Google has announced that it will shut down the chat and call history feature in Google Business Profile on July 31, 2024. This step is taken as Google’s ongoing effort to improve its tools and services. Certainly, it would be challenging for businesses, but it also presents an opportunity for businesses to explore new and effective ways for customer communications.
In this article, we will look at what it means for your business, and how you can prepare for the changes.
What is Google My Business Chat?
Google My Business Chat is a part of GMB. It allows businesses and customers to interact and communicate with each other through their Google Business Profiles. This feature has been a great help in providing real-time customer service, providing immediate assistance, and answering inquiries from customers.
Important Dates
- July 15, 2024: Customers will not be able to start a new chat with your business. However, existing chats will not be affected but they will be notified that the chat will phase out.
- July 31, 2024: Google Business Profile chat functionally will completely end. In addition, you will not be able to see your call history in Google Business Profile.
Why is Google Ending the Chat Feature?
Google’s decision to end the Chat feature is to streamline its services and encourage businesses to explore better communication alternatives. The chat feature was a major convenience for businesses but it also required resources to maintain and manage effectively. Google’s focus is now on improving other aspects of the Google My Business Platform, such as the visibility and accuracy of business profiles.
Implications for Your Business
This change will drastically impact several aspects of your customer communication especially if you rely on the Google chat feature for communication, lead generation, and automated responses. Here are some implications for your business:
- Small Business Chats and Chatbots: Small businesses have to transition from GBP Chat to another platform to maintain communication with customers. This transition is crucial for customer satisfaction and support. In addition to this, automated responses and interactive communication will also need to be migrated to other platforms.
- Lead Generation: GBP chat has been a major tool for generating leads. Now businesses will need to integrate other tools for capturing and managing leads. Businesses will also need another platform as a modes of communication with these potential leads.
- Bot Automation: For those businesses that are using automation through Google’s chat feature, this change will affect both automated responses and workflow adjustments.
Preparing Your Business for the Change
It is important to make sure that your business remains accessible and responsive to customers even after Google’s chat feature ends. Here are a few things that you can do:
- Download Chat History: You can download your chat history for future reference and analysis.
- Update Contact Information: Make sure that your contact information such as phone number, email, and website are correct on your GMB profile, so customers can contact you through alternative methods.
- Optimize Your Business Description: Your business description should be clear and detailed so customers can find information easily without needing the chat feature.
- Enhance your website: Make your website user-friendly with multiple contact options contact forms and live chat. Live chat features can maintain real-time communication with customers, leads, and potential leads.
- Leverage Other Google Tools: There are other GMB tools that you can leverage to engage with your customers such as posts, Q&A, and reviews.
- Having a website with live chat can help with the lost chat. A CRM that allows to accept this live chat
- CRM
Google email screenshot screen about the GMB chat ending:
