(1) Real-time communication enhances customer relationship. Fast and efficient is the characteristic of information. If there are obstacles in information transmission, you can find them in time, instead of waiting for hours or even days to receive the returned message like email. Instant messaging has partially replaced the personal information exchange function of e-mail, which can also be illustrated by the fact that the number of Internet users sending and receiving e-mails in China has been declining in recent two years. At the same time, instant messaging has become another most commonly used Internet service after e-mail and search engines. The real-time communication function of instant messaging plays an obvious role in establishing and improving customer relations, especially the application of instant messaging in websites has become an effective way for enterprises to strengthen communication with customers.
(2) Online customer service. With the increasing demand of customers for online consultation, they can no longer be satisfied with asking questions by email for hours or even days before getting a reply. Many customers want to get an instant reply, and instant messaging tools have the function of real-time customer service. Because the real-time customer service has high requirements for customer service personnel, its application in some enterprises still needs a transitional process.
(3) Shopping guide service in online sales. There are many links to realize an online sales process. Before completing the order, you have to go through the commodity inquiry, read the commodity introduction, compare prices, understand the delivery time and return policy, and finally choose the goods and add them to the shopping cart. Then you have to go through the order confirmation and online payment to complete the shopping process. As long as there is a problem in one link in the online shopping process, this shopping activity cannot be completed. The proportion of abandoned shopping carts in online shopping is quite high. A study published by Datamonitor (), a British market research company, shows that in 200 1 year, 69.4% of online transactions were abandoned for various reasons, of which 8. 1% was because customers needed advice during shopping. BizRate.com, an American e-commerce portal, found that 75% of customers gave up shopping carts. Basex (), an American research and consulting company, believes that if appropriate online services such as instant messaging are adopted, the proportion of abandoned shopping carts can be reduced by 20%, and the total online shopping in the United States will increase by 20 billion US dollars. It can be seen that instant messaging is of great value in online sales consulting services.
(4) Internet advertising media. Instant messaging tools with a large number of users have become one of the main online advertising media. Compared with general online advertising based on web pages, instant messaging tools have its unique advantages, such as facilitating users' positioning and delivering information to a large number of online users. For example, QQ, an online chat tool familiar to domestic users, has a variety of advertising forms, and the most distinctive system broadcast function can attract users' attention more than banner advertisements and text advertisements on general websites.
(5) Viral marketing information dissemination tools. Like e-books and other online marketing tools, instant messaging can also be used as a tool to spread viral marketing information. For example, some funny jokes, classic emotional stories, holiday wishes, FLASH and so on. Can become the carrier of viral marketing, and instant messaging becomes the communication tool of these information. When users see a webpage with their favorite content on the Internet, they often forward the website address of the webpage to their online friends through instant messaging, and through mutual forwarding among users, instant messaging tools also play an active role in viral marketing communication.