Facebook Messenger Can Now Be Used to Answer Customer Messages

Facebook is rolling out an update to Messenger that will allow page owners to toggle back and forth between personal messages and customer messages.

Business owners can finally respond to customers from the same app they use to communicate with friends and family on Facebook.

The ability to toggle back and forth between different inboxes allows businesses to respond quickly without having to open another app.

All incoming messages are now conveniently grouped together in the same app. But they’re still separated enough to prevent businesses from accidentally responding to a customer from their personal account.

When responding to messages, the business owner can choose whether they want to respond as themselves or as the business.

This should be a worthwhile upgrade to the workflow of business owners, as Facebook says over 90% of business page admins already use Messenger to chat with friends and family.

Facebook’s research indicates most page admins would prefer not to download and manage multiple apps, which makes this upgrade to Messenger an ideal solution.

Fast Replies = Happy Customers

This update to messenger isn’t all for the benefit of page admins, as it’s also designed to improve the speed at which customers receive replies from businesses.

Customers frequently have questions that come up on their path toward making a purchase. Such as questions about store hours, product availability, delivery and pick-up options, and more.

Being able to respond to customers quickly can make the difference between the customer buying from your business versus a competitor.

Facebook cites a Hubspot survey which states that 90% of customers rate an immediate response as important or very important when they have a marketing or sales question.

In ensure a message never goes unanswered, businesses can even choose to receive additional notifications so they don’t forget to reply to customers.

That means they’ll receive the initial notification when a message is received, and then another notification after some time has passed without a reply.

This is especially helpful at a time where the coronavirus pandemic has forced businesses to operate with limited staff due to layoffs.

Now, business owners who find themselves having to manage a host of new responsibilities can still stay on top of customer messages.

Not Replacing the Page Manager App

This upgrade to Facebook Messenger is not intended to fully replace the message functionality built into the Page Manager app.

Businesses can still use the Page Manager app to respond to messages if they prefer, as well as manage posts, create ads, view page insights, and more.

This update from Messenger is simply a different way to respond from an app that many page admins are already using.

There are no additional steps required in order to send and receive business messages through Facebook Messenger.

As long as a page admin’s personal account is connected to their business’s Facebook page, then this update will roll out automatically.

For more on the latest updates to Facebook Messenger, see our coverage below:

Source: Facebook