Facebook's 'Businesses On Messenger' Turns Chats Into Orders

As Facebook turns Messenger into a platform, a major pull will likely come via enterprise. In opening Facebook Messenger up to third parties via an API, the company imagines we'll no longer need to make calls or send emails. If all goes according to plan, that might be a reality. With Messenger's business angles, we will now have the ability to message a business rather than call them, and get receipts and the like via a message rather than email.

Though this 'Businesses for Messenger' scheme is not ready for prime time, it's promising. Rather than flood your email inbox, a business could push a receipt or appointment confirmation via Messenger. The service could also serve as a quick-and-dirty customer service option, which is immediately more attractive than a company online chat.

Facebook also imagines you'll use Messenger to discuss an order. In piggybacking customer service onto Messenger, Facebook sees a time when customer service or order iteration is as easy as pounding out a message with your thumbs.

With 600 million users, it's easy to see why Facebook thinks Messenger's new SDK and API can become useful for businesses everywhere. It's similar to the features Yelp now has, where you can message a business or even order products from within the app.

Currently, Facebook only has two enterprise partners in Zulily and Everlane. The two seem to have gone all-in with Messenger for business purposes, though, offering things like shipment confirmations and payment verification.

All very much phone call or email killing features. Whether or not the masses (or even significant number of us) would rather use Messenger to conduct business remains to be seen.