Companies that want to stand out need to innovate! Demand for exceptional customer service is growing and companies are deeply pondering how to match their requirements. To provide a successful customer service, companies need to 1) be where the client is, 2) know what the customer needs are and 3) connect these to the right expertise to help customers quickly. Messaging will help your company to exceed clients’ expectations, which is why it’s recommended to include this in your customer service mix.
Messaging versus email
Digital communication is what we mean by messaging. Well known examples are WhatsApp Messaging, Facebook Messenger or Twitter. Communication channels meant for a fast exchange of messages also known as chatting. It's similar to email, but rapidity and urgency for the exchange of information is slower and stays behind messaging.
Advantages of messaging for consumer and business
Now we get to the why. Why do companies adopt messaging? Find out how messaging adds more value to your customer service in contrast to phone or email.
For consumers:
- Simple and straightforward. Most customers already know and use messaging for their own personal communication.
- Anytime, anywhere, anyplace. The consumer decides when, where and how. They are no longer tied to the availability of an agent.
- The waiting is over, meaning that endless phone cues are in the past. Customers decide when they respond, allowing them to multitask.
- History repeats. Chat history is preserved, therefore information is retrievable.
- Option to share rich content. Visuals, like photos, videos and weblinks.
For businesses:
- Automation. Managing phone lines for customer service is costly, in both time and money. With smart routing it will direct incoming inquiries directly to the agent with the best fit, allowing you to communicate in an efficient way with your customers.
- To work efficiently. Client conversations within teams are transferable and picked up by the agent with the right expertise.
- Communication during the entire customer journey. Service your (potential) customers from product orientation, to purchase to customer care.
Emerging new messaging channels
WhatsApp is the biggest provider of messaging worldwide. The company is quickly followed by tech giants such as Apple and Google. They also discovered the advantages of messaging which encouraged them to develop communication channels of their own. Apple instigated Apple Business Chat, Google started Google's Business Messages and Facebook launched a Messenger API for Instagram Messaging.
- Apple, with one billion users worldwide, offers a big offset market for Apple Business Chat, reaching clients on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch. Customers’ who need to get in touch with a business’ customer care, simply use Apple Business Chat via in-app, Apple Maps, iOS Search or through a phone number of the company. Apple Pay allows the client to pay within Apple chat instantly and Chat Suggest encourages the Apple user to chat instead of calling.
- Google uses search to enable consumers to reach a business’ customer service. Businesses can add a message button linked to the search results representing their business, allowing customers to chat immediately with a company. Or share your business’ contact information within Google Maps.
- Instagram messaging, with 1 billion users worldwide, is mostly used as an ecommerce tool for managing client relations. Companies use it to generate likes, comments, but they also receive a lot of DM’s. With the Messenger API, released by Facebook, companies are finally able to manage Instagram conversations, from a central inbox in a scalable way.
- WhatsApp is the ultimate channel, with 2 billion users worldwide. Their core business has always been chat and is known for being accessible and personal. The business version of WhatsApp helps companies to professionalize customer conversation. It’s much faster than email and very suitable for automation.
Here are the results from using messaging
Before we get to the results, we learned from our own clients that they run into a few challenges before they added messaging to their channel mix. Which is why, Saysimple developed a customer contact solution to help deal with below struggles turning them into winning results.
Companies experience the following challenges:
- Offering a 24/7 support and communication via the preferred channels of the customer demands a lot from a company
- Managing several traditional channels can be costly and time consuming
- Setting up workflows to manage digital customer contact turns out to be more challenging than expected
The Saysimple customer contact platform resolves this by:
- Adding relevant customer channels to the client communication mix
- Managing all channels from one central inbox
- Working together with multiple users
- Routing conversations directly to the right agent/ department
- Lowering the workload, because businesses need less time to manage traditional channels like email or phone
Using the Saysimple platform results in:
- 19% higher customer satisfaction
- 5x more team productivity
- 44% less calls
- 20% more sales
Messaging enables businesses to be where the clients’ at, at the preferred communication channels of the customer. In the new digital age, this is how you reach customers, service them and solve their issues. The Saysimple customer contact platform helps you manage your clients, from one central location, while working efficiently as a team.
Use messaging for better customer relationships
Still wondering why you should adopt messaging for your customer service? Research shows that ninety percent of all consumers prefer to communicate through messaging with companies. If you want to stay ahead of the competition, then it is essential to include messaging in your customer service. WhatsApp being the most frequently used channel, will bring you the best result. Which is why we advise you to incorporate this into the customer communication mix. From our experience, we know this is how you will meet client's expectations and how you might even exceed them.
Find out how this potentially works. Contact us for a free demo and experience how you can boost your customers’ service to an ultimate high.