Facebook Messenger = Social Customer Service
In today’s world excellent customer service doesn’t just happen face to face.
Millions of people everyday interact with businesses virtually. Why shouldn’t exemplary customer service happen online as well as in-person? It should! Spot-on customer service is the gateway to repeat business, word of mouth referrals and overall business elevation.
Facebook Messenger has over 1.3 billion users around the world and 181 million in the US alone. If you haven’t integrated Messenger into your Customer Service strategy it’s time you do so. Think of Messenger as a customer support channel. Here are some of the benefits of doing this:
- Improves customer accessibility
- Builds brand trust
- Answer questions quickly
- Increase purchase intent
Now that we know some of the benefits for you, the business owner, let’s look at how people are using Facebook Messenger when interacting with businesses. (Facebook Research Poll)
- More than 81% of respondents message businesses to ask about products and services
- Some 75% of respondents message businesses for support
- More than 74% of respondents message businesses to make a purchase
There’s not a better time to make “Social Customer Service” a priority. Make sure that you dedicate someone to manage Messenger as a customer service solution. Providing 24 hour support will allow you to shift from inbound calls to messaging which is less expensive. The person that manages Messenger should be thoughtful, know your brand voice, and have excellent communication skills.
Here are 8 tips on managing Facebook Messenger:
- Be responsive! Customers expect a quick response. Set up notifications. You have the opportunity to earn a “very responsive” badge that Facebook gives you if you have a response rate of 90% and response time of 15 minutes or less consistently over 7 days. This badge tells your customer you care about them and you’re on top of things! Imagine a customer ready to purchase and they have one final question before pulling the trigger and they see that you have a 40% response rate! Now you’ve cast doubt in the customers mind about how you care about them and their purchase. THIS IS WHAT RESPONSIVE MEANS IN 2021
- 24/7 Support – Be accessible when they need you and you will build trust and confidence in your brand.
- Shift from inbound phone calls to messaging which is less expensive
- Customer service solution – One more way to communicate with your customers
- It’s a powerful pre-sales resource – Move the customer further down the sales funnel
- Take sensitive talks private – Show the customer you value their business one on one
- Personalize as much as possible – More about automation later
- It’s a rich multimedia capable channel – Infuse personality and emotion by using emojis, stickers, images and video during your chat.
There are best practices for using Facebook Messenger as a legitimate customer service channel. You want to have a plan and be consistent with how you manage this platform.
- You’re able to set up automated messages for commonly asked questions. You can always change the questions as you get used to using Messenger.
- Make sure you set up notifications so that when someone sends your business a message you get a notice right away and can respond within minutes. THIS is how you earn the “Very Responsive” badge.
- 64% of people across age groups say they’d rather message a business than call or email. Meet your customers where they are and this could make the difference between them patronizing your business or going elsewhere.
- Connect with your customers world-wide! There are no boundaries to doing business these days. Regardless, a strong customer service plan, including Facebook Messenger will help you get and maintain customers around the globe.
- Facebook Messenger is important at every step of the customer journey. Think about it…first comes awareness (I’d like to know more) then consideration (which product is right for me?) then the transaction (I’d like to buy it) and finally, you have a relationship (I’ve got a question about my purchase.)
Once you’re comfortable with the Facebook Messenger platform consider running ads in Messenger. Yes, you can run ads to be seen in Messenger. There’s a world of opportunity when it comes to taking advantage of this unique platform. Need some help getting started? We love and use Facebook Messenger daily AND we have a team of gifted people to help YOU use it to your advantage too! Contact us today to learn more.
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