The future of business is conversational

The data is absolutely staggering. People are using mobile instant messaging apps vastly more than social media networks. Applications such as WhatsApp, iMessage, WeChat and Facebook Messenger are overtaking Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin and Snapchat. If you want to build your business online, you need to go where the people are, and they are in your instant messaging apps. 

Now more than ever, live chat software is key to customer communication. Instant messaging is the core of our communication universe, and more people are opting for those forms of communication over more traditional avenues, like phone calls, walk-ins, or even email. Who would have thought that email would be classed as traditional in 2020? Alas, we live in the world of 140 characters, emojis and internet lingo, where inboxes are in the 9999+ unread counts, with no intention of reducing. 

9 out of 10 prefer instant messaging 

That statistic is no shock, given that we communicate mainly in short text bursts, rather than long, drawn out, walls of text. However, is your business really taking advantage of instant messaging in the way that consumers are? Are you available to them on live chat, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger? Are they aware that you have instant messaging communication options? 

The internet, and more importantly the development of mobile technology, has completely transformed the way we communicate as a society. We no longer wait for a week to receive a reply via letter, although we all have that one friend who doesn’t actually reply for weeks. Communication is now instant, and it’s instant overseas as well. Imagine, you can have a realtime conversation with someone on the other side of the world, in a different timezone, right now, in the palm of your hand. That is a miraculous feat. Technology has brought the world much closer, tearing down time barriers and granting us a free flow of communication, regardless of where you are on the planet. Messaging apps, like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, have realised this benefit and have opened their doors to business messaging as well as consumer. 

Instant messaging saves time and money 

While instant messaging is quick and easy to use, it also saves time and money, and increases productivity and efficiency. Unlike telephone calls, customer service agents can chat with multiple customers simultaneously via live chat or instant messaging, immediately  making them 400% more effective than on the phone. The brevity of text communication is also a massive timesaver as communication is much clearer than speaking and allows both the user and agent to re-read a message if they need clarification or reference. For the customer service agent, there are also pre-defined responses that they can utilise for frequently asked questions, saving a lot of time and reducing human error. 

Online chat and social media instant messaging are such huge time savers, but they are also cost savers as well. Customer service agents are more productive and are able to speak with more customers via live chat and instant messaging, reducing the pressure to increase the size of the team. This also benefits contact centres, since instant messaging options, like live chat, reduce call volumes and increase the number of customers spoken with while reducing the time spent on each individual customer. It’s a win-win situation for the customers and the customer service agents. 

When you take into account artificial intelligence chatbots, like Click4Assistance’s Artie, that will increase your company’s productivity even more, by allowing the chatbot to engage all website visitors so that your team does not have to, while answering basic questions and helping customers with issues that do not require human intervention, like opening hours, locations and other frequently asked questions. Artie, the AI chatbot, will also engage users on your WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, ensuring all of your core incoming instant messaging is responded to immediately, regardless of if your office is open or not. AI chatbots have been proven to increase customers satisfaction rates immediately, and have a positive impact on revenue, since prospects are being engaged before they leave the website, making them 4 times more likely to purchase, and the AI chatbot can also up-sell and cross-sell other products or services you have trained him to offer customers. 

Customers today are craving more human communication from businesses, rather than the atypical cold responses of old. They want interactive experiences, and prefer instant replies with a constant flow of conversation, so they can get it done easily in an avenue that’s familiar, comfortable and convenient to them. If you’re interested in deploying Click4Assistance, the UK’s premier GDPR compliant live chat software solution, to increase your business’ productivity for 2020, give us a call on 08451235871 or send an email to theteam@click4assistance.co.uk and one of our experts will be with you right away. Not ready to reach out yet? Discover how it works, try a demo, or better yet, try Click4Assistance completely free for 21 days.