Choosing the Right B2C Mobile Messaging Platform
By Oriana Durand — Marketing Coordinator
The impact of mobile messaging on how we communicate has been huge. Platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, LINE, and Kik have redefined how we connect with each other.
And as mobile messaging matures into the preferred method of communication, the aforementioned apps are now being explored in the business sector as new customer communication tools.
While social networks and messaging apps are great ways to connect with fans and customers on a broad scale, managing the 1-to-1 customer service-related inquiries can be problematic. With this in mind, businesses need to consider the following 4 factors before moving their customer communication onto new platforms.
- Platform Intent: Social vs. Business-Focused
Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and KIK are ultimately designed for social purposes, like connecting with friends, planning birthday parties and posting travel photos. And while they succeed at this, the question remains whether this is the environment businesses want to manage transactions and exchange confidential information, such as customer account details and financial data.
Mobile chat may be the future, but it’s important to understand and evaluate each messaging platform’s intended function before incorporating it into a channel strategy. Ultimately, businesses need to assess whether a messaging platform is an appropriate environment to interact with customers. When it comes to account management and customer service in general, consumers value security, privacy and efficiency. Whether social messaging services provide this is yet to be determined.
2. Privacy Issues and Data Ownership
It’s no secret that social networks like Facebook have had troubles with privacy and information protection. Many of these networks became multibillion-dollar companies by generating revenue from advertisers. Facebook, for instance, scrapes data from users’ private conversations to advertise products that would be fitting to each person’s preferences.
The many privacy issues that Facebook has faced ultimately impacts consumer trust and consequently, how they decide to use the social platform. This poses a challenge to businesses hoping to use these social networks to host their customer communication: what information will they be willing to share with advertisers? And, more importantly, will their customers be willing to share confidential information if they know the data they provide will be used elsewhere?
3. Consumer Trust
The aforementioned privacy issues are a major cause for the loss of consumer trust, which is a particular concern for platforms like Facebook. Recent statistics show that a large proportion of users don’t trust Facebook with their personal information. 28% of American adults say they trust Facebook “not at all” with their personal data and a whopping 34% claim they trust Facebook “not much.” Customer engagement and loyalty are key drivers of business success and if consumers don’t trust the platform they’re interacting with companies on, the chances of an engaging, meaningful interaction are diminished.
4. Impact on the Brand
Some businesses lend themselves better to mobile messaging than others. Companies in retail, media and real estate, for instance, may be more incentivized to use mobile messaging to chat with their customers than those in the legal, medical and financial industries. And the simple reason being that the latter fields rely heavily on their brand’s credibility and their customer loyalty. Using a messaging app as a channel for customer service is novel and can have a big impact on a company’s reputation and credibility. Adopting mobile messaging to chat with customers may not necessarily align with a business’ brand, particularly if the communication is not exclusively B2C but also offers peer-to-peer conversation.
Customer satisfaction drives a company’s success. Today, consumers are increasingly more demanding and in need of instant and efficient communication. Waiting for more than 5 minutes for a response is no longer acceptable and can have a significant impact on a company’s reputation.
Mobile messaging is a powerful vehicle that can be used to address people’s need for instant gratification and to help businesses interact with customers in real time. However, in order for businesses to use mobile messaging effectively and ensure consumer satisfaction, it’s necessary to evaluate which platform is best suited for their brand, audience, and overall objectives.
Originally published at www.pypestream.com.
