How to Boost Sales Through Direct Messaging 

Messaging has become the preferred communication method for interacting with customers. Today, 90% of people prefer to communicate with businesses via messaging apps rather than by phone. 

For local shops, messaging is a real opportunity to build customer loyalty and increase sales!

Conversational Commerce: The Future of Customer Relations for Retailers?

Have you ever provided information to customers through messages? If so, you’re already familiar with conversational commerce!

It involves selling products or services through a conversation, either by voice or text, with your customers.

Ways to start a conversation with your customers include:

• messaging tools like Facebook Messenger, Instagram messages, or Whatsapp
• live chat or web chat platforms
• text messaging
• chatbots

Not all tools suit your business – it’s up to you to find the conversational tool that best fits your needs and budget.

Conversational commerce is not new. In fact, using messages to inform customers during their shopping journey results in four times more sales than traditional channels.

This is a significant figure, especially considering that in 2021, 50% of French people were ready to give up phone calls entirely for instant messaging. A golden opportunity for retailers!

Some key figures about messaging

Why Should Retailers Send Messages to Their Customers?

Through messaging exchanges, you can:

1. Engage when the customer is deciding whether to visit your shop. You can easily reassure an online visitor with questions about your products or services, and guide them through their decision-making process.
2. Help customers find your shop. Despite your best efforts online, some information (like opening hours, website, contact details) might not always be accurate or easy to find (such as accessibility for the disabled). Confirm important details for potential customers to reassure them.
3. Prevent negative reviews. If a customer isn’t fully satisfied, messaging opens a private channel to resolve issues directly and improve customer satisfaction.

Whatever your business, messaging is a great way to guide potential customers through their purchasing decisions, while also offering a personalised, high-quality customer experience that encourages them to return.

How to Effectively Use Messaging

In addition to the traditional use for customer service, here are several ways to utilise messaging for your business:

• Promote an exclusive offer or discount to your most loyal customers
• Gather customer feedback and direct them to your Google listing to leave a review
• Increase sign-ups for in-store events or workshops by sending out invitations
• Share your latest news and any changes in opening hours, ensuring your customers stay informed.

How to Set Up Messaging for Your Shop?

There are several solutions available to help you communicate with customers, but not all offer the same benefits. To choose the best one, consider the features of each application and their compatibility with your other marketing tools.

(Facebook) Messenger for Business

Facebook Messenger for Business is a customer service tool that allows users of the social network or the Messenger app to easily contact your business. With conversation threads, media sharing, and other features, Messenger offers many possibilities.

Since Messenger is part of the Meta Business suite, you can even run ads on the platform to boost your business’s reach to potential customers.

Instagram Direct Messages

Instagram Direct allows businesses to strengthen their connection with customers and increase sales by simplifying communication throughout the purchasing journey. If your business has an Instagram page, encourage your followers to message you.

WhatsApp Business

WhatsApp Business is another free solution designed specifically for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to engage in conversational commerce. With 14 million daily French users, it’s a simple way to message with your customers.

Web Chat from Your Website

Web chat tools integrate with your website, allowing visitors to contact you directly if they need additional information. This solution is particularly well-suited if your website generates a lot of traffic or if you run an online shop.

Partoo Chat: Receive contact requests via messages

• Integrated directly into your website
• Customised to match your site’s colours
• Respond directly from the Partoo app

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How to Manage Messages Easily with Partoo

Retailers know how difficult it can be to manage all customer requests via messages, especially with the growing number of tools available. Partoo has developed the perfect solution for managing your customers’ requests with ease.

The Messages feature in our app allows you to centralise all messages from WhatsApp, Instagram, Chat SMS, and more on a single platform.

This way, you can access and respond to all messages directly through Partoo, without needing to switch between apps or platforms – all from your phone, at any time of day, wherever you are. Convenient, right?