Ask the Digital Doc: What does the new Facebook Messenger platform mean for the future of online customer service as well as customer reviews?

Posted on by Carlton Jefferis

We had a great chat yesterday (on Facebook Messenger, of course) with Mike Blumenthal, a local search specialist from Olean, NY who runs a feedback and review platform. He reckons that with the launch of Messenger Codes Facebook has salvaged QR codes from the technological dustbin.

He asked whether we had seen much response to our early adopter use of the Messenger scan code (he actually found us via a Google image search which we thought was pretty cool and justifies how fastidious we are about labelling our images properly for SEO in our blog posts).

Mike was also interested in how good Messenger’s chat bot AI (Aritificial Intelligence) framework will be and was considering its possible use in a local grocery store context when physically searching for a product.

Digital-Doc

Carlton stepped into the Digital Doctor’s shoes and offered his thoughts:

I’ve been briefly looking at the newly released Messenger platform stuff, including chat bot and AI.

I’m pretty certain this will become a big channel for customer service, and might in a way eventually take over from call centres / phone support options.

It’s going to divert a lot more messaging to Facebook away from Tweets / Twitter direct messages to handle customer support issues.

The AI side is very interesting because you can “train” a bot to identify common questions / issues / messages and provide immediate answers but with the intervention of a human on-hand when things are more complex.

I could imagine GetFiveStars (Mike’s review platform) could fairly easily integrate with Messenger platform to allow the customers of your clients to leave reviews using Messenger instead of the email or web based methods you’re using, and to provide the customer with instant feedback using the chat bot. The way I see things is this: people are on Facebook all the time, so anything that makes it easier for them to do what you want (i.e. leave a review) without having to go some place else will probably succeed.

I hope this has been of help. Keep us posted. Carlton

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Carlton Jefferis

About Carlton Jefferis

Carlton Jefferis is a senior consultant and trainer at The Digiterati. He has over 20 years experience working on pioneering Internet and digital marketing projects for a wide range of clients including Sony, AOL, Manchester United FC, Nationwide Building Society, AT&T, Autographer and a large number of start-up tech businesses. He advises clients of The Digiterati on commercial and sales strategy, digital marketing strategy, ecommerce and product development. As a skilled, active social media practitioner he delivers public training and bespoke in-house courses on social media marketing, digital strategy and digital transformation. He also blogs for leading global digital marketing publisher, Smart Insights.

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