What is a Messaging Engagement?
Traditionally the primary engagement option offered for Live Assist for Dynamics 365 was Chat. Chat enabled short real-time conversations between agents and consumers, which could be very responsive and conclude quickly. However, Chat required that the agent and the consumer be online at the same time to converse. Each time a new engagement happened there was also no previous conversation history.
Together with our partner LivePerson, we are now able to offer a new type of engagement called Messaging which takes Live Chat to the next level by adding the flexibility for longer running "anytime" conversations.
This also allows us to integrate popular 3rd party channels like Twilio SMS, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp, Apple Business Chat and more, so that an agent can receive these Messaging engagements right inside Dynamics 365! Because of this, agents are now able to handle multiple channels of conversation at scale.
Messaging allows for asynchronous, resumable conversations between brands and their consumers - in the same way that consumers are already used to communicating via social networking services. This means a consumer can message a brand at any time, even if an agent is not online - and an agent can also reply to a consumer even if they are not online. All while maintaining full conversation history! This enables you as a brand to improve your customer's journey in a way that was not possible with Chat engagements.
Why use Messaging Engagements?
Benefits for consumers:
Messaging engagements are designed to make consumer’s lives easier, for example a consumer can:
- Talk on their own time - The asynchronous nature of messaging means that consumers can come and go from a conversation and respond on their own time.
- Use a channel of their choosing - Along with Web Messaging, messaging is available for many popular third-party channels, allowing consumers to communicate with brands using their favorite app.
- Get faster responses - since agents can handle more conversations at once with messaging, this enables consumers to get quicker service and increase their satisfaction.
- View their full conversation history - With ongoing conversations, consumers can search and browse through their full conversation history.
Benefits for your brand:
- Boost efficiency - Messaging is up to two times more efficient than voice or live chat, enabling agents to help multiple consumers at a time and increase CSAT.
- Increased sales opportunities - Create an ongoing connection with consumers and prospects, increasing the customer lifetime value.
- Multiple channels - Extend messaging directly over popular channels like SMS, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Apple Business Chat, and manage all communications in a single workspace.
- Higher CSAT and resolution rates - With asynchronous messaging, agents have the leeway to consult with a colleague or an external application to compose the right answer, increasing first-time resolution rates and customer satisfaction.
- Control over queue prioritization - Consumers do not need to wait by the phone or screen with messaging, giving brands more flexibility to choose which conversations should be handled first base.
How does this change things for my Campaigns?
A campaign can contain both chat and messaging engagements, however:
- Messaging engagements no longer include "pre-chat and post-chat surveys".
- This information can be intelligently gathered using a custom bot built in Conversation Builder.
- Chat and Messaging engagements have different widgets in Dynamics.
- Dynamics web client only allows agents or groups of agents to load a single widget at a time.
- Agents can either be assigned as "Chat agents" or "Messaging agents", but not both at the same time.
- At present, the USD desktop client can only be configured for either the Chat widget or the Messaging widget - for all agents, but not a mix.
- Agents need to use the new Messaging Widget for Dynamics in order to take messaging engagements.