Three Tips to Master Messaging with Your Customers

Facebook Business

November 07, 2018

People's expectations for fast communications and on-demand service have never been higher. And the majority of people—76% of the world's smartphone users—use some form of mobile messaging to communicate. Messaging App Usage Worldwide eMarketer’s Updated Forecast, Leaderboard and Behavioral Analysis, July 2017 But messaging is not just convenient, it also builds relationships and inspires trust. In fact, in a recent Facebook-commissioned study, 66% of people surveyed said being able to send a message to a business made them feel more confident in the brand. "Motivations, Mindsets and Emotional Experiences in Messaging (vs. Feed)” by Sentient Decision Science. (Facebook-commissioned survey of 8,156 people in BR, GB, IN and the US), Jun 2018. Research refers to people surveyed who use messaging apps daily and have messaged a business in the past three months using one of their most commonly used apps. And while one-to-one communication with customers can help businesses build relationships and drive results, we know it can also be challenging to manage conversations at scale. That's why we put together a list of tips to help you master messaging, connect with customers and manage your time.

1. Be timely

We recommend you respond to customer messages as soon as possible, ideally within a few hours. And if you consistently get back to customers in a timely manner, you can receive a “Very Responsive to Messages” badge on your Page so customers know to message you for a quick reply. You can learn more about how to earn this badge in the Help Center. We also recommend downloading the Pages Manager App so you can respond to customers on the go, manage multiple Pages and see Page insights.

We know you may not always be available to respond to customers right away, which is why we created tools to help you automate your messaging with a personal touch. You can use Greetings as welcome messages that will appear when someone begins a conversation with your Page for the first time. You can also set up Instant Replies to say thanks and let people know you'll respond soon. And to make it easier for you to answer to commonly asked questions, you can create Saved Replies so you can respond in just one click. You can also set up an Away Message when your business is closed or before you go on vacation to let customers know they may experience a delay in response.

2. Get personal

While automated messaging can save time and help you scale responsiveness, there are some conversations that require more attention. When messaging with a customer, it's important to talk to them like you would in person. People like messaging with businesses because it's a natural extension of a behavior they already do, so it's important to make it feel natural to chat with your business. You can add a level of personalization by signing your messages with your name, so your customers know who they're talking to, and by using Context Cards. Context Cards allow you to see public information such as local time and the area in which someone lives, which can help you provide personalized responses such as estimated shipping time for a given region or the nearest store location. And don't forget to experiment with creative features like stickers and emojis to express your brand personality while messaging.

3. Stay organized

From fulfilling orders to keeping up with customer requests, we know it can be challenging to stay on top of everything, so we created messaging tools to help you stay organized, increase productivity and never miss a sale. Labels and Notes can help you keep track of your conversations and remember important details. You can also star messages as a reminder to follow up on a conversation and then mark messages as “done” once you've taken care of the request. And if you're working with a team to handle customer conversations, you can easily divide and conquer by assigning other Page admins to follow up with certain messages.

Local businesses like Amanda Sews use Messenger to connect with customers and get business done. Amanda Hendrickson, owner of the embroidery and vinyl shop, uses messaging to answer questions and help her customers place personalized orders.

See how your business can connect with customers on Messenger.

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