See How to Communicate with Customers More Effectively Through Messaging

Facebook Business

June 14, 2018

Facebook IQ commissioned studies, analyzed research and reviewed third-party data to uncover valuable insights on how businesses can leverage messaging to connect with customers. As messaging grows, we’ve found that people’s expectations for communicating with each other are fundamentally transforming the way they expect to communicate with businesses. Given this change, here are some of the key takeaways for marketers to use messaging most effectively.

1. Message creatively

As people are messaging more and more, the language of choice has become increasingly visual. In fact, across eight markets surveyed globally, 56% of people have sent a message consisting only of emojis. “The Art of Communication: Messages That Matter” by Greenberg, Inc., (Messenger-commissioned survey of 2,255 people in AU, BR, CA, DE, GB, FR, KR and the US who use a messaging app monthly), Nov 2017. On WhatsApp there are 4.5 billion photos, 1 billion videos and 80 million GIFs shared each day. WhatsApp data, Feb 2018 And on Messenger, people share more than 17 billion photos every month. Facebook data, May 2018 Visuals are also inspiring messages on Instagram through Direct. More than 150 million Instagrammers have a conversation with a business through Instagram Direct each month, and a third of those messages begin with an Instagram Story. Instagram data, Apr 2018 Given the increasingly visual nature of messaging, we encourage you to try expressing your brand’s personality through emojis, enticing imagery and even immersive augmented reality experiences to connect with your customers in ways that resonate with them.

2. Manage messaging expectations

In some cases, consumers have existing expectations around messaging based on how they message friends and family. To manage these expectations, consider using auto-responses to let people know how quickly your business will respond and to inform people if you won’t be available. In other cases, people may not know what to expect when messaging a business. For example, when engaging with a messaging bot for the first time, people may not know what the bot is capable of, so it’s important to offer people menus (as opposed to open fields), guiding them on questions they can ask and how they can utilize the bot to its fullest.

3. Experiment to find the messaging format that works best for your business

Messenger, Instagram Direct and all offer powerful platforms to create meaningful connections with your customers and drive business results. Whether through a bot, someone on your team or a combination of the two, your business can use messaging to scale communications with customers in the right way based on your business goals and strategy. We encourage you to experiment with messaging across different platforms and in various formats to find the way that works best with your audience.

Check out the full report on Facebook IQ for more messaging insights.

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Best Practices Insights