Will this free chat app transform customer service?

Facebook Messenger has introduced a new live chat feature of its popular chat service that will allow businesses to communicate directly with their customers within their own website, in Messenger and across devices.

Messenger has launched its new Platform 2.2 and Customer Chat, which a number of businesses will be using, including Adore Me, Air France, Argos, Aviva, KLM, Mermaid Pillow, Total Activation and Zalando.

The new tool allows businesses to build experiences that facilitate connections with customers and improve the quality of their engagement.

A Messenger spokesperson told Kochie’s Business Builders (KBB) one of their most highly requested features is the ability to extend Messenger experiences onto a business’s website.

“Today, we are happy to announce the release of the customer chat plugin in closed beta. With customer chat plugin, people can talk with businesses on their websites and in Messenger (across web, mobile or tablet) and transition back and forth seamlessly without losing the conversation’s history and context. This makes it easier for customers to continue the conversation with a business whenever and wherever it’s most convenient for them.”

Tom Sailors, co-founder of Mermaid Pillow said the app has changed the way the brand communicates with its customers.

“It’s fast, personal, and familiar – to our team, and our customers. We’ve found it to be the easiest, most natural way to communicate with our customers, and potential customers, throughout the entire relationship,”

“This is why we’re so excited to be one of the first businesses to use customer chat, which is making it easier than ever for us to connect with our customers on our website and in Messenger. With customer chat, conversations today feel just as connected tomorrow, because thanks to Messenger we are able to have context and history from previous interactions,” Sailor adds.

“We continue to receive great feedback from our developer community,” said a Messenger spokesperson. “This helps us define our roadmap and build new tools. It’s thanks to this feedback that today we are announcing our 2.2 release, which we believe will help developers and businesses reach their customers in new and engaging ways, improve the quality of their unique messaging experiences and make it easier to build and iterate on the Messenger Platform.”

Pieter Groeneveld, Senior Vice President of Digital at Air France KLM said the app is exactly the type of service customers have been calling for.

“The introduction of Messenger customer chat on KLM.com is a new step in KLM’s social media strategy. KLM wants to be where its customers are and make it convenient for them to ask questions throughout the entire customer journey. The integration of Messenger customer chat into KLM.com makes it even easier to have a personal conversation with KLM, which can be reread and continued at any given time or place.’’

Messenger’s Customer Chat is a free way for businesses to reach their customers wherever they are without the need for additional software integrations. The plugin can be integrated directly into most websites.

Businesses can sign up to join the waitlist to test Messenger 2.2 here.

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