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Google Business Message

Google Updates Business Messaging through Maps and Search

When a brand achieves loyalty among its consumers, it makes them come back for more or get connected through that particular brand’s customer care service platform. To ease the process, Google has made it available for the brands to get connected with their customers via Google Maps and searches using Google My Business. So from now on, customers can get in touch with the business directly by clicking on to their business on Google Map or by using search.

Earlier this week, Jake Mintz, the senior product manager of Business Messages, announced that Google is expanding the Business messages through Maps and searches to support all kinds of businesses. This will also allow them to integrate business messages directly with the corresponding customer service platforms.

Google Business Message

Earlier around 2017, a new way of communication between customers and the businesses was introduced in the name business message. Even though it was found in 2017, business messaging was not fully developed. Day after day, business messaging was updated and now it has reached a point where consumers can contact businesses just by tapping on to the Google maps or by using search.

How can you enable Business messaging and integrate with a consumer care platform?

As mentioned earlier Google’s business message update can be integrated with customer support platforms.

The customer service platform, those of which have been integrated with a business message is listed below. You can contact any of them and get your business messaging feature with customer care support enabled for your site. Or if you wish not to have a customer service platform then you can enable the business message on Google My Business.

Business messaging and integrate with a consumer care platform

There is no special qualification required; Google has given leverage for any businesses with a website to add the texting feature so that consumers can get in touch in just a few clicks.

Business messaging is made simple in a way that one could simply receive in a text via SMS for both androids and IOS.

Has it been a successful journey?

Many huge companies including Woolworths, Walmart and MyGov were the first ones to try this newly expanded business message feature during the pandemic.

Business message feature

 

Google business message feature

Woolworths, Australia’s largest supermarket makes use of business messaging to convey its customers about the working hours and even allow the customers to search for their product and find information about the product availability in the local stores to simplify the purchase.

Similarly, many other companies have also shared their success stories making use of business messages

 “Mattress Firm, with messaging partner Podium, is successfully selling mattresses directly through Business Messages by sharing videos and product information, even while stores were closed due to COVID-19.”- Google

“DISH, with partner [24]7.ai, has seen a reduction of more than 22 per cent in average handle time using Business Messages features compared to other messaging channels.”- Google

As the numbers of the business message users increase, Google experiments more ways to show-up new methods of communication in search results as well.

Google has also introduced smart replies and even welcome messages for the businesses to have good terms with their customers. In recent research, it is found that many brands make use of business messages to sell their products and give replies to their customer queries.

How can customers connect to your business using Google Maps?

How can customers connect to your business using Google Maps

Place yourself in the shoes of a customer, you will have to open the Google Maps app and write down the name of your destination that is for instance: if you write a bakery name in the search box, you will obviously receive the result with the route map to it. Towards the left, click the option menu and you will have the message option, by clicking that option you can send a text to that particular bakery.

How can customers connect to your business using Google search?

How can customers connect to your business using Google search

Think of yourself as a customer, you are searching for a bakery on Google, you find “The Bakery” site in the top search when you click on that particular bakery, and it leads to a page filled with details about that particular bakery, the ways to communicate and much more information. There will be an option named “message” where it allows you to text to that particular bakery directly.

Is it mandatory to use the business message feature?

Now that you have known how business message works, you would have come up with a question whether it is mandatory for your business to hold this feature.

Well, it is not compulsory to have this feature in your ad, Google gives you the freedom to choose or to not. If you think that signing up with Google My Business will enable the business messaging option then the answer is, no. The business message feature is disabled by default.

How to enable Google Business Message for your website?

Like mentioned earlier business messaging feature is turned off by default, if you wish to enable this feature for your business,

For both Android and IOS users

See that’s it, a piece of cake.

What happens next?

  • You will be notified whenever a customer texts you.
  • You can now customize the welcome message that is being sent. So once a customer contacts you, they will receive this greeting message automatically.
  • Customers will have access to view your name and the profile picture.

How speedy are you at responding?

Google calculates your response time using a certain formula,

“If you’ve received fewer than 10 messages in the 28-day period, the response time will use your last 10 messages.

If you’ve received fewer than 10 messages since signing up for messaging, the response time will use all the messages you’ve ever received.” - Google

In short, it is better if you respond to your customer’s messages within 24 hours of receiving them.

Coming to an end, business messaging is a great feature, to get hold to your customers. This will make any customer feel much more prioritized. So make use of Google business message and if you have not enabled it, do enable it. During this pandemic this feature gives you greater advantage in helping customers get in touch regarding the working hours, product availability, delivery and you can even promote your products as well.

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Google

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Google Business Message

About Guna Nadar

Guna Nadar

Brief Info about Guna Nadar +

I mostly write technical aspects and not much into creative writing. For the past decade I worked along with top notch SEO & Internet Marketing professionals which naturally lured me into the world of Search Engines. When I am not writing I read from comics to philosophy.Antiques, Fishing, hunting are my passions. Currently I am working on Google Penalty protection and .... more info about the author