Curated from Latest from TechRadar US in News,opinion — Here’s what matters right now:
A creator’s Instagram inbox used to be a beautiful mess. One minute it was quiet. The next, a product Reel pops off and they get buried in fire emojis, product questions, and a dozen “Is this still in stock?” DMs. It was certainly exciting. And a bit overwhelming? Manually keeping up often meant lost sleep, missed sales, and a lot of copy-pasting. But now, that chaos is being turned into opportunity: For creators and entrepreneurs alike, the DM is the new storefront, help desk , and loyalty engine, all rolled into one. It's where trust is built, products get discovered, and sales happen at the speed of a double tap. As conversational commerce takes off, more creators and entrepreneurs are building entire revenue engines inside their DMs. And equipped with smart automation , they’ve honed their social platforms to evolve beyond customer engagement to driving discovery, conversion, and customer loyalty in real time. Historically, traditional businesses have enjoyed a rich ecosystem of tools, whether that be automations, webhooks, email integrations, and marketing funnels. They made scaling and systematizing their customer journeys seamless. Social media, by contrast, was long a closed garden: a powerful engagement space but one that limited creators’ ability to fully build and scale businesses because of restricted access. But that’s all changing. Social platforms are opening up, and integrating with search engines and third-party tools. Creators and entrepreneurs can build sophisticated marketing and sales systems within these once closed environments – meaning social media channels are ultimately leveling the playing field. They’re transformed into robust business platforms where engagement, discovery, and conversion seamlessly intertwine. From clicks to conversations, why funnels are flattening The old-school path to a sale was long: social post → link in bio → website → maybe a sale. But let's face it, we’re living in the age of instant gratification. People expect responses yesterday. Slow replies can lead to frustration, while quick, helpful answers leave a lasting impression. Enter: automation. Automation ensures no message gets lost, keeping your audience happy and engaged. It's reshaping the sales funnel. Instead of sending traffic away, creators are closing the loop inside the platforms themselves, often in one message. In fact, 71% of consumers say they expect to interact with brands via messaging platforms. And with an average response time of 2 minutes (vs. 17 hours for email), DMs are simply faster and smarter. To be clear, this shift isn’t about ditching websites. Rather, brands need to meet their buyers where they’re at – and remove the friction between intent and action. DMs essentially pre-qualify intent to purchase. By the time a consumer clicks through to a link provided via DM, they’re warmer and more likely to convert. And the numbers back it up. Some creators report conversion rates as high as 85–98% when routing sales throug
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Original reporting: Latest from TechRadar US in News,opinion