Among all forms of communication of our days, messaging might be king due to its practicality. Texting is easy! For instance, you can even dictate and allow your telephone to transform what you have to say into a text. Therefore, being so present in everyone’s life, texting swiftly turned out to be a tool for customers to reach businesses. This practice is called business messaging and is revolutionising the way customers communicate with organisations.
Furthermore, it is fundamental to highlight that business messaging is not exclusively about customer support. As customers are constantly connected, it can be an opportunity to reach them while they are unpretentiously browsing a website or an app.
The list of messaging apps is vast and includes the well-known Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp for Business. In this article, we will discuss what to expect for the future of business messaging.
A Talk About Messaging in the Past
To better picture the future of messaging, we’ll first have a quick look at how it started.
Do you know when someone first received an SMS? In 1992! Quite a long time ago, right? In the following year, Nokia created a feature to notify for incoming messages. It was notably innovative for the period. Moreover, it didn’t take long after that to see the rise of texting as a regular form of communication.
Even though SMS was then part of everyone’s routine, brands did not dare to give it a try until the early to mid-2000s. In the beginning, they adopted it mostly to announce special offers from time to time.
Business Messaging In the Present
Fast forward to the present, where WhatsApp alone gathers a user base of over 2 billion global users and has around 23 billion texts delivered worldwide each day. Businesses would never miss the chance to reach their audiences also over this channel. However, due to technological advancements, comes the need to improve the approach.
In other words, the relationship between consumers and brands evolved. Internet somehow nurtured this idea that everything is accessible. Businesses are not far away, standing on a pedestal anymore. Consumers feel as if they have a genuine connection with brands. Therefore, as they become loyal to them, they also expect brands to share content via text.
After the pandemic outbreak, texting had its comeback. After all, it is an efficient option to provide updates on the order’s status and inform about sales. Furthermore, some customers rather receive an SMS instead of emails, so it is good to leave them the option.
Business Messaging – The Future
After putting the past and present of business messaging in perspective, what should we expect for the future? In an innovative environment that pushes us to think outside the box, it is vital to brush up on the ways to approach your target audience.
For instance, if customers prefer to be contacted via SMS, they expect to receive exclusive, personalised content. Not only they will be delighted to be the first to know about the sales, but they want information and suggestions based, for example, on their recent purchases.
Furthermore, nowadays business messaging is not exclusively about texting. We have various channels to choose from, like live chat and Facebook Messenger, that allow businesses to achieve different approaches and expand their connections with customers.
Messaging can be pretty lucrative and help generate leads. Customers do not have the time to fill a form and wait for someone to contact them. Moreover, imagine the number of opportunities missed because the answer they waited for via email arrived too late and got lost among other non-read messages.
Business Messaging – A Prolific Way to Increase Sales
Business messaging grants the possibility to take action right away. Instead of losing a prospect, with live chat you get the chance to reach this person and answer questions they might have. To the same extent, as almost everyone has a busy routine, customers appreciate the possibility to reach a business by sending a message through WhatsApp Business.
It gives them the chance to communicate wherever they are and even while doing something else. I am sure you already reached for customer service while waiting for the food to heat up in the oven!
Last, but not least, businesses should concentrate their efforts on an omnichannel strategy. After all, the same quality of service in every single channel is the number one priority for customers. You can learn more about how to develop your omnichannel strategy here.
The good news is, we are more than ready to help you make the most out of business messaging. Start today!
