According to data from 2019 that was published on Statista.com, around 2,52 billion people use some sort of messaging application. Around 90 % of customers want to message with businesses. One of the platforms that brands can use for this purpose is Viber, an application that offers free space for „one-on-one“ or group chatting and video calls. It offers plenty of space to tell their stories in a way that is interactive, creative, simple and familiar for an end user.

Viber among the top 10 most downloaded apps

For many brands, social media business messaging is an important part of communication with a customer. It presents high-impact, native way to engage people through an online platform of a choice. Why should businesses use Viber?

Those mentioned above are not the only strong Viber numbers. Every minute, 7 million interactions happen on Viber. In 2019, around half of Viber users shared photos and videos every day. The average user launches his or her Viber application 12 times a day. According to statistics from 2020, 1 in 4 potential customers tap the buy button on Viber.

Engaging and creative message content

Unlike other options for business messaging, for example SMS, social media offers unique tools to engage customers. Marketers often struggle to fit the whole selling content into the character limitation of SMS. Viber has an extended number of characters for a single message, what offers much more space to share details about brands’ campaign.

Another advantage of Viber business messaging are creative tools that SMS lacks. On social media, such as Viber, it is much easier to catch customer’s attention. Emojis, pictures, stickers, GIF’s or video content boost an interactivity and creativity of a message. By using a click button, brands can also direct users to any website.

Source: Viber

3 types of Viber business messages

Viber offers three business messaging options: 1-way and 2-ways business messages or Viber Sessions. Brands can also create their own business profile page. It contains details about a company, such as area of expertise and website link. A business profile creates higher credibility in eyes of a customer and improves user engagement. Upcoming features will also include phone number, address of the company and an option for a deep link to chat with the businesses.

Profile cover information

This section should contain company logo, company name and industry specification.

About

Brief and informative description of company´s purpose.

Contact information

Here, company shares an address and phone number.

Links

Company can share a website link.

Unsubscribe button

Every customer has a chance to cancel a subscription if she or he does not longer want to receive messages from a company.

3 types of Viber business messages

Source: Viber

2-ways business messages

This type of business message allows a company to not only send, but also receive social media messages from a customer.

Therefore, the communication flows two ways: From a business to a customer and vice versa, from a customer to a business. In another words, customers can reply to businesses’ messages.

Usage

2-way Viber business messages are a good choice in cases when an interactivity with a customer is desired or required.

Viber Sessions

Viber Sessions are described as conversations with usage of offline and online marketing tools that have been initiated by customer or potential customer.

It may be led by a chatbot or a real person.

Each Session lasts for a fixed amount of time, maximum for twelve hours, during which brands can send a limited number of replies (60) to the customer’s original message.

Instead of paying for each message that companies send, they pay a fixed price for each Session.

Usage

Viber Sessions are useful when customer wants to ask a question, report a problem, change a reservation, or for example check a delivery.

Example from Hungary: Train schedule chatbot Sihuhu

A research studio RoboRobo from Szeged developed a chatbot Sihuhu that helps people navigate themselves through Hungarian railway timetable. After Viber operators noticed this innovation, they decided to integrate the chatbot into the application: Sihuhu on Viber.

In Sihuhu´s chat window, customer can choose a route plan or simply write from and to where she or he wants to travel (Budapest – Szeged). Sihuhu chatbot immediately provides users with a fitting train timetable. It also understands abbreviations (Bp. Instead of Budapest) or key words like “without transfer.”

App users were granted special tags as well, in correlation with the weather and the lack of air conditioners on the trains.

Conclusion

According to data from 2019 that was published on Statista.com, around 2,52 billion people use some sort of messaging application. Around 90 % of customers want to message with businesses. One of the platforms that brands can use for this purpose is Viber, an application that offers free space for „one-on-one“ or group chatting and video calls. It offers plenty of space to tell their stories in a way that is interactive, creative, simple and familiar for an end user.

Viber among the top 10 most downloaded apps

For many brands, social media business messaging is an important part of communication with a customer. It presents high-impact, native way to engage people through an online platform of a choice. Why should businesses use Viber?

Those mentioned above are not the only strong Viber numbers. Every minute, 7 million interactions happen on Viber. In 2019, around half of Viber users shared photos and videos every day. The average user launches his or her Viber application 12 times a day. According to statistics from 2020, 1 in 4 potential customers tap the buy button on Viber.

Viber’s monthly active user share by region per smartphone owners

Engaging and creative message content

Unlike other options for business messaging, for example SMS, social media offers unique tools to engage customers. Marketers often struggle to fit the whole selling content into the character limitation of SMS. Viber has an extended number of characters for a single message, what offers much more space to share details about brands’ campaign.

Another advantage of Viber business messaging are creative tools that SMS lacks. On social media, such as Viber, it is much easier to catch customer’s attention. Emojis, pictures, stickers, GIF’s or video content boost an interactivity and creativity of a message. By using a click button, brands can also direct users to any website.

Source: Viber

Comparisions of basic Viber and SMS attributes

3 types of Viber business messages

Profile cover information

This section should contain company logo, company name and industry specification.

About

Brief and informative description of company´s purpose.

Contact information

Here, company shares an address and phone number.

Links

Company can share a website link.

Unsubscribe button

Every customer has a chance to cancel a subscription if she or he does not longer want to receive messages from a company.

Source: Viber

1-way business messages

In case of 1-way business messages, information only flows one direction. From a business to a customer.

Usage

1-way Viber business messages are a good choice when there is no need for response from a customer.

Source: Viber

2-ways business messages

This type of business message allows a company to not only send, but also receive social media messages from a customer.

Therefore, the communication flows two ways: From a business to a customer and vice versa, from a customer to a business. In another words, customers can reply to businesses’ messages.

Usage

2-way Viber business messages are a good choice in cases when an interactivity with a customer is desired or required.

Source: Viber

Viber Sessions

Viber Sessions are described as conversations with usage of offline and online marketing tools that have been initiated by customer or potential customer.

It may be led by a chatbot or a real person.

Each Session lasts for a fixed amount of time, maximum for twelve hours, during which brands can send a limited number of replies (60) to the customer’s original message.

Instead of paying for each message that companies send, they pay a fixed price for each Session.

Usage

Viber Sessions are useful when customer wants to ask a question, report a problem, change a reservation, or for example check a delivery.

Example from Hungary: Train schedule chatbot Sihuhu

A research studio RoboRobo from Szeged developed a chatbot Sihuhu that helps people navigate themselves through Hungarian railway timetable. After Viber operators noticed this innovation, they decided to integrate the chatbot into the application: Sihuhu on Viber.

In Sihuhu´s chat window, customer can choose a route plan or simply write from and to where she or he wants to travel (Budapest – Szeged). Sihuhu chatbot immediately provides users with a fitting train timetable. It also understands abbreviations (Bp. Instead of Budapest) or key words like “without transfer.”

App users were granted special tags as well, in correlation with the weather and the lack of air conditioners on the trains.

Conclusion

Social media can be defined as a communication tool, designed to quickly and freely share content by anyone, with anyone. In 2020, around 3,6 billion people are using social media worldwide. Statista estimates that by 2025, this number will rise to 4,41 billion. For businesses, being active on social media is an essential part of marketing strategy. One example of keeping customers engaged is social media business messaging.

This article serves as a brief introduction into the social media world with emphasis on business messaging.

Social media business messaging

Social media business messaging is a high-impact, native way to engage customers. It is described as a contact between customer and a business through an online platform of a choice. Communication goes either one way – a customer does not have an option to answer, or both ways – an interactive discussion between a user and a business. A common tool for businesses is SMS messaging. It has been around since decades, but new ways of business messages are emerging thanks to the overwhelming penetration of social media platforms.

3 reasons to use social media business messages

1. Desirability

• 90 % of customers want to message with businesses
• 64 % of customers prefer messaging over phone call or e-mail communication

2. Conversion

• 96 % of text messages are read within 3 minutes after receiving

3. Added value

• 66 % of customers are willing to pay more for service or product that is supported by messaging
• 53 % of customers are more likely to purchase products and services of companies that offer a way to communicate directly
• Companies that use business messaging experienced an increase in overall customer satisfaction.

Source: Quiq, Facebook for Business

More characters for a single message

Business messages on social media provide an efficient, creative and personalized way of distributing content. They also offer more characters in a single message than SMS. That is a big advantage, since marketeers often find it difficult to squeeze a selling proposition into the character limitation of SMS. More characters brings more space for important information and more space for creativity.

Interactive way of communication

A big advantage is an ability to make a message interactive by adding click buttons that take customers directly where a sender wants them. For example, to a company website.
Unlike SMS, social media business messages can also include rich media, such as images. In a “fast moving” social media world, where a need to gain an immediate attention of a customer is high, pictures, GIFs are a big advantage.

Source: Viber

General principles for business messaging

1. Briefness:

The world of social media is fast. The most productive messages are those that do not include unnecessary information and go directly to the point.

2. Adherence:

Messaging to people who do not follow the brand may be considered intrusive. It is a better strategy to aim the content on people who already showed an interest in the business by following it.

3. Efficiency:

It is not recommended to spam the followers. The message should be sent only when there is something truly meaningful to share.

4. Consistency:

An informality of social media gives a space for creativity. That includes a less official language. Although, the brand should not go too far. For example, a message where a finance institution uses an extremely informal language can feel forced and out of place.

Which industries can truly benefit?

Finance

Social media business messaging is a secure way to give clients an update about financial issues.

A Ukrainian bank UKRSIBBANK faced a challenge: How to inform their clients of all the possibilities that their mobile banking application offers and encourage them to use it more?
Together with standard SMS Messages, UKRSIBBANK also launched a promo campaign on social media business messages. It gave them a platform to create simple, creative and interactive content.

Retail

Creative and colourful messages are attractive – an ideal way to draw attention to the newest product, offer or discount.

LEGO company boosted their sales through a creative messaging campaign with a Gift Bot Ralph as a main character. Through social media messaging, the little colourful LEGO character was helping people to choose the perfect LEGO gift.

News and media

Social media help news brands to reach their readers real-time on the right platform.

Famous worldwide news platforms like BBC, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post or The Washington Post are using social media messaging to inform their readers about latest events.

For example, The Washington Post started to use Viber messenger tool by launching their own chatbot. The chatbot sends regular news updates from 5 sections (Politics, National, World, Opinions and Entertainment) to his followers, either daily or weekly. Readers can also ask for additional updates from a section of their own choice.

The Washington Post’s chatbot messages include “subscribe” section, an option to watch video content and a button through which readers can invite their friends to sign up for the chatbot option. The news giant also implemented a strategy that uses a creative side of social media messaging. The chatbot conversations have an option to use stickers with various journalistic phrases and The Washington Post inspired graphics.

On-demand services

Carsharing services and airlines, where the need for efficient and easy communication is high.

In Russia and Ukraine, the internet connection can be problematic and does not necessarily reach to every area. Therefore, BlaBlaCar messages were not always delivered to a customer.

The company needed an omnichannel strategy in place. To reach that goal, BlaBlaCar started to use Viber messaging services for sharing the confirmations, bookings, requests and changes. If a social media message cannot be delivered due to the lack of internet connection, the company sends a fallback SMS instead to reach the customers in any situations. That way, the chance of a customer not being aware of changes in schedule or a termination of the ride decreases dramatically.

Customer service

Social media business messaging is a future of customer service. It allows brands to communicate with their users anywhere and anytime, without a need to access chat on the company’s website.

Women’s Best, a brand that sells premium fitness supplies for women, reaches around 1,3 billion people in 150 countries. This number of customers requires an efficient and simple way of communication. Social media business messaging allows us to not only send answers, but also create a dialogue and follow up on customer’s request immediately if there are additional questions.

Top 3 social media, profitable for business messages

WhatsApp

o   MAU’s worldwide in July 2020: 2 billion

o   Hungary: 14% of Hungarian smartphone users

Originally, WhatsApp’s was a chat platform for family members and friends. Presently, it became a powerful use of communication between brands and customers.

Facebook Messenger

o   MAU’s worldwide in July 2020: 1,3 billion

o   Hungary: 97% of Hungarian smartphone users

It is expected that Facebook Messenger will grow to 2,4 billion by 2021. Monthly, around 20 billion messages are exchanged between users and businesses via this platform.

Viber

o   Hungary: 46% of Hungarian smartphone users

Viber is used in more than 190 countries of the world. Although the social platform had 260 million active users per month in 2019, the current number of unique users – passive and active altogether – is 1,1 billion.

Conclusion

Nowadays, social media usage is necessary for a business marketing strategy. It offers engaging and timely ways of communication with customers. It presents unique tools for starting a dialogue and discovering what are the opinions, desires and needs of the targeted group.

Social media business messaging is one of these tools, using discussion network platforms like Viber, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Telegram for direct communication with end users. It allows businesses to enrich texts with creative aspects and include more content. Retail, news and media, finance, on-demand or customer services are industries that greatly benefit from social media business messages. Although, other fields of business can profit from them, too.

Social media can be defined as a communication tool, designed to quickly and freely share content by anyone, with anyone. In 2020, around 3,6 billion people are using social media worldwide. Statista estimates that by 2025, this number will rise to 4,41 billion. For businesses, being active on social media is an essential part of marketing strategy. One example of keeping customers engaged is social media business messaging.

This article serves as a brief introduction into the social media world with emphasis on business messaging.

Social media business messaging

Social media business messaging is a high-impact, native way to engage customers. It is described as a contact between customer and a business through an online platform of a choice. Communication goes either one way – a customer does not have an option to answer, or both ways – an interactive discussion between a user and a business. A common tool for businesses is SMS messaging. It has been around since decades, but new ways of business messages are emerging thanks to the overwhelming penetration of social media platforms.

3 reasons to use social media business messages

1. Desirability

• 90 % of customers want to message with businesses
• 64 % of customers prefer messaging over phone call or e-mail communication

2. Conversion

• 96 % of text messages are read within 3 minutes after receiving

3. Added value

• 66 % of customers are willing to pay more for service or product that is supported by messaging
• 53 % of customers are more likely to purchase products and services of companies that offer a way to communicate directly
• Companies that use business messaging experienced an increase in overall customer satisfaction.

Source: Quiq, Facebook for Business

More characters for a single message

Business messages on social media provide an efficient, creative and personalized way of distributing content. They also offer more characters in a single message than SMS. That is a big advantage, since marketeers often find it difficult to squeeze a selling proposition into the character limitation of SMS. More characters brings more space for important information and more space for creativity.

Interactive way of communication

A big advantage is an ability to make a message interactive by adding click buttons that take customers directly where a sender wants them. For example, to a company website.
Unlike SMS, social media business messages can also include rich media, such as images. In a “fast moving” social media world, where a need to gain an immediate attention of a customer is high, pictures, GIFs are a big advantage.

Source: Viber official website

General principles for business messaging

1. Briefness:

The world of social media is fast. The most productive messages are those that do not include unnecessary information and go directly to the point.

2. Adherence:

Messaging to people who do not follow the brand may be considered intrusive. It is a better strategy to aim the content on people who already showed an interest in the business by following it.

3. Efficiency:

It is not recommended to spam the followers. The message should be sent only when there is something truly meaningful to share.

4. Consistency:

An informality of social media gives a space for creativity. That includes a less official language. Although, the brand should not go too far. For example, a message where a finance institution uses an extremely informal language can feel forced and out of place.

Which industries can truly benefit?

Finance

Social media business messaging is a secure way to give clients an update about financial issues.

A Ukrainian bank UKRSIBBANK faced a challenge: How to inform their clients of all the possibilities that their mobile banking application offers and encourage them to use it more?
Together with standard SMS Messages, UKRSIBBANK also launched a promo campaign on social media business messages. It gave them a platform to create simple, creative and interactive content.

Retail

Creative and colourful messages are attractive – an ideal way to draw attention to the newest product, offer or discount.

LEGO company boosted their sales through a creative messaging campaign with a Gift Bot Ralph as a main character. Through social media messaging, the little colourful LEGO character was helping people to choose the perfect LEGO gift.

News and media

Social media help news brands to reach their readers real-time on the right platform.

Famous worldwide news platforms like BBC, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post or The Washington Post are using social media messaging to inform their readers about latest events.

For example, The Washington Post started to use Viber messenger tool by launching their own chatbot. The chatbot sends regular news updates from 5 sections (Politics, National, World, Opinions and Entertainment) to his followers, either daily or weekly. Readers can also ask for additional updates from a section of their own choice.

The Washington Post’s chatbot messages include “subscribe” section, an option to watch video content and a button through which readers can invite their friends to sign up for the chatbot option. The news giant also implemented a strategy that uses a creative side of social media messaging. The chatbot conversations have an option to use stickers with various journalistic phrases and The Washington Post inspired graphics.

On-demand services

Carsharing services and airlines, where the need for efficient and easy communication is high.

In Russia and Ukraine, the internet connection can be problematic and does not necessarily reach to every area. Therefore, BlaBlaCar messages were not always delivered to a customer.

The company needed an omnichannel strategy in place. To reach that goal, BlaBlaCar started to use Viber messaging services for sharing the confirmations, bookings, requests and changes. If a social media message cannot be delivered due to the lack of internet connection, the company sends a fallback SMS instead to reach the customers in any situations. That way, the chance of a customer not being aware of changes in schedule or a termination of the ride decreases dramatically.

Customer service

Social media business messaging is a future of customer service. It allows brands to communicate with their users anywhere and anytime, without a need to access chat on the company’s website.

Women’s Best, a brand that sells premium fitness supplies for women, reaches around 1,3 billion people in 150 countries. This number of customers requires an efficient and simple way of communication. Social media business messaging allows us to not only send answers, but also create a dialogue and follow up on customer’s request immediately if there are additional questions.

Top 3 social media, profitable for business messages

WhatsApp

o   MAU’s worldwide in July 2020: 2 billion

o   Hungary: 14% of Hungarian smartphone users

Originally, WhatsApp’s was a chat platform for family members and friends. Presently, it became a powerful use of communication between brands and customers.

Facebook Messenger

o   MAU’s worldwide in July 2020: 1,3 billion

o   Hungary: 97% of Hungarian smartphone users

It is expected that Facebook Messenger will grow to 2,4 billion by 2021. Monthly, around 20 billion messages are exchanged between users and businesses via this platform.

Viber

o   Hungary: 46% of Hungarian smartphone users

Viber is used in more than 190 countries of the world. Although the social platform had 260 million active users per month in 2019, the current number of unique users – passive and active altogether – is 1,1 billion.

Conclusion

Nowadays, social media usage is necessary for a business marketing strategy. It offers engaging and timely ways of communication with customers. It presents unique tools for starting a dialogue and discovering what are the opinions, desires and needs of the targeted group.

Social media business messaging is one of these tools, using discussion network platforms like Viber, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Telegram for direct communication with end users. It allows businesses to enrich texts with creative aspects and include more content. Retail, news and media, finance, on-demand or customer services are industries that greatly benefit from social media business messages. Although, other fields of business can profit from them, too.

Each day, billions of emojis are being exchanged among mobile phone users. But not all of those are part of personal communication. These little pictographic characters, capturing basic human emotions, became a powerful marketing tool and push notifications are benefiting from them more than companies may think

Why are emojis in push notifications so popular? They play with imagination while being interactive, personal and fun. 

Industries that benefit THE MOST and THE LEAST from emoji usage

According to data from March 2020, there are exactly 3 304 emojis in the Unicode Standard.

1. Engage customers

Companies need to make customers feel like they are part of a conversation. In personal contact, people use both verbal and non-verbal forms of communication. Plain text lacks the non-verbal part. This can be changed by including emojis. They mimic human emotions, so basically mimic non-verbal ways of communication. Using them in push notifications will cause customers to feel more engaged with whatever a company is trying to tell them. This is one of the reasons why applications that have emojis in their push notifications experience 26 % less chance to be uninstalled.

TOP 10 emojis to increase engagement

🙆 🍒 🐠 💃 🌤 💘 😔 💕 😢 💓

For example, automobile giant Chevrolet created all-emoji press release, which led to decrease in engagement rate. Relevance goes before aesthetics: Emojis should be meaningful and directly connected to the company’s business.

2. Personalize your message

A study in journal Social Neuroscience proved that an emoji causes the same chemical reaction in our brain as an actual human face. This causes that for customers, a push notification with an emoji evokes more trust than a plain, impersonal text. Using emojis is also a good way how to set a tone to a message – instead of giving commands, companies can support a positive vibe of their push notification by adding for example blinking smiley face 😉. Trust and positivity are why emojis can increase your retention rate by 28 %.

TOP 10 most popular emojis on Twitter (April 2020)

😂 😭 🥺 🤣 ❤ ✨ 😍 🙏 😊 🥰

3. Simplify the communication

Since emojis are representing emotions, it means they are universal. It doesn´t matter if a push notification aims at millennials, teens or older people, everybody gets them. Thanks to emojis, people don´t even have to speak the same (or any) language in order to use company´s service. As a proof, consider Domino´s campaign from few years ago, when customers could order pizza just by tweeting a 🍕 emoji.

Emojis can also substitute certain terms. Saving space is a big advantage, since push notifications with ten and less words has the best click-through rates. By using emojis, the average CTR is 3,48 %, what gives an industry-wide average increase of 38 %.

TOP 10 emojis to encourage click-through

🐙 🐴 👖 🍒 🚂 🏳 🌉 🆓 👇 🎟

Conclusion

Each day, billions of emojis are being exchanged among mobile phone users. But not all of those are part of personal communication. These little pictographic characters, capturing basic human emotions, became a powerful marketing tool and push notifications are benefiting from them more than companies may think

Why are emojis in push notifications so popular? They play with imagination while being interactive, personal and fun.

Industries that benefit THE MOST and THE LEAST from emoji usage

According to data from March 2020, there are exactly 3 304 emojis in the Unicode Standard.

1. Engage customers

Companies need to make customers feel like they are part of a conversation. In personal contact, people use both verbal and non-verbal forms of communication. Plain text lacks the non-verbal part. This can be changed by including emojis. They mimic human emotions, so basically mimic non-verbal ways of communication. Using them in push notifications will cause customers to feel more engaged with whatever a company is trying to tell them. This is one of the reasons why applications that have emojis in their push notifications experience 26 % less chance to be uninstalled.

TOP 10 emojis to increase engagement

🙆 🍒 🐠 💃 🌤 💘 😔 💕 😢 💓

For example, automobile giant Chevrolet created all-emoji press release, which led to decrease in engagement rate. Relevance goes before aesthetics: Emojis should be meaningful and directly connected to the company’s business.

2. Personalize your message

A study in journal Social Neuroscience proved that an emoji causes the same chemical reaction in our brain as an actual human face. This causes that for customers, a push notification with an emoji evokes more trust than a plain, impersonal text. Using emojis is also a good way how to set a tone to a message – instead of giving commands, companies can support a positive vibe of their push notification by adding for example blinking smiley face 😉. Trust and positivity are why emojis can increase your retention rate by 28 %.

TOP 10 most popular emojis on Twitter (April 2020)

😂 😭 🥺 🤣 ❤ ✨ 😍 🙏 😊 🥰

3. Simplify the communication

Since emojis are representing emotions, it means they are universal. It doesn´t matter if a push notification aims at millennials, teens or older people, everybody gets them. Thanks to emojis, people don´t even have to speak the same (or any) language in order to use company´s service. As a proof, consider Domino´s campaign from few years ago, when customers could order pizza just by tweeting a 🍕 emoji.

Emojis can also substitute certain terms. Saving space is a big advantage, since push notifications with ten and less words has the best click-through rates. By using emojis, the average CTR is 3,48 %, what gives an industry-wide average increase of 38 %.

TOP 10 emojis to encourage click-through

🐙 🐴 👖 🍒 🚂 🏳 🌉 🆓 👇 🎟

Conclusion

Web push notifications are very similar to their already well-known mobile notification counterparts. They work in a similar fashion, offering an instant and concise way of communicating with clients and offering relevant information for them.

Are they useful you might ask?

An advantage of web push is its ease of use. Users can simply sign up for it during their visit to the website with the press of a single button, without having to fill in different forms with email addresses and names. This gives a quick and easy acquisition possibility for new leads.

Web push also has a great advantage over email communication. While email can get easily lost between the dozens of emails everyone receives, web push shows up on the screen of the user, which makes it visual and easy to notice.

Let’s see a few ideas how financial institutions can increase the quality of their online experience with the help of web push notifications.

Keep users up to date about their transaction and possible fraudulent activities

While mobile apps offer a great way to notify users about their transactions, websites are still being used often to conduct banking related activities. Catering to clients’ needs is important thus some push service providers, such as Pushwize, offer multi-platform push messages. In this way, the customer can choose her preferred way of communication.

By offering immediate web pushes to customers regarding their transactions, they can take action in timely manner. Examples can range anywhere from a customer waiting for their salary to initiate certain transactions or notifying the user of fraudulent activities in their bank account, such as sudden change of personal information or unexpected credit card activities.

Offer relevant services to customers based on their online interestsand behaviour

Next to website analytics other smart technologies can be implemented as well, such as location tracking. Users who often travel then can be offered a discounted travel insurance.

However, offering personalised web push goes beyond of simply cross-and up-selling services to customers. User experience can also be enhanced and the trust of clients increased by offering important and relevant content to them.

In a form of a blog for example users can be kept updated about topics, which are relevant to their financial well-being. These can include anything from new pensions laws to mortgage interest rate changes. Customers will value these type of information as it helps them in navigating their personal finances better and make smarter choices about theirfuture.

Retain customers otherwise lost online

Web push can also be used to re-target customers who initially showed interest in a certain product but left the webpage in the middle of the search for some reason. Re-targeting campaigns are not new, online advertisements and even in email (if available) is widely used for these purposes.

However, in comparison with online ads, retargeting with web push is a much cheaper way to re-engage your potential customers and offer a more visibly pleasing manner of communication.

With web push retargeting, customers already signalled their interest in receiving relevant messages from the bank by opting in, making them more receptive to the message. Using this form of communication, the timing of the re-targeting can also be adjusted for highest relevancy, for example a few hours after the initial visit on the website, while the lead is still fresh.

Conclusion for web push notifications

Web push notification offer a great additional communication channel for banks to reach their customers with relevant messages. This channel can be used for many purposes, such as supporting clients in making better decisions for their future or offering personalized services fitting their current needs.

When used in the correct way it can be a low cost yet effective way of keeping clients engaged and catering to their needs through the entirety of their relationship with the bank.

Web push notifications are very similar to their already well-known mobile notification counterparts. They work in a similar fashion, offering an instant and concise way of communicating with clients and offering relevant information for them.

Are they useful you might ask?

An advantage of web push is its ease of use. Users can simply sign up for it during their visit to the website with the press of a single button, without having to fill in different forms with email addresses and names. This gives a quick and easy acquisition possibility for new leads.

Web push also has a great advantage over email communication. While email can get easily lost between the dozens of emails everyone receives, web push shows up on the screen of the user, which makes it visual and easy to notice.

Let’s see a few ideas how financial institutions can increase the quality of their online experience with the help of web push notifications.

Keep users up to date about their transaction and possible fraudulent activities

While mobile apps offer a great way to notify users about their transactions, websites are still being used often to conduct banking related activities. Catering to clients’ needs is important thus some push service providers, such as Pushwize, offer multi-platform push messages. In this way, the customer can choose her preferred way of communication.

By offering immediate web pushes to customers regarding their transactions, they can take action in timely manner. Examples can range anywhere from a customer waiting for their salary to initiate certain transactions or notifying the user of fraudulent activities in their bank account, such as sudden change of personal information or unexpected credit card activities.

Offer relevant services to customers based on their online interestsand behaviour

Next to website analytics other smart technologies can be implemented as well, such as location tracking. Users who often travel then can be offered a discounted travel insurance.

However, offering personalised web push goes beyond of simply cross-and up-selling services to customers. User experience can also be enhanced and the trust of clients increased by offering important and relevant content to them.

In a form of a blog for example users can be kept updated about topics, which are relevant to their financial well-being. These can include anything from new pensions laws to mortgage interest rate changes. Customers will value these type of information as it helps them in navigating their personal finances better and make smarter choices about theirfuture.

Retain customers otherwise lost online

Web push can also be used to re-target customers who initially showed interest in a certain product but left the webpage in the middle of the search for some reason. Re-targeting campaigns are not new, online advertisements and even in email (if available) is widely used for these purposes.

However, in comparison with online ads, retargeting with web push is a much cheaper way to re-engage your potential customers and offer a more visibly pleasing manner of communication.

With web push retargeting, customers already signalled their interest in receiving relevant messages from the bank by opting in, making them more receptive to the message. Using this form of communication, the timing of the re-targeting can also be adjusted for highest relevancy, for example a few hours after the initial visit on the website, while the lead is still fresh.

Conclusion for web push notifications

Web push notification offer a great additional communication channel for banks to reach their customers with relevant messages. This channel can be used for many purposes, such as supporting clients in making better decisions for their future or offering personalized services fitting their current needs.

When used in the correct way it can be a low cost yet effective way of keeping clients engaged and catering to their needs through the entirety of their relationship with the bank.

Great advantage of in app messages is that they do not require opt-in from the user compared to push notifications or web push. You can immediately reach your whole user base. However, you do want to be cautious, because un-personalized, general notifications do frustrate users and can lead to the deletion of the mobile app. Personalizing your communication has additional benefits for your users, then simply reaching them with a general offer, which make it more engaging and more likely to get responses to.

Let’s see a few examples for in-app messages that provide added value, without being just another notification, which they will ignore.

Increase customer retention and usefulness of the mobile app

The user will feel more empowered and encouraged to keep using the application.

Notify customers regarding the unavailability of the service

Educate customers and create up-and cross-sell opportunities

Conclusion

Benefits of this personalized communication reach far beyond just good user experience but also provide other benefits, such as possible decreased costs on the bank’s side and increased engagement on the user’s side.

Great advantage of in app messages is that they do not require opt-in from the user compared to push notifications or web push. You can immediately reach your whole user base. However, you do want to be cautious, because un-personalized, general notifications do frustrate users and can lead to the deletion of the mobile app. Personalizing your communication has additional benefits for your users, then simply reaching them with a general offer, which make it more engaging and more likely to get responses to.

Let’s see a few examples for in-app messages that provide added value, without being just another notification, which they will ignore.

Increase customer retention and usefulness of the mobile app

The user will feel more empowered and encouraged to keep using the application.

Notify customers regarding the unavailability of the service

Educate customers and create up-and cross-sell opportunities

Conclusion

Benefits of this personalized communication reach far beyond just good user experience but also provide other benefits, such as possible decreased costs on the bank’s side and increased engagement on the user’s side.

In today’s competitive world, companies need to make sure they are offering the best experience possible for their clients. This is especially true in the finance industry, where both technological innovation, such as blockchain technology and legislative changes like PSD2, are changing the landscape.

Advancement in mobile technology resulted in customers using their smartphones more often than ever before. Utilizing smart mobile technologies can help in improving the relationship with customers via the mobile channel.

6 stats that prove how important push notifications, in-app messaging are to your apps success.

Due to its popularity and usefulness financial institutions are already busy utilizing mobile and web push to enhance their customer experience and improve their services. It doesn’t matter if we talk about web push, mobile notification or in-app message, all of these can be used in a creative way!

Below are three real life examples for each three of the above-mentioned notifications types, from banks in different parts of the world.

Provide relevant, value added services for customers, based on online behavior

For example, Axis Bank in India created targeted web notification for customers about one of their credit card offering, based on specific browsing behaviour the customer was doing on their website. By targeting specific customers, who actually showed interest in this service, instead of sending their message to every visitor, the bank could achieve great results.

Axis bank case study

If you would like to see more examples how to use web push to enhance your online service, please stay tuned in the upcoming weeks for our next article about web push notifications.

Create location based mobile notifications

Increase the quality of your mobile offering and review rating

Once the customer has been using the app for a while or after a positive experience in the app, an in-app message can prompt the user to place a review in the app store.

It goes without saying that in order to get a good review from the customer the app has to be great and offer an outstanding user experience.

BNP Paribas push notifications and in-app messages case study.

Conclusion

Whether a financial institution wants to improve their mobile or web experience it’s all possible with the help of notifications. Smart technologies, such as location and browsing behavior tracking can enhance and personalize these communication channels. Staying relevant and offering a personalized experience is of great importance in today’s competitive market.

In today’s competitive world, companies need to make sure they are offering the best experience possible for their clients. This is especially true in the finance industry, where both technological innovation, such as blockchain technology and legislative changes like PSD2, are changing the landscape.

Advancement in mobile technology resulted in customers using their smartphones more often than ever before. Utilizing smart mobile technologies can help in improving the relationship with customers via the mobile channel.

6 stats that prove how important push notifications, in-app messaging are to your apps success.

Due to its popularity and usefulness financial institutions are already busy utilizing mobile and web push to enhance their customer experience and improve their services. It doesn’t matter if we talk about web push, mobile notification or in-app message, all of these can be used in a creative way!

Below are three real life examples for each three of the above-mentioned notifications types, from banks in different parts of the world.

Provide relevant, value added services for customers, based on online behavior

For example, Axis Bank in India created targeted web notification for customers about one of their credit card offering, based on specific browsing behaviour the customer was doing on their website. By targeting specific customers, who actually showed interest in this service, instead of sending their message to every visitor, the bank could achieve great results.

Axis bank case study

If you would like to see more examples how to use web push to enhance your online service, please stay tuned in the upcoming weeks for our next article about web push notifications.

Create location based mobile notifications

Another great way to leverage push services is in combination with location based services. These are hyper relevant, as companies can offer something to their customers in that very moment that suits the situation.

TBC Bank in Georgia, offers their customers location based push, such as user experience surveys when leaving the branch office and special offers on festivals and events, which the bank sponsors. These offers are obviously great for the customer and the surveys offer brilliant additional contact moment.

Increase the quality of your mobile offering and review rating

Conclusion

Whether a financial institution wants to improve their mobile or web experience it’s all possible with the help of notifications. Smart technologies, such as location and browsing behavior tracking can enhance and personalize these communication channels. Staying relevant and offering a personalized experience is of great importance in today’s competitive market.