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Disclaimer: I work for a company providing customer service over social media solutions. Allowing businesses to do messaging with customers is a big deal. It's

Disclaimer: I work for a company providing customer service over social media solutions. Allowing businesses to do messaging with customers is a big deal. It's been there on FB messenger for a while, but, it hasn't had the attention. We're seeing an increasing trend of customers wanting to contact businesses where they are rather than being forced to follow the business' requirements. Facebook is one of those places.

pbreit 12y ago
It's criminal that you can't text message businesses. That seems to me the most obvious route. Any IP-based phone system should support this. Not sure how it would work with AT&T.
- toomuchtodo 12y ago
  Are you kidding me? I'm only 32, and I'd never consider texting a business. Call? Sure. Email? Sure. But texting? Seriously?
  - personlurking 12y ago
    I had a banking problem a few years ago and stumbled across a Twitter account of a "super rep" for the (major) bank. I tweeted him, he tweeted back in 60 seconds with his email. I emailed him right away and we had quick-fire chat over email and he said "let me fix your problem and I'll email you when it's fixed". About 3 minutes later, he emailed me back. The quickness of it all, plus the short-style emails going back-and-forth, reminded me of SMS and it was wonderful. In fact, I've never had better, nor quicker customer service. If it matters, I'm 33.
    - maxerickson 12y ago
      To me the key parts of that interaction are that he was immediately available to you and empowered to fix your problem. If phone support picked up on the first ring and did something more than try to deflect, it would be fine too.
      - toomuchtodo 12y ago
        Right! Is SMS communications with a business useful if its going into the same workflow as call center phone calls? People aren't wanting for new communications methods. They want what they've always wanted: quick, useful support from someone empowered to provide that.
      - delecti 12y ago
        I avoid making phone calls as much as possible. I think that's a growing trend. If I can interact with a business solely through textual communication I will do so, even if it's significantly slower.
  - pbreit 12y ago
    Pretty much the entire world's preferred communication method is text messaging so I think I'm on sturdy ground here.
- digisth 12y ago
  The company I'm building right now has something similar to this as a major component of the service (feedback via text [SMS->email for the moment, but I'm also going to have it be visible in a web dashboard] ] is one of two methods I'm going to launch with.) I'm billing it as a "universal customer testimonial" service with a some added benefits. One of those benefits works like this: a business receives a message sent in via text. In order for the message to be posted publicly, the business has to approve it, but even if the business chooses not to post a message, they can read it and act on it (I include a message with each approval request that says 'If you do not wish to approve this testimonial, you may ignore this message. However, we do recommend taking even negative feedback into consideration in order to improve the product or service you provide.') So they get customer feedback, and can then choose to turn that into a public testimonial, or they can not post it publicly but still act on it. Another benefit is a 'remind to review elsewhere' message. If the business approves the message, we send a reminder to review the business or product on a service of the business' choice (like Yelp, Amazon, etc.) I'm hoping that the extremely low barrier to use (sending a text), will mean that these businesses get more feedback (since there are plenty of people who don't want to post on services they have to register for; don't feel like downloading an app; who wouldn't mind giving some feedback, but don't want to feel the pressure of 'crafting' a reply the way you often do on some services; who, even if they are registered, may just put it off forever because it seems like too much work, etc.) and so will have more information with which to improve their businesses. The idea is based on the 'praise publicly, criticize privately' maxim.
  - BryanB55 12y ago
    I worked on creating a similar service for a few months in regards to helping businesses (SaaS companies specifically) capture testimonials. I ultimately decided not to pursue the idea after having conversations with potential customers. SMS was not going to be a feature in the initial version and we may have been targeting different niches but I would definitely recommend getting it in front of your target audience as soon as possible or just talk to them about it. I found that most SaaS companies wanted a few really well written and well placed testimonials rather than a constant stream of subpar testimonials and didn't really need a system for that. It sounds like you may be going more towards local small businesses though and maybe they have a need for it. Happy to discuss any questions further with you if you'd like.
- jlees 12y ago
  Seems like room for a text->Messenger gateway, or other ways of integrating SMS into a business's existing customer feedback channels. (Which probably exists in various forms of hacked-together-API-mashups already, since it's hard on a customer service team to manage a bunch of different inboxen.) TalkBin (YC W11) was a platform for allowing customers to SMS local businesses, but getting brick and mortar businesses to adopt a new communication channel isn't easy.
ihsw 12y ago
Had a conversation with a local restaurant over Yik Yak the other day. A couple members of the staff were participating in the discussion thread. A few other local people in the area commented too. It was very fascinating. I wonder if Facebook is taking a hard look at Yik Yak regarding this, because I could never imagine otherwise communicating with a business (especially using my actual Facebook identity, with my name and profile picture).

pbreit 12y ago

It's criminal that you can't text message businesses. That seems to me the most obvious route. Any IP-based phone system should support this. Not sure how it would work with AT&T.

toomuchtodo 12y ago
Are you kidding me? I'm only 32, and I'd never consider texting a business. Call? Sure. Email? Sure. But texting? Seriously?
- personlurking 12y ago
  I had a banking problem a few years ago and stumbled across a Twitter account of a "super rep" for the (major) bank. I tweeted him, he tweeted back in 60 seconds with his email. I emailed him right away and we had quick-fire chat over email and he said "let me fix your problem and I'll email you when it's fixed". About 3 minutes later, he emailed me back. The quickness of it all, plus the short-style emails going back-and-forth, reminded me of SMS and it was wonderful. In fact, I've never had better, nor quicker customer service. If it matters, I'm 33.
  - maxerickson 12y ago
    To me the key parts of that interaction are that he was immediately available to you and empowered to fix your problem. If phone support picked up on the first ring and did something more than try to deflect, it would be fine too.
    - toomuchtodo 12y ago
      Right! Is SMS communications with a business useful if its going into the same workflow as call center phone calls? People aren't wanting for new communications methods. They want what they've always wanted: quick, useful support from someone empowered to provide that.
    - delecti 12y ago
      I avoid making phone calls as much as possible. I think that's a growing trend. If I can interact with a business solely through textual communication I will do so, even if it's significantly slower.
- pbreit 12y ago
  Pretty much the entire world's preferred communication method is text messaging so I think I'm on sturdy ground here.
digisth 12y ago
The company I'm building right now has something similar to this as a major component of the service (feedback via text [SMS->email for the moment, but I'm also going to have it be visible in a web dashboard] ] is one of two methods I'm going to launch with.) I'm billing it as a "universal customer testimonial" service with a some added benefits. One of those benefits works like this: a business receives a message sent in via text. In order for the message to be posted publicly, the business has to approve it, but even if the business chooses not to post a message, they can read it and act on it (I include a message with each approval request that says 'If you do not wish to approve this testimonial, you may ignore this message. However, we do recommend taking even negative feedback into consideration in order to improve the product or service you provide.') So they get customer feedback, and can then choose to turn that into a public testimonial, or they can not post it publicly but still act on it. Another benefit is a 'remind to review elsewhere' message. If the business approves the message, we send a reminder to review the business or product on a service of the business' choice (like Yelp, Amazon, etc.) I'm hoping that the extremely low barrier to use (sending a text), will mean that these businesses get more feedback (since there are plenty of people who don't want to post on services they have to register for; don't feel like downloading an app; who wouldn't mind giving some feedback, but don't want to feel the pressure of 'crafting' a reply the way you often do on some services; who, even if they are registered, may just put it off forever because it seems like too much work, etc.) and so will have more information with which to improve their businesses. The idea is based on the 'praise publicly, criticize privately' maxim.
- BryanB55 12y ago
  I worked on creating a similar service for a few months in regards to helping businesses (SaaS companies specifically) capture testimonials. I ultimately decided not to pursue the idea after having conversations with potential customers. SMS was not going to be a feature in the initial version and we may have been targeting different niches but I would definitely recommend getting it in front of your target audience as soon as possible or just talk to them about it. I found that most SaaS companies wanted a few really well written and well placed testimonials rather than a constant stream of subpar testimonials and didn't really need a system for that. It sounds like you may be going more towards local small businesses though and maybe they have a need for it. Happy to discuss any questions further with you if you'd like.
jlees 12y ago
Seems like room for a text->Messenger gateway, or other ways of integrating SMS into a business's existing customer feedback channels. (Which probably exists in various forms of hacked-together-API-mashups already, since it's hard on a customer service team to manage a bunch of different inboxen.) TalkBin (YC W11) was a platform for allowing customers to SMS local businesses, but getting brick and mortar businesses to adopt a new communication channel isn't easy.

ihsw 12y ago

Had a conversation with a local restaurant over Yik Yak the other day. A couple members of the staff were participating in the discussion thread. A few other local people in the area commented too. It was very fascinating. I wonder if Facebook is taking a hard look at Yik Yak regarding this, because I could never imagine otherwise communicating with a business (especially using my actual Facebook identity, with my name and profile picture).