There is a shift in the way younger consumers are talking to brands. If broadcasting reviews, complaints and at times compliments on social media networks was the way of the last decade, the new way is predicted to be more intimate, one-on-one conversations between brands and consumers. This expected shift is one of the reasons why the likes of Facebook opened up its Messenger platform to external developers for creating chat bots that would help brands initiate and execute such conversations.
Twitter has taken a step in this direction too with changes to its Direct Messages (DMs). The two new features are designed to create better conversational experiences between businesses and people on Twitter. Quick replies and welcome messages in DMs should make it easier for businesses to guide people to better outcomes through a combination of simple automation and human service.
Two companies including Evernote and Pizza Hut are already launching new experiences in DMs that make use of these features. Apart from @EvernoteHelps and @PizzaHut, some of the other brands connecting with consumers on DMs include @AirbnbHelp, @SpotifyCares, @NortonSupport, @Tesco, @TfLTravelAlerts, @WeatherNetwork and @AirTailor.
“The new Pizza Hut social ordering platform is another example of making it easy for our customer to order their favorites from Pizza Hut. We are constantly pursuing ways to simplify our ordering experience. This platform allows our consumers to quickly order or get information within Twitter where they are already spending a great deal of their time,” commented Baron Concors, Global Chief Digital Officer at Pizza Hut.
Welcome messages let businesses greet people and set expectations as they enter a DM conversation — without requiring people to send the first message. Businesses can create multiple welcome messages and deep link directly to a specific greeting from Tweets, websites or apps. Quick replies let businesses prompt people with the best ways to reply to a DM, whether by choosing from a list of options or guiding users to enter specific text values.
“When quick replies and welcome messages are used together, businesses can reduce wait times and educate people on the best ways to interact with them,” explained Ian Cairns, Customer Service Product Manager, Twitter, in a company post. Marketers can directly connect with the likes of Assist, Audiense, Conversable, Conversocial, Dexter, Hobbynote, Lithium, Massively, Proxima, RozieAI, Spredfast, Sprinklr, and Sprout Social to bring these features into their consumer conversations.
