In the coming weeks, Facebook will be rolling out new features to its popular app, Messenger.
After the positive feedback they have been receiving from the business partners but also the developer community, Facebook has announced new ways to connect with their customers and enrich their conversational experiences on Messenger.
The new features will be making the lives of marketers and developers a lot easier. Regarding marketers, the features are set to improve the customer experience in the following ways:
- Seamless payments flow: Improvements in this area will be able to pay using a one-step process. Although, at the moment the Payments on Messenger is still in beta and available in the US only, Facebook offers the possibility to implement your custom payment flow in Messenger.
- New Call to Action buttons: Businesses and developers can now enhance their Messenger experience with their community by utilising the call to actions that let people know what to expect when they start a conversation with a business. You will be able to choose between Shop Now, Get Support, Get Updates, Play Now and Get Started.
- Desktop support for Extensions SDK: The new SDK for extensions will ensure that features such as user ID and sharing, will also be available for users accessing the desktop version of Messenger, making the debugging process easier.
- Enabling Chat Extensions for Global Pages: From now on businesses that use Global Pages will be able to build collaborative social experiences for people connecting across the world.
On the other hand, developers will too have access to tools that will enable them to build valuable Messenger experiences and drive business objectives, such as:
- Built-in natural language processing: This feature will enable bots to automatically detect the meaning of users’ messages and mine information from them
- A handover protocol: This feature will enable businesses to create multiple experiences within a single bot, such as seamlessly moving conversations from the automated bot to a live agent who can better assist users and provide more personalized customer support.
Get more details on the new features and possibilities Messenger 2.1 offers businesses and developers on the Messenger Platform documentation.
