Have you considered the role direct messaging might be able to play in your customer service process?

If your company is new to business messaging, the practice is a simple, yet new and ripe one.

There are now over 3 billion active messaging accounts worldwide, and businesses like Nordstrom, Buffer and Harry’s are jumping on messaging as a communication channel to improve customer experience and retention. Digital marketing thought leader Chris Messina, best known as the inventor of the hashtag, has called this process ‘conversational commerce’.

Conversational commerce is when a business, as large as a retailing giant or as small as a local bakery, connects to customers through messaging (like simple SMS text or Facebook Messenger) to guide and enhance the customer lifecycle experience.

Two thoughts might be running through your head right now:

  1. Do my customers want to message us?
  2. How would messaging fit with my company?

Well, if your customers can message you when it counts most to them, then it IS a fit for you.

Here are 4 scenarios when messaging counts the most.

1. WHEN SOMEONE NEEDS HELP

Whether someone’s halfway around the world in a low reception area, or just around the corner from home and needs something, messaging is the fastest and most convenient way to get information.

Someone might want to locate a killer restaurant, book the hotel they’ve been lusting after or need a good book recommendation. A simple text does the trick best.

Here’s an example of how travel fits into the messaging world.

2. WHEN SOMEONE NEEDS CUSTOMER SERVICE

We love to make purchases, but hate to make returns. Studies bear this out with, 38% of consumers wanting check an order status via SMS and 52% preferring business SMS over IVR.

The proof is in the pudding. Here is an example of what a retail return might look like:

 

3. WHEN SOMEONE’S SHOPPING ONLINE OR IN-STORE

Shoppers need advice, size + color availabilities, pricing, sales information and much more, all the time. Moreover, they need personalized service. Messaging enables people to chat with retailers directly and make purchases within messaging, from anywhere.

Here is what how a shopping conversation might start:

4. FINALLY, WHEN IT’S URGENT

The last thing anyone wants is to listen to an IVR version of “The Heart of Rock and Roll” when they need urgent healthcare advice.

For both the patient and the doctor, business messaging improves communication ( 80% of medical mishaps occur due to miscommunication), assures compliance, increases patient-to-doctor engagement and enables better overall patient care.

IS MESSAGING A FIT FOR YOUR BUSINESS?

There’s no reason it shouldn’t be. Getting started with messaging is as easy as putting a widget on your website and deciding where you want to receive the messages, be it in SMS, email, or a CRM.  

[Source:- Socialmediatoday]