How to Use Messenger Marketing to Boost Your Business

1. Instant messengers as a marketing channel
2. Benefits of using email and messengers together
3. Recommendations on selecting a marketing channel
4. Conclusion

Marketing campaigns via instant messenger (IM) services have proven to be consistently effective. For example, according to Neil Patel, the average open rate for a Facebook Messenger campaign is about 88%, and the average clickthrough rate is 56%. For years, there have been talks of instant messengers transforming into a marketing channel finally able to send email marketing into oblivion.

Email marketing is, however, not going to go down. Moreover, it’s still holding the leader’s position. That said, the efficiency of bulk email campaigns can undoubtedly be enhanced by adding other channels. This way, you’ll be able to create an omnichannel marketing strategy and connect with your customers where and when they feel the most comfortable.

In this post, the eSputnik team shares their knowledge of what messenger marketing is and how to combine instant messengers with other communication channels to drive revenue.

Instant messengers as a marketing channel

Messenger marketing means that the communication between a user and a business is maintained via instant messenger services.

This kind of communication involves using chatbots as well as messenger promo campaigns that aren’t much different from email marketing campaigns.

You can run promotional campaigns on many messengers, including Facebook Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, Viber, Vk, and more.

Each of the above messengers has its own technical peculiarities. For starters, Vk, Facebook, and Instagram only allow for promotional campaigns. Viber, WhatsApp, and Telegram, on the other hand, can be used for triggered and transaction messages as well (although you’ll need a CRM or a website integration to send such messages).

Keep in mind: no matter which messenger you choose, you can send marketing messages only to the customers who have consented to receive them. If you opt for social media messengers, such as Facebook Messenger, you can at least try sending a message to each user who has left a comment in your public or group and offer them to subscribe to receive news from you.

The main goal of any marketing communication is always the same: to deliver the right content to the right user at a relevant time.

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Benefits of using email and messengers together

For starters, using both email and messenger marketing will enable you to reach a wider audience. For instance, if you don’t have a customer’s email address but have their phone number, you can use a relevant instant messenger to deliver important information. That’s what multi-channel marketing is all about.

If you use multiple channels in an interconnected way, in a single workflow, it’s called omnichannel marketing.

eSputnik’s drag-and-drop editor for omni-channel marketing workflows

At the same time, you can use messaging channels for more than mere marketing promo messages.

Messengers can also serve as an additional source of user data. You can use them to discover what kind of content and products your customer prefers, as well as where and when they prefer to communicate. This data will help you build communication with each user using the exact channels they’re willing to connect with you through. This way, you’ll be able to send more relevant marketing offers and reduce marketing costs, by sending messages only to the channels where they’ll get read.

Recommendations on selecting a marketing channel

As you look for a communication channel to use, you should consider the type of your message, its urgency, number of characters, and the device your customer uses most often to visit your website.

Email is the most sensible choice for sending a big message (like your merchandise catalog). Users will be able to read an email and click through the links in it when they have time to do so.

If your brand has a well-promoted Facebook page, you might be able to effectively engage with customers on Facebook Messenger. Mobile channels (Viber, SMS, Telegram, mobile push notifications) are usually employed to deliver urgent and transactional messages, such as, announcing the end of sale, notifying users that their order has been shipped, and so on. They can also be used as an additional channel for marketing promos. For example, you can send an instant message to those who haven’t opened an email.

Web push notifications can be an effective way to enhance your campaigns and offers in your cross-channel marketing strategy. If your web push notification service offers segmentation capabilities, you’ll also be able to transform web push notifications into an independent marketing channel with its own individual benefits.

The omnichannel approach can be used in triggered marketing as well. Take for example, a customer has left a product in their cart. The first reminder should be via email — it’s the cheapest channel and it doesn’t require an immediate response from the user. Only if the user doesn’t open the email within a certain period of time, or the purchase wasn’t completed, you can send a message to the customer’s messenger to stimulate the purchase. A workflow like this can be set not only for cart abandonment but also for browse abandonment campaigns.

Advanced marketing automation service allows you to create omnichannel marketing workflows using a wide range of marketing channels — emails, mobile app and web push notifications, instant messages or SMS for those users who don’t use messengers.

Conclusion

Adding new communication channels is a great way to expand your brand’s reach and to communicate with users where they prefer to connect with you. And the more channels you have in your marketing system, the more efficiently you can leverage them in combination.

To start with omnichannel marketing campaigns, do the following:

• Identify the channels your audience uses the most;
• Choose a service that allows managing marketing campaigns in all these channels;
• Configure workflows where all the channels are connected.

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