THE GLOBAL rise of business messaging clearly shows that the ways that people choose to engage with businesses is evolving, social media giant Facebook said Friday.
A study conducted by Facebook IQ revealed that for many, messaging businesses is a sticky habit, not just a trial behavior.
“On Facebook Messenger alone, people and businesses around the world now exchange over 10 billion messages each month,” Facebook said in an emailed statement.
Messaging is the new preferred mode of communication over making a call or sending an email for 64 percent of respondents in a Facebook-commissioned Nielsen study.
Messaging apps is now the preferred means of engaging businesses, according to the online social media and social networking service company based in Menlo Park, California.
“Over 81 percent of people messaged businesses to ask about a product or service and over 74 percent messaged to make a purchase,” Facebook said.
“When it comes to customer service concerns, over 76 percent used messaging to ask for product or service support, while more than 79 percent messaged to give feedback on a product or service.”
Over 58 percent of people surveyed feel more confident messaging a business than calling them on phone or filling out a form on a website, and over 55 percent feel more confident messaging than emailing a business.
“Messaging is growing at a global scale and transforming expectations of businesses of any size to be more responsive, and build more meaningful connections with their customers,” Facebook Philippines country director John Rubio said.
“We see more people seeking store hours, products details, and gift ideas. People are booking dinner reservations and plane tickets, receiving boarding passes, sharing feedback and more, all through messaging apps,” he said.
For businesses in the Philippines, being able to ride this shift in communication style can mean the difference between failure and success, according to Facebook.
Though nearly 7 out of 10 businesses surveyed felt that they are able to communicate effectively with consumers, only 2 in 10 surveyed customers agree.
“With messaging, we see an opportunity to connect more meaningfully with things that people are passionate about,” Rubio noted.
“What we’ve seen is that messaging shortens the distance between people and what they want—whether it is for businesses or communities that want to drive conversations, make transactions, or simply take better care of their customers,” he added. (With GMA News/PN)
