The use of messengers for business is multifaceted. With their help, brands can build communication with customers, share content, and increase loyalty. This not only improves the quality of services provided but also significantly reduces costs. Consider the fact that some messengers and chatbots work without an Internet connection and your chances of reaching buyers increase. Check out such no internet chat apps on apppearl.
Communicating with customers on messengers is becoming more effective than on the phone or by email. Messengers beat mailing by two key performance indicators at once – open rate and click-throughs.
Consumers are 4 times more likely to open messenger than email and to follow a link from messenger 10 times more often.
How do messengers help businesses grow?
Messengers allow you to speed up service, get more loyal customers and, as a result, increase profits. Let’s consider the main features of messengers for business development.
Sales and client support
The most obvious use of messengers for business is order processing and customer support. Brands advise consumers, answer questions, offer related products, and get feedback.
Marketing
Messengers can also be used for marketing purposes. Brands use them to send out promotions, news, tips, interesting offers, and other types of content. The company’s channel in this case acts as a blog, but with a more personalized approach.
The main thing to remember is that direct advertising irritates users. Therefore, you need to approach the creation of content creatively and not impose it.
Increased loyalty
A bonus of using messengers to communicate with customers is increased brand loyalty. Companies use automated responses to provide clients with instant feedback or send follow-ups to collect feedback, demonstrating their attentiveness to customers.
In addition, the messenger keeps a history of correspondence. To remember what a customer wanted, all you have to do is open the desired conversation. Brands use this feature to keep track of customers’ desires, requests, and problems. By understanding the specifics of each consumer, brands turn them into loyal customers.
Which messenger is best to use?
When choosing a messenger for business, it is important to understand that it is not only about which one is more convenient, familiar, and understandable for you. To successfully integrate the messenger in your marketing and sales strategy, you need to rely on its functions and features.
This service is by far the most popular in the world. WhatsApp’s audience has already exceeded 1.5 billion users.
Around the world, brands are actively using WhatsApp mailing lists and group chats to communicate with customers. You can make audio and video calls in it, as well as share files.
On the downside, you can’t send paid messages or show ads on WhatsApp.
Facebook Messenger
Facebook Messenger is the second most popular messenger in the world. Its audience is 1.3 billion users. The platform allows you to exchange files, text and voice messages, geolocation. It is also possible to create group chats and set up auto-replies.
Brands can send users promotional materials, special offers, or discounts according to preset templates.
Facebook messenger allows you to watch basic statistics: the average response time and the total number of messages.
Telegram
Brands and users value this service for its speed, reliability, and security. Telegram has a well-developed infrastructure of bots and there are group conversations and channels. You can also create secret chats and self-destructing messages.
Another advantage is that it is cross-platform. Telegram is available for installation on all existing devices and operating systems.
Viber
With Viber you can communicate with a customer individually or through a group chat. A brand can also create a public chat which is essentially a microblog – only the administrator can publish messages in it.
Viber is suitable for informing customers about events, promotional offers, or range updates.
In addition to the standard functions, Viber has tools for promoting and informing customers – Service Messaging API. This service allows you to send advertising and service messages to users who have agreed to receive such information.
QQ and WeChat
These messengers are popular in Asian countries – Thailand, India, South Korea. They are known for their versatility – they can make video calls, send videos and photos, text.
Business Messaging: The Future of Customer Communication
The era of communication with users in social networks is ending. Communication needs to become more personalized again. But going back to phone calls or emails is a step backward.
More and more global brands are choosing to communicate with customers in messengers. And here’s why:
- the messenger audience is growing daily;
- messengers allow you to segment leads and tailor your message instantly;
- messengers have the fastest response time thanks to push notifications;
- messengers allow you to send a variety of content;
- messengers allow asynchronous and synchronous communication if necessary;
- messengers allow you to communicate in the most convenient form for the customer.
How world-renowned companies use messengers
Companies of various orientations have long used messengers for work. A jewelry company in Britain uses messengers to communicate with customers. According to their data, 10% of customers consulted with managers before buying through messaging.
What’s App is commonly used by Europeans choosing an engagement ring for a bride. This method seems to be the most convenient, relative to the home phone, e-mail, or social networks because it allows you to keep the purchase secret. The same organization works with Eastern men, whose approach to buying a ring differs from European and American men. They tend to involve not only their beloved ones but their relatives and friends as well.
Managers of Rare Pink use in this case the Chinese messenger We Chat, where you can organize group video conferences for discussion.
Mashable uses Viber for company employees’ chats. These are both announcements and discussions of the site’s publications. When reading these messages, subscribers leave “Like” marks, but only the original group members can add comments.
Transavia is a Dutch airline that communicates with passengers via Whats App. The company also invites its passengers to contact Twitter and Facebook for information. From morning until late afternoon every day.
