53 Per Cent of People up for Mobile Messaging with Businesses

53 per cent of people in the UK and France – who use mobile messaging apps – have interacted with a company via mobile messaging, or is open to doing so as long as they can block brands they are not interested in.

The survey of 2,000 consumers, by marketing technology solutions firm Kenshoo, also found that, of those open to messaging with businesses, 46 per cent would be tempted by the prospect of receiving exclusive deals. 25 per cent said they would use messaging to respond to ads and 24 per cent said they would like to use messaging to receive updates on products they have expressed interest in.

In addition, 33 per cent liked that messaging apps retain a complete history of conversations – so there is no need to search for it – while 15 per cent were open to the idea of group interactions with brands.

“Mobile messaging presents a new opportunity for businesses to connect directly with individual consumers – and potentially build long term customer relationships,” said Matt Vignieri, Kenshoo’s managing director for EMEA. “Many consumers can see the advantages too – but their expectations are high. They expect timely responses and will want communications to be personal to them and in context.  If businesses get it wrong, then messaging could quickly turn into a channel for complaints. And because users can easily share negative experiences with their contacts, things could easily get from bad to worse.”

In October, it was found that WhatsApp was the most used messaging app after hitting 1bn monthly active users (MAUs) back in February. Facebook Messenger hit 1bn MAUs in July.