Instagram: your go-to customer care and commerce channel

There are more than 1 billion active users each month on Instagram, with over 500 million accounts using the app every day. It’s a channel many businesses already utilize for marketing purposes, with 60% of users discovering new items or services via Instagram and 90% of users following at least one company.

It’s no surprise that Meta released the Messenger API for Instagram. Brands can now have scalable conversations with their customers using Instagram Direct Messages (DM) or Stories to improve customer interactions and support.

We believe that consumers should be able to connect with the brands they love, using the channels they already use every day. This is why we now offer support for Instagram via our Webex Connect platform, alongside 12+ other communication channels such as WhatsApp Business, RCS Business Messaging, Apple Business Chat, etc.

Instagram is a bit different to other messaging channels as it is a customer-initiated channel, meaning that businesses can only get in touch with customers if they have contacted them first. This lends itself well to the socially active brand that wants to provide an always-on experience, improving marketing and customer service interactions through conversational experiences.

Deliver rich conversational commerce

Traditionally, Instagram has been an excellent channel for brands to promote and advertise their products and services. But, in the past the interaction has been focused on getting people interested and driving them towards the website or app to learn more. Generally, this is a very inflexible and static experience that can cause customers to abandon the purchase. However, with this new capability, the door is open for immediate engagement via one-to-one conversations.

An Instagram user can now see an item they are interested in, whether that be through a post from an influencer or a brand’s direct account, and then enter the DM channel to find out more details, browse other items, see store locations, check stock availability, book an appointment, etc. All this is done in-channel through two-way messaging, delivering rich conversational interactions to increase sales and improve brand awareness. By improving the post-ad experience, brands can unlock new revenue streams by providing a seamless purchasing journey.

Provide instant customer service and support

Due to the increasing popularity of Instagram and the number of businesses now embracing the app, it’s important that brands consider using Instagram for customer service and support. Consumers want to talk to brands on the channels they use every day, at their own convenience. They don’t want to be told they have to submit an email request and the company will get back to them in 5-10 working days and many consumers would rather avoid having to call a contact center and waiting on hold.

Instagram is helping to turn customer conversations into positive business outcomes that improve the customer service experience. It allows brands to immediately respond to customer direct messages, providing an always-on experience, and to reply to story tags and public comments with private direct messages.

By leveraging the pre-built NLP & AI capabilities that Webex Connect offers, brands can automate customer interactions for simple customer queries within the channel. More complex support queries can be seamlessly handed over to a customer service agent who can help solve the customer problem. All of this happens within the Instagram channel. This approach will help to provide answers to customer questions quicker while reducing the number of calls being made into the contact center.

What are the main Instagram channel features?

• Messaging: enabling businesses to send text, rich media, and more.

• Quick replies: presenting a set of buttons in-conversation for customers to reply with.

• Private replies: replying to Post comments with a single message on Instagram.

• Ice breakers: start a conversation with a business with a list of frequently asked questions.

• User profile: personalize conversations and create unified experiences.

• Story mention: get notified when a customer mentions a business in their story.

Instagram on Webex Connect

Webex Connect, our enterprise-grade Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) platform, is designed to reduce the time, cost, and complexity of delivering outstanding customer experiences. The platform’s programmable APIs and SDKs, visual flow builder, high-performance runtime engine, and low-code tools come together to enable the quick and effortless creation of end-to-end journeys that power customer communications.

Acting as a central orchestration layer between channels and enterprise systems, the platform leverages seamless integrations to power the automation of end-to-end customer journeys across Instagram and other channels. It’s future-proof, meaning businesses can start with Instagram and then easily integrate new channels and capabilities as they grow and design solutions to meet rising consumer expectations.

To learn more about Webex Connect, visit the webpage here.

How can businesses get started?

The easiest way for businesses to get started is to partner with an expert, a company that is an official technology partner of Facebook and has the know-how and experience to get them up and running.

We are an official Meta solutions partner and have been for a number of years. Our Future Messaging team works directly with technology partners to stay up to date with the latest developments and helps businesses to implement the next generation of messaging channels, including Instagram. We have a robust technology infrastructure to support channel performance and our platform is ISO-27001 certified to ensure that all customer data is secure and that channel flows are encrypted.

If you want to get started with using Instagram for customer service and commerce, get in touch with one of our experts today.