The Messaging Revolution is Here - Is Your Customer Support Team Ready?

Messaging isn’t just a fad – it’s a major form of communication revolutionizing the way people interact. The numbers that support this are staggering. There are over two billion active users on the four largest 3rd party messaging apps. Over eight trillion text-based SMS messages are sent each year. And over 90% of text messages get read within three minutes.

Messaging also isn’t limited to peer-to-peer situations. Smart, forward-thinking businesses have already begun incorporating messaging into their customer support strategies. HotelTonight, for instance, offers a white-glove service to customers through messaging. Shinola reduces shopping cart abandonment on its mobile website through messaging. Some of the most successful technology companies, like Uber and AirBnB, do almost all of their support and customer logistics through messaging.

Contact centers and managed service providers are at an interesting inflection point. Though ostensibly set up to respond to inbound phone and email inquiries, nothing is stopping them from easily incorporating messaging into the communication mix. It’s simple to deploy, simple to learn, and easy to train new customer support reps on. All that’s needed is the technology – which companies like mine seamleasly deploy to you via the cloud.

There’s two main factors that will drive messaging adoption across contact centers & MSPs: meeting a market demand & generating a greater ROI. The first point we’ve already covered – messaging momentum is such that customers expect it as part of your service offering. If a preponderance of people want to message you, you need to respond. If you don’t, you can bet your competitors will.

ROI is also logically higher given the increased efficiency of the medium. One rep can maintain multiple messaging sessions at the same time, which isn’t feasible with phone calls. Customer care people also have direct access to previous chat sessions, giving them context during the messaging session. One-click canned answers – or alternately, chatbot auto-answers – can also reduce the time spent answering frequently asked questions.

Think about when cell phones became ubiquitous. What if contact centers & MSPs refused to take inbound calls from that new technology? Clients would have switched outsourced partners quickly. That’s what we’re currently experiencing with messaging – people with questions are unable to ask them in a simple, accessible manner from their smartphones because many companies aren’t offering messaging as a communication platform. Mobile messaging provides you with a win-win opportunity to delight customers and increase ROI.