We’re in the modern age of digital where mobile-first communications are at the forefront. Consumers want simpler, more personalised, more convenient ways to communicate with their favourite brands. Your business can be where your customers are with the incorporation of private messaging channels in your customer service strategy.
To make things easy, we’ve compiled the 6 private messaging channels to elevate your customer experience. Each has its own distinct features that appeal to different businesses and consumers. Here’s a quick run-through of each of them, in no particular order. 😉
#1 SMS
No matter the type of device, be it Apple or Android, users can receive SMS messages as long as they have signal. That’s right, no WiFi required! Sure, it feels outdated to some, but it remains the most efficient and reliable private messaging channel.
SMS for customer experience
Conversations via SMS are asynchronous, giving you access to all historical conversation data. This data can inform your approach to future messaging and proactive notifications to create a truly bespoke customer experience.
💡 Did you know you can use SMS to trigger two-way conversations or even include WhatsApp Click-to-Chat to deflect SMS directly to WhatsApp? Get in touch with Saysimple to learn more.
#2 Apple Business Chat (ABC)
Apple Business Chat provides businesses with the opportunity to reach 1.4 billion monthly active Apple users via the iPhone’s native messaging app. Customers don’t have to leave the conversation and can benefit from the rich user experience iMessage already provides.
Enhance customer experience with Apple Business Chat
Apple Business Chat is the optimal messaging channel for shopping via private messaging. The ‘Pickers’ feature gives you the freedom to display the products your customers are looking for directly in the conversation. On the customer side, the Pickers layout is user-friendly and super easy to navigate for a seamless in-app shopping experience. Additionally, Apple Pay integration allows a frictionless order and payment experience from within the conversation.
#3 WhatsApp Business
As the leading end-to-end encrypted messaging channel, WhatsApp Business’ private messaging allows customers and brands to exchange sensitive information without any privacy concerns. Imagine being reachable to over 2 billion potential customers across more than 150 countries!
WhatsApp Business and customer experience
WhatsApp Business requires brands to have verified business accounts in order to make contact with customers. This shows your trustworthiness and helps you gain customer confidence. When a customer chooses to opt-in to WhatsApp Business messages, a 24-hour customer care window opens where you can chat freely. Once that window is closed, you can still proactively reach your customers using message templates to reactivate the conversation. This allows you to message your customers quickly and efficiently not only with service notifications and scheduling, but also with new products and hot deals.
💡Did you know you can enrich your WhatsApp message templates with media (images, PDFs, etc.) and buttons so your customers are more likely to initiate action?
#4 Google Business Messages (GBM)
There are nearly 3 billion Android users who are looking for products/services and searching for answers to questions with Google Search. Google Business Messages offers a way to start the conversation directly from Google Search or Google Maps results.
Leverage Google Search results for a better customer experience
When consumers pop your business name into a Google Search, a profile appears on the right side of the results screen. Nowadays, you can add a ‘chat with us’ button to your contact information. Using the chat button helps deflect calls directly to chat, which can be seamlessly integrated among your other channels in your unified inbox. This lowers the pressure on and cost of your call centre so your customer service agents can focus on the (complex) issues that matter.
Use GBM’s bots to answer frequently asked questions or complete tasks like linking customers to a specific page on your site. And don’t worry, GBM makes it easy to switch to live chat with your customer service agents for handling more complex inquiries and issues. Together these features add up to an elevated customer experience thanks to faster response times.
#5 Facebook Messenger
Click-to-Messenger (CTM) ads are a stellar tool for customer acquisition. These Facebook ads lead consumers directly through automated sign up or purchase flows directly from the ad and in the same window. What makes Facebook Messenger particularly interesting is that it can be integrated directly onto your website as a substitute for live chat. Not to mention the 2 billion active users you can target.
💡 Did you know Facebook Messenger now has ‘guest mode’? This allows customers to benefit from the rich experience Messenger conversations have to offer without having to be logged into their account.
Facebook Messenger for better customer experience
Facebook went all out with Messenger adapting traditional messaging channels to a mobile-first generation. If customers opt to chat with your brand while signed into Facebook, this leverages a consistent identity, meaning that you can access their full customer history. You can leverage this data to provide more personalised communication with customers to enhance the customer experience.
#6 Instagram Messaging
With a dedicated mobile-first audience of over 1 billion users, you can use Instagram to showcase products and engage with your customers where they are. You can use shopping tags in your stories or feed posts to show customers exactly where to find the products being showcased. Additionally, any time your brand is tagged anywhere on the platform by an Instagram user, you can respond directly via Instagram DMs.
Sky-rocket your customer engagement with Instagram
Instagram has recently launched the Messenger API for Instagram DM which allows brands to support their customers at scale. Customer support teams no longer have to use the app to respond to incoming inquiries from Instagram because you can integrate Messenger API directly into your unified inbox. This means your brand can use Instagram through the whole customer journey, from Discovery, through Purchase, and into Post-Purchase. The potential for customer engagement while simultaneously enhancing the customer experience is unmatched.
💡While in-app purchases are currently only available in the United States, it will soon be available globally.
Take your customer experience to the next level with Saysimple
We hope that these 6 best private messaging channels show you all the ways that you can meet your consumers where they are. Mobile-first communication provides easily accessible opportunities for brands to engage with their consumers. Private messaging inevitably leads to faster response times and, as a result, higher customer satisfaction.
Ready to future-proof your customer experience with Saysimple’s Customer Communications Platform to leverage all these things plus better overall operational efficiency? Book a demo today or contact us to discuss how messaging can help enhance your customer experience and any other challenges your business is facing.