‘Slow social media responses cost SMEs millions daily’

SMALL and Medium-sized Enterprises across Nigeria are losing sales at an alarming rate due to slow, inconsistent responses to customer messages on WhatsApp and Instagram, which are platforms that have quietly become the country’s main marketplaces.

This was revealed in a statement on Tuesday by Techstars-backed cloud communications company, PressOne Africa, which warned that uncontrolled customer service on social media DMs is costing businesses millions in unrealised revenue.

According to the company, customers now judge an entire brand, its professionalism, reliability, and quality, simply by how quickly and clearly a message is answered, saying that a delayed DM, it noted, is often all it takes for a buyer to move on to a competitor.

To address this problem, PressOne Africa unveiled Juliet, an intelligent AI employee built to stabilise and professionalise chat-based customer interactions. Juliet responds instantly, consistently, and in a brand-appropriate tone across WhatsApp, Instagram DMs, and other real-time messaging channels.

The financial impact of Juliet was underscored by PressOne Africa’s CEO, Mayowa Okegbenle, who revealed that the company had originally planned to invest heavily in hiring a large customer support team.

“We had budgeted millions this year to build a large customer service team. Juliet removed that need completely,” Okegbenle said. “She saved us significant operational costs, and we have shifted that money into marketing and growth.”

PressOne Africa said Juliet was built first as an internal solution to solve its own customer service challenges, especially the unpredictability of message traffic, the need for instant replies, and inconsistent staff performance. After a six-month internal test phase, the results were strong enough for the company to release the tool to Nigerian businesses.

Unlike traditional chatbots, Juliet is trained like a real employee: she learns from actual customer conversations, understands product-specific nuances, and manages the entire journey from inquiry to payment.

“A slow or unclear message on WhatsApp can stop a sale that should have happened,” the statement noted. “Messages arrive unpredictably, customers expect instant responses, and inconsistent follow-ups lead to missed opportunities—driving buyers straight to competitors.”

PressOne Africa, already known for making business phone numbers affordable, believes Juliet will help SMEs convert more chats into cash, reduce customer service stress, and eliminate chronic losses from late replies.

With millions of Nigerian businesses now relying on social media DMs as their storefronts, Juliet may arrive at a critical moment for SMEs trying to grow in an increasingly competitive digital marketplace.