Direct messaging to customers and leads (such as sending bulk SMS messages to your contacts) is a great way to nurture the connection you create, with the following purposes:
Sending educational content in the middle funnel, that is, when the customer has not yet decided to buy from you
Sending commercial content at the end of the funnel, to push the customer to purchase
recovery of abandoned carts for e-commerce , but also solicitation of feedback for offers in the field of services
Invitation to events
Customer care
Offers (sent via SMS or other) segmented by behavior in marketing automation activities
Generally, email is the most used tool, because it is easy to collect (usually people communicate with less anxiety) and easy to use.
Added to these are various messaging apps (such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook Messenger) in addition to email, and of course SMS.
But why aren't emails enough?
The Problem With Email Open Rates
The problem, however, lies in the average open rates of emails, that is, the number of people who actually open them once they receive them.
This data, provided by all the main mass sending software (such as Mailchimp , Mailup , etc.) reveals the whole truth of our era: we are bombarded by emails, and we only open those that we consider very important .
This is also true when you have a list of people interested in receiving your newsletters.
A great email open rate is around 40% , while a good rate is around 20% .
And what happens to all the other subscribers? Well, it's simple, they don't see your message, and that's a problem!
Integrate communication activities with other messaging systems
For this reason, the use of other direct messaging channels is increasingly being integrated into the marketing of SMEs, and in particular:
Messenger BOT
WhatsApp
Telegram
Messenger Messaging BOTs (such as Many Chat ) allow the company to send direct messages via Facebook Messenger (the most popular messaging system in the world) to users who have registered with the BOT itself.
The system is then able to give pre-set answers and indications to the customer, guiding him in a dialogue.
Very useful for example to ask " Have you heard about our latest event yet? " and give information to the customer, up to the registration link , but this is just one of the infinite possibilities, which go all the way to selling products.
WhatsApp (the second most popular messaging system in the world) needs little introduction: through broadcast lists it is possible to send company messages to groups of up to 256 users each, in addition to being able to set (with WhatsApp Business ) automatic responses to users' FAQs and times when you are absent from the chat.
The main "defect" of Whatsapp is that users, in order to receive broadcast (and therefore mass) messages, must have the sender's number saved in their address book , an aspect that often greatly limits the reception and opening of messages.
Telegram, for its part, offers a smaller user base in Italy, but many more marketing tools , including the ability to create Channels (top-down communication), discussion groups and the presence of BOTs similar to those of Messenger to use artificial intelligence to communicate with users.
Advantages of these systems over email
All the tools mentioned above allow the sending of photographs , links , videos , gifs , and the entire multimedia arsenal available to companies today to communicate in an engaging way.
Open rates are hovering around 80% , a nice jump from email.
However, even in these direct channels the "background noise" is very high , precisely because they are used a lot for interpersonal communication.
Here's Why SMS Isn't Dead Yet
And it is precisely the absence of background noise, the need for synthesis and the absence of multimedia elements that make SMS messages still so effective.
Furthermore, their use for marketing purposes has significantly decreased in Italy, allowing those who use them greater visibility and uniqueness in the channel used.
Finally, they are the only tool that reaches 100% of contacts' cell phones , and that work even in the absence of Internet (Comfy research source).
Do they replace other systems?
The answer is no: the usage perspective is omni-channel. They are not in antithesis to each other, rather they should be integrated , and used depending on the type of message that is sent and the type of audience that receives it.
An example: ask your list via SMS to add your number to their phone book, so you can then send broadcast messages via WhatsApp to get around the broadcast list problem.
Or use SMS for important "service" communications, reminding you of the latest publications on the Telegram channel, and so on.
The goal is only one: the best channel for the target, with the best effect to tighten the relationship with your customer.
And you, what systems do you use to directly connect with your customers and leads?
Comments