How to use Telegram for business: tips & strategies for success

You may or may not have noticed that the messaging app Telegram is on the rise. Maybe you already started using it yourself. But now you're wondering: can you use Telegram for business?

With over 500 million monthly active users - spread all over the world - chances are your customers are using it too. Time to get to know this popular messaging app and the benefits it could bring to your business.

In this blog, you’ll learn:

• What is Telegram?
• Why businesses should start using Telegram
• How to successfully use Telegram for your business
• How to automate Telegram conversations

What is Telegram?

Telegram is a free messaging app focused on speed and security. The app thanks most of its popularity to its secure privacy policy. You can use the app to send messages, photos, videos, stickers, and files.

Here are the main benefits of Telegram according to Insider:

End-to-end encryption: you can use the secret chat mode in which your conversation is completely encrypted from end to end.

Self-destructing messages: secret messages can be configured to self-destruct after a set period of time.

Large file sizes: Telegram supports file attachments up to 2 GB.

Telegram users

Telegram has 500 million monthly active users around the world. From these 500 million users:

• 38% are from Asia
• 27% are from Europe
• 21% from Latin America
• 8% from MENA

If we look at Telegram's user behavior, there are some more statistics we can learn from:

• Telegram users spend an average of 2.9 hours/month on the app.
• Users demographics include 41.4% female users and 58.6% male users.
• 85% of Telegram users have Android devices.

Why you should start with Telegram for business

Privacy

Privacy is becoming more and more important for customers. This makes Telegram an interesting messaging app to adopt for your business. Customers prefer sending personal information via a secured messaging app. It might not be a must-have right now, but it will make Telegram an essential channel in the future.

Telegram groups

Telegram’s group features are also very interesting for your business. You can create groups and supergroups that allow you to interact with 200 to 5.000 members. This is an easy way to stay in touch with your customers.

Telegram channels

You can also create a Telegram channel and send broadcast messages. Telegram users can subscribe to this channel and will then receive your messages. Channels have an unlimited number of subscribers and are not able to interact themselves. You can use channels to keep your customers up-to-date on the latest information, services, etc.

Exchange files

Did you ever redirect customers to another channel to share extended files? In Telegram, you can share contracts, forms, and other content up to 2 GB. This means you don’t have to switch channels to exchange documents ever again.

How to successfully use Telegram for business

Customer communication takes place for either of two reasons: sales or support. I’ll tell you how you can use Telegram for both of these purposes.

Telegram for customer support

Most of the time, customers that contact you have a question about your product or service. You can answer these questions by simply sending a message or use one of these interesting features to offer next-level support:

• Video calling: you can start a video call in Telegram with up to 1000 viewers. This way you can offer live support during personal conversations or inform a group of customers all at once.
• Screensharing: when your video call needs a bit of visual support, you can share your screen within a matter of seconds.
• Sharing documents: you can share documents up to 2 GB in groups and personal conversations. This comes in handy when you have to exchange, for example, guides or forms.

It’s up to you to make use of these features or choose a more basic approach. Either way, Telegram is a great addition to your support channels.

Telegram for sales

You can also use Telegram to handle orders or share updates on product discounts and sales. Here are some interesting features you can use to create more brand awareness and increase your sales:

• Create channels: you can create channels to share discount codes or updates with your customers.
• Voice messages: admins of channels and public groups can host voice chats for millions of live listeners. This is a great way to inspire your customers with, for example, product releases or promotions.

As you can see, Telegram offers more advanced ways to communicate. This gives you the opportunity to stand out from competitors and sell more.

How to automate Telegram conversations

As if all mentioned features aren’t enough, you can improve your customer communication even more. With a customer service platform, such as Trengo, you can automate your communication by using chatbots, quick replies, and auto-replies.

Quick replies: you can use pre-written messages to quickly answer frequently asked questions.

Auto-replies: you can use pre-written greetings to welcome customers, even outside of business hours.

Chatbots: a Telegram bot takes over simple support queries, routes customers to the right agent, and answers frequently asked questions.

Start using Telegram for business

More and more customers start using Telegram. 1 + 1 = 2. So, you should be there too. Using Telegram for business is a great opportunity to personalize your support and start selling more. Would you like to manage your Telegram messages together with your other channels? In Trengo, you can collect all your channels in one overview, work together on customer conversations, and use tools to automate the busy work.

Plan a free demo today and start exploring both Telegram and Trengo.