6 years ago
The future of digital communications…… Messaging
Stuart Cripps-Schnoor
Messaging apps are fast becoming the most used apps on mobiles. Don’t believe me just take a look on your next morning commute, FB messenger, Whatsapp and good old SMS are what you are likely to see.
Facebook’s David Marcus (who runs FB messenger) and Mark Zuckerburg have already communicated their focus on the messenger solution and we expect to see a big push from them.
WeChat known in China as Weixin is already dominating with over 900 million active monthly users. The innovative messaging app allows you to book flights, doctors appointments, buy tickets and even do your mobile banking!
So, where has this come from and where will it go?
If you consider most mobile experiences for shopping or ordering are better than ever, but it’s still awkward and once you’ve completed your order you wait for the constant stream of email updates about what’s happening next. If there are issues you search around for a customer service email and then send something off into the ether hoping for a timely response.
The average consumer is becoming far more time poor and far less interested in human interaction. It’s all about a frictionless process and customer service. Imagine the scenario below:
“Hi, Can I book 2 x tickets to see Star Wars at 9.30pm tonight?”
“Yes, there are seats available, would you like standard or premium seating?”
“Great, standard please”
“Thanks, the total price will be £20”
“Book my tickets please”
“Thank you, here is your ticket, enjoy your film”
It’s fast, it’s painless and a fantastic customer service experience. It’s how people want to interact in real-time. Email suddenly feels like an ancient method and if you’ve recently tried to book anything over the phone you will understand why most people opt to avoid this.
So how can you make this work for your business?
Ultimately, you will need the right target audience to interact with you in this way, but as I’ve previously mentioned that’s a huge consumer base from a wide demographic. Social media is already paving the way for customer service , ensuring these aspects of comms are in your strategy will make a huge difference as the technology gains traction.
Secondly, you will need strong data with good segmentation. In my above example to make it simple you would need to understand which cinema the user usually attends from previous data and have other details on file to process it instantly.
“Chatbots” as they are becoming increasingly known as can play a huge part in immediate user engagement, frictionless transactions and automated customer service. All of which leaves customers satisfied and ultimately a brand advocate.
