How to contact your clients (2)

We continue talking about how to contact your clients, a topic that as I have already said in this previous post has much to tell, many possibilities and alternatives. 

We will not insist on how important it is, if you want to deepen you can read the previous post. We are going to continue where we stopped, that is, tools and strategies. 

It is the old rocker that never dies and, against many odds, is healthier. In fact, mobile phones also are giving life to it since not only mails are checked almost in real time, but apps have push notifications that urge opening (when cards are played well and a good copy is applied) 

Email marketing is one of the ecommerce tools par excellence so I will expand a little. It works particularly well in terms of direct contact. We must not forget that behind the implementation of this strategy there is always a consent by the recipient of the communication and that, although it may limit us proactivity, it establishes a relationship of trust as on the channel itself. 

A good strategy of automation go together with a good segmentation. If you have your mailing lists grouping customers by their behavior you can address them with the right message at the right time. 

This can range from inactivity in a given period of time to the reaction to a much more specific event as the end of a trial period or unsubscribe from a service. 

Emailing is not different from the rest of marketing tools as it lives from specific moments, these are key at promotional level, but also to contact your customers. 

It is important to remember that the contact with the customer, as we are targeting, has not an end directly oriented to conversion or solution of issues. However, we are talking about creating long-term relationships and, in some way, being proactive. 

When it arrived it seemed that it was late. There were many other alternatives in the market that were already consolidated in instant messaging, but it found its niche and did so to a large extent using marketing as a lever. 

Until recently, Whatsapp had been a massive tool but it was turning its back to professional use (we will talk about it later). In this slot left the popular app for mobile, who knows if intentionally, Facebook entered by using the good convergence desktop-mobile.

The standard features are already very interesting for companies. Keep in mind that Facebook is a way of contact by itself apart from your online store, many users, with something to say, will search for us there. 

In terms of automation and proactive contacts, Facebook Messenger also allows sending push messages as long as the user has previously contacted us through it way. Also if they have given us his express consent to receive messages. 

These push messages, that work both in desktop and mobile, are of the most complete that you can find, giving you the possibility of using text, links, buttons and images. This, no doubt, enriches communication very much.

Facebook has long been betting on Artificial intelligence which has resulted in a simple and powerful system for creating chatbots within their own environment. You can find alternatives to enter this exciting world with tools like Botsify which do not require programming skills. 

It arrive late, but it did, although it is only by the huge number of users, Whatsapp for companies will represent a way of contact with end customers to take into account. 

We must take into account that the above mentioned Whatsapp and Messenger are property of Facebook so we will see how they manage the coexistence between both platforms strategically with regard to customer. For now, it seems that the bet is to maintain and enhance Whatsapp as mobile communication channel and Messenger in a more transversal way between channels. 

This instant messaging tool, despite being a different app, has almost the same interface. It is used in the same way that we do as individuals. The greatest advance that supposes for companies, at the moment, is that there is one greater space for the introduction of enterprise data and some small automation as the ability to set automatic messages when we are not available. 

If you are considering to integrate this messaging network within your customer service and customer contact strategy, perhaps you should value two things: use a unique number for this service and find a more operational platform in the style of Casengo more than anything else because the productivity is much higher in this way. 

Using it proactively has its implications, especially for legal purposes. Sharing data with Facebook in a little clear way to customer has meant Facebook a hard fine by the Spanish data protection agency. The problem is that it can have an impact on us as a company if we use Whatsapp corporately. It is also warns about possible penalties according to the European legal framework with GDPR. 

The intention is not to frighten you in no way, sure that Facebook will adjust their service so there is no risk and, on the other hand, it is a service that goes beyond with many possibilities, not just care and direct contact with the client, in the coming months we will see as chatbots and advertising in app come to this application. 

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Images | Fotolia and Facebook.