Text-based communication plays a growing role in customer service. There are several big questions around how it will evolve. The most important one, in my mind, is how text should work alongside voice. What is the ideal arrangement between typing and talking?
The second big question is: What channel will carry the messages? We have four broad categories: Web-based chat, SMS, social media (e.g. Twitter DMs), and proprietary networks (e.g. Facebook Messenger, Apple Chat). I know that other people divide things differently, but this structure makes sense to me. On that second question, there’s been quite a bit of news in recent months. Let’s go through it.
Last week, Facebook announced that WhatsApp could now be used as a customer service platform. We now have an interesting race between Apple’s “Apple Business Chat”, Facebook’s own “Messenger for Business”, and Twitter. The goal is to grab a vital piece of the eCommerce landscape: The channel for customer service communication.
It’s been a year since Apple announced “Business Chat”. The company staked out an audacious goal: to become the preferred channel for customer service communication. A year ago, Facebook, a competitor on this front, was reeling from weeks of bad press over privacy issues. But now, Facebook stock has hit a new all time high, with those transgressions seemingly forgotten by the market.
Apple’s new Business Chat could have a huge impact on customer service by changing the balance of forces between consumers and companies.
Apple announced “Business Chat” in June, staking a claim to a vital piece of the ecommerce landscape: the channel for customer service communication. The product went into live beta this week with about 10 companies participating, and the timing could not be better for Apple. Facebook, their main rival in this field, is bloodied from weeks of bad press over privacy issues.![[Video] 3 Takeaways from Our Google Hangout on Conversational Commerce](https://fonolo.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Video-3-Takeaways-from-Our-Google-Hangout-on-Conversational-Commerce.jpg "[Video] 3 Takeaways from Our Google Hangout on Conversational Commerce")
Last week, Fonolo hosted a very insightful and engaging Google Hangout discussing the future of chat-for-commerce and if Apple is a legitimate threat. This expert panel discussed how messaging platforms are shaping the way we interact, and how businesses and consumers can embrace this new wave of communications. To save you some time, we’ve extracted video snippets showcasing highlights from the discussion.
The “chat” style of communication, where two parties type text back-and-forth, is wildly popular with consumers. Companies are eager to embrace this popularity because A) it’s smart to communicate in a way your customers like and B) it’s less costly than call center agents.
