The World of Messaging

Meet consumers where they are.

Over the past decade, messaging has been a force that completely shifted the landscape on how we as a society communicate with each other. Last year, there were over 20B messages (yes, billion with a b) sent per day via text messaging or SMS. If you think that's a large number, messaging apps like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp have already far exceeded the messaging volume of SMS. There are over 20B messages going through Messenger per day, and a whopping 65B messages per day on WhatsApp.

It’s important for businesses to meet consumers where they are, and where they are is messaging.

Messaging is business ready

Messaging apps are making a big splash beyond being casual communication channels. Businesses are harnessing the power of chat to power their customer support and inquiries, some even going so far as to allow their customers to transact and make purchases directly in the conversation -- 83% of consumers message businesses to learn about their products and services, 76% of consumers contact businesses to get help and find support, and up to 75% of consumers are making purchases via messaging.

Transactions are the core of every business, and we are already seeing a shift where messaging platforms are enabling peer-to-peer and consumer-to-business payments. Facebook has rolled out Messenger Pay to their U.S. user base. China is already living in a cashless future where mobile payment through messaging apps has become completely ubiquitous and has revolutionized how people and businesses use and spend money. 92% of urban population in China use messaging platforms like WeChat as their primary payment method.

Messaging for everything

In recent years, the market has shifted to where consumers are heavily relying on messaging and they expect messaging, not only to be the main channel for connecting with friends and businesses, but as the main channel for everything. Messaging platforms like Messenger, WhatsApp, and WeChat have become entrenched in our daily lives. Today, we are able to do the following without leaving messaging apps:

• Call a ride share service
• Order food for delivery
• Receive receipts and confirmations
• Book flights and get mobile boarding passes
• Play games
• View and browse products
• And the list goes on

Hospitality industry is catching up to the era of messaging

Hotel text messaging is an exciting shift of the hospitality industry. Guests have come to expect that they can contact and make requests to hotel staff via messaging. They are expecting hotels to afford the same convenience as hailing a car from a rideshare.

Akia is here to help usher hotels and properties into this new era of communication and on-demand service. We have built a hotel guest communication platform that is powered by our proprietary artificial intelligence to help improve how guests engage with hotel staff.

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