Brands extending customer assistance services through Facebook Messenger

April 9th edition of The Economist ran a front page headline of Marc Zuckerberg’s “Imperial Ambitions.” In that article, The Economist outlined Zuckerberg’s ambitions of controlling the entire digital ad space and his strategy behind the acquisition of Whatapp and Instagram. Both these acquisitions were seen as shrewd investments and some thought that Zuckerberg got Instagram at a steal.
At the Startup event, InnovFest Unbound, held at the opulent Marina Bay Sands in downtown Singapore today; one Robert LoCascio, founder and CEO of LivePerson, probably revealed a little more behind the strategy of Facebook and its ambitions of bridging the gap between WeChat – Facebook Messenger (and perhaps Whatsapp.)
In a panel discussion, LoCascio said that brands are investing too much on their native applications and that we could learn a thing or two about how WeChat has brought brands together in a single app. The case study of WeChat probably holds the secret to the future of where Facebook was heading with its messenger service.
Last month, Live Person (Nasdaq: LPSN) released a service to integrate Facebook messenger’s 900 million active users as a crucial touch point for brand-to-consumer communications. Through the new integration, consumers using bots to interact with a brand on Messenger will be able to effortlessly transition to a live agent conversation powered by LiveEngage if in need of additional support. Once escalated to an agent, brands can manage all Messenger conversations using the leading security, scalability and intelligence of the LiveEngage platform, ensuring that the brand and consumer relationship is as consistent and meaningful as possible.
LaCascio is very excited that his company is one of the first to deploy seamless escalation from bot assistance to a live person on Messenger. Through this capability, customer care teams can focus on delivering timely personalized assistance to consumers based on their needs.
Through LiveEngage, brands will be able to seamlessly handle and prioritize all online and mobile conversations in a single interface, across all available digital channels. One of the greatest advantages of LiveEngage is the ability to measure and analyze customer conversations across all digital channels, and use those learnings to continuously improve the success of your customer engagement programs. LiveEngage also provides the engagement tools and dashboard analytics that customer care professionals depend upon to fuel successful outcomes and drive greater customer lifetime value. Consumers will automatically be transferred to a live customer care professional when bot responses do not resolve the consumer’s inquiry, or if the consumer chooses to request a live person during a bot interaction.
“Good customer service is a brand differentiator,” said LaCascio.
Picture: Robert LoCascio, founder and CEO of LivePerson