As we have been expecting, Google has rolled out more ways for businesses to message and communicate with customers. Plus, Google is also rolling out more performance insights reports to see how customers are finding your business in Google Maps and Search.
Improved Messaging
There are a lot of improvements here including new ways for customers to in initiate messages with businesses and how businesses are able to respond to those messages.
(1) Updates tab now shows a message button for customers to message with you. We saw this coming, Google has been testing it since September and now it is live.
(2) Google Posts also now show a message button for customers to message you from. We saw this coming as well, Google has been testing it for at least a couple of weeks now.
Here is what these both look like:
(3) In addition, if searchers try calling the business and the business doesn't answer, the searcher will be prompted by Google to send a message to the business instead.
(4) Businesses can now respond to messages not just via the Google My Business app and portal but also directly in the Google Maps app or on Google Search. Note, there use to be a way to message via SMS but that was removed.
Here is a GIF of this all in action:
Improved Performance Metrics
We saw Google testing new performance metrics and now Google is rolling it out. Google said it is going to soon be rolling out more metrics "to give businesses a deeper understanding of how customers discover their Business Profile." Google will be going to show more detailed details on the search queries searchers are using to find the business on Google Maps and Google Search. Plus, Google will soon show the whether customers saw them on Google Maps or Search and if they saw the business from a computer or mobile device.
Here is a screen shot that you can click on to enlarge:
Previously you were able to see up to 3-months of data, now you can see twice as much with 6-months of data.
Forum discussion at Twitter.
