Using Messaging Apps for Conversational Customer Experiences

Content Manager

Razan Saleh

Content Manager

Communication channels play an important role in connecting brands and customers for various types of engagement and interactions. Businesses that have perfected the art of communicating across several channels can easily provide a frictionless customer experience to clients who generally vary by behavior and demographics.

Over the years, we’ve helped many companies in the region reach and engage customers on their preferred channels such as – WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, SMS, Email, Mobile App Messaging, and Voice. Infobip’s omnichannel customer engagement solutions allow businesses to personalize their customer engagement by communicating over multiple chat apps and modern channels while guaranteeing to keep customers engaged at different touchpoints.

Now that customer expectations have shifted to a more convenient way of communication with brands, connecting with businesses through chat has become the new trend. This means it is essential for companies to have a strong messaging infrastructure to help them connect with consumers through these challenging times. Before we dig deeper into the different messaging channels, let’s find out why messaging has become so crucial for businesses to develop engaging experiences.

Messaging is immensely popular

Fundamentally, messaging has grown very popular in many sectors because most customers have already accepted it as a means of communication in their daily lives. Our research showed that 64% of people say they would prefer to message rather than call a business, and 60% say they are open to receiving personal messages from companies.

Consumers today seek a natural, quick, and reliable way to communicate with businesses. They expect businesses to respond fast to their demands, but they also look for flexibility to respond when it is most convenient for them. Messaging apps offer the advantage of familiarity, meaning they’re already available on most mobile devices, and customers won’t have to deal with downloading anything new or dealing with additional notifications. With this combination of convenience and familiarity, businesses can easily engage with customers using messaging channels and provide personalized communication at scale.

That being said, let’s discover the following three key messaging channels and find out why each is important for your customer engagement strategy.

Facebook Messenger

Today, many businesses use Social media as an essential marketing tool to elevate their customer service. It serves as a convenient way to interact with customers and allows you to provide excellent service in a timely manner and, most importantly, around the clock. Social media improves your brand’s reputation and, if done correctly, raises your chances of becoming viral.

To date, Facebook has more than 1.3 billion people who use their messenger. It’s one of the most popular channels for leads and customers seeking answers before visiting a business. Facebook Messenger has become a preferred channel for discovering new products or services and shopping online. You can start by simply connecting your existing Facebook Business page to the Messenger app, and provide an immediate response to customer queries and reach back out to them after their initial questions are answered.

Most customers today find waiting to speak with customer service most annoying. Infobip allows you to integrate your Facebook messenger with an AI Chabot solution, Answers, to provide immediate and cost-effective self-service. The chatbot can also recognize the need to switch to a live agent and take over detailed and more complex customer queries. It’s moments like these that brands need to prepare for. And the best way to do so, is to be available to chat on the apps your customers are familiar with.

Google’s Business Messages

According to Google, Google’s Business Messages is a mobile conversational channel that combines entry points on Google Maps, Search, and brand websites to create rich, asynchronous messaging experiences. Google Search monitors more than 70% of the global search engine market, and Google Maps has a monthly user base of roughly 154.4 million people. In other words, your customers are more than likely to utilize one or both Google products.

Using Google’s Business Messages (GBM) allows you to build personalized connections when your customers search for you and offer 24/7 contextualized support anytime and anywhere. Infobip enables you to integrate GBM with our cloud contact center solution Conversations, to ensure conversations are routed to the right agent based on the customer’s intent while guaranteeing that all the information collected during the chat conversation is also transferred.

WhatsApp Business

We all know WhatsApp is a very popular messaging app in the MENA region. The channel has a monthly active user base of 2 billion people. Many businesses today have set up business profiles to enhance customer communication and fuel engagement. Incorporating WhatsApp for business into your communication channels allows your customer to respond positively to your brand and provide valuable feedback.

Infobip became a WhatsApp Business Solution Provider in 2018, enabling companies to engage a potential audience of over 2 billion people in 180 countries in a traditional, trusted, and reliable way. Our research found that 68% of WhatsApp users think it is the easiest way to connect with businesses. Using WhatsApp for Business by Infobip lets you integrate our customer engagement hub Moments to personalize your communication by sending useful, timely notifications, reminders, and alerts based on behavioral interactions.

Creating omnichannel customer experiences that matter

Achieving an exceptional digital customer experience means being present on messaging channels customers prefer while establishing an emotional bond with a human touch. Nielson indicates that brands that use an omnichannel approach have a 91% higher customer retention rate.

The popularity, ease, immediacy, scalability, and personalization of messaging make it ideal for engaging customers. But, in order to succeed, the execution must be flawless. Infobip allows you to connect your messaging apps with our customer engagement solutions to help you deliver personalized, omnichannel communications and services.

Sep 28th, 2021
4 min read
Content Manager

Razan Saleh

Content Manager