Meet Ava. She’s the newest staff member at Dublin technology agency Connector. Ava is said to be Ireland’s first Facebook Messenger chat bot. How people in Ireland engage with businesses through technology is constantly evolving. Connector says SMS, messaging, chat and email are once again the most prevalent consumer experiences.
With 1.9 million Facebook Messenger users and 1.7 million WhatsApp users in Ireland, these two platforms have a higher percentage of users than any other messenger network in the country. Connector chief executive Connor Lynch says a growing number of Irish people love to communicate with one another using Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.
“By employing a chat-first strategy, a company can drive sales, provide customer service, enhance their brand experience and encourage customer loyalty,” Lynch said. “With a mix of AI and human service, a smart organisation can enrich interactions with audiences, so they feel both familiar and welcome, while also delivering a great deal of value.”
With regards to Facebook Messenger, 52 per cent of people prefer texting customer support than other methods of communication. All smartphone users aged 18-29 use text messaging phones once a week. The rate of opened and read SMS texts is 98 per cent. It usually takes 90 seconds for people to reply to a text message and all of 90 minutes for an email.
Connector clients include Huawei, Sony, Just Eat, Benecol, Bord Bia, Allianz and RTÉ.
Ava’s Connector Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/connector/
