WhatsApp and other messenger apps are “warmest channel to customers”
WhatsApp and other messenger apps are becoming increasingly more important as digitalization changes the way people communicate. Most of us are interconnected and constantly online – especially with our smartphones. And messaging services are extremely popular smart phone applications – 68 to 69 percent of Germans, for instance, communicate using messaging apps on their smart phones every day. The most popular messenger in numbers is WhatsApp with more than 37 million users in Germany.
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Messengers: Digital Real-Time Communication
Messenger services have become an essential means of communication. Studies have shown that this subjective observation is an objective truth. Today, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and other messaging apps are what SMS used to be a few years ago. So it should come as no surprise that user engagement is significantly higher for messengers than for other mobile applications. This way to communicate provides companies with an all new access to direct and personal customers interaction. One great benefit is that this kind of communication is especially intuitive for users: There is no need to install new apps and to learn how to use them. This way, messengers accomplish something that other means of communication can’t offer.
WhatsApp and Other Messaging Apps – Popular Around the World
Increasingly more people are starting to communicate via messengers. According to recent studies, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp are by far the most popular of these messaging apps – each having approximately 1.2 billion users worldwide. But there are differences as to which messaging apps are especially popular in different parts of the world. In the US, for instance, Facebook Messenger is most people’s messaging app of choice. In Brazil, WhatsApp clearly dominates the market. It is also by far the most popular messaging app in Germany. With 55% of the population using WhatsApp, it is a channel with very strong potential.
Example Germany: WhatsApp Most Popular Messenger
Germans seem to love WhatsApp. More than half of the German population have the messenger service installed on their smartphones. Intuitive handling and wide-spread use make messaging apps so popular. It should therefore come as no surprise that a high percentage of the population are using WhatsApp. With 90% of young people aged 19 to 29 communicating via WhatsApp, this group accounts for the largest fraction. It is, however, noteworthy that 55% of those aged 49 to 55 and 31% of those aged 60 to 69 are also using the app. It is hard to find another messenger via which it is possible to reach both heterogeneous and specific target groups alike.
Messenger Marketing: Effective, Direct, and Personal
Comparing the efficiency of messaging apps to that of other communication channels, their large potential, especially for business marketing, is clearly visible. The reasons are obvious:
- high open rates
- high visibility
- nearly real-time communication
- personal and direct contact to customers
- possibility to reach customers anytimeMessages sent via messaging apps have average open rates of 90 percent within the first two hours after they have been sent. Click-through rates are also above average with approximately 25 percent for links that have been sent via a messaging app. No other communication channel offers such good figures. The rule is: The more useful a piece of information and the more exclusive its content, the more useful it will appear – this increases the acceptance of its content. It is not without a reason that companies who use WhatsApp and other messaging apps speak of them as the “warmest channel to the customers”.
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