Business Profile chat is going away

[jrobbins]

VERY DISAPPOINTING to say the least!!!!!!Just got an email that Business Profile chat is going away.... My ONLY question is....will the "question" feature still remain????That is, Will customers still be able to ask questions in the GBP panel link that says, "Ask a question"?

 

[Chris_Andrews]

The 'ask a question' is part of the Q&A section, not chat, so I expect that will be staying put,

Chris

 

[Andrew Swan]

Does this mean quote requests will also go away unless they are set up to come through email?

 

[Brian - TGL]

Looks like the call tracking is also getting yanked.

 

[Brian - TGL]

Does this mean quote requests will also go away unless they are set up to come through email?

It looks like quotes will be done:

Changes to Google Business Profile chat and call history - Google Business Profile Help

Beginning July 31, 2024, the chat and call history features in Google Business Profile will no longer be available. You won’t be able to interact with customers through chat or find customer call hist

support.google.com

 

[UKSBD]

I think it was inevitable with the way it was being spammed

 

[AaronWeiche]

Agree it is disappointing after finally getting years of one messaging solution from Google. As the other questions here show it's important to understand what CTAs/options belong to what service ... always confusing. But the CHAT icon and messaging CTAs in the Profile are going away at the end of July.

My personal speculation is that this news, combined with the call history, and other items, lead me to believe that a bigger and centralized AI solution is coming. Something that powers calls, chat/messages, etc. I find it hard to think they don't want to get more conversion/transaction share and data. We'll see what happens.

 

[JS Girard]

Agree it is disappointing after finally getting years of one messaging solution from Google. As the other questions here show it's important to understand what CTAs/options belong to what service ... always confusing. But the CHAT icon and messaging CTAs in the Profile are going away at the end of July.

My personal speculation is that this news, combined with the call history, and other items, lead me to believe that a bigger and centralized AI solution is coming. Something that powers calls, chat/messages, etc. I find it hard to think they don't want to get more conversion/transaction share and data. We'll see what happens.

Google chatbot? in business messages? Oh boy, given how well that's worked for Air Canada, I can't imagine a better way for google to further destroy their reputation

 

[AspiringMapExpert]

I assume we can give up on uploading FAQ's since they are part of chat??

 

[Marcin Karwowski]

Google chatbot? in business messages? Oh boy, given how well that's worked for Air Canada, I can't imagine a better way for google to further destroy their reputation

Business messages is also disabled on the same date, so it will no longer be developed in this form.

 

[Cherie Dickey]

I agree this is disappointing. Does anyone know how this will impact insights? Specifically for calls. If call history goes away, will we still be able to see how many people clicked to call in insights?

I've been looking for an answer in the documentation, but can't find anything that specifically mentions insights.

 

[ibweb]

To clear up some confusion based on what I've seen and researched:

• The Q&A section should be unaffected. Customers can still use the "ask a question" feature, or you can pre-seed your Q&A section
• Yes, Google's built-in chat system is going away. However, they are testing replacing it with WhatsApp and/or allow you to enter your phone number where someone can just send a text message through your GBP profile Google Business Profiles Testing Chat With SMS & Whatsapp
• Call tracking is going away too, but it wasn't all that helpful to begin, and, in my personal opinion, it would be better to use a platform agnostic call tracking software instead.
• Google's email did not spell out all the dates 100% correctly. Based on their other help files, there is actually an 8/30/24 deadline for data being erased/no longer downloadable - Google Business Profile Call History and Chat Features Shutting Down – Best Alternatives

If anyone has heard of anything different, let me know.

 

[socialadsintexas]

I used this for my junk removal business and had about 10 jobs in one year from it. It was simple to use, but hated that it was hidden in maps. I did also receive a lot of spam messages. I will miss it..