With more than 2.5 billion users on some form of social media messaging application and with the world being constantly connected, leaving the house without a mobile phone is highly unlikely. It soon becomes a no-brainer that messaging applications will serve as an ideal communication channel for the retail space.

As customers might not see the appeal of messaging a business, it might be best to introduce them to the concept. Through their active social media presence, businesses can use the ‘Message Us' option to give customers the one-on-one communication that they need. The next factor is response time, which also has a strong connection to the satisfaction of customers. This is relevant even more so, with messaging tools, as it was built as a way for fast conversation. To ensure that messages are always responded to, incorporate bots to reply to messages that sent out after office hours.

The integration of bots, however, does pose some risks to customer satisfaction. As conversational bots are not as accurate, it is ideal that open-ended conversations are avoided. For now, the use bots should be limited to repetitive answers, such as delivery tracking and account balance information, etc. In the event of bots driving conversations, ensure that switching to a human agent is possible at any time. It is also important that all customer interactions do not get onto a messaging platform. Know which commodities will be best served with messaging applications, as messages work best with short answers that can be dispensed off quickly.