Shipping Notifications and order updates stick the landing for your customer’s post-purchase experience.
Customers are kept up to date on the status of their order and encouraged to continue building their relationship with your brand.
The Benefits of Shipping Notifications & Order Updates
Think of Shipping Notifications & Order Updates as an upgrade to your post-purchase follow-up experience. These Messenger strategies allow you to build brand loyalty and drive repeat business through automated post-purchase nurture sequences on Messenger.
Great graphic, McKinsey!
The postpurchase experience is a critical stage of the customer journey in shaping their perception of your product and brand. It influences how they will view the entire category, and can even determine whether or not they ever come back to your store. ShopMessage’s new post-purchase features create more touch points to entice your customer back to your store.
The best part is, all your customer touchpoints are in one place for your customer. Instead of digging through a cluttered email inbox to find their receipt or their thank you coupon, they can just find it in their Messenger chat history with your brand.
Shipping Notifications & Order Updates reduce customer friction to re-engaging with your brand while delivering value every step of the way.
Shipping Notifications Done Right Can Deliver More Than Just A Tracking Number
What are Shipping Notifications?
A new ShopMessage flow that updates your customer when their order is on its way to them.
The shipping notifications flow can help you keep your customers updated on their order throughout the fulfillment process.
What do they do?
The flow sends your customers a message on Messenger when their order ships. The message includes a tracking number (where available) and a link back to your Shopify store’s Thank You page.
If your fulfillment and logistics are on a dependable schedule, you can even fill the gap with cute messages along the way.
If you know that your shipping goes out on a 3-5 day schedule, you can send a message on Day 2 saying their package just on the truck. On Day 3 saying they just left the local sorting facility.
Advanced Shipping Notifications flow like this add character to your messaging. The goal is to keep customers engaged in the conversation all the way to delivery day and beyond. Follow-up these engaging updates with a Quick Reply. Allowing your customers a way to engage back with your brand tells Facebook that they want to keep the conversation alive.
More engagements with your customers give you more opportunities to make a great impression and redirect them back to your website or other destination of choice.
How Does it Work Though?
ShopMessage’s Shopify integration will listen for changes in your Shopify store’s order records.
When we’ve heard that the order is fulfilled via your existing fulfillment processes, ShopMessage will get notified. We’ll take that shipping info, drop it in our message template and kick off the Shipping Notifications flow for your customer.
Your customers will then receive a message accessible on both Facebook and Messenger containing their shipping information. We’ve even configured the default to include a link to your store’s Thank You page which contains their order information and tracking link.
Shipping Notifications is a flow that includes all opted-in customers from your site. Anyone who has purchased an item after your Shipping Notifications flow has been activated will be eligible to receive these shipping notifications, as long as they have already opted-in to messages from your business.
How the Order Updates Growth Plugin Can Help You Collect Opt-Ins for You Shipping Notifications Flow
What’s this New Order Updates Thing?
Order Updates is a new growth plugin placement option for Shopify merchants using ShopMessage. The growth plugin goes on your Thank You Page, displaying after the customer has completed checkout. at peak happiness with their purchase.
What does the Order Updates plugin do, again?
The Order Updates plugin gives your customers a way to sign up for updates about their order from the Thank You page.
The new growth plugin type also allows you, the merchant, to set up three follow-up messaging sequences for your customers right out of the box.
First, you can send an immediate confirmation that the Order Updates request has been received. As soon as they sign up for updates, they’ll receive this message confirming their sign up.
Second, the Order Updates plugin enrolls customer into your Customer Thank You flow. This flow contains the customer’s receipt, a link back to your Thank You page and any other messaging you would like to include. ShopMessage customers will very likely have this flow set up already, but if not, turning it on is simple. Flip the switch!
Third, this plugin will enroll the customer into the Shipping Notifications flow described above. Yes, it’s true that all opted-in customers will be enrolled in the Shipping Notifications flow. But, you still need them to opt-in before you can send them messages!
Customers will inevitably want to know where their order is. The Order Updates plugin is a great way to enroll customers into an automated Shipping Notifications flow that keeps them up to date on their order.
How is the Order Updates Growth Plugin so good at collecting opt-ins?
Unlike other growth plugins on your site, this plugin will display for all customers, whether they are logged in to Facebook from their browser or not.
This increases your chances of collecting valuable opt-ins while delivering real value to your customers at the same time.
Prompting customers to opt-in to receive messages about their new order is a recommended best practice. Offer real value in exchange for their permission to be messaged and you reduce the friction to collecting your customers’ permission to receive messaging.
This is a more convenient way to share info that you would be giving them for free in an email.
Allowing customers to sign up for Order Updates preempts an onslaught of order status inquiries in your customer support channel.
What About the Immediate Confirmation Message?
Your Order Updates plugin can also send your customer a message immediately after they sign up for updates. By giving your customer immediate feedback that their request to be notified has been heard, you’re able to start your relationship with your customer on Messenger on the right foot.
The immediate confirmation message feature is standard across all growth plugins. Read more about Immediate Confirmation Message and see how you can use it to enhance trust in your brand.
How to Get Started
First of all, sign up with ShopMessage if you haven’t already!
When you log into your dashboard, the Shipping Notifications flow will be displayed as a recommended flow to enable. Click here to walk through the details.
When you create a new growth plugin, the Order Updates plugin will be included in the list. Shopify stores can take advantage of this feature today. Don’t worry, more platforms coming soon!
If you already have the Shipping Notifications flow turned on, it will be enabled already.
If you don’t have it turned on yet, you can turn it on during the Follow-Up configuration for this growth plugin.
Turning the Shipping Notifications flow on here turns it on for all of your customers. It does not matter whether they opted in through the Order Updates plugin or a different plugin.
M.Me Links plugged into a ShopMessage conversation sequence give you a powerful way to engage with your fans, followers, and customers. Here are 7 ways you can set up M.Me Links powered by ShopMessage for your business today.
1. Migrate Your E-Mail List to Messenger
The first thing you should do is distribute an M.Me link in your emails and email signatures. Then email subscribers will convert into more engaged Messenger subscribers—low-hanging fruit!. Email has served us well for years, but you want to make sure that you are able to reach your customers wherever they happen to be. Using your email list to turbocharge the growth of your Messenger list is a great way to increase your ability to reach customers who may not always check their email.
2. Re-Engage Your Social Media Followers
At the same time, you should share links in social media posts. Name me a social media platform that doesn’t give you the way to share links? Tweet your links, drop them in a Facebook post description, pair with a Pinterest infographic pin, and even your Instagram swipe-up links all at the same time! Tailor the next step of the acquisition funnel to reference the preceding step’s contextual content.
3. Leverage Influencer Reach on YouTube and Instagram
While those are going out, why not sponsor a YouTuber / Influencer and have them stick the link in their video descriptions or bio. Drill down deeper with partnerships with your existing network of ambassadors. When you create a mutually beneficial experience for your two audiences with a personalized and enriching for their audience, everyone wins! Then you can both dive into the detailed conversation metrics at every step of the way.
4. Embed Links in Your Digital Marketing Content
Insert a Messenger CTA link in your digital marketing content. Longtail contacts will still receive the same appropriate messaging whether they find you immediately, or 5 months down the road. Imagine your e-book getting passed around and having the tracking to see all the new customers being driven by that document.
5. Print Dynamic QR Codes on Branded Materials
Put it in a QR Code and print it on your packaging materials right away! It’s a great way to remind customers after they receive their items that there’s more you can offer them. Imagine a code on your boxes or bags that can be scanned to hook your customers up with a Free Shipping discount. Forward-thinking brands can even print limited edition promo QR code shirts for your ambassadors to wear in real life. Guerilla marketing at high-traffic events like Coachella or South by Southwest is about to get a whole lot more interesting!
6. Set-up an M.Me Link in your Footers
Have your M.Me link available as a contact channel on your website. It’s a nice alternative if you don’t have a dedicated customer support agent. When visitors have questions or demand to speak to the manager, you can send them here. An M.Me Link designed to handle inquiries and FAQs can be a great way to get people the answers they need without bombarding your customer support channels.
7. Text it!
Last, but not least, consider a text. Daily Messenger volume now exceeds peak SMS volume. Texting a link is a great way to convert your SMS subscribers into Messenger contacts. Conversations happening over Messenger are less disruptive to your customers. At the same time, you can do a lot more to engage through a Messenger chat than through an SMS conversation. Make your brand more accessible via Messenger with additional signals to reach your customers on Facebook.
Ready to start turbocharging your Messenger list growth?
An effective Messenger Marketing strategy requires collecting OptIns from your customers. Opting-In is easy—as easy a click or two. It’s so easy that customers may not be sure what they had done to receive your messages.
The challenge is collecting OptIns without confusing your customers. First, you want to be transparent about how you are able to reach them on this new channel.
At F8, Facebook announced their company’s heightened focus on privacy and creating a good experience for their users. But, they also oozed confidence why Messenger is the future of business. Businesses should do their part to make the Messenger channel feel like a natural place to interact. In return, customers will continue their relationship with your brand.
Brands using ShopMessage’s Immediate OptIn Confirmation Messages are able to provide immediate feedback based on their engagements. This goodwill, in turn, lays the foundations for a customer to build a lasting relationship with your brand.
Wait, What’s an OptIn?
To communicate with your visitors via Messenger, you need to to get their permission first. An OptIn is how Facebook verifies who has permission to message whom. It’s the password that allows your business to proactively engage with your customers in Messenger.
Collecting Messenger OptIns is 2019’s equivalent of collecting emails 20 years ago. Businesses that invest in their list-building now will make Facebook Messenger their next big revenue-driving channel.
What’s the Immediate Confirmation Message?
Immediate OptIn Confirmation messages are a sweet feature upgrade for ShopMessage’s Growth Plugins. Businesses on Facebook are already using Growth Plugins to build Messenger subscriber lists.
It’s essentially a message that sends immediately after the Messenger OptIn event occurs. We’re not talking about days, hours or minutes here. We’re talking about messages that customers receive seconds after they engage with your brand.
Growth plugins were previously optimized around using the plugin to enter a customer into a messaging flow.
The problem was that flows don’t respond immediately. There is a time delay between the OptIn event and the receipt of the message. As a result, there will be a lag between the time that a Messenger OptIn event happens. This delay of even a few minutes can be enough time for a customer to lose interest.
This delay between action and reaction is not new. Even now, customers signing up via email address experience this problem.
With the Immediate OptIn Confirmation, businesses can set up a message that will send immediately. Then, seconds after the Messenger OptIn event occurs, your customer will receive a message from your business page in Messenger.
As a result, this creates a much better customer experience. You can build customer trust in this new channel by delivering the confirmation message immediately.
Since your customers are actively engaging with your brand, they are at peak receptivity to messages, despite the novelty of the channel. Customers receiving this external feedback that opting-in to messages with your brand was the right thing to do.
This micro-interaction with your business primes your customers to view your brand more positively. Furthermore, you can sweeten the experience by adding the delivery of a dynamic discount code. When you do this, you start your customers’ journey with your brand off on the right foot.
How To Use Immediate OptIn Confirmation Messaging Effectively
In order to be effective, you need to be in the shoes of your customer. An effective immediate OptIn confirmation is timely and relevant. Thus, it doesn’t distract your visitor from the thing you want them to continue doing.
Your customer will be able to trigger an immediate message one of several ways.
Visiting an M.Me Link from somewhere else on the internet
Clicking a send-to-messenger button on an onsite Growth Plugin.
Signing up for order updates — coming soon!
When this happens, a message will greet them. In order to be effective, the immediate message will be tailored around the context of the customer experience leading up to the OptIn event.
Visitors from an M.Me link may need additional context about what they gain from chatting with your business on Messenger. You can ask your visitors questions. You can then use their responses to tailor a more relevant landing page experience for them before moving them down your funnel.
People who click an onsite growth plugin will benefit from only receiving a brief confirmation message. You don’t want to pull their attention away from their onsite experience.
Mobile visitors may see your message as a push notification at the top of their phone as they are browsing. This is a great way to confirm receipt of the dynamic discount code in their inbox, without taking them off your site.
The most effective immediate OptIn confirmation messages treat Messenger as a companion experience. These messages support another interaction your customer is already having with your brand.
A frustrating Messenger Menu experience will turn off your potential customers. Frustrated customers walk away, happy ones stay. Businesses that are even thinking about using conversational flows to drive revenue should know this.
But how could a messenger menu be conversational?
The Problem Faced by Businesses on Messenger
Here’s a story about the current state of the persistent menu using the analog phone to illustrate the problem faced by Businesses on Messenger today.
Imagine that a customer calls your store’s telephone number. It rings and rings until finally, the customer hangs up because no one was there on the other end.
Slightly better would be if the customer could call and get at least a menu of choices. “Push 1 to Browse Collections. Press 2 for Frequently Asked Questions. Choose 3 for…” and so on, and so forth. As ridiculous as Pushing 1 to browse products sounds, this is basically the functionality of the existing persistent menus on Facebook these days.
No one likes to be left hanging on the other end of the line, not knowing if they’ve been heard. The Messenger can now be paired with a conversation to create an engaging, frustration-free customer experience.
But what if when a customer Pushes 1, the voice on the other end starts asking more questions. It learns what types of products the customer is looking for, or what size, and what color before it takes them to your site.
It’s almost as if there WAS someone there on the other end of chat the first time the customer came in.
ShopMessage’s Messenger Menu provides the tools you need to automate this concierge-style experience to more deeply engage with your customers.
No one likes a boring menu.
Why You Should Care About Messenger Menus
There are over 20 billion messages being sent on Messenger between people and businesses each month. Customers are already using this channel to engage with your business.
The persistent Messenger menu is the first line of defense protecting your customer support channels from incoming customer requests. It gives customers control of their interaction with your brand.
Customers get the ability to navigate through a couple of layers of menu items to find what they’re looking for.
How Messenger Menus are Getting an Upgrade
The trouble with this is that the customer journey is often complex, with many steps. You might need to ask your customers 3-4-5 or more questions to understand their needs and direct them to a solution.
With the existing persistent messenger menus, nested menus provide at most 2 levels of clarification. Your customers will need to click a link to some destination and the onus is on them to find what they are looking for from there.
ShopMessage’s conversational message sequences provide an extension on the standard persistent menu capabilities. You will be able to anticipate your customers’ needs and present their solution, automatically.
TL;DR: You can set up a large tree of messages. You can have up to 93 Titles with 75 calls-to-action. 3 menu items with 5 sub-menus each having 5 double-sub-menus. The math checks out.
This is what 75 menu CTAs look like.
This is certainly a lot of options, but a lot rides on you choosing the right hierarchy on the first level choice.
What if your customer needs more guidance?
Sometimes the customer needs a little extra help, and there may not always be anyone around to help. The phone will just ring and ring and ring. The dots that show the person on the other end of the chat is typing will never show up.
ShopMessage introduces the ability to take any of those numerous menu items and plug a message sequence into it. Doing this unlocks a much more robust way to further engage with your customer.
3 Ways Brands are Using Messenger Menus to Guide and Engage with Their Customers
Providing highly targeted product recommendations using a product quiz
Reframing FAQ as a conversational interaction instead of a long page of a text
Telling your brand story, fireside chat style
Basically, Customers can interact with your brand through a series of quick reply buttons in the conversation that narrows their search, categorizes their needs, and funnels them to the correct landing page.
And best of all, you can create and manage your Facebook pages’ persistent menu right from the ShopMessage app where you’re already using other flows to drive sales.
3 Benefits of Using ShopMessage’s Messenger Menu
Take customers deeper into your chat experience using images, videos, carousels, and message quick replies before presenting an outbound link to your website.
Track customer behavior such as purchases on your site that direct results of interactions with different Menu items.
See which conversations are engaging your customers the most. Understand what’s resonating about your brand by following the data.
Newcomers will see a Get Started option to engage with your page’s Messenger channel.
Where Does Your Messenger Menu Live?
The persistent menu appears in Messenger chats with your Facebook page.
When a customer engages in a chat with your brand, and you have a persistent menu configured, it will be visible at the bottom of the viewport window.
To activate your menu, the “Get Started” button must also be enabled. New users attempting to chat with your brand must have a way to opt-in to receive messages from your Facebook page.
You can optionally disable the input field that allows customers to type whatever they like. Brands that don’t have the resources to invest in a dedicated human to respond to inbound customer requests would benefit.
Removing the ability to send messages effectively removes the expectation that a reply is coming soon. This, in turn, removes the direct point of frustration.
Your Messenger Menu is accessible from the main navigation.
How to Get Started with Your Messenger Menu
The Messenger Menu feature is live! To access the persistent menu, click the Messenger Menu item from the side navigation of your dashboard.
Here you’ll be able to set up your menu. Different stores will have different menu requirements. Next, learn to make the most out of your Messenger Menu.
5 Tips for Making the Most of Your Messenger Menu
Go beyond a simple set of nested links. Don’t just cross your fingers that you have what your customer needs.
Integrate your brand’s Messenger Menu with ShopMessage’s conversation message builders to create a more engaging, responsive experience for your customers.
Send your customers exactly where they want to go. Why send them to a landing page with your latest product releases if they have a preference for discounts and clearance?
Utilize quick reply button navigation so your customers can tell you what their preferences are. Based on their responses, you can present to them a collection of the most relevant products.
Communicate in your brand’s voice. A conversational medium deserves a conversational voice. Give emojis a try. Who doesn’t like to be greeted with a smile?
So, how about it? Are you ready to get started with ShopMessage?
M.Me Links (a.k.a M-Me Links, Messenger Links, M-Dot-Me Links, Mmmmm links) are an essential component of your conversational marketing strategy for two reasons.
First, Facebook Messenger stands to be THE revenue channel of 2019 for businesses on Facebook. You may have an email list already, but do you get 80% open-rates and 25% CTRs on your emails?
M.Me links allow you to migrate your users over to a more engaging and effective conversation channel with your customers.
Second, ShopMessage combines the versatility of a hyperlink, the efficiency of automated user flows, and the authenticity of a conversational interface. This triple-threat marketing tool helps you collect all the info you need while building an ongoing relationship with your Messenger contacts.
This new functionality enables businesses to create a scalable concierge-style experience for customers discovering their Facebook Messenger chat from across the internet.
M.Me Links take visitors from around the web to your Facebook Page’s Messenger channel.
What are M.Me Links?
In 2016, Facebook announced M.Me Links. These are a native feature that allows businesses to spread links around the internet for potential customers to discover. When clicked, these links open up a Messenger conversation with your Facebook business page.
Facebook created usernames for your Facebook pages which make it easier to find your business on Facebook. We set “shopmessage” as our custom identifier. When you click https://www.facebook.com/shopmessage, you’re taken to the Facebook page for ShopMessage.
You business page’s M.Me links also use these identifiers. When you click https://www.m.me/shopmessage, you’re taken to a Messenger chat conversation with our business page.
When you arrive in this conversation, one of two things will happen:
Visitors who do not have an existing conversation with our Facebook page on Messenger will see a “Get Started” button. When a user clicks this button, they are saying to Facebook “Yes, let me talk with this business. Let this business to talk to me.” Clicking the button will display the Messenger thread.
If you have already had an existing Messenger thread with our business, then you will see our history together.
Why You Should Care About These Links Now
Although Facebook has honored custom ref params on M.Me links since the feature has been available, you couldn’t use them for much more than tracking traffic.
Don’t get me wrong, tracking traffic is important. In fact, ShopMessage lets you track link clicks and revenue associated with customers earned through each of your M.Me links so you can drill down into the traffic sources that are working for you.
But what if you don’t want the customer journey to stop there?
Now you can continue the conversation with the people clicking through to your brand. You’ll be able to customize a unique set of responses for users that click M.Me links made in ShopMessage. You will also have data tracking the clicks and sales driven by your custom M.Me links.
This is the first significant improvement in your customers’ experiences with M.Me Links since 2016. Now visitors can receive an immediate response from your brand that speaks to where your customers are coming from.
They won’t have to type in anything and wait for a human to respond. Your chat experience will be more engaging because it says the right thing to your visitor as soon as they arrive.
Oh, and we made it so you can make your custom ref param any string of text you want. Remembering and sharing links should be easy.
How Your Customers Benefit From Better M.Me Chat Experiences
The key change here is context.
Now, you can craft intelligent, thoughtful responses that acknowledge the preceding context of your customer’s journey. Rather than staffing someone behind the chat, your responses will be ready to deploy whenever a visitor appears through your link.
Your customers won’t experience the confusion of getting excited about your brand, clicking the link, and not having any kind of follow-up to push them through to the next step of your marketing funnel.
Merchants using ShopMessage can use M.Me Links to create a conversational experience. These messages greet visitors coming from different traffic sources across the web in a contextually relevant way. A few words go a long way in easing the transition into a Messenger conversation with your brand.
You can tailor your custom ref parameters to different incoming customer experiences.
3 Examples of Possible M.Me Customer Experiences
1 A user clicks a link in your email newsletter, blog or twitter feed and receives a dynamic discount code. It’s a great way to thank them for their readership.
2 A visitor sees an ad on Instagram with a link to learn more about your products and services. Clickers are taken to a Messenger chat thread that asks them some easy quick-reply questions. These can help identify where in the purchasing cycle they are or what their preferences are. Then you can send them a link to the most appropriate landing page.
3 A customer receives their item. The packing slip has a QR code on it. When scanned, it sends them an animated gif in Messenger that thanks them for being a loyal customer.
There is no limit to how many M.Me Link parameters you set up. Just make sure that each parameter is unique to your page.
How to Get Started Using Conversational M.Me Links
ShopMessage merchants can create conversational M.Me Links like they would other growth plugins. Select M.Me from the list of Growth Plugin types in the Growth Plugin creation flow.
M.Me Links are a type of Growth Plugin. This is because they help businesses grow their relationship with more customers in Messenger. Using M.Me Links made through ShopMessage is a win-win. They create a great experience for your customers while growing your brand’s list of Messenger contacts along the way.
Contacts created through your M.Me growth plugins will qualify for other Messenger Marketing flows you have set up in ShopMessage. This includes customer retargeting flows like cart abandonment and browse abandonment. Instead of just creating a chat, you’re creating a future relationship with these visitors.
Lastly, M.Me Links work across the internet wherever links are shared. Here are a few ideas to help you get started.
7 Strategies to Grow Your Messenger List with M.Me Links
1. Migrate Your E-Mail List to Messenger
Distribute in your emails and email signatures and convert those email subscribers into more engaged Messenger subscribers. Email has served us well for years, but you want to make sure that you are able to reach your customers wherever they happen to be. Using your email list to turbocharge the growth of your Messenger list is a great way to increase your ability to reach customers who may not always check their email.
2. Re-Engage Your Social Media Followers
Share them in social media posts. Name me a social media platform that doesn’t give you the way to share links? Tweet your links, drop them in a Facebook post description, pair with a Pinterest infographic pin, and even your Instagram swipe-up links! Tailor the next step of the acquisition funnel to reference the preceding step’s contextual content.
3. Leverage Influencer Reach on YouTube and Instagram
Sponsor a YouTuber / Influencer and have them stick the link in their video descriptions or bio. Drill down deeper with partnerships with your existing network of ambassadors. Create a mutually beneficial experience for your two audiences by making the experience super personal and enriching for the audience, with detailed conversation metrics at every step of the way.
4. Embed Links in Your Digital Marketing Content
Insert a Messenger CTA link in your digital marketing content. Longtail contacts will still receive the same appropriate messaging whether they find you immediately, or 5 months down the road. Imagine your e-book getting passed around and having the tracking to see all the new customers being driven by that document.
5. Print Dynamic QR Codes on Branded Materials
Put it in a QR Code and print it on your packaging materials. It’s a great way to remind customers that there’s more you can offer them. Imagine a code on your boxes or bags that can be scanned to hook your customers up with a Free Shipping discount. Print limited edition promo QR code shirts for your ambassadors to wear IRL for some guerilla marketing at high-traffic events like Coachella or South by Southwest.
6. Set-up an M.Me Link in your Footers
Have your M.Me link available as a contact channel on your website. It’s a nice alternative if you don’t have a dedicated customer support agent. When visitors have questions or demand to speak to the manager, you can send them here. An M.Me Link designed to handle inquiries and FAQs can be a great way to get people the answers they need without bombarding your customer support channels.
7. Text it!
Daily Messenger volume now exceeds peak SMS volume. Texting a link is a great way to convert your SMS subscribers into Messenger contacts. Conversations happening over Messenger are less disruptive to your customers. Become more accessible via Messenger with additional signals to reach your customers on Facebook
