What is asynchronous messaging + how does it work?

There’s nothing more frustrating than playing phone tag, whether you’re coordinating a surprise party or trying to get a refund for an order that never arrived. These situations often leave you wishing for a more convenient way to communicate on your schedule.

Asynchronous messaging addresses this issue by allowing customers to communicate with your business whenever it’s convenient for them, without having to restart from the beginning or repeat previously shared information. This flexibility improves customer experience (CX), enhances support outcomes, and boosts team productivity.

In this article, we’ll explore how asynchronous messaging differs from traditional communication, its benefits, and how it can lead to better customer satisfaction.

More in this guide:

• Asynchronous messaging vs. synchronous messaging
• Asynchronous chat benefits for CX
• How AI + automation optimize async chat
• Types of asynchronous messaging communication
• Frequently asked questions
• Take your messaging to the next level with Zendesk

Asynchronous messaging vs. synchronous messaging

All customer communication happens via asynchronous or synchronous messaging. It’s important to offer both when possible to fulfill all customers’ needs.

Pros of asynchronous messaging:

• Accommodates busy schedules, giving customers more flexibility

• Enhances agent productivity by enabling them to multitask

• Allows agents to prepare and research responses

• Records conversation history within the thread, so customers don’t have to repeat themselves

• Increases scalability as agents can assist more customers at once

• Improves cost efficiency without sacrificing CX as fewer agents are needed in live channels

Cons of asynchronous messaging:

• There may be a longer time to resolution if there are long pauses between messages

• Some customers may prefer synchronous messaging to resolve their issues in one go, especially in urgent situations.

When asynchronous messaging isn’t available, customer interactions occur via synchronous messaging. Synchronous messaging differs because it describes real-time, session-based conversations like live chat. Once the session is over, it cannot be reclaimed or restarted as it requires in-the-moment involvement.

Pros of synchronous messaging:

• Allows customers to troubleshoot in real time

• Advantageous on high-converting pages, like checkout pages

Cons of synchronous messaging:

• Decreases productivity as agents can’t multitask

• Difficult to scale and costly because it requires large service teams to meet demand

• Results in customers repeating information, which can lower customer satisfaction

• Requires preparation from both parties for productive conversation

• Can result in customers having to wait on hold if demand is high and there aren’t enough agents available

Asynchronous chat benefits for CX

According to the Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report 2024, 80 percent of consumers expect chat agents and support representatives to assist them with everything they need. It’s not possible to meet these expectations without asynchronous chat options. Below, we discuss why so many customers prefer asynchronous messaging options.

Enables a seamless omnichannel experience

Asynchronous interactions are usually text-based, so they work double duty as the conversation and its notes. Customers can seamlessly transition an interaction to their preferred channel—or even with a different agent—without repeating themselves.

For example, a customer can start a conversation over email and later pick it back up using Messenger. Maybe they began a support request on Messenger but then requested notes and a receipt via email. When asynchronous messaging supports an omnichannel experience, this is no issue.

With asynchronous chat, customer interactions become less tedious, and agents can resolve their problems more effectively. CX is boosted when customers can use their preferred communication channels and resolve their problems at their leisure.

Expands service capabilities for connections across time zones

There’s a good chance your customers and support agents span several time zones. Asynchronous messaging optimizes situations where participating parties have different schedules. The conversation can continue even if both parties are never free at the same time, without extra scheduling effort.

Customers can start a conversation at any time and know an agent will handle their issue, even if they don’t receive an immediate response. For those with busy schedules, sending a few emails over a day can be easier than finding the time for a synchronous conversation. When customers are in control of the timing, they’re less likely to be on a restricted schedule, improving customer satisfaction.

This is especially helpful if a business doesn’t have many support resources. For example, small businesses using messaging may find that it’s easier to connect with customers this way. In this case, asynchronous chat improves CX because customers can reach out at any time without unrealistic expectations for an immediate response that small businesses can’t always provide.

Offers customers more flexibility and convenience

A customer may call a helpline and not realize it’s after hours, or there’s a wait until they can speak with an agent. In their busy lives, they don’t always have an extra five minutes to listen to hold music. With asynchronous communication, customers can send their initial request when their schedule allows and check back when they have time.

Asynchronous messaging is an investment in CX. When your customers can send a response at their convenience instead of scrambling for their order number on a live call, they have a better support experience.

Increases productivity and scalability

Asynchronous messaging enables clearer communication between agents and customers. There’s no need to repeat phone numbers or tediously ask a customer to spell their name again—it’s all there already. Agents can reference earlier interactions and craft the perfect response, eliminating any mistakes from thinking on the fly.

If a ticket moves to another agent or department, they can pick it up right where the customer left off for a seamless experience. This also allows agents to work around their schedules and handle more customers at once for greater scalability.

Asynchronous messaging doesn’t limit CX and customer satisfaction — it enhances it. In fact, after implementing asynchronous messaging with Zendesk, Spartan Race, the world’s largest obstacle race and endurance brand, achieved a 90 percent CSAT score with only 75 agents handling 36,000 monthly tickets.

How AI and automation optimize async chat

One of the key benefits of live chat or phone conversations is immediate, real-time support. Thanks to AI, you can now offer this level of instant service over asynchronous messaging channels as well.

Even if your company doesn’t have the resources for 24/7 human agent availability, AI agents—advanced, fully autonomous AI-powered bots—can provide fast, accurate, and personalized support around the clock. These intelligent agents, pre-trained on billions of real customer interactions, understand customer needs and respond just like human agents, enabling them to independently resolve complex requests.

AI and automation can also enhance your human agents’ capabilities with features such as:

• Agent copilots: Provide real-time assistance to agents by suggesting contextually relevant responses and actions based on customer interactions
• AI-powered ticketing: Surfaces similar tickets, suggests macros, and summarizes tickets to streamline the resolution process
• Workflow automation: Tags, organizes, and routes tickets, enabling agents to work more efficiently
• Automatic escalation: Automatically escalates tickets to reduce the time to resolution

Types of asynchronous messaging communication

When asynchronous isn’t text-based, it’s any communication that customers can access at will, such as a video library. Some common examples of asynchronous messaging channels include:

• Gmail
• Text messages
• Twitter DMs
• Meta Messenger
• WhatsApp
• Slack

One key benefit of asynchronous messaging is that it offers rich features to drive customer engagement and even conversion. You can embed payments, integrate location and maps, add GIFs, and more. These features create a more immersive customer experience and improve satisfaction.

Frequently asked questions

Take your messaging to the next level with Zendesk

Customers expect support that is flexible, convenient, and personalized, and they aren’t willing to settle for experiences where they have to repeat information. Whether your goal is to maximize limited resources, increase agent productivity, or boost CX, asynchronous communication helps you achieve it. However, achieving this requires the right messaging platform.

Zendesk provides a simple, secure, and scalable solution that enables seamless, AI-powered messaging experiences across your website, mobile apps, social channels, and business platforms. With Zendesk, you can offer customers fast and personalized responses from AI agents while empowering your human agents to handle all requests through a centralized, AI-enhanced interface for an improved CX.

Try Zendesk messaging software for free today and take your CX to the next level.