Customer experience platform player Birdeye has advanced its Google-based marketing capabilities with a new messaging integration. This integration comes at a good time for Birdeye’s multiplication customers. As vaccination levels grow, consumers are venturing back to the shop in real life. But before leaving the house, consumers want to interact with businesses online.

Using its Interactions product, Birdeye customers can now chat directory with consumers while they search on Google.

Now Birdeye’s new integrated support of Google Messaging makes this possible. So what makes this integration so important is that consumers are increasingly engaging directly with businesses via reviews, chat, and social media. So what this shift in behavior means is businesses without access to Google My Business’s messaging features risk failing to connect with consumers anticipating that direct connection.

The Need for a Direct Channel

Birdeye’s integration with Google Messaging makes it easier for businesses to connect with consumers directly through their Google searches. According to the 2019 State of Digital Customer Experience Report, 75% of consumers would rather engage with brands via private messaging channels than traditional channels.

“The history of marketing is built on the trust between brands and consumers. As long as brands keep pushing ‘me’ messages through traditional channels, this trust will continue to erode,” said Travis Bickham, Vice President of Marketing at Birdeye. “Now, with the ability to speak directly to customers, brands can break down walls and focus on delighting customers. This is the basis of Experience Marketing and Google is a key lever to pull for any multi-location business.”

This new integration continues a longstanding partnership between Birdeye and Google. Birdeye is integrated with Google private API. This allows it to directly display Google reviews. This latest messaging integration completes the circle of Birdeye’s integrations with Google. Previous integrations included listings-drive SEO and reviews.

These integrations let businesses pull all of their Google My Business account activity directly into Birdeye to help them track traffic and trends for searches, website visits, calls, directions, and more. Birdeye customers can also respond to Google reviews from within the Birdeye dashboard, for example.