My first post about this was marked as ‘delivered’ and I believe that was a rather shortsighted determination. Here is why there’s still more to be done to make Messages a viable tool for businesses:
- It is relatively common for someone to pop onto our website, ask a quick question, followed by silence and leaving the page. This was what prompted my original request to ask for information BEFORE the potential client reaches out to us. Asking AFTER they message will likely lose us the same people it lost us before.
- Knowing if the person reaching out to us is a current/past/potential client directly affects how we deal with them and what information we need to have at hand to converse appropriately. By not asking the contact information at the outset, it limits our ability to respond well.
- The addition of an email request is a start, but having a first and last name tells us much more of the picture. Please ask for them.
- While I appreciate the concept that other companies are different than ours on whether they would like to collect this information, I cannot fathom why there wouldn’t be a universal on/off option for this information collection. We have tailored our messages to each page of our website, which means we have more than a few (though likely less than some companies). The fact that an employee has to go through each and every one to update them when it makes a lot of sense that many companies would want this all on or all off is a bit silly.
- The box that asks the customer for an email address isn’t likely to make most people answer the request since it appears to only relate to the staff person sending them an email instead of continuing the chat. This is taken further by the response that the staff person will email them. This makes it appear as if we’re dumping them off instead of continuing the chat and doesn’t seem like a good customer service step at all. Instead, when they open the chat, just put in an entry for first name, last name, and email. Then it can thank them for filling it out and tell them someone will be with them right away.
- When the customer completes their email address, it sounds like the staff person will be sent an email with their contact information & request. However, the staff person may or may not notice that the chat name in their Messages tab has changed to the email address, but there is zero indication that the customer now expects an email response. This is very poor communication and will absolutely lose leads.
Give us a universal on/off switch (while keeping the option to opt the other way in each message), give us the option to move this information request to the beginning of the message, ask for first & last name, do not make the customer think we aren’t going to chat with them, and do not make them think we’re going to email them if we’re not even going to receive notification that they expect that. All of this will work toards making Messages a tool that both companies & customers can rely on. Until then, it is a distraction with little to offer.