Messaging apps to drive businesses this year

Messaging apps are expected to make more traction this year with majority of business that started via messaging apps during the pandemic plan to continue doing so for a more personalized and targeted form of marketing with their clients, a new study revealed. Rakuten Viber, one of leading messaging apps, said recent studies show that consumers spend on average 2.5 hours on messaging apps daily. The same studies also found that the younger generation, 16-24-year-olds, spends nearly 3 hours on messaging apps every day. More and more people are turning to messengers to communicate with friends, family, and colleagues. Subsequently, messaging is already a significant driving force in brand communication as marketers connect with customers where customers are. Limor Bailey, partnership account director at Rakuten Viber, said messaging apps Bailey cited three reasons for the traction of messaging apps. These are the convenience of having a conversation anywhere and at any time; the ability to send multimedia messages, such as videos, images, and different types of files that can be more engaging and informative than text; and being less intrusive and giving the option to communicate via calls or messages. “Today, businesses adjust how they engage with consumers and switch from a distant, corporate communication style to a more personalized, friendly one,” he said. He noted that modern-day customers respond much better to simple, genuine conversations from business accounts in messaging apps. These trends mean that this year adding messaging apps to the marketing toolkit has become a necessity for businesses—not just a discussion for some time in the future, he said. Some of the marketing trends to watch in messaging apps this year point to more personalized messaging. “As messaging becomes increasingly popular, and brands are increasingly adopting first-party data strategy, we’ll see more customization with content explicitly designed for customers or audience segments according to their interests and preferences,” he said. Thus, he said, connecting a CDP or a CRM for personalization is a norm in 2023, and allows taking your campaign performance to the next level. With that, Viber said greater and more creative use of rich media content will be a major trend for messaging apps this year. This year more videos and images will be used in messaging as  they offer a highly engaging experience for users. By having rich media, this also create a coherent vision of a brand by using advanced features that messaging apps have to offer. Another trend is increased use of chatbots. With a major recent breakthrough in chatbot technology, chatbots will become much more commonplace in apps as businesses look for ways to automate their marketing and customer support. Based on Viber’s internal data, last year there were 12 billion messages  exchanged in chatbots on the app globally, showcasing the popularity of automated conversations. Interestingly, AI will take the wheel. “AI will play a more prominent role in messaging apps as businesses look to use it for personalization and understanding user behavior. Chatbots already use machine learning elements and develop in understanding more complex human language. We are still in the very early stages of the technology adoption and will continue seeing more use cases frequently throughout 2023,” he added. Lastly, there is laser focus on customer service as consumers expect immediate interaction, and businesses continue improving how they communicate with buyers. Providing excellent customer service through messaging apps is becoming increasingly popular. Brands will need to learn to resolve issues faster and with a higher success rate, always be a step ahead of their clients’ needs and desires, and be ready to engage in real-time conversations. “2023 will certainly bring more businesses to the messaging apps and will see further evolution of brand-user communication,” Bailey said.