Mobile messaging apps have quickly become our preferred method of communication, with 2020 research revealing that 81% of Australian internet users are using mobile messaging apps, an 11% increase from the previous year (source).
The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the popularity and importance of these mobile messaging channels. Research found that since late February, support tickets coming in over WhatsApp spiked over 100%, while chat and text messaging also saw significant gains of 34% and 30% respectively (source).
As restrictions ease and we all head back to the “new normal life”, it’s time for businesses and organisations to rethink how they can engage customers through a channel of their choice.
Hence we’ve introduced the new Omnichannel Chat solution in our Messaging Studio platform to give businesses an easy avenue to engage consumers on their preferred communication channels – be it SMS, WhatsApp or RCS, you can connect with customers with Omnichannel Chat.
Seamless transition between channels
87% of interactions Australian consumers have with brands now happen across at least two channels, with nearly half happening across five or more (source). Enabling consumers to switch between channels in their customer journeys is vital for today’s business.
One of the main benefits of Omnichannel Chat is its capacity to retain conversation history from all different channels within a single workspace. That means your customers can choose to contact your business via whatever text-based channels they want, and it can be a different channel every single time, and your staff member will still be able to retrieve and refer to previous conversations when they need to within the same workspace.
Enriched chat experience
Omnichannel Chat being part of the Messaging Studio feature enables users to also utilise the full functionality of Messaging Studio, that means you can send PDF files, images, videos and even SMS Landing Pages throughout the chat session to provide an enriched messaging experience to your customers instantly.
All message templates, whether it is text only, images, videos or SMS Landing Pages, that are created within the Messaging Studio will also be available for Chat. If a dynamic field is used in the template, you will be prompted to match those fields with the right information when used in a Chat session, making it easy for your staff members to use the pre-defined templates to communicate with customers and to maintain the same branding and tone of voice every time.
ChatBot integration availability
The Omnichannel Chat feature can also be integrated with a ChatBot so that customer service can be made available at all times. ChatBots can be used to handle frequently asked questions and guide customers through self-service. Research indicated that ChatBots can save up to 30% in customer support costs (source).
The recent Australian government WhatsApp channel for Covid-19 is a great example of how businesses or organisations can make use of mobile messaging apps and ChatBots to engage users and provide information upon their requests. 1.25 million messages were sent on the first day of its launch, proving the popularity and effectiveness of this channel.
To find out how you could start using the Omnichannel Chat, please contact us at 1300 764 946 or [email protected].
Prachi Bametha
Marketing Coordinator, Esendex Australia