Messenger marketing - will there soon be no way around it?

It feels like 95 percent of our friends, family and colleagues can be reached in seconds using the leading messenger services. The leader in the DACH region, according to datareportal.com WhatsApp, followed by Facebook, Messenger and Instragram Direct. The apps from Meta (formerly Facebook) have become the center of our digital lifestyle and are increasingly influencing what we expect from companies: fast and uncomplicated communication.

New U.S. figures - according to metaconversations.me - show that seven out of ten customers feel more comfortable with companies if they can use chat for inquiries. The mobile generation wants to act quickly and in a modern way without media disruption. E-mail ping-pong or hotlines were yesterday. The IT market research company GartneBy 2025, companies will massively expand the options for customer services on third-party messaging platforms, such as those from Meta. This will naturally lead to more conversions within messaging apps. US figures also show a surge in messaging usage among 25-34 year olds.        

Instead of picking up potential customers without a media break in leading Messenger channels, they have been led on to all variations of landing pages for what feels like decades, which usually worked well in the past. Worked well, but in the future? Challenges such as enhanced privacy, missing user data, cookie consensuses, and more and more restrictions with pixels and cookies sketch a bleak picture.

Elementary data for marketing purposes to address customers personally, for the further development of the offer or to improve the online presence is increasingly missing. Direct conversations are one possible solution.

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, states, "The best companies meet their customers where they are - and that's on messengers." Meta has ambitious plans and wants to transform its Messenger channels into conversation engines.

Tracking Power: Ecosystem Meta

So how do you elegantly sidestep these tracking obstacles and ensure true customer intimacy? For starters, the Meta ecosystem is a good starting point to take advantage of powerful messenger tools with tracking power attached. With Click-to-Messenger Ads, for example, customers automatically grant permission to share their public profile info with the company. Customers can thus be divided into individual target groups (Custom Audiences). And depending on the defined tags in the (partially) automated Messenger journey, sophisticated segmentations result that can prove to be match-decisive for further marketing measures. Another advantage is that, compared to normal web pages, Messenger channels can recognize returning visitors. A more targeted customer approach, depending on the segmentation, is obvious.

New: Messenger Newsletter

Absolutely new and groundbreaking from an advertiser's point of view is the sending (with customer consent) of periodically recurring messages. Similar to an e-mail newsletter, but more interactive and with significantly higher open rates - a promising and new variant to interact with the customer again.

Conclusion: If Meta continues to push things as planned, there is no way around business messaging for performance-oriented advertisers. The time is ripe to incorporate strategies and concepts for smart messenger journeys into funnel structures.

Web Stage Masters on 26. and 27. 10. 2022 in Zurich

Everything on the topic of Messenger Marketing will be available on October 26 & 27 at the largest social media marketing conference in Switzerland: the WebStage Masters. Hutter Consult AG, a consulting firm in the DACH region for the strategic use of digital communication and digital marketing, will be sharing its knowledge on the subject of Messenger Marketing and chatbots at the WebStage Masters. The WebStage Masters will be held for the fifth time at the Dolder Grand in Zurich on October 26 and 27, 2022.

Tickets are available at the Early Bird price at webstage-masters.ch.