CustomerThink: Are Messaging Apps the New Email? Rethinking Your Direct Engagement Channels with Customers

With inboxes piling up and open rates plateauing, many brands are turning to real-time messaging apps to create better engagement, with a recent survey of marketing executives showing that 43% of marketing executives planning to leverage more instantaneous messaging methods.

Email Isn’t Instant Enough

While Email has been a dependable channel for many types of communications (and still remains so), with many consumers’ mobile-first lifestyles creeping into all aspects of their lives, a shift to platforms with quicker response times and on-the-go connectivity are driving the adoption of other platforms. This is why platforms like WhatsApp, WeChat, Facebook Messenger, and others are increasingly being used by marketers.

When adopted, marketers are seeing high open rates, support for rich media that email doesn’t allow, as well as the potential for real-time, personalized engagement when it can matter most in the buying journey.

With consumers, these messaging apps can create greater engagement and a more authentic connection, since it’s a channel used for more personal engagements with friends and family.

Debating Email vs. Messaging Apps

While it’s not literally an “either or” debate, whether to use email or messaging apps when sending critical communications to your customers requires consideration. Both serve as direct communication channels and can be personalized, yet there are some key differences.

A more casual, conversational tone and interaction is likely to accompany messaging app content, while email is likely to be at least a little more formal. While informal is not necessarily better, many of those who prefer messaging apps, may also prefer more informal communications in general.

There are also expectations around response times, with emails having lower expectations regarding rapid responses. This can be a good thing and a bad things. Brands that engage on messaging apps need to be prepared for quick response times, or else they may cause more frustration than if they had just used a slower medium like email.

From a privacy and consent standpoint, email requires strict compliance with data privacy regulations, yet messaging apps are often governed by separate opt-ins and permissions. This means brands need to ensure they are able to use one, the other, or both.

What should brands do about it?

First, there is no need to do a wholesale replacement of email with other methods, as it still works well in many cases, and with many audiences. That said, messaging apps can complement existing email strategies, especially when looking at things like real-time promotions, customer service, or other interactions that benefit from quick responses.

Additionally, that same survey identified that 43% of brands cite user consent concerns when exploring new channels, and rightly so. Make sure you are keeping consumer data privacy and opt-ins top of mind in all of your strategies.

Real-time communication also works best when it has access to the best and fullest picture of what is happening. This means connecting messaging platforms with CDP and CRM tools will ensure a closed loop of communications and a more holistic view of the interactions your customers are having.

Finally, remember that you are adopting (or considering adoption of) a channel that is intended to improve the customer experience. So make sure you’re not overwhelming customers with too many messages, or irrelevant push notifications, simply because it is now easier to reach them instantly.

In the end, the answer isn’t to replace email where it’s working well. However, incorporating messaging apps into your customer communication mix can add a new level of interaction and engage audiences that are increasingly turning to these methods to communicate, and away from email. Doing so is not without its challenges and requirements, but as new technologies like augmented reality, AI agents, and others get added to the mix, it can help your brand rise above all those cluttered inboxes and reach your customers where they are.