As the days go by, we have been discovering more and more news about iOS 11 hidden or, at least, not said by Tim Cook and his henchmen during the last inaugural keynote of the Worldwide Developer Conference 2017. And of course, the event could not end without a new feature for the Messages app that would leave us thoughtful throughout this weekend.
Apple wants users to be able to communicate directly with brands and for this, it has included a Business Chat, something like a "business chat" that will facilitate interaction between customer service agents of companies and users.
iOS 11 will help improve customer service
In these times in which competitiveness between companies has reached unsuspected levels within a deeply globalized economic framework and subject to constant change, the battle between companies is no longer fought both at the level of prices and customer service.
The fight for better customer service has become one of the strategic axes of any brand that aspires to success; bad customer service can mean your loss and above all, a "bad reputation" that will cost a lot to get back up. Current customers want efficiency and immediacy, and this includes an integrated omnichannel or multichannel experience that allows us to try to solve our doubts and / or problems through the desired channel, and that even anticipates us through a manifest proactivity: call telephone, IVR services, email are some of these channels and, of course, another of them is messaging.
Thus, Apple has wanted to "lend a hand" to companies, but also to customers, and With iOS 11, brands will have a new communication channel with their customers and users, Messages.
In this sense, the Cupertino-based company revealed during a preview for developers that took place last Friday afternoon in the framework of WWDC 2017, some details about the new Business Chat feature that will include Messages in iOS 11.
Thanks to this "Business Chat", Companies or brands may put their customer service agents in contact with users, directly and independently from other chats or conversations.
How does Business Chat work?
As you can imagine, the operation stands out for its simplicity. The user may send a first message in order to start a conversation by tapping the corresponding icon that appears next to company names in Spotlight, Siri, and Maps search results, or by scanning a QR code with your iPhone or iPad camera.
The above action will automatically open the Messages app, where the company can offer products for sale, offer options to schedule appointments, send subsequent notifications to customers regarding the process of their inquiry, and other additional services.
This new option not only allows communication between companies and clients but also, through the Messages icons or QR codes, specific information can be supplied that links the user with a particular geographic location or a related product or service, in order to provide better care. In fact, this will even provide the company with the customer's language, details about their customer account such as past orders or security questions, etc. allowing communication to be much faster and more efficient.
Business Chat also includes a new feature that makes it easier for customers to select the time for an appointment, a selector to choose items that are for sale, and of course, choose Apple Pay as your payment method.
And in order to make the conversation faster and more fluid, the predictive text bar will be able to offer personal details such as user addresses, phone numbers, etc., in case you want to share them with the company in question.
Companies will be able to create their own extensions
And so that companies can provide more personalized customer service appropriate to their own characteristics, Apple will let you develop your own custom extensions for iMessage. In the example shown on Friday (below these lines) we can see what it would be like to choose the seat during a flight reservation process.
It's important pointing that companies can only send notifications to users who have previously initiated contact; thereafter, the customer will be able to deactivate the notifications of incoming messages, cancel the entire conversation and even block the company.
Business Chat It has been created to compete directly with very similar services that are already present through Twitter, Skype, WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger, however, Apple has the advantage of offering it as a native function in iOS 11In other words, it will come pre-installed in the new terminals and in the new system, which is why a very high adoption and use rate is expected.
Even though all iOS users use this function, it will be hard, especially because at the beginning there will be few companies that support this function, especially those in Latin America.
Very good hebichii.
I think it is quite good, since companies are interested in having more direct contact with users, and users are interested in not having so many intermediaries. I see it quite interesting for the communication and information of its products and solutions to problems more comfortable.