Turn social media messages into enquiries and sales

Key takeaways

To turn social media messages into sales, reply quickly, answer the question asked, ask one qualifying question and propose a specific next step. Good content earns the message. What happens in the next hour decides whether it becomes a customer.

• 4 steps: acknowledge, answer, ask and advance.
• Reply within 1 working hour where you can.
• Saved replies keep answers quick and consistent.
• Move to a call, visit or quote within 3 or 4 messages.

Why do messages matter so much?

Messages matter because they are the moment a follower becomes an enquirer. Someone who writes to you has chosen to act. The reply is the first experience of dealing with your business, and a slow or vague one undoes the work of the content that prompted it.

• How to create social media content that attracts the right customers
• Social media calls to action that get enquiries

What does a good reply contain?

A good reply has four steps. Acknowledge the person by name. Answer what they asked, even if only with a range. Ask one question that tells you whether they are a fit. Advance by offering a specific next step. Do all four in one short message.

• Acknowledge: 'Hi Sam, thanks for getting in touch.'
• Answer: 'Yes, we cover Harrogate. Most jobs like this are £900 to £1,400.'
• Ask: 'Is it a house or a flat?'
• Advance: 'I can call tomorrow at 10 or 2. Which suits?'

• How to stop attracting price shoppers on social media

How fast should you reply?

Aim to reply within one working hour, and always within the same working day. People often message several businesses at once, and the first helpful reply has the advantage. Set an automatic greeting that states your hours, so nobody wonders whether the message arrived.

• Social media response time: what customers expect
• Losing leads to slow follow-up? When to outsource it

How do saved replies help?

Saved replies are pre-written answers to common questions that you insert and then personalise. Write five: price, area, availability, how it works and what you need from them. They cut reply time and keep answers consistent whoever is on duty. Always add the person's name and one specific detail.

• Price: a range and what moves it.
• Area: where you do and do not cover.
• Availability: current lead time.
• Process: what happens next.
• Details needed: photos, postcode, sizes.

• WhatsApp Business for UK small businesses

When should you move off the app?

Move off the app within three or four messages, once you know the enquiry is a fit. Offer a call, visit or written quote. Long conversations in messages are easy to lose and hard to hand over. Log the enquiry in your own system the day it arrives.

• How to measure social media lead quality
• Community management for small businesses

What rules apply to messaging customers?

Replying to someone who has contacted you is fine. Sending unsolicited marketing messages to individuals is restricted under PECR and generally needs consent. Personal details shared in a conversation are personal data under UK GDPR: use them for the enquiry, store them securely and do not add people to marketing lists without permission.

• GDPR and social media marketing in the UK

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see with UK small businesses: messages are checked when someone remembers, sometimes days later, and the reply is 'please call the office'. Handing replies to a named person with five saved answers typically recovers enquiries the business did not know it was losing.

• See client work
• Social Media Marketing for UK businesses
• The right-customer content scorecard for social media

Message handling checklist

Put these in place.

• A named person owns messages each day.
• An automatic greeting states your hours.
• Five saved replies exist.
• Each reply answers, asks and advances.
• Fit enquiries move to a call or quote quickly.
• Every enquiry is logged.

Next step

Write your five saved replies this week and decide who answers messages on each working day.