To strengthen their role as a bridge, several foreign government agencies are increasingly focused on enhancing their visibility in China and building cross-border partnerships with Chinese enterprises.

Recognizing the importance of digital engagement in today’s landscape, these agencies collaborated with IT Consultis (ITC) to accelerate digital transformation for their China-facing operations — enabling them to connect more effectively with local businesses, enhance visibility, foster innovation, and drive sustainable economic growth.

Goals & Objectives

Key objectives included:

• Deploying a WeChat Service Account to develop a targeted content strategy for the right audiences, drive lead generation and nurturing, and capture data.
• Implementing a Social CRM (sCRM) system integrated with the agencies’ digital ecosystems to synchronize their Chinese operations with the global structure, enabling data-driven decision-making and future scalability.
• Introducing WeCom as the central B2B communication platform to engage with leads promptly and efficiently.

Solutions

Strategic Discovery and Analysis

The project started with a deep dive into the agencies’ operations and strategic goals. Together with their China Marketing and Sales teams, we held stakeholder interviews, mapped processes, and uncovered key areas of improvement, such as:

• Lead management: Streamlining lead and data management, and scaling outreach while improving engagement tracking.
• Centralized data: Consolidating event and campaign data for efficient management and actionable insights.
• Automated journeys: Automating lead capture, nurturing, and conversion to align with global standards.
• Strategic vision: Positioning the agencies as data-driven organizations delivering personalized, high-impact engagement.

A tailored blueprint was developed, structured into three milestones:

1. Deployment of a WeChat Official Account to enhance customer acquisition.
2. Consulting and execution of Social CRM and marketing automation strategies to enable cohesive marketing efforts and a unified, automated client engagement approach.
3. Launching WeCom as the primary communication platform, integrated with the sCRM system.

1. Boosting Client Acquisition With WeChat Service Account Deployment

To bolster digital presence and enhance customer acquisition in China, a WeChat Service Account (a type of Official Account) was launched. The transition included a smooth data migration from the previous WeChat Subscription Account and was supported by a robust follower engagement strategy.

This initiative focused on three key pillars:

• Follower acquisition: Driving follower growth through targeted campaigns.
• Follower identification: Improving the ability to profile and understand followers.
• Follower engagement: Strengthening connections through personalized interactions.

To optimize the new WeChat Service Account, the collaboration emphasized:

• Enhancing the welcome journey to improve retention rates and first impressions.
• Conducting thorough testing to identify key drivers of follower acquisition.
• Streamlining global CTA management to boost customer acquisition efforts.
• Revamping the Menu Bar in partnership with a Social Agency to enhance data collection and user engagement.
• Collaborating with a Media Agency to optimize WeChat Ads, maximizing campaign impact and reach.

2. Automating Data Capture & Lead Nurturing on the WeChat Service Account with Social CRM

In addition to launching the WeChat Service Account, a Social CRM system was implemented to enhance its capabilities, enabling:

• Data Capture, Consolidation, and Profiling: Consolidating data from WeChat, SMS, EDM, and events to build 360° user profiles for more precise targeting.
• Lead Capture and Nurturing: Enabling omnichannel connections, automated tagging and segmentation, and parametric QR codes for campaign tracking and attribution.
• Automated Engagement Journeys: Creating personalized, behavior-driven flows to enhance customer experience and conversion, supported by a lead scoring framework and funnel strategy to prioritize and guide prospects through the journey.
• Real-time Dashboards: Tracking campaign performance, lead status, and engagement metrics to provide actionable insights and empower data-driven adjustments.

3. Elevating B2B Communication with WeCom

WeCom was chosen as the primary platform for managing B2B executive relationships in China. This transition was driven by several factors:

1. Tencent’s New Regulation: Tencent’s policy of consolidating all WeChat Official Accounts into a single folder significantly reduced their visibility and user engagement. This prompted the shift to a more engaging platform.
2. Dependence on Personal WeChat Accounts: Previously, operation teams in China relied on personal WeChat accounts for lead management, which lacked professionalism, scalability, and security.

WeCom has emerged as a core engagement channel, enabling efficient, secure, and professional lead acquisition and nurturing. The implementation process involved:

• Configuring accounts and access permissions with clear SOPs, ensuring a secure and efficient setup.
• Conducting comprehensive onboarding sessions to familiarize staff with WeCom’s features and functionalities.
• Streamlining operational clienteling processes,including:
  • Deploying a chatbot and quick replies across both WeChat Official Account and WeCom, providing instant support and improving engagement efficiency.
  • Implementing WeDrive as the centralized document management system, facilitating knowledge management and collaboration across teams while ensuring data security.
• Designing and mapping out user journeys, optimizing content dissemination efforts to deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time.
• Elevating content and event advocacy through a strategic WeCom content engagement framework, enabling the sharing of WeCom Moments and broadcasts.

In the upcoming initiative, WeCom will also be integrated with the existing Social CRM architecture to develop more holistic user profiles.

Results

The digital transformation mission yielded measurable outcomes across several dimensions:

• Lead Generation & Data Capture: The WeChat Service Account saw a double-digit increase in both followers and inquiries, along with a significant rise in automation-qualified leads (AQLs).
• QR Code Performance: Engagement with gated content via QR codes reached exceptionally high retention rates, well above industry benchmarks.
• Operational Efficiency: Automation replaced many manual workflows, including the integration of chatbots, resulting in streamlined operations and improved responsiveness.
• Unified Digital Ecosystem: The agencies achieved a seamless, omnichannel engagement journey by integrating WeChat, SMS, EDM (and WeCom in the near future) into a single system for comprehensive 360° user profiling and reporting.

These outcomes helped elevate the visibility of foreign governmental agencies in China and advance their mission to foster cross-border partnerships and promote economic growth with China.