Facebook Messenger is changing their policy to reflect people's expectations of faster responses.
Beginning March 4, 2020, businesses will have up to 24 hours to respond to a customer on Facebook Messenger. The +1 message that allowed businesses to send 1 additional message after the 24 hour window will no longer be available starting March 4th, 2020. This article explains what you need to do now, and, how to keep things in order going forward.
What Changed?
Facebook has implemented a response-time-limit: it impact both agent (human) and automated (bot) responses to Facebook private conversations. As a Khoros customer your human agents will be able to respond up to 7 days after the last customer engagement in a given conversation: for bots, it's 24 hours.
Here are the details of timelines permitted by Facebook for Khoros customers:
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Within 24 hours of the last customer engagement - Human agents or bots can respond to customers and/or send promotional marketing messages.
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After 24 hours but before 7 days - Human agents only can respond (but no bots or promotional messages).
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After 7 days - Any message attempt will fail.
Following are some easy actions you can take now to ensure a consistently great experience for your customers. For more information, please review Facebook Messenger's new policy.
First, does this change affect you?
If you're already answering 100% of Facebook PMs in 15 minutes...this is a non-event. (But do read the next sections to keep it that way!) So check your current response times first: Using Khoros Analytics, create a Response Times widget using a Smart View to isolate Facebook Private Messages. Set the time frame for the prior year, and look at the results. It shows you how many times in the past 12 months you have exceeded the new timing window. If the result is "zero" that's great: keep doing what you're doing. But if the answer is "regularly...." then a workflow review is in order. Our Services, Success, and Coaching teams are all available if you have questions on what to do.
Second, keep things running smoothly
Once you've affirmed that you're responses all fall within the new response window requirements you'll want to ensure that things stay that way. And it's easy to do using Khoros Analytics. Using the real-time Conversations Awaiting Reply widget you can spot problems well in advance: create the widget using the same Smart View as you used above and then set the SLA for this widget to something like 8 hours. This widget, placed on a shared dashboard, will give your entire team visibility into conversations that are well-past your normal response SLA and therefore in need of attention but still well before the new response timing window closes.
Third, ensure zero failures.
Want to ensure zero failed replies? Create an alert when out-of-range conditions develop. Build a "Responses Meeting SLA" widget and place it on a shared dashboard, or if you're the analyst or team supervisor with an Analytics role drop this widget on your personal dashboard. Filter the widget to Facebook PM only (using your Smart View), set the SLA to "100% within 8 hours" (or whatever you chose above) and add an alert. Now, if a conversation response ages well past your normal SLA and enters the danger zone...you'll be the first to know.
Check out these helpful resources in the Khoros Atlas community. And as always your Customer Success Manager, Professional Services contact, or Khoros Coaching team are available to help you.
Additional Resources:
- Setting Up Smart Views
- Mastering Smart Views (Khoros Coaching)
- Creating Alerts for Shared Dashboards
