Bringing Conversational Experience To Mainstream Chat Apps

Bringing Conversational Experience To Mainstream Chat Apps

Constant use of mainstream chat applications has changed the habits of customers and creating a positive conversational experience has become more important than ever. Conversational Experience (CE) can be delivered to customers using several mainstream chat applications such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and LINE. Leveraging on mainstream chat applications for businesses will make brands more easily accessed by customers since mainstream chat applications are real-time channels and allow businesses to connect with more customers than were previously possible through non-real-time channels such as e-mail, online forms, and others.

Conversational Experience in Mainstream Messaging Apps

WhatsApp has been widely used all over the world especially in Europe and has been used to send out over 65 billion messages per day, which means each user is estimated to be sending an average of 43 messages per day. With this number alone, using WhatsApp to connect with customers is necessary for companies to develop their businesses and this is supported by the fact that the application has more than 100 million downloads on Google Play Store.

With this large user base, WhatsApp seems to show that it understands the potential to monetize this user base with the release of WhatsApp for Business, which allows businesses to create verified profiles, send promotions via product demonstration videos, appointment reminders, two-way customer surveys and all other support messages to customers directly via WhatsApp. While it’s still free, WhatsApp plans to make this into a steady stream of revenue and the messaging giant seems to have made a lucrative decision. Data from Tech Crunch shows that there are more than 3 million businesses that are already engaging customers through the WhatsApp for Business application.

In August 2018, to accommodate the demands of automation, WhatsApp released the WhatsApp Business API. WhatsApp Business API is a docker container that businesses will find useful to integrate with their current enterprise clients. It’s far more complex than just downloading and installing the app on your phone. This docker will need to run in parallel with Structured Query Language (SQL) databases and block storage.

Another mainstream chat application that has been widely used, especially in the United States, is Facebook Messenger. In the second quarter of 2019, Facebook Messenger was estimated to have reached 2.4 billion monthly active users. This also meant that over 20 billion messages are sent to and from people and businesses every month. To improve the satisfaction level of this large user base, in early 2019, Facebook Messenger decided to redesign itself with three main panels on the User Interface which consists of the sections Chats, People, and Discover. These features are created so that Facebook Messenger will keep growing and keeping their users engaged.

The Facebook Messenger application also provides tonnes of benefits for businesses as seen from the many industries which are already leveraging on Facebook Messenger. For example, direct sales through Messenger, increasing brand awareness as well as engagement, and Messenger becoming a medium to engage with potential customers which leads to purchase of products are common and popular activities done by businesses over the platform. Facebook Messenger is helping businesses broaden the scope of their audiences to meeting the needs of customers simply by providing a direct line of communication.

Besides the WhatsApp for Business and Facebook Messenger, LINE is also helping companies to introduce their business widely to consumers. By using Official LINE Account, companies can easily communicate with clients through the chat application quickly and efficiently. The LINE app is supported in both desktops and mobile devices. The LINE app also works a little differently from most of the mainstream messaging applications. It consists of several tabs: Discovery, friend recommendations, group creation, lists of friends, and official accounts that you follow.

LINE has more than 600 million registered users and around 220 million of it are monthly active users. Among those monthly active users, 165 million people are located within four primary markets of LINE, which are Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, and Taiwan. Therefore, using Official LINE Account can be an effective strategy for businesses which are targeting consumers in these countries.

Using Multichannel Is A Need

With different channels of chat applications used by customers, a multichannel chat platform is a necessary need for businesses, especially in managing customer service. Multichannel chat is a service to connect business owners with multiple chat channels and managing all these from a single dashboard. The use of a single dashboard will help you to streamline messages from multiple channels i.e. different chat applications – and it also helps you to respond customers in a timely manner, powered by automation. Furthermore, many companies have begun to realize the importance of good customer service, especially in relation to how they have interacted with customers using existing channels. The needs of good customer service has become an urgency. Qiscus Multichannel CS Chat is here to help you manage the relationship between your brand and customers, with the aim of improving satisfaction by the customer towards their experience interacting and communication with your brand’s representative.

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