Let’s Chat! Marketing to Consumers on Mobile Apps | WMI

Mobile messaging has evolved beyond the simple text. Apps like Facebook Messenger and Kik are now a preferred method of communication for people around the globe and, increasingly, chat bots are offering brands a more personalized way to interact with customers. Here, we look at why 76% of people say mobile messaging apps have improved their lives and how marketers can use this tool to engage consumers at every point in the customer journey.

Just Message Me

Everybody’s doing it! Sixty-five percent of Millennials and Gen X’ers, and 63% of Baby Boomers actively use text messaging. And they’re doing it more frequently: almost 60% of consumers say they message more today than they did two years ago and 56% expect their use of messaging apps to increase in the next two years. Why? Americans say that messaging is convenient, economical, and efficient. In fact, consumers choose messaging as their preferred method for one-to-one and group communication and it is among their top methods of interacting with a business.

Connecting Anytime, Anywhere

While it can be difficult to make a phone call in a public place or there may not be time for a lengthy conversation, messaging helps keep people connected. Fifty-nine percent of consumers say that messaging helps to keep them up to date on what’s happening with friends and family and 67% say it helps them stay in touch when they’re unable to call or email. More important, more than half of consumers say that messaging has helped to improve their relationships and allowed them to communicate more frequently with friends and family.

How To Market to Consumers On Mobile Apps

It’s no surprise that men and women communicate differently, but even in messaging apps, their conversations often focus on different topics. When messaging in groups, both men and women give personal updates, but men’s conversations tend to focus on sports, movies, current events, and people they know. Women’s topics tended toward people they know, social plans, movies, and shopping.

How Conversations Drive Mobile Commerce

As consumers become more comfortable interacting in messaging environments, it’s only natural they would extend the conversation to commerce—63% of people who message businesses say they message them more than they did two years ago and 53% say they are more likely to shop with a business they can connect with via a chat app. Thirty-five percent of consumers say they’ve messaged a business to ask a question, and a third have inquired about store hours, location, or inventory via a messenger app. Additionally, 34% have made or confirmed an appointment and 33% made a purchase or placed an order. Consumers are using chat features to maintain a relationship with businesses after the transaction has taken place, 30% provided feedback about their experience and 39% shared photos of products! Ongoing communication builds relationships and offers businesses an opportunity to reach out to customers to share information, check order status, get feedback, and enhance customer service.

Hello, Bot!

In the past two years, we’ve seen the adoption of chat bots to communicate with consumers on messaging apps. Sephora, Uber, H&M, and Kohl’s have all adopted the use of artificial intelligence to communicate with customers. In turn, brands are gathering insights into their customer’s purchasing patterns, learning which products they prefer, and identifying common customer service issues. Just as the bots learn from data, marketers can use that intelligence to better understand their customer and leverage those learnings to develop better products and services.

Discover how Women’s Marketing’s suite of marketing services helps brands reach consumers at every stage of the buyer journey. Contact us today to get started.

Source: Facebook IQ Insights Guide The Message Heard Round The World