How to use messengers in business?

The use of instant messengers for business is multifaceted. With their help, brands can build communication with customers, share content and increase loyalty. At the same time, the quality of the provided services improves, and expenses are significantly reduced.

Communication with clients in messengers becomes more effective than by phone or e-mail. According to a study by Smart Insights, instant messengers benefit from the mailing of two key performance indicators – open messages and clicks on a link.

Consumers are four times more likely to open a message in a messenger than in a mail, and ten times more often follow a link from a messenger.

How do messengers help to develop business?

Messengers allow you to speed up the service, get more loyal customers and, as a result, increase profit. Let’s consider the main opportunities of instant messengers for business development.

Sales and customer support

The most obvious method for using instant messengers for business is order processing and customer support. Brands advise consumers, answer questions, offer related products, receive feedback.

For example, the KAYAK travel service allows you to send a message with the question: “Where should I rest for $1,500?” And get an answer with various options of hotels and flights that correspond to the client’s budget.

Marketing

Messengers can also be used for marketing purposes. Brands distribute sales, news, tips, exciting offers and other types of content with their help. The company’s channel, in this case, serves as a blog, but with a more personalized approach.

The main thing to remember is that direct advertising annoys users. Therefore, you need to approach the creation of content creatively and do not impose it.

So TechCrunch Facebook-bot will send daily mailings of exciting news only to those users who agreed to receive it.

Increasing loyalty

The bonus of using instant messengers to communicate with customers is to increase brand loyalty. Companies use automatic answers to provide customers with instant feedback or send follow-ups, demonstrating their attentiveness to customers.

Also, the messenger keeps the chat history. To remember what the client wanted, open the necessary dialog. This opportunity is used by brands to track desires, requests, and problems of customers. Understanding the context and peculiarity of each consumer, brands easily turn them into regular customers.

What messenger is better to use?

When choosing a messenger for business, it is essential to understand that it is not just about which one is more convenient, familiar and understandable for you personally. To successfully integrate the messenger into your marketing and sales strategy, you need to rely on its functions and capabilities. So, what kind of messenger to choose for communication with customers?

WhatsApp

This messaging service is by far the most popular in the world. The WhatsApp audience has already exceeded 1.5 billion users.

Throughout the world, brands are actively using listservers and group chat WhatsApp to communicate with customers. It can make audio and video calls, and also exchange files.
If we talk about the disadvantages, in WhatsApp there is no way to send paid messages or display ads.

Facebook Messenger

Facebook Messenger is the second most popular messenger in the world. Its audience is 1.3 billion users. It allows you to exchange files, send text and voice messages, and geolocation. It is also possible to create group chats and set up auto-responses.

The brand can send users promotional materials, special offers or discounts on the given templates.

Besides, the Facebook messenger allows you to view basic statistics: the average response time and the total number of messages.

Telegram

In this messenger, brands and users appreciate the speed, reliability, and security. A telegram has a bots infrastructure, group conversations, and channels. Here you can also create secret chat rooms and self-destruct messages.

Another advantage is cross-platform. Telegram is available for installation on all existing devices and operating systems.

Viber

In Viber, you can communicate with the client separately, or in a group chat. Also, a brand can create a public, which is, in fact, a microblog. Only the administrator can publish messages in it.
Viber is suitable for informing customers about events, promotional offers or updating the assortment.

In addition to the standard messenger features, Viber has tools for promoting and informing customers – the Service Messaging API. This service allows you to send advertising and service messages to users who have agreed to receive such information.

Why are messengers a future in communication with a client?

The era of communication with users on social networks is coming to an end. Communication should again become more personalized. But returning to phone calls or e-mails means taking a step back. More and more global brands choose contact with clients in instant messengers. And that’s why.

• the audience of instant messengers is growing daily
• instant messengers allow you to segment leads and instantly adapt the message
• instant messengers mean the fastest response thanks to pushing notifications
• messengers allow you to send a variety of content
• messengers assume asynchronous communication, and synchronous if necessary
• messengers allow you to communicate in the most convenient form for the client.

It often happens that different segments of the audience of the brand prefer different messengers. In this case, the company needs to use all options. It is important to communicate with the client on its territory without imposing your own rules. It is unlikely that the client will register in Viber to write to you if he uses Telegram daily.

Give your audience a choice using the mssg.me service. It allows you to collect all the messengers in a single business card. You can put the link of your card in Instagram profile or install a widget on your website. The client will need to make only two clicks to contact you.