How to Maximize Your Company’s Use of Apple Business Chat
Apple Business Chat gives businesses a direct line to every iPhone user in the world, allowing them to communicate with their favorite brands as seamlessly as they text their friends.
With the look and feel of an iMessage conversation and enhanced functionality including slideshows, integrated purchases and payments, and appointment setting, Apple Business Chat offers huge opportunities — but businesses need to be equipped to make the most of it. That means every Apple Business Chat experience should be positive, effective and branded, which is possible when Apple Business Chat is powered by conversational AI.
How Apple Business Chat pairs with conversational AI
Conversational AI chatbots have been helping businesses connect with consumers on their own apps and websites for years. However, these traditional chatbots have limits, both in terms of when and how they can be contacted, and in how that conversation feels.
While traditional chatbots tend to target the feeling of a customer support agent, Apple Business Chat has a user experience just like person-to-person texting. Apple Business Chat conversations are also able to follow users even as they exit and revisit the conversation, allowing them to “talk” to the chatbot at their convenience — while traditional chatbots tend to require users to stay online and available.
How to get the most out of Apple Business Chat integrations
Through Apple Business Chat, customers can request information, make and cancel appointments, and make purchases directly on their Apple device of choice.
Apple Business Chat naturally has seamless integrations with other Apple services, including Apple Pay and the App store, making it frictionless for customers to move further down the sales funnel.
Business Chat lets companies communicate directly with customers through their Messaging Service Provider (MSP) platform, using API solutions to send and receive texts and photos, request payment and more.
While it’s much more involved in practice, here are the three basic steps for integrating Apple Business Chat:
- Integrate with Business Chat, implementing the /message endpoint to send and receive messages.
- Authorize messages between the MSP platform and Business Chat service
- Send and receive messages
How to incorporate Apple Business Chat into a company
Once a company has Apple Business Chat, there are a few ways customers can find the business and start a conversation.
Anywhere customers naturally look to contact the business, such as the company’s website, app, or a search on Safari, Spotlight or Maps, can display the message icon right next to the options to call or email. Using a powerful call to action, the button can tell the customer what to expect when they contact the business.
The other essential element is making sure businesses are prepared for Apple Business Chat with top of the line conversational AI, to make sure every interaction customers have is helpful, enjoyable, and as close to human as possible.