Is Viber messaging effective? Let’s analyze all the pros and cons
Viber is the most popular messenger in Ukraine and the CIS countries today. The number of its users worldwide has already exceeded one billion, including more than 20 million in Ukraine. In December last year, the volume of Viber messages sent for business purposes increased by almost 140%. A typical user logs into the app 12 times a day to send about thirty messages to personal or group chats, and make several calls. Thus, it is obvious that such a channel is promising and effective for communication with customers. After all, the delivery rate of messages to recipients is 100%, and after receiving them, in 50% of cases, recipients click on the specified link or perform another targeted action – thanks to the convenient format, it is very easy to do.
Viber is sometimes better than SMS. Why?
Yes, SMS messages also have a very high open rate and click-through rate, but Viber newsletters have a number of advantages. Let’s analyze them in more detail below.
- First: 1000 characters in a Viber message – versus 160 in SMS.
- Secondly: In Viber, you can make your message more interactive and attractive – add not only links, but also emojis, pictures, and buttons.
- Thirdly: Viber messages are usually more cost-effective, and you pay only for the delivered ones.
Both channels allow you to segment and target your email campaigns, as well as send promotional, transactional, and triggered messages.
Tip: By the way, many companies are switching to Viber for service notifications – about transactions, product delivery, etc. In this case, it is more convenient to use both channels. First, send a message on Viber, and if it is not delivered within a few hours, send an SMS. The same tactic will help to increase the effectiveness of promotional emails, and UTM tags will help to track the source of leads.
When is it advisable for a business to use Viber campaigns?
- Informing customers about new product arrivals, promotions, discounts, or special offers
- Reminders about an appointment or meeting
- Notification of order or delivery status
- Send personalized offers based on previous purchases or user interests
When to use Viber newsletters in your communication strategy:
- Service improvement: to improve customer experience through timely information and support
- Message personalization: to increase the effectiveness of marketing campaigns
- High audience engagement: if your target audience actively uses Viber
- Need for fast communication: when you need to quickly convey information to a large number of customers
Where to start?
Define the target audience. To get contacts of a potentially loyal audience, we use the following methods:
- offer a discount promo code sent via SMS
- Please provide your phone number when making a purchase or loyalty card
- through registration on the website.
Important: in any case, a person must give their consent to receive notifications.
The ideal Viber advertising campaign includes the following elements: Company name – displayed in the sender’s name, for which you need to register an alpha name. This confirms the authenticity of the company and at the same time promotes name recognition. The logo serves the same purpose. A text message can contain up to 1000 characters, which allows you to provide all the necessary information. An active link to the website for easy navigation. Attractive banner – the advertising image should correspond to the topic. A call to action. A clickable button. Contacts – a mandatory attribute of the message, which is best placed in a separate block.
For messenger marketing to work:
- test as many hypotheses as possible to increase conversions
- write something that will interest or benefit the user
- After sending, analyze your email statistics to correct mistakes and improve results in the future.
- evoke emotions
- write in a short and structured way
- Use buttons and images, and if allowed
- policy, then emojis
Errors that negatively affect the effectiveness of Viber campaigns:
- Using too large texts or incorrect media formats that are not optimized for Viber.
- Sending messages at night (when people are sleeping).
- One-size-fits-all emails: it’s important to segment your audience to understand what messages to send to whom.
- Too many messages, which can be annoying and provoke unsubscribes.
- Insufficient attention to GDPR (use of purchased or spam database).
Important! When choosing Viber for sales, remember that this messenger is often used to send spam. To protect official mailings, you need a reliable contact database. It should consist of customer numbers that have actually agreed to the newsletter.
You should also choose a licensed service that is a Viber distributor – in this case, you can get additional benefits for your advertising campaign:
- authorization and loyalty of Viber to the company (the channel will receive an alpha name and a green checkmark next to the logo);
- Guaranteed delivery: you pay only for those messages that have been delivered;
- fast message transfer in large volumes;
- minimum time spent: to get started, you only need to create an account and set the terms of the newsletter.
Conclusion
To summarize, official mass Viber newsletters help businesses improve online communications, increase sales, and reduce the workload of company employees.
