Chat with live agent feature?

[klharris08]

Has anybody seen the below? These locations do not have GBP Messaging turned on. It looks like the chat functionality from the website is being pulled into the SERP.

 

[JoyHawkins]

I have definitely not seen that before. I'm assuming it must use a third party.

 

[JS Girard]

As far as the People's Jewellers thing goes, there doesn't look like the website even has a livechat function. I'm more intrigued by the "see what's in store" thing, but I'm probably only surprised because our agency's clients do not do retail.

 

[JoyHawkins]

Joel just gave me the answer on Twitter:

 

[JS Girard]

So not new, but rare.

 

[JoyHawkins]

We're in the process of trying to get it set up for our listing for Sterling Sky. I'll report back if/when it shows up.

 

[JS Girard]

I wasn't seeing it for the two listings in OP's example, but after seeing the article about Vidéotron and mentions in older articles that this can even function without a GBP (!!), I confirm:

Looking forward to seeing whether I can see it on Sterling Sky's profile!

 

[AaronWeiche]

So not new, but rare.

Appearing on the desktop would be new.

 

[AaronWeiche]

@JS Girard - are you logged in to your agency account when seeing this? I'm unable to produce on desktop with your examples or others I have tried this weekend. Thanks

 

[JS Girard]

I think it's safe to assume that the Vidéotron chat thing is geographically restricted. I'm in Montreal, and Vidéotron has essentially no customers outside Quebec. That may also explain why I couldn't see OP's examples.

 

[Marcin Karwowski]

I've been using this solution for testing for a year. You can place a bot in the chat, e.g. Dialogflow, chat with a human through an external application or both solutions at the same time.

You can connect different input sources, i.e. it can be a GBP profile, a website or a link that we can place anywhere.

When it is connected to GBP, such a message appears as on the screen, if we also have other "non-local input sources" it may also appear in the google search engine.
In general, I believe that this is mostly a solution for brands or chains, not individual local businesses.

As far as the People's Jewellers thing goes, there doesn't look like the website even has a livechat function. I'm more intrigued by the "see what's in store" thing, but I'm probably only surprised because our agency's clients do not do retail.

This is a locally available product catalog configured with Google Merchant Center and also linked to a GBP profile. When someone uses Merchant, it is much easier to integrate than connecting an external chat.

 

[JS Girard]

This is a locally available product catalog configured with Google Merchant Center and also linked to a GBP profile. When someone uses Merchant, it is much easier to integrate than connecting an external chat.

Thanks for this clarification! I figured it must've been Merchant-center connected. I knew about GMC products, but I just never stumbled on it in the knowledge panel itself.

 

[AaronWeiche]

Huge thanks to @Allie Margeson and Hava Ha at Whitespark. Hava has access to the test of Google's Business Messages on desktop for the Chat button. They provided me with multiple screenshots of the chat enabled on our own website as well as our clients. I wrote a summary: Google's Business Messages Rolling Out To Desktop - Leadferno and here are some images.

 

[Yeep]

So this feature only works with a 3rd party application like LiveChat? Am I understanding this correctly?

 

[JoyHawkins]

@Marcin Karwowski is that how you understand it?

 

[Marcin Karwowski]

@Marcin Karwowski tak to rozumiesz?

Zatem ta funkcja działa tylko z aplikacjami innych firm, takimi jak LiveChat? Czy dobrze to rozumiem?

Yes. This function is mainly intended to be connected to other applications to receive in one place either messages in multiple GBP or GBP and other company instant messengers with clients.

So it can be a ready-made solution available on the market, such as Leadferno or it is possible to connect your own company application/communicator - there is entire API technical documentation on how to do it.