Customer Service Messaging: Fastest Growing Engagement Channel
NEXT-GEN CONSUMERS DEMAND MESSAGING IN CUSTOMER SERVICE
Next-gen consumers like to text with friends and even family rather than phone them
No wonder they also want to interact with businesses the same way. They have driven up the popularity of messaging as a communication channel—there are 1.3 billion users on Facebook Messenger, which continues to add 100M users every 5-6 months. According to CTIA, 1.5 trillion text messages were sent in 2017 alone.
By 2020, around 50 million consumers will opt in to receive business SMS!
Businesses are getting the message, pun intended, and are starting to engage and serve customers through instant messaging, direct messaging, and other forms of it. However, this is a relatively new domain where the dos and don’ts for its success are just starting to emerge.
Want to know what they are? Based on our experience with blue-chip clients in providing digital customer service at scale, we’ve put these practices together for you.
MESSAGING DOS and DON’TS
Messaging is Effective for Customer Service
A whopping 86% across the US and the UK found messaging to be “very effective” or “somewhat effective” for customer service in the survey conducted by YouGov PLC on behalf of eGain.
Messaging can include SMS, MMS, web chat, text messaging, or any of the popularly used messaging channels like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Twitter Direct Messages, Google’s Business Messages, Apple Business Chat, or more.
Top 3 Hurdles to Good Messaging Experiences
Consumers across the US and the UK hate being the glue in a multichannel communication. 44% of US consumers and 39% of UK consumers found having to repeat information the biggest pain point, according to the eGain-YouGov survey.
Customer Service Messaging Needs a Messaging Hub
A messaging hub avoids silos, offers true omnichannel experience, and makes it easy to add new messaging channels as they emerge.
Resources
Survey State of messaging for customer service: The findings are based on answers given by 5,950 consumers who had used messaging to resolve a customer service issue in the last 12 months.
eGain reimagines omnichannel customer engagement with messaging
