Advertising inside messaging apps

Messaging apps have open rates above 90 per cent and response rates far above email. That makes them powerful and dangerous in equal measure.

The service use is the right use

The dividing line is whether the recipient initiated or expects the contact.

The consent position

Messaging to individuals is electronic marketing communication and requires prior consent in most jurisdictions, on the same basis as email.

Platform rules add further constraints: approved templates for business-initiated messages, category restrictions, time windows during which free-form replies are permitted, and quality ratings that can restrict sending.

Both sets of rules apply. Platform permission does not substitute for legal consent.

The conversational service channel

The strongest business use is as a support and enquiry channel. Customers prefer it to telephone and email for straightforward questions.

What makes it work: responses within minutes during stated hours, clearly stated availability, a human available when the automated answers run out, and no attempt to convert a service conversation into a sales pitch.

Stated hours matter. A channel with no stated hours generates expectations of immediate response at all times.

Automation, used carefully

Automated responses handle the common questions well: opening hours, availability, order status, directions.

They fail when they loop, when they cannot recognise a request to speak to a person, and when they pretend to be human. Each of those produces a worse outcome than no channel at all.

The rule: state that it is automated, offer a route to a person immediately, and hand over on the first sign of frustration.

The click-to-message advertising format

Advertising on social platforms that opens a message thread rather than a website. It converts well for services where a question precedes a purchase, and it starts a conversation in a channel the customer already uses.

It also generates a consented contact, which is more valuable than a website visit.

What not to do

Broadcast lists. Purchased numbers. Messages outside stated hours. Automated follow-up sequences that continue after the customer stops replying. Any of those turns the highest-engagement channel available into a reason to be blocked.