Presented by Sendbird
Customers want personalized, branded and secure interactions from companies they buy from. In this VB Spotlight event, learn why your app is a powerful communication channel, how to integrate it seamlessly into your engagement strategy and leverage it for success.
Watch free on-demand now!
Omnichannel is a proven strategy, and the jump in adoption over the past decade is a clear signal of its effectiveness in meeting consumers where they are and where they want to engage.
“What we think is happening, however, and what companies have found out, is that there’s one more channel that’s overlooked, and that’s performing the best,” says Emmanuel Delorme, head of product marketing at Sendbird. “It’s to communicate with your customers in your app when you have one, specifically a mobile app that they have in their pocket. They’re very attached to that. That’s the best place where you see engagement and conversion going up. It creates great retention as well.”
Omnichannel strategies get complex when you’re working in a market like southeast Asia where communication channels have become more and more fragmented, says Patricia Lazatin, recently the growth technology lead at Grab, a super app for ride sharing, delivery and financial services. Messaging isn’t limited to SMS and email anymore; customers have embraced apps like WhatsApp, Viber, LINE and so on. But app engagement has proven to cut through the noise, she adds.
“In-app channels always seem to beat out-of-app, whether it’s engagement-wise or attention-wise,” she says. “Depending on your objectives and depending on the segment you’re targeting, we’re seeing in-app does tend to outperform.”
Why in-app messaging is gaining traction
Omnichannel strategies have a better chance of reaching a customer, but as the number of channels proliferate, no matter what region you’re in, customers are also feeling a little bit harassed when a company starts to pop up everywhere. However, when a customer actively chooses to engage with an app, they’re generally more receptive to any messages they receive.
The other advantage of in-app communication is not only how it cuts through the noise and reduces the possibility of ticking off a customer, but how it also adds an element of trust. SMS messages, for instance, aren’t branded – can you trust the bit.ly link from a text sent by someone claiming to be from AT&T? And fraudsters can spoof company emails by formatting them with brand headers.
“Once you go into the app, all that goes away,” Delorme says. “You’re in context. You’ve logged into the app. You’re authenticated. You know it’s safe. Maybe there’s two-step authentication so you know there’s no problem. There are logos everywhere. You know what you’re doing, what to expect and it’s on your own schedule. You’re not being harassed. Whenever you go in, you get what you need. Having these unified communications happening in the app is something that yields very good results.”
In-app engagement opportunities and benefits
The innovators and early adopters who are doing this understand two things, Delorme says. One is the power of conversation. For instance, the fintech company Venmo added user-to-user communication within its app, and these social interactions have completely changed the experience for consumers, and they’ve seen transactions increase just because of that social interaction.
“They went from being a commodity to having a payment experience,” he says. “It’s not a transaction anymore. It’s about having a connection with others and doing something that’s social. Money is just an afterthought and a convenience. But that’s the complete transformation.”
It’s especially crucial for marketplace apps to connect their partners, whether that’s a driver or a merchant or a delivery person, to the consumer using the service, and what better place to do it than in the app? It’s also a safety issue, allowing the app owner to protect the private data of both the customer and the partner, and ensuring a customer knows they’re talking to the right person, and that the company has their back if anything goes wrong, Lazatin says.
The other huge benefit is how easy it is to scale communications with an app – you’re already in the cloud, and uptime is 100%, plus you can track when messages are delivered and when they’re opened. It’s a whole new level of performance and analytics, at a significantly reduced cost, to an audience that’s already actively engaged. Delorme points to one customer that has seen chat, when added to live events and flash sales in its app, increase conversion by 5X.
“It’s an optimization play,” Delorme adds. “It’s not competing against omnichannel. It’s just that in your omnichannel strategy, you need to figure out what channel works for who and optimize around that. Naturally, you should have a high-performance channel whenever it’s available.”
For a walkthrough of successful real-world case studies, from preventing cart abandonment to tracking and capitalizing on consumer interest as they browse the app with a contextual pop-up, upselling opportunities (“would you like fries with that? Here’s a coupon!”), how generative AI is changing the opportunity landscape and more, don’t miss this VB Live event!
Watch free on-demand now!
Agenda
- The challenges of today’s omnichannel communication strategy
- Why your app is an underutilized resource in your communications strategy and how it can redefine the way you engage with your customers
- The myriad benefits with in-app communication, including increased engagement, enhanced customer loyalty, and improved conversions and customer lifetime value (LTV)
Presenters
- Patricia Lazatin,Business Owner, Grab (formerly)
- Emmanuel Delorme, Head of Product Marketing, Sendbird
- Chad Oda, Moderator, VentureBeat
