How to increase sales through messengers: Experience of companies that implemented an omnichannel platform
Messengers have long become an important, and sometimes even one of the main, communication channels between businesses and customers. Modern companies use Telegram, WhatsApp, Viber, Facebook Messenger, and Instagram Direct for customer service, sales, and marketing campaigns. But is this communication approach truly effective?
The experience of companies that have implemented an omnichannel platform for sales through messengers shows that the proper integration of these channels into a unified system can significantly increase both company profitability and customer loyalty. So, what are the main benefits for businesses in conducting communication through messengers?
Effectiveness of using messengers as a sales tool
- According to research by Facebook Business, about 67% of consumers prefer to communicate with brands through messengers rather than by phone or email.
- Based on statistics from the Smart Insights marketing company, about 87% of online store buyers state that social networks helped them make a purchase decision, and 30% of users are willing to buy goods and services directly through social networks and messengers.
- According to data from the McKinsey consulting company, businesses that integrated omnichannel messengers into their CRM increased their average check by 35%.
- Research by Harvard Business Review shows that about 85% of buyers are willing to make repeat purchases from companies that provide quick feedback through messengers.
All this indicates that sales through messengers are not just a trend but a necessity for modern business.
What is an omnichannel platform, and how does it work?
An omnichannel platform is a software solution that integrates key communication channels (messengers, social networks) into a single interface. This allows:
- Automating communication through chatbots
- Storing conversation history in CRM
- Analyzing the effectiveness of operators and marketing campaigns
- Conducting simultaneous communication with customers across different channels without losing context.
Key benefits of sales through messengers using omnichannel platforms
1. Increased conversion to sales
Messengers have a significantly higher open and response rate compared to email marketing.
Comparison of communication channel effectiveness:
- Email open rate: 15-20%
- Messenger message open rate: 80-90%
- Email response rate: 3-5%
- Messenger response rate: 35-50%
Customers interact with businesses more often through messengers, so the chance of closing a deal there increases several times.
2. Personalization and targeting
Omnichannel solutions allow collecting customer data, segmenting leads, and sending personalized offers. According to esputnik, about 78% of consumers are more likely to reorder from a company that provides offers based on their needs and expectations.
3. Reduced order processing time
Omnichannel platforms allow companies to respond quickly to customer inquiries, thus reducing waiting times.
- Companies that use automated chatbots process 60% more inquiries without additional staffing costs.
- According to Gartner, reducing the average response time from 2 hours to 5 minutes increases the likelihood of a purchase by 50%.
4. Tracking the customer journey
End-to-end analytics makes it possible to track which advertising channels bring in customers, what interests them the most, and what inquiries they make before purchasing.
For example, a restaurant business integrated WhatsApp into its CRM and found that 70% of table reservations were made through this channel. This allowed the company to refocus its advertising on messengers, increasing the number of reservations by 30%.
Key steps for implementing an omnichannel platform in business
1. Choosing a platform
There are many ready-made solutions on the market, but one of the best today is Progresia.Chat — an omnichannel combined solution for developing a communication system between a customer and a company from the Ukrainian company Progresia.
2. Integration with CRM
This step allows tracking the customer’s purchase history and automatically generating personalized offers. Integrating messengers helps optimize business processes, significantly increasing response speed to customer inquiries and improving communication efficiency and overall customer satisfaction.
How businesses increase sales through messengers
An omnichannel strategy in messengers enables an increase in the average check by up to 27% due to automated product recommendations in Viber and Telegram, among others.
Customer retention rate with an omnichannel approach is 90% higher compared to single-channel strategies.
Personalization in omnichannel strategies can increase customer retention by 30%.
Businesses that have implemented an omnichannel platform increase sales by 30-50% through communication automation in messengers.