With the vast majority of communication occurring online, it’s no surprise that customer service is following suit.

We all live very busy lives nowadays–places to go, people to see, and jobs to get done. It can occasionally get quite intense. This means that our time is considered more valuable than ever so, more often than not, most customers would rather not sit on hold for half an hour with a customer service representative.

Enter: social messaging. It’s quick, convenient and, unlike a cancelled phone call, guarantees a response. It’s been a long time coming and could be the primary source of customer service communication quite soon. Here are three reasons why this may be, and how your brand can prepare:

1. Supporting Social Commerce

It’s no secret that a lot of commerce is now moving to social media–you only need to search your favourite brand’s Instagram page to find that they’ve made it possible for you to shop there. This is also prevalent on Facebook Messenger, making customer service accessible at the touch of a button. For this reason, it’s more important than ever that brands have a solid strategy in place and the tools to provide excellent customer service via messaging

2. Providing One-To-One Customer Support

We’ve all been there: being put on hold and reconnected from one department to another, whilst becoming increasingly frustrated as our issue that prompted the call goes unresolved.

Social messaging cuts all that out; providing a quick and direct solution to any order inquiries, product questions, billing issues and more. Moreover, it’s a great way to humanise your brand and build personal connections, enhancing customer satisfaction.