7 Top Trends for Messenger Marketing in 2020

Messenger Marketing Trends: How will messaging communication develop this year? What kind of innovations can we expect, what should companies pay attention to if they want to offer professional messenger communication? We have compiled the most important developments in messenger marketing for you. 

Review: 2019 was marked by at least two main events when it comes to messenger marketing. In April, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the company’s future strategic direction at the f8, Facebook’s annual developer conference: the Future is Private. In doing so, he made it clear that messaging apps in the Facebook ecosystem will be their focus of attention. The aim is to link them with each other and to encrypt them end-to-end (e2e).

Finally, Facebook announced in early December that WhatsApp newsletters may no longer be offered and sent out.

Many companies are interested in alternatives to WhatsApp, which we have compiled for you in the article Innovative Alternatives to WhatsApp Newsletters! It remains to be seen that messenger communication will be dominated by two aspects this year: 1. more dialogues and customer service via messaging apps and 2. more pull communication (the user asks, the company answers) instead of simply pushing content via messaging app.

1. Conversational Marketing instead of Push Marketing

Basically, conversational marketing is messenger marketing. Because: Conversational Marketing “is a feedback-oriented approach to marketing used by companies to drive engagement, develop customer loyalty, grow the customer base, and, ultimately, grow revenue. Conversational marketing is based on the common sense idea of listening to your customer and potential customer’s needs.”(NGDATA)

Messaging apps are ideal for entering into real dialogue. It’s the natural communication on WhatsApp and Co – I write, and someone answers. Sure, dialogue marketing is quite an old hat – but never before has it been so easy and so effective for companies to communicate with their customers. You just have to be brave! Gartner estimates that the number of inquiries via messaging apps will double every year. In five years from now, no company will operate without offering messaging app service.

Matthias Mehner, CMO MessengerPeople, quoted from an atricle on W&V

Looking back, 2019 is a year of focusing on messenger communication. With the discontinuation of the WhatsApp newsletter and the simultaneous strengthening of the WhatsApp Business Solution (consisting of WhatsApp Business App and WhatsApp Business API), the WhatsApp messenger platform once again shows what it is all about: direct customer dialogue.

The Facebook trends show a similar picture: For Facebook Messenger, it should be noted that from March 4th, 2020, “subscription messages” will only be allowed for news pages that have qualified for the News Page Index. This shows the increasing importance of dialogue, which is the clear focus if companies want to use messaging apps in their customer communication.

Recommendation: If you want to know more about it, I recommend our article Verify Facebook Messenger Newsletter.

2. The end of the WhatsApp newsletter era means that alternatives like Apple Business Chat, Notify, Telegram etc will raise in importance!

In recent weeks, there were many companies and organizations who recommended thier customers alternatives to the WhatsApp newsletter. Since we are talking about the trends in 2020, here are the most promising alternatives for you:

Our Notify App

Recommendation: Learn more about the Notify App in our article.

Apple Business Chat

In 2018 Apple introduced the Business Chat function. The Apple Business Chat offers companies the opportunity to get in touch with customers directly in the “News App” on an Apple device. Apple generally differentiates between two usage scenarios:

1. Customer Serivce: Using Apple Business Chat, customer inquiries can be handled in a simple, personal and fast way. Via 1:1 chat, users can chat with a company’s customer service team.
2. Notifications: With notifications, companies can send content to their customers in real time. They are notified directly on their smartphone’s lock screen. Important: Only companies offering customer service are allowed to send notifications – but they can then also use them for content marketing.

For example, as seen above, the German Fraunhofer society uses notifications via Apple Business Chat as part of its storytelling project “Hallo Joseph” #WHATSNEXT.

Recommendation: Visit our website to learn more about Apple Business Chat and how you can use it optimally and efficiently for your customer service with our Messenger Communication Platform.

Telegram App

Example: Heise Online on Telegram

Telegram positions itself as the secure alternative to WhatsApp. Telegram Messenger, which regularly benefits with new subscriptions in case of user problems with WhatsApp, continues to offer a broadcasting feature that is considered essential for many companies and organizations to continue sending their messenger newsletters.

Recommendation: Learn more about Telegram Messenger in our article.

3. Mobile Payment is THE topic for WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger & Apple Business Chat in 2020!

One of the Messenger Marketing trends in 2020, namely Mobile Payment / Messenger Payment, is underlined by the developments in these countries:

UK/Germany

Apple Pay started launching in the USA, but quickly rolled out throughout several more countries around the world like UK, Canada, Brazil, Russia, China, Singapore, Germany and all of the other countries in the European Economic Area.

India

WhatsApp is on the verge of introducing WhatsApp Pay in its largest market with over 400 million monthly active users. After more than a year of testing, the world’s most popular messenger will soon be competing for users with competitors such as Google Pay, Paytm, PhonePe and many more. If the service works smoothly there, it will not be long before it is rolled out in other countries.

USA

Facebook has recently introduced its payment system Facebook Pay. Initially it will be rolled out in the USA for Facebook and Facebook Messenger. The goal of Facebook Pay is to become the central payment function for all Facebook apps – Facebook, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram.

WhatsApp Pay (Mobile Payment per Messenger, Messenger Payment) becomes the “gamechanger”. It closes the last gap in the customer journey. By paying within the messaging app, the customer experience is significantly improved. At the same time, the payment function will further increase the use of the WhatsApp Messenger.

Recommendation: If you want to learn more about WhatsApp Pay, we recommend our WhatsApp Updates article.

4. Google is increasingly integrating messaging across all services!

Google Chat, Android Messages, Messages by Google or Rich Communication Service, short RCS? At first glance, it is difficult to keep track when it comes to messaging on Google. But it wouldn’t be trends in Messenger Marketing without Google! If you take a closer look at one or the other Google iOS app, such as Google Photos, Google Maps or Google My Business, you’ll find that the messaging option is either there or about to be rolled out.

Source: Google Photos

Google’s on the move. Noticeable through the integration of the messaging function across almost all relevant Google Apps or the worldwide promotion of RCS as the new standard for SMS or direct messages between Android users. Despite the difficult talks with the providers involved, Google is even moving forward in countries like Great Britain and France by itself. Recently, RCS was activated for all Android users in the USA.

5. More and more companies will use Apple Business Chat!

Apple Business Chat has been available in Germany for just over a year. MessengerPeople is one of the few providers in the world that is officially allowed to implement Apple Business Chat for companies. Why should companies use Apple Business Chat in 2020? Perhaps the most important reason of all is the spread of the Apple Messages App around the world. In addition, two cases illustrate the importance of Apple Business Chat and at the same time show the wide range of possible applications.

Use and distribution of the Apple Messages App

Although there are no official figures from Apple on the use of the Apple Messages App around the world, we do know the apple market share on smartphones which counted to a global 13% in Q3 2019. Depending on the target area of your customers, Apple devices might be widely spread. In the United Kingdom, for example, Apple counts a market share of almost 50%!

Recommendation: If you would like to learn more about the daily use of messaging apps, then I recommend our article about usage numbers of messaging apps worldwide.

United Bank for Africa uses Apple Business Chat for their clients

UBA customers love their efficient and fast online banking bot, LEO. It speeds customer service up and helps on a 24/7 base. LEO provides alerts about money transfers, information on the current account balance, or helps finding the closest ATM / open branch to the users location. With a simple click-to-chat button, the Apple Business Chat opens directly on any iOS device.

Fraunhofer society relies on Apple Business Chat for storytelling

The renowned research organization uses Apple Business Chat to tell the story of Joseph von Fraunhofer, who comes from the past to the present, reporting on developments in society, science and research from his perspective and enriching them with anecdotes from his past. Joseph von Fraunhofer’s stories are aimed at both interested parties and his own employees.

By clicking on the Click-to-Chat button, which is integrated in the Fraunhofer society website (mobile/desktop), the user starts the chat with Joseph directly in the Messages App. The user is informed by Joseph about his latest experience via notifications, which he must have agreed to receive in advance. In addition to notifications, Fraunhofer also uses the List Picker and Rich Links features.

6. Even more companies will offer customer service via messaging apps – because their customers demand it!

If you take a look around our website in the Industries section, you will find that there are already countless large and small companies, such as BMW, Transgourmet, Women’s Best, and many more, who successfully implement customer service via WhatsApp & Co. In 2020 there will be even more. Find out why:

• Generally (strongly dependent on the country of origin), every second person would like to communicate with companies using WhatsApp & Co.
• Even one third of the over 55 year olds wish to receive customer service via messaging app from companies
• More than 50% of the 18-24 year olds want to be able to get in touch with companies via messaging app

Recommendation: Read more about companies who already and successfully implemented their customer service via messaging apps

7. Even more than before are chatbots being measured by their effectiveness by companies!

The hype about chatbots has given way to reality in most cases. What counts for companies today is the effectiveness of bots. Bot, chatbots or simply virtual assistants automate dialogues. This can be advantageous for the customer service of companies if, for example, questions are to be repeated regularly or a pre-qualification of the customer enquiry is to take place.

Many people first think of the term chatbot as artificial intelligence, or AI for short. But in most cases this is not necessary at all. Simple but effective bots do not need AI at all. You can also read our article The best chat bots 2019, in which we provide you with additional information to the many chat bot examples from various industries. Among others, virtual assistants from BMW, Nestlé, Bayer, HUAWEI and many more.

The best chatbots in 2019

Recommendation: Learn how you can use our Chatbot Builder, which is free of charge for customers of our Messenger Communication Platform to build simple but effective chat bots in no time and without requiring any programming knowledge, in our article How to build a chatbot quickly and easily with our “Chatbot Builder”.

Messenger Marketing Trends: Key Take Aways

• The Messenger Marketing Trends 2020 focus not only on major topics such as conversational marketing and customer service, but above all on topics such as mobile payment and effective chatbots.
• Mobile payment or messenger payment is the last piece of the puzzle that will be used in 2020 to map the entire customer journey within a messaging app.
• Messenger Marketing trends in a strategic perspective: 2020 will be exciting because Facebook and Google give more and more importance to the topic of messenger marketing.

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