Reach More Customers with Messenger’s Enhanced Chat Plugin

With so many channels and points of contact in the digital ecosystem checking for messages can be a job in itself. The new Chat Plugin fro...

With so many channels and points of contact in the digital ecosystem checking for messages can be a job in itself. The new Chat Plugin from Messenger is going to simplify this process by allowing you to communicate with your customers on your site even if they are not logged into Facebook.

For small businesses with a limited workforce, a dedicated customer service staff is not always an option. But having an open line of communication with customers is more important than ever. This is especially the case with the current challenges brought on by the pandemic. Consumers are relying on websites, eCommerce, and social media channels to do business with and communicate. The less friction there is on how they engage on these platforms, the better it is for your business.

Improved Facebook Messenger Plugin for Business

According to Jenny Li, Product Manager, Messenger, Chat Plugin has improved conversations between businesses and customers. In the release, Li says, “In our testing, businesses using the new Chat Plugin saw a 45% increase in customers inquiring about their products and services.”

With consumer inquiry increase of almost half, there is a great opportunity for small businesses to take advantage of. Having the Messenger experience readily available means your customers can get in touch with you right away on your site.

The CEO of BlendJet, Ryan Pamplin, explains how an open line of communication gives consumers a sense of confidence through the customer journey. Pamplin adds, “We noticed that customers who engage with us are three to four times more likely to checkout. With the Chat Plugin allowing us to reach more customers, we’ve tripled our sales since offering it as a customer engagement channel.”

Bring the Messenger Experience to Your Website

Facebook says 1.3B people use Messenger every month. Giving this group easy access to your business means you can extend your reach to find more customers.

By adding the Chat Plugin on to your site you can instantly do the following three things:

Respond to questions about pricing and products
Help customers book appointments
Enable customers to make purchases

And you can make this possible without hiring additional workers or paying for customer support.

The plugin allows your customers to interact with your business just like in Messenger with seamless chat support. You can respond to questions about your products and services, price, store hours as well as sales and promotions. And they can continue the conversation after they leave your website on Messenger.

If you want to continue the conversation you don’t have to capture the information. All you have to do is use the same conversation in Messenger to get back in touch.

Chat Plugin Features

One of the best features of the Chat Plugin is it creates a single experience for your customers. It also supports text messages, video/image/audio/GIF, quick replies and limited generic/button templates.

Additional features include:

The creation of a long-lived thread between you and your customers in Messenger so there is no disconnection.
Automatic creation of chat transcript in the Messenger account of the customers.
Use the same inboxes on desktop and mobile you use to manage your Facebook page messaging.
Serve your customers by setting up hours of availability, auto-replies and FAQ when you are not available.
A Messenger interface hundreds of millions of people are familiar with.

Get the Plugin

If your business has a Facebook Page, you can install the free Chat Plugin on your website. All it takes is a few clicks in the settings on your Facebook Page. Another option is to use Facebook partners WooCommerce, ManyChat, and Haravan.

Image: Messenger

This article, "Reach More Customers with Messenger’s Enhanced Chat Plugin" was first published on Small Business Trends