This article was published on August 5, 2015

Facebook makes it easier for businesses to private message customers


Facebook makes it easier for businesses to private message customers

Facebook is about to make it a lot easier for businesses to connect with their clients: today it’s introducing a set of tools that simplify private message communications between Pages and customers.

Page admins will soon be able to reply to comments on posts with a private message. This should make it a lot easier to address customer requests right from the comment section.

A new ‘Message’ button will appear next to the Like and Reply ones under a comment. It’ll open up a Messenger interface, along with the original comment for reference. Facebook will also inform the customer that he or she is communicating via private message.

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Facebook’s also rolling out a new badge that helps people know which Pages are the most likely to get back to you after an inquiry. Facebook says that:

Pages that respond to 90% of messages and have a median response time of less than five minutes will now have a “Very responsive to messages” badge on their profiles.

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The data is based on a Page’s performance over the last seven days, though for now it’s only showing badges for the most responsive ones; there isn’t a ‘Not Responsive’ badge, for instance.

There are other changes to private messaging for Page admins, too. Admins can now create and save responses, which they can pull up easily as a quick replies to common queries. They can still edit the messages before sending them though.

The inbox is also getting a small refresh for multiple messages; admins can now archive, delete, flag and mark messages as read, unread and spam in bulk.

Finally, advertisers can now use a new ‘Send Message’ call-to-action button so that customers can directly communicate with businesses after seeing something interesting in an ad.

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Click on the new button, and a Facebook Messenger window will appear allowing you to communicate with a business the same as any standard message.

Facebook introduced Messenger Business in March as a way to help customers communicate with companies; it’s clear Facebook wants to become a more powerful resource for businesses.

The added focus on messaging should help customers feel closer to the businesses and Pages they subscribe to – something that’s particular important when you can’t interact with a business in the real world. Facebook says to expect the new tools to show up on Pages over the coming weeks.

Pages Messaging: New Ways for People and Businesses to Connect [Facebook]

Read next: Facebook announces Messenger Business to let users to chat directly with companies

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