{"id":32625,"date":"2025-05-26T10:15:22","date_gmt":"2025-05-26T10:15:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arenaint.frault5.hostarmada.net\/uncategorized-en\/instant-messaging-apps-as-part-of-online-store-communication\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T11:18:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T11:18:17","slug":"instant-messaging-apps-as-part-of-online-store-communication","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arenainteractive.fi\/en\/instant-messaging-apps-as-part-of-online-store-communication\/","title":{"rendered":"Instant Messaging Apps as Part of Online Store Communication"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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“Ecommerce is growing faster than ever.<\/span><\/span> In 2019, ecommerce generated $3.5 trillion in sales and is expected to reach $4.9 trillion by 2021. While email marketing has long been the ecommerce marketer’s go-to messaging tool, SMS marketing deserves more attention.<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

Why?<\/span><\/span> Because it has a significantly higher attention value than other channels!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Imagine if your company’s marketing communications could achieve a 98% read rate within five minutes of sending \u2013 without an internet connection.<\/span><\/span> That’s what SMS can help you do.<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

(Source<\/a>:<\/a><\/small>https:\/\/www.bigcommerce.com\/blog\/sms-marketing\/)<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Text Messages and Instant Messages as Part of Online Store Customer Communication<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the development of digital services for companies and organizations has taken huge steps forward.<\/span><\/span> Online stores in particular are now being developed at a rapid pace.<\/span><\/span> Fortunately, the platform technologies related to these (e.g., Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento) are already well developed and offer several options for organizations of all sizes and across different industries.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Customer communication as part of online store purchase journeys is often based on email communication.<\/span><\/span> This works, and the messages are delivered to customers.<\/span><\/span> If (and when) online stores want to develop more diverse and personalized customer communication, text messages and instant messages will also become relevant channels.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Whether it is communication as part of the purchasing process or, for example, post-purchase marketing, it requires the use of these messaging channels to ensure that the messages are delivered and receive the highest possible attention value.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Online Store Communication via Instant Messaging Channels<\/strong><\/h2>\n

54% of consumers want marketing text messages, but only 11% of businesses use them.<\/span><\/span> SMS and instant messaging marketing therefore presents a huge opportunity for marketers to improve customer experience and create stronger customer loyalty.<\/span><\/span> Source: https:\/\/smallbiztrends.com\/2019\/12\/text-message-marketing-statistics.html<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So what kind of communication could be implemented in an online store, for example?<\/span><\/span> Here are some use cases!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Welcome Message After Registration<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Welcome to the club! Take advantage of your one-month loyalty program now.” https:\/\/siirry.fi\/1234.\u201d<\/p>\n

Delivery-Related Messages After Ordering<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Order shipped: Your order has been shipped on mm\/dd\/yyyy. Estimated delivery date is mm\/dd\/yyyy. Track delivery https:\/\/siirry.fi\/1234.” <\/p>\n

Remembering a Customer on Their Birthday<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Happy birthday Customer X! To celebrate, we are offering XX% off our products with this code 12345.”<\/p>\n

Messaging About New Products<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Hi Customer X. New X products now available in the online store, go check it out: https:\/\/siirry.fi\/1234.”<\/p>\n

Announcing a Sale<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Our ski holiday sale is valid for 2 more days, until mm\/dd\/yyyy. Take advantage of the great deals now: https:\/\/siirry.fi\/1234.” <\/p>\n

Content-Driven Messaging<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Hi! Your trip is approaching, read this blog post on how to get the most out of your vacation: https:\/\/siirry.fi\/1234.” <\/p>\n

Opinion Polls<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Hi! Were you satisfied with your experience in our online store? We value your feedback: Reply to this message with the keyword ONLINE STORE and give a number from 1 to 10, depending on how well we did (1=poorly, 10=everything went exceptionally well) and leave free-form feedback at the end if you wish.” <\/p>\n

Get Started Safely with a Finnish Service Provider<\/strong><\/h2>\n

We often hear comments from our customers that SMS and instant messaging channels have not been implemented as part of customer communication, because their implementation involves many unclear issues, both administratively and technically.<\/span><\/span> Excessive personalization is also avoided, but this may be more related to our Finnish cultural characteristics.<\/span><\/span> On the other hand, these channels are used extensively around the world.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Current technologies for using text messages and instant messages are highly developed and secure.<\/span><\/span> Their implementation is relatively straightforward from a technical perspective.<\/span><\/span> However, it must be noted that customer communication involves many sensitive issues, for example when customer data is processed as part of communication.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Especially if the services of a global operator are used, it can be difficult to agree on contract terms, personal data processing principles, and information security issues.<\/span><\/span> Often, in such a situation, the company’s or organization’s own contract templates cannot be used, but rather the global operator’s own contracts.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

However, there are many companies in Finland that specialize in providing these communication channels both in Finland and globally, as part of their own service platforms.<\/span><\/span> These operators have addressed the issues listed above as part of their own service offering, and agreeing on technical contractual issues with them is straightforward.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

For example, when you want to use two-way communication, where the end customer can reply to a message sent to them, virtual phone numbers or short message numbers are used.<\/span><\/span> In addition, keywords are used if necessary to direct different responses to the right place in the online shopping platform.<\/span><\/span> This requires expertise to make the services work as smoothly and cost-effectively as possible.<\/span><\/span> Planning and agreeing on these with an experienced operator is easy.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Additional value-generating opportunities could include the integration of payment services (text message billing and mobile payment) and the use of gift codes as part of communication in customer rewards and reminders.<\/span><\/span> Global operators are generally unable to offer such customer-specific or local solutions.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

This blog is part of a larger blog series that discusses the use of instant messaging channels as part of various corporate software. <\/em><\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Instant Messaging Applications as Part of Other Software<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

SMS as Part of Marketing Automation<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Instant Messaging as Part of CRM System<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Ecommerce is growing faster than ever. In 2019, ecommerce generated $3.5 trillion in sales and is expected to reach $4.9 trillion by 2021. While email marketing has long been the ecommerce marketer’s go-to messaging tool, SMS marketing deserves more attention. Why? Because it has a significantly higher attention value than other channels! Imagine if your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32626,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arenainteractive.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arenainteractive.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arenainteractive.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arenainteractive.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arenainteractive.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.arenainteractive.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32625\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arenainteractive.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arenainteractive.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arenainteractive.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arenainteractive.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}