Supercharge Your Customer Experience: Integrate Facebook Chat With Your Business Phone System

by | Jun 24, 2021 | Business Phone Apps, Business Phones

2020 and the global pandemic, launched the world into an almost overnight virtual reality. Everything moved online. Even for those who would have always embraced the online realm, this was a new ‘normal’. While many companies faced challenges with this abrupt shift, others adapted quickly so that their business operations did not suffer and business continuity was maintained.

In a lot of cases, temporary measures were put in place in order to adapt enough to “get through” the disruption. It was a Band-Aid solution that comes from having to think fast and on your feet. It worked well to get them to this point, but now, over twelve months in, the reality is that this is not a temporary situation and the Band-Aid is most likely about to fall off.

There is no return to normal on the cards just yet and instead we are faced with the actuality that we are living in a post-pandemic world that looks a lot different to what it did before. Twelve months of living a certain way has an impact. It changes behaviours, expectations, needs and wants; and this is the new challenge that businesses must tackle.

With consumers becoming ever more proficient and reliant on technology and, as a result of the pandemic, becoming more accustomed to doing things online, businesses must find better and more permanent ways to connect with customers as they reformulate their buying behaviours and decision journeys.

 

Connecting with customers online

Not so long ago, one of the main ways to contact a company would have been by phone or email. In recent years however, with the introduction of Instant Messaging and Web Chat, behaviours have changed. In fact, a study showed that 64% of people across age groups say they’d rather message a business than call or email.

There are many software plugins, apps and tools that can be used to provide this feature for customers and one of the main platforms used to do this is Facebook Messenger. Messenger is Facebook’s dedicated messaging app and platform.

It has over 1.3 billion users and the platform supports text messaging, voice and video messages. Messenger has become a popular customer service channel for many brands with a presence on Facebook as it is extremely convenient to customers and a preferred source of contact.

 

Integrate Facebook Chat With Your Business Phone System – One Contact

The key benefits of using Facebook Messenger for your business

As customers’ mentality changes and new behaviours emerge in this new post-pandemic world, expectations also shift. Consumers are looking for instant gratification and a superior customer experience. The pressure is on for businesses to be able to serve their customers from anywhere and at any time.

So what are the main advantages of using Messenger for customer service:

Increases Customer engagement – with 1.8billion users on the app daily, it’s safe to say Facebook Messenger is highly accessible for the majority. By being available where the customer is hanging out, it increases the chances that the customer will engage with the business on those channels. And, according to a recent Facebook research poll:

  • More than 81% of respondents message businesses to ask about products or services.
  • 75% of respondents message businesses for support.
  • More than 74% of respondents message businesses to make a purchase.

Better quality leads – a web chat feature can bring the customer through a sequence of qualifying questions to identify their needs. This better enables customer service representatives to provide support and also collect valuable information that could be used in future. It also creates an opportunity to follow up with the customer and another channel with which to do so.

Builds trust in a brand – ease of access to customer support can be of huge comfort to customers and have a direct influence on buying decisions. A study by Facebook IQ revealed that 65 percent of people across generations said they would be more likely to shop with a business they can contact via chat. Having messaging options helps to make the customer feel more confident in their purchase decision.

Increases conversions – though an initial enquiry through chat may not be made with the intent to purchase, very often it leads to that. With the right customer service or sales representative on the case, what started out as a quick query could very easily be converted into a sale. The same study from Facebook IQ, mentioned above, found that 40 percent of people surveyed globally said chat was how they first started shopping online.

Higher customer retention – most businesses will be very aware of the fact that it can cost five times more to acquire a new customer versus retaining an existing one. The customer experience will have a big hand to play in this as 89% of consumers are more likely to make another purchase after a positive customer service. Taking measures to improve customer experience will greatly help with retention.

 

Integrate Web Chat With Your Business Phone System – One Contact

Integrating Facebook chat with your business phone system

While Facebook Messenger is indeed a powerful tool, when using it for a business there are certain things to consider. One of the biggest factors is that it is a separate platform. In order for customer service representatives to use this, they will all need separate access through the Facebook Business pages. This access will have to be granted through their own personal pages and this is where things can get messy.

Also, a lot of companies outsource their social media to a third party marketing agency and these service providers may not be equipped to manage or answer customer queries effectively.

With 3CX Facebook and Live chat integration there is no need to give multiple parties access to the Facebook page. Simply complete the integration with the relevant Facebook account, assign incoming chats to a specific queue, and your representatives will be able to respond as they would a live chat. This is all without ever opening the Facebook app or being granted admin permissions.

This integration provides one solution for all messaging, calls and video – everything is connected. Messages are delivered immediately to the web client and smartphone apps, so agents can answer, transfer and resolve customer queries from the same platform they use for all other communication.

3CX integration can save time, increase customer satisfaction, enhance the customer experience and ultimately boost conversions.

 

Benefits of 3CX Facebook and Live chat integration

  • Offer a more personalised experience and quicker response time
  • Track history and archive messages centrally
  • Operate a queue based handling of messages
  • Assign tickets to the first user that responds
  • Download reports that provide you with valuable insights and data

The 3CX integration brings customer service to the next level. If you want to find out more about how this can boost your business, give us a call on 01 906 0990 or email us at sales@OneContact.ie. Our team is standing by to help and ready to help.

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