Smaller businesses turn to messaging platforms to engage customers
The adoption of business messaging channels has increased by 53 percent in just one year, driven by AI agents and LLM-powered automation.
A report from respond.io shows small and medium-sized businesses are increasingly engaging customers through platforms like WhatsApp, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook Messenger.
They’re also using AI agents to conversational assistants to enable personalized interactions across multiple channels, allowing smaller teams to drive sales and compete with larger enterprises.
WhatsApp remains the top business messaging channel, followed by Webchat and Instagram, though TikTok nearly tripled its share in 2025, led by the launch of TikTok Business Messaging. Messaging apps are steadily outperforming traditional channels like email and SMS. Looked at by industry healthcare leads the adoption across industries in 2025, followed by education, travel, software, and beauty.
There are regional trends too, webchat leads in North America and the APAC region, while Meta platforms and TikTok Business Messaging dominate in LATAM and EMEA.
“2025 marks a turning point for business communication. With messaging adoption up more than 50 percent this year, businesses are moving away from legacy channels like emails and SMS toward faster, more personal interactions on instant messaging channels,” says Gerardo Salandra, CEO and co-founder of respond.io. “At the same time, advances in generative AI have brought AI Agents into the mainstream -- automating routine tasks and enabling customer engagement over chat at scale. We see the future of customer communication as unified and AI-driven, where chats, calls, and every interaction come together in a single powerful platform. Businesses can no longer rely on fragmented legacy systems; they need scalable, reliable, and modern solutions that combine AI and automation with the human touch their customers still expect.”
You can see more on the respond.io site.
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