Thryv Holdings, Inc., the provider of Thryv® software, the leading end-to-end customer experience platform built for growing small businesses, is pleased to announce it is launching a real-time centralized inbox within its platform later this month.
This new platform enhancement will allow small business owners to communicate with their customers and prospects wherever they are and in whichever format they prefer, whether via webchat, email, text message, Facebook and Instagram messenger apps or Google messenger. All messages will be stored within the CRM contact’s file in the centralized inbox. The business can respond in real-time, out of the same centralized dashboard, and not have to juggle between multiple platforms or navigate between multiple conversation threads.
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Business-consumer communication methods continue to evolve, and consumers are demanding more options. Consumers have grown increasingly wary of phone calls from businesses. U.S. consumers received 45.9 billion robocalls in 2020 (up 50 percent from 2017). This is likely a good indicator of why 94 percent of people now say they won’t answer a call if they don’t recognize the phone number.
Younger generations far prefer text messaging over phone conversations. In fact, 88 percent of millennials prefer to text rather than talk on the phone, and even consider it rude to be called when a text would suffice. Additionally, nearly half of consumers say that they want special offers sent to them via text message. The next wave of messaging preference is social media. To wit, Facebook reports that consumers and businesses exchange 20 billion messages each month.
With the launch of its centralized inbox, Thryv will also provide a fully integrated webchat plugin for small business websites at no additional cost. This will allow website visitors to initiate a conversation with the business at any time. To ensure these businesses never miss a message, Thryv developed an automated responder that will request key contact information from the customer or prospect across all real-time messaging platforms.
The automation built into the new inbox will, in turn, help capture leads for new business, while satisfying that client’s communication preferences. About 73 percent of consumers say webchat is the most satisfactory form of communication with a business, compared to 51 percent for email and 44 percent for phone.
Year-to-date, over 43 million messages have been sent between small businesses and their customers using Thryv.
“In essence, our new centralized inbox turns every ‘hello’ into an actionable contact that gives the business owner real, usable information about the contact, which they can then nurture and build a business relationship with,” said Ryan Cantor, Thryv’s Chief Product Officer. “And this happens regardless of whether the client has left the chat or not.”
The automated responder will also activate within Facebook, Instagram and Google messenger programs to capture contact information and build the business’s client database within its customer relationship management (CRM) system.
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Thryv’s centralized inbox was built with the small business owner in mind. A conversation that starts with webchat may need to be responded to via SMS message or email if the visitor has left the site. Thryv’s centralized inbox shows this singular conversation thread regardless of channel and automatically responds to the right channel to reach the customer.
“The beauty of Thryv’s inbox is that it is customer-centric, not conversation-centric, meaning that every conversation is captured in the client’s file,” Cantor said. “So, you’re not searching through conversation threads, trying to remember which one you provided that estimate in. Having this 360-degree view of your client is a game-changer. We’re creating order from the madness, saving you time, reducing friction and truly helping you win your customers and grow your business.”
