Investing in improving customer loyalty is key to business longevity. It may be a challenge to develop solutions in measuring loyalty but the payback is significant.

Chatbots are uniquely positioned to help with this need to maintain emotional connections with customers.

While they are not replacements for human interaction, chatbots help in resolving many common issues and queries. This can be done to help maintain customer expectations on responsiveness and reliability without the need for a large support staff. Human staff can handle special, complex issues while chatbots can help in more routine tasks.

A greeter chatbot on your website can help maintain a friendly demeanor for your brand, as well as obtaining the details of your potential customer and storing it for later use. A chatbot that is later on able to greet your shopper by name helps customers feel important and valued by your business.

However, make sure you don't fall prey to petty personalization that does nothing special for your customers. Reward customers when they connect with you, whether it is with promotions, updates, or a more tailored experience according to their tastes.

Businesses need to be where the customers are. With messenger and chat applications in heavy use by everyone, your business's ability to be in the applications that your customers are in is important. A customer is more likely to connect with your business if you are available where they need you to be.

Unfortunately, maintaining multiple channels can be a daunting task, which is why multi-channel chatbots can be a lifesaver. This also makes sure that when your customer interacts across multiple chat applications or your website, your business is responding to them in the same way, and they won't need to repeat themselves.

Consider these two chatbot messages:

versus

The latter drives home the fact that your shopper has just helped make the environment just a little bit better by purchasing from your business.

Lastly, a chatbot with a personality that speaks to your brand's values will help customers connect better with your business. This depends heavily on your brand's identity as well as your target market's expectations, so make sure you check your buyer personas when building your chatbot's personality.

It sounds simple, but it's important. Facebook Groups and the Marketplace are actually big drivers when it comes to online sales, especially when you hit the right note. Aside from getting your business the online traffic it needs, the pandemic has driven hyperlocal marketplaces to overdrive--and it continues to be the case many months in.

Brand awareness is important, and if your brand is active in local Facebook Groups that is appropriate to your business, this comes back as goodwill towards your company. You should have a healthy mix of community-driven Groups and marketplace Groups. While the latter are likely the lowest-maintenance groups to join, don't underestimate the former for their power to push brand awareness.

Pictures attract eyeballs, and the more eyeballs directed to your product posts, the better it is for your online sales.

An inviting, clear shot of what you're selling is important. Ditch the cluttered background and off-focus shots so that your audience knows what the picture is for immediately.

But make sure that your photo is accurate and shows exactly what you're selling. A stock photography of a "similar item" can mean disappointed buyers who have different expectations of what they'll get.

The longer customers wait to get a response from brands, the more time they have to look for your competitors' products or get distracted with other things on Facebook. Buyers want and expect answers fast.

Don't forget to follow through after a sale, whether it's by sending them an email or message through Facebook Messenger. Set up an automated email or chatbot message to make sure you don't forget and to free up your time.

This act can help turn one-time buyers in loyal customers. Make them feel like a VIP after they order from you, by doing some of the following ideas:

Facebook and the communities around it can change drastically from one day to another, so it's important to stay updated and do your research. Look out for what's selling in the areas you do business in. You can see how your competitors are pricing and marketing their products, and even what emerging trends your business can utilize.

Remember that Facebook Messenger and the Marketplace are great places to test out a new product or marketing campaign. You don't need to invest a lot to see what will sell, so make sure you use these insights to your advantage.

A quick feedback loop between your customer and you is important with conversational marketing, just like a real conversation. This conversation can happen in chat such as Facebook Messenger or Viber, or in SMS through great use of prompts.

While chatbots can't begin to replace humans in your sales and customer service teams, they can be around to interact with your customers 24/7.

Everyone loves a booming business. But one of the biggest challenges when scaling up services is making sure that quality and customer experience doesn't drop.

Whether it's taking orders, booking appointments, or answering questions, an automated chatbot can help with challenges for booming businesses.

It's important for a business to always look forward and look at the trends in the market. One step ahead is always best. That's why it's important to take a serious look at chatbots and conversational marketing.

In a world that values engagement and connection, the value of a more human approach to marketing like conversations cannot be underestimated. More and more businesses are adopting chatbots, and it's time to look into this same trend, no matter your industry.

Many businesses now are starting to create communities within messaging apps. Slack is a popular choice for businesses, as many business-oriented individuals are already on Slack. Many companies are creating a place for potential clients to contact them on the platform.

Even locally, there are many Viber groups opening up for businesses to reach others, from a takeout and delivery services guide from SMDC Malls to DOH to disseminate COVID-19 information.

The Philippines is one of the most active users of social media and internet in the world. In fact, in the Digital 2020 report, the Philippines is at the very top:

But it's important to make sure that your business efforts are targeted towards the messaging platform that has the biggest reach locally. Line and Kik may be interesting platforms, but if your potential customers aren't there, you're better off focusing on a different platform.

As of July 5, the top 5 messaging applications in the Philippines are:

This is according to SimilarWeb's numbers on Android and iOS usage, shown below. They are similar across both platforms, with the exception of WhatsApp and Viber switching ranks.

This is a rapidly changing environment and the digital world is moving faster than ever before. Being on the forefront of this shift to messaging apps can be beneficial to your business, directly or indirectly.