Google Business Messages: 3 best practices for customer service teams

According to the Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report, long wait times are among the most frustrating aspects of bad customer service. Business Messages allows agents to deliver speedier service, reducing hold times. In fact, television and satellite provider DISH saw a reduction of more than 22% in average handle time using Google’s business chat features.

How? With Business Messages, customer service agents can resolve issues more quickly by juggling multiple asynchronous conversations at once. Companies can also set up AI-powered chatbots to send automatic responses 24/7 and resolve basic issues or answer common questions. This lessens the load on your customer service team and provides buyers with fast resolutions.

If the bot is unable to give customers what they need, it can simply transfer them (and all the relevant context) to a live agent. A chatbot can also send estimated wait times, helping to set clear expectations for customers and allowing them to plan accordingly.

The easier it is for people to message you on the channels they prefer, the more seamless their user experience will be. And with Google occupying over 92% of the search engine market share worldwide, it’s safe to say that many of your customers are using the platform.

Meet customers where they are, and you’ll likely experience a boost in customer satisfaction – Levi Strauss saw 85% CSAT scores with Google Business Messages.

“Business Messages creates a stronger customer expericne by enabling us to do a better job at ‘hearing’ shoppers, answering their questions, and uncovering new ways to delight Levi’s fans”, says Rico Arrastia, VP of Product Experience at Levi’s.

The channel’s rich features – such as image carousels, suggested replies and high-resolution videos – allow you to make messages visually appealing and engaging for customers. You can even leverage these advanced features to guide customers to the products they want or need.

Say you own a shoe company, and a customer sends you a message asking about boots. With traditional short message service (SMS) messaging, you can send a text about what brands you have available or send a URL to the boots on your website. But with Business Messages, you can send customers a handy product carousel showcasing all the boots you have available in the customer’s size or preferred brand. As the customer swipes through the options, they can click on an image to learn more and buy their favourite pair – without having to click on a separate URL.

Many customers send messages to inquire about products – according to Levi’s, 31% of its Google business chat conversations are product-related. The rich messaging features provide added convenience and minimise unnecessary friction on the path to purchase.

Use Google’s messaging platform to showcase products and services, share information, and answer questions in a more personalised and captivating format.

Customers may feel uneasy when reaching out to a business. Sometimes it’s difficult to verify whether they’re messaging the right brand or whether their information will be protected.

To help ease concerns, Google’s Business Messages has ample security and privacy measures in place. Companies can verify their profiles and brand messages with their distinct colours, fonts and logos. This provides instant recognition and a sense of legitimacy, helping to enhance conversations with customers, build trust and prevent scams.

Support agents can also use OAuth, an authentication protocol, to verify customers’ identities and provide personalised information in conversations on Business Messages. The secure back end delegation saves both customers and agents from having to share passwords, credit card numbers, social security numbers and other sensitive information in the chat. This helps keep everyone safe during these messaging interactions.