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The new Facebook Messenger feature allows users to toggle between business and personal messages. As a business owner, you can finally get all your messages sent to the same app you use to talk with friends, family and colleagues. Rather than worrying about a completely different app for customers, everything is now under one roof.
Facebook carefully thought out design which has led to an individual inbox for business messages and an inbox for personal messages. That way, you’ll never reply to a customer from your personal account if you don’t want to.
What makes this such a good feature?
A recent study put the number of business owners using Facebook Messenger at over 90%. With most business owners already using the app for personal reasons, it makes sense to offer them a chance to respond to customers on the same platform. After all, they’re accustomed to the app and how it works, and have it on their phone already.
We’ve spoken about the benefit to the business, but what about for customers? When a customer sends a message, they hope for a quick reply. The longer they have to wait, the less likely they are to pursue their interest. With this Facebook feature, you can strike while the iron is hot. In other words, you can capitalize on their interest. Reply while they’re asking about your products and are motivated to spend money.
Some of the most common questions revolve around the availability of products, store hours, collection, delivery and product features. The ability to respond to customers quickly could be the difference between making a sale and losing out to a competitor.
According to HubSpot, nine in ten customers value quick responses as a key standard for businesses. Facebook Messenger now allows you to better adhere to the demands of the modern customer. With notifications set up on your phone, you never need to miss a message again. In fact, you can set it up so that you receive one when the message comes through and another when no reply has been sent— this is useful when multiple people have access to the account. This way, you don’t have everybody just leaving it up to someone else.
Replying to customers can feel like a chore. There’s a tendency to put it off until a handful builds up. Now, we can reply immediately and delight customers with our service so they buy our products. Even if they don’t, they still appreciate the service and recommend it to others.
Don’t worry, you won’t replace the Page Manager app completely just because of this one addition. If you prefer, you can still use the Page Manager app to create ads, manage posts, assess page insights and respond to messages. Perhaps you can save Page Manager for when you have more time and then respond using Messenger when on the go. Over time, we’re sure you’ll find a system that works for you.
Next, we can’t ignore the fact that this is a ready-made solution for many businesses. Rather than paying money or subscribing to a new service, all you need to do is update the Messenger app and ensure your accounts are linked. If the business page and personal account (of the admin) are connected, you’ll have access to both on Messenger. You can implement this solution within minutes.
This feature yields results. Prior to rollout, it was available to a handful of business owners. One company said that COVID-10 increased messages to almost 250%. Customers wanted to learn about delivery, opening hours and how everything was working amid the pandemic. The ability to reply on Facebook Messenger within seconds has allowed staff to keep up with demand.
To add to the theme, Facebook has continued to help businesses throughout the pandemic. For example, it made changes to the Community Help hub so that users could support their local businesses. It has also offered businesses a chance to sell vouchers and gift cards, and even awarded grants to some small businesses.
We already love Facebook Messenger for its marketing value, but this new feature has opened up the possibilities even more. This year, Facebook has about one billion active monthly users. With such a high usership, you’re certain to find your audience. Although these users don’t go on Facebook to spend money, research and experience have shown us that people are responsive to ads and the presence of businesses on the platform.
Marketing on Facebook presents much fewer challenges than email marketing. Emails can get lost in a sea of endless messages, open rates are an issue, and the results of a campaign are often determined by the effectiveness of the subject line.
On the other hand, open rates on Messenger are very high; some say as much as 80%. Around 60% of recipients click through after receiving a message on the app. Conversion rates also sit higher than email and other marketing methods.
In this world of security and privacy, it’s important to tread lightly when it comes to sending messages. On Facebook, we can set up a comment guard so that everyone who comments on a particular post receives an automated message on Messenger. A reply is all the criteria you need to contact further since this is an opt-in to hear more about your brand and products.
One of the best parts about this strategy is that comment guard tools are free to set up. Facebook loves businesses willing to engage with customers, and you’ll gradually build a list of leads for no cost at all.
The problem? The success of this strategy depends on your ability to write an engaging message that resonates with your audience. Rather than trying to sell immediately, we recommend asking a question or getting customers to contribute to a poll. If the message is light and fun, they’re more likely to respond.
When it comes to Facebook ads, most businesses go for a standard ad without even considering other options. In reality, click to Messenger ads are one of the most under-appreciated marketing strategies on the internet (and they’re cheaper than a standard ad).
As the name suggests, recipients of this ad will be taken through to Messenger rather than a landing page after a click. From here, they can ask questions about your product or company. Now that we have the integration between personal and business accounts, it’s easier to reply to all the messages generated by your campaign. You can also share the load with a chatbot so that you only answer the most pressing questions.
There are two benefits to this strategy:
With these first two strategies, you’ll eventually have a list of names who you can contact freely. We would never recommend chat blasting people who haven’t given permission, but it’s an effective tactic when you have a group of people who have interacted with the brand already. For Facebook, a sent message is an opt-in.
Months ago, we would recommend the Messenger chat widget, but this is no longer necessary thanks to the new Facebook feature.
Facebook now allows business owners to link their business Messenger account to their personal account. We expect this to complement the services on Page Manager; business owners should find it easier than ever to respond to customers and take advantage of their interest early. By replying quickly, you give them more reason to consider your products!
