Shopify Ping Adds Apple Business Chat Support

Shopify merchants will now be able to chat with customers through Apple Business Chat inside of Shopify Ping, the company said in a blog post on Wednesday (June 26).

“And it’s as simple as using the Messages app on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch. With just a few clicks, the Messages button will be featured on every page of your online store, and any visitor can quickly ask for product information, and easily and securely pay for products with Apple Pay right within the conversation,” Shopify said in the announcement. “This new feature brings Apple Business Chat to Shopify’s 800,000+ merchants around the world.”

Customers who talk to a shopping representative are three times more likely to buy a product, Shopify said, and the chat can create a real, personal connection that will increase loyalty and shopper return rates.

“For merchants, you can now manage and respond to all your Apple Business Chat customer conversations through Shopify Ping. We introduced Shopify Ping last year as a dedicated mobile app that brings together all your customer conversations, along with intelligent, automated marketing workflows,” the company said.

“For the growing number of merchants who are running businesses entirely on mobile, this new feature for Shopify Ping will allow you to communicate with your customers on the go, access products and inventory, and give real-time support via Messages,” Shopify continued. “More importantly, this will also allow you to continue conversations with your customers even after they have left your store, further strengthening relationships with your customers.”

Michael Perry, director of product, Shopify, said the relationship between customers and businesses is extremely important, and that this new feature helps to foster that.

“The No. 1 relationship an entrepreneur has is with their customers. It is the ‘oxygen’ supply to every business owner since the beginning of commerce. Shopify has made it easier than ever to start a business, and because of that, hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs are directly selling to customers all around the world today,” Perry said.

“Our integration with Apple Business Chat will uniquely allow our merchants to establish, maintain and communicate with their customers directly through Messages. Today, we are bringing all 800,000 of our merchants one step closer to their customers, and giving them the advantage they need to build their business the way entrepreneurs have for thousands of years: through conversations.”