily users on Instagram has risen sharply since 2016. With 3.4 million active users in 2020, the p...

OBI4wan • 7 minute read • 02/04/2020

What makes a chatbot human-like and how can you build one?

Over the past years, a lot has happened on the technical side of chatbot development. Currently, easy-to-use chatbot pla...

Linsey • 6 minute read • 19/03/2020

Developing a chatbot? Make sure you have a team with the right skills

Chatbots are being used more often and more widely. Digital assistants in particular have great added value within the d...

Linsey • 4 minute read • 08/03/2020

International Women’s Day: the status of #womenintech online

As you probably already know, the 8th of March is International Women’s Day! Organisations are making an extra effort ...

• 3 minute read • 06/03/2020

FB Messenger 24h window: prevent not being able to reply to messages

From the 4th of March, Facebook introduces a 24-hour service window for organisations. This means that Facebook no longe...

Linsey • 7 minute read • 27/10/2020

Media monitoring + lead generation = new sales opportunities!

Social media, the world of unsolicited feedback, experiences and buying intentions -- and a great source of inspiration ...

• 5 minute read • 09/01/2020

New social media functions: opportunities for your online strategy

Social media has been part of the daily routine for marketing and communication professionals for a number of years. For...

Levi • 3 minute read • 28/02/2017

OBI4wan and Buzzcapture join forces

The Amsterdam-based reputation management agency Buzzcapture has been acquired by OBI4wan. Both organisations offer high...

Levi • 6 minute read • 02/11/2016

Alexander de Ruiter: effective and successful with social media

Listening, entering into a dialogue, producing own content, and here it comes: earning and saving via social media. More...

OBI4wan • 3 minute read • 07/10/2016

OBI4wan vs OBILytics: game, set, match

Coöperatie, overeenkomst, maatschap, collaboratie; voor een samenwerking zijn allerlei synoniem te bedenken, maar in ge...

• 4 minute read • 03/12/2019

The best PR tips for 2020

For any organisation, PR is a good way to get publicity. Many major brands and companies are already actively involved i...

• 3 minute read • 27/07/2016

Main Capital takes substantial stake in OBI4wan and OBILytics

Main Capital has taken a substantial stake in the rapidly growing software companies OBI4wan and OBILytics. OBI4wan prov...

Linsey • 8 minute read • 15/10/2018

Reputation management: the effect of a controversial campaign

What happens when a brand launches a controversial campaign that causes commotion? Sports brand Nike was under fire beca...

OBI4wan • 5 minute read • 11/07/2019

Event monitoring: the importance of social media for your event

The festival season has begun! In the summer, millions of people visit a (music)festival or event, and social media play...

• 7 minute read • 10/07/2019

Corporate Responsibility communication: from scepticism to trust

It is now widely known that corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become indispensable for an organisation’s succe...

• 4 minute read • 27/06/2019

WhatsApp offers plenty of opportunities for customer service!

The messenger service WhatsApp has seen an enormous increase in user numbers over the past years. For many of us, the ap...

• 5 minute read • 24/06/2019

NIMA Marketing Day: 6 key take outs

We were also present at NIMA Marketing Day 2019. What a day full of inspiring speakers, keynotes and sessions! What tech...

Levi • 6 minute read • 18/04/2019

How to benefit from proactive customer support

Today consumers use a variety of channels to communicate about brands, products and services. Still many companies only ...

Linsey • 4 minute read • 26/02/2019

Infographic: 8 reasons why online customer service is important

The ever-increasing demands that consumers place on service ensure that organisations are on high alert. Omnichannel web...

Linsey • 7 minute read • 20/02/2019

Chatbots: the most interesting applications for your organisation

Chatbots are becoming more and more widely used. The times in which only larger companies started to optimize their serv...

• 3 minute read • 06/06/2020

OBI4wan and HowAboutYou continue together

HowAboutYou, specialist in the field of online media monitoring software and webcare in the Dutch and Belgian (semi)...

Linsey • 6 minute read • 11/09/2018

Let’s chit chat about bots

A robot helper, virtual assistant, chatbot; according to Gartner* these are now at the top of the hype and more and more...

Linsey • 5 minute read • 16/05/2018

Webcare & live chat: a match made in heaven

In the digital age, price and quality are no longer the only decisive factors differentiating us from our competitors. T...

Linsey • 2 minute read • 09/05/2018

OBI4wan ISO 27001 certified

OBI4wan successfully completed the process and is now ISO 27001 certified! This shows that OBI4wan complies with the req...

Linsey • 5 minute read • 07/04/2020

Why a chatbot has never been a better resource

Bots, robots, chatbots. No, these are not degrees of comparison, but they are a way to facilitate certain business proce...

Linsey • 4 minute read • 05/03/2018

Answers to the most frequently asked questions on the GDPR and OBI4wan

Like many other organizations, OBI4wan is getting ready for the GDPR, the new laws and regulations surrounding privacy a...

Linsey • 5 minute read • 14/02/2018

OBI4wan, OBILytics and Buzzcapture will continue together as OBI4wan

OBI4wan, Buzzcapture and OBILytics will continue as OBI4wan. The merger results in one strong offer of solutions for web...

Linsey • 10 minute read • 29/11/2017

Cherish your customer: 6 priorities for your organization in 2018

The years that we have social media ‘on the side’ within organizations are far behind us. Social media and social me...

Linsey • 3 minute read • 08/11/2017

OBI4wan extends webcare with live chat

Live chat is on the rise. Various studies show that live chat receives the highest scores on customer satisfaction out o...

Linsey • 5 minute read • 11/08/2017

More efficiency, speed and relevance with OBI4wan’s new web interface

Customers want to be seen, heard and understood. In a digital world in which customer contact is becoming increasingly s...

Levi • 6 minute read • 01/08/2017

The importance for customer satisfaction within social media

We live in an era where customer satisfaction is of great importance to many organizations, in improving their products ...

Linsey • 7 minute read • 18/09/2019

Reputation management in a world full of fake news – 4 tips!

Fake news is today’s hot topic. Social media helps to spread a wide distribution of fake news, quickly and easily. And...

• 5 minute read • 16/09/2019

Chatbots prove their worth

Companies have now discovered the value of a chatbot, and these chatbots have also proven their worth within customer ca...

• 3 minute read • 09/07/2019

New strategic partnerships with CM.com, TOPdesk and Freshchat

We proudly announce the launch of three strategic partnerships with CM.com, TOPdesk and Freshchat. These partnerships ma...

• 6 minute read • 11/06/2019

7 tips for outstanding public relations

There is still a lot of room for improvement in the world of PR. All too often journalists are approached with messages ...

• 3 minute read • 25/04/2019

OBI4wan adds Google Reviews as a new feature

Good news! It is now possible to monitor Google Reviews via OBI4wan. OBI4wan is the first organisation in the Netherland...

Linsey • 5 minute read • 05/03/2019

The effect of influencer marketing; a look at the fashion industry

If there’s an industry that can be called an ‘early adopter’ in the field of influencer marketing, then it’s the...

Linsey • 5 minute read • 14/01/2019

Chatbots in 2019 – 5 trends!

Nieuw jaar, nieuwe kansen, frisse start. Ook op het gebied van technologie hebben we flinke stappen gezet het afgelopen ...