Facebook Messenger chatbots allow businesses to engage with customers in a conversational platform. For the business, it is a direct line to the customer, and users have the luxury of engaging and disengaging from the conversation as and when time permits. The platform has been used for customer service, advertising, accentuating native applications and creating entirely new experiences. Publishers also offer content as a subscription service over messenger.
Now Facebook is taking things a step further with the rollout of Messenger Platform 1.3. Facebook has been been collaborating with a number of third party technology services to offer a better experience on Messenger. Customer service platforms such as Zendesk, Conversocial and Salesforce, as well as chatbot platforms such as Lithium, MSG.AI and Sprinklr to develop the new features announced for the update.
Referral parameters have been added to m.me links. This allows businesses to understand where the traffic comes from, for those users who choose to engage with the chatbots. Tracking the source of the traffic allows for gauging the effectiveness of social media campaigns, or understand the best sources to embed links back to a conversation in. The parameter tracking allows for businesses to start a conversation in a way meaningful and relevant to the entry point, instead of a generic welcome message.
So far collections of items were displayed as a carousel that could be swiped through in Messenger. An update allows for a list view, with vertical scrolling. This allows businesses to structure the presentation of their offerings in various ways. Each row in the list can be tapped to expand into an action button, or an action button can be embedded at the bottom of the entire list. Developers can also include either an opt in or opt out checkbox for allowing customers to engage in Messenger conversations. The option can be presented over the course of conventional interactions with customers, including a sign up or a check out.
Facebook has been testing Newsfeed advertisements that direct customers to a messenger experience with select partners. This feature is now available to all advertisers. On clicking on a news feed advertisements, customers will jump into a conversation with the business. Sponsored messages allow advertisers to push out ads to consumers over messenger. The feature is only available after customers have initiated a conversation with the business. End users will have the freedom to block or disengage from the conversation, to prevent spam.
Only in the US, and as a beta version rollout to test with certain partners, Facebook is launching a payments program. This will allow users to make purchases over the course of the conversation itself. The process is relatively simple with a single delivery of tokenised credentials to the merchant. The buy call to action button is now available on the web version of messenger as well.