• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, June 3, 2021

Cloud-based mobile customer engagement company Sinch AB has launched a worldwide API for business messaging through Instagram.

The launch coincides with the availability of API for Instagram, announced on Wednesday at Facebook’s F8 conference.

Brands can use the API to have scalable conversations with customers using Instagram DMs or Stories, facilitating user interaction and customer support.

Businesses can use the API through Sinch’s Conversation API, which allows for conversations across widely used consumer channels such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, SMS, MMS and RCS.

Business messaging through Instagram also speeds contact with users who name the brand through mentions of Stories. Response time to calls related to direct messages is 42% shorter compared to the average of the last 6 months. 

In trials, customers have expressed satisfaction with the faster responses and improved experience, according to Sinch.

One of the first brands to use the API for direct messaging through Instagram, a Brazilian children’s book club with 800,000 followers, Leiturinha, reported a 35% decrease in customer comments requesting assistance by Instagram DMs in the first 11 days, according to Sinch.

Instagram, which has more than 1 billion active accounts worldwide, says that 81% of users report using the platform to research products and services.