The evolution of instant messaging apps has changed the landscape of company to customer interaction. The average user can receive different types of text and notifications from various corporations and acquaintances. Along with these, digital-based customer service has also opened opportunities to conduct businesses worldwide.
Messaging applications have helped to connect and engage personal and professional life. Approximately 65% of people regularly use cell phones to perform online business transactions. This percentage is increasing steadily and is the main reason behind the growth in mobile messaging apps. Click here to learn about the best chatting applications.
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importance of messaging landscape
Messaging applications have come a long way since the Internet Relay Chat (IRC), and web messaging platform was first used in early 1980. Nowadays, several messaging applications are on a customer’s phone, like WhatsApp, Snapchat, and Facebook Messenger.
Today, people are using messaging applications not only to send text images or videos but also to transfer money, pay their bills, buy stuff online, and many other things. The introduction of chatbots on the messenger platform has allowed thousands of businesses to offer E-Commerce guidance, customer support, and automated interactive experiences to the customers.
Messaging applications now not only accompany the customers with their daily activities, but they also offer other services like chatting, playing virtual games, accessing fintech applications, connecting to different devices, and many more.
Benefits of messaging applications
1. Better integration of messaging applications in day-to-day work
Message-based communication has dramatically impacted how different teams can communicate across the levels, roles and the entire company. When a company is working with multiple team members, it becomes easier to discuss important points over group chat sessions, especially with people who are working remotely.
Additionally, now the team members can simply go back to the previous discussions letting them know what information was sent by whom and when.
- The line between the employees, customers, and vendors has thinned
- Improved self-organization
2. Understanding the demands of customers has become more accessible.
With the increase in the usage of social media platforms, it has become difficult for business organizations to understand what their customer actually wants. However, when using a messaging context, the consumers can only contact the business representatives to clarify a doubt or provide feedback. Therefore no one else is listening, and there is no confusion.
3. Improvement in customer support
Most of your customers will want a response in less than 45 minutes. Therefore with the use of messaging applications, this waiting time is reduced significantly compared to other leading channels. With the introduction of customer-centric messaging applications, various businesses and companies have started interacting with their customers using chatbot integration.
As chatbots are programmed to offer the correct information, it saves time and offers the customers the exact information they require. Therefore customer care representatives can focus on other vital issues that need human involvement.
4. Enterprises are better organized.
Customer care representatives can access the built-in to-do list to learn how things are going on with the team. This allows them to check the progress of essential activities. Once the task is complete, the members can quickly check it off on the list. Members are also allowed to pin messages on different channels so that everyone can access them while doing assignments.
Factors that will decide the success or failure of these messaging applications
1. The ability to offer a group chat feature
With the lockdown, hundreds of communication services have developed updates to enhance their collaboration and increase the number of members in a group chat. Recently Apple has introduced FaceTime, where 32 users can be on a call. Snapchat has also updated its interference allowing a video call with 16 contacts.
2. Security
The success or failure of a messaging application largely depends on how much end-to-end encryption it can offer, comply with the country’s privacy laws and protect the user data. Approximately 46% of the global users are concerned about data privacy while using a messaging application.
3. Access to brands
As per a recent Active Tech survey, approximately 28% of people use Facebook Messenger to chat with various brands. 7% use Instagram, and about 3% of the global users use WhatsApp to contact their brands.
Now with the introduction of chatbots and remote customer service messaging applications, it has become easier for businesses and companies to offer better consumer-brand interaction.
4. Business communication
The largest tech companies will be collaborating with the best professional communication technology. Recently Skype has released its ‘Skype for business’ extension.
However, the other messaging applications have to speed up and offer secure servers where confidential business discussions can be done. Also, the messaging applications must integrate this message type interface into personal assistants as the users will feel more comfortable.
Future of messaging applications
Mobile messaging applications have successfully combined three of the most powerful relations required in a digital environment: the convenience of use, frequency of use, and emotional connection.
The number of uses for these messaging applications is increasing every year, and there is no sign of slowing down. Third-party platforms are now developing messaging applications for their customers by using rich media along with unique features and service integrations. In the future, you will see more businesses and companies harnessing instant messaging features on their platform.
There is a massive demand for chatbots as they offer the fastest solutions. About 30% of the chatbot users on the various messaging platforms use these computer applications to communicate with their brand. Soon enough, it is expected that artificial intelligence and machine learning will blur all the lines between messaging applications, voice-based intelligent agents, and chatbots.
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Businesses and companies can benefit significantly from these messaging applications as they allow them to understand and test different types of audience segments agilely. It also allows these organizations to scale the customers regionally.
As more and more people are using messaging applications, the opportunities for all the business organizations that adopt this technology early will be tremendous. Soon, it is expected that these applications will become the primary source of how businesses interact with one another, build loyalty and provide service to their customers.
