As customer journeys become more complex, personalised interactions through messaging can offer significant advantages for businesses. From social media ads to influencer marketing, social commerce and retail media, the number of digital touchpoints continues to rise and are reshaping how people become aware, shop and buy products and services.

Hence, to address this issue, Warc in collaboration with Meta has released a white paper: Unlocking the potential of conversations.

The study highlights how business messaging can enhance customer relationships and drive brand growth on digital.

According to the report, companies could lose USD 3.1 trillion or 6.7% of their total revenues annually due to poor customer experiences. It also went on to highlight that 71% of adults online are more likely to purchase from a company they can contact through messaging, and 69% prefer messaging over calling a business.

Other key findings:

• 80% of consumers say they have switched brands because of poor customer experience; 62% of consumers think businesses should be doing more to personalise services.
• 70% of online shopping carts are abandoned. Messaging can be effective in resolving customer queries that have failed to be completed was one of the main reasons for quitting a call to action on online shopping platforms.
• Only 34% of consumers feel companies are clear about how personal data is used.
• Business messaging generates cut-throughs and connections, building two-way relationships that can be leveraged across the full customer lifecycle. It empowers brands to drive ongoing, fully personalised conversations at scale; with AI magnifying the opportunity, now is the time to act.
• Business messaging can nudge customers around the L.O.O.P.: Leading them to discovery; Orchestrating the journey to conversion; Optimising the purchase and post-purchase experience; and Providing meaningful reasons to re-engage.
• Organisations should follow five guiding principles: prioritise key brand and audience needs; respect customer privacy; leverage partners’ know-how and tools; maximise performance by integrating with other enterprise systems; and be proactive in adopting new features.

Aditya Kishore, insight director, Warc, said, “Customer touchpoints have been expanding for several years. While the funnel remains a popular basic structure for understanding the marketing process, we are finding that how we attract, inform, convert and engage customers has a growing number of moving parts."

Shekhar Deshpande, head of strategy, global clients, Meta, said, “Business Messaging is as a transformative tool that revolutionises how businesses and customers talk to each other. The best conversations feel personal, relevant, and in the moment, and build stronger, lasting connections."