PayPal announced Friday the immediate availability of its peer-to-peer payment service on Facebook Messenger, thus facilitating the exchange of money between friends and family. ]
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PayPal has also introduced its first service bot to the customer. and account support directly in the application.
An agreement reached last year with Facebook allowed 2.5 million PayPal customers in the United States to connect their accounts to Messenger and to use PayPal to shop on Messenger, as well as to communicate with other PayPal users.
PayPal is the leader in P2P payments, he said, with a volume of 24 billion US dollars in the third quarter of 2017, up 47% year-over-year.
"We have found the interest of the 2.5 million people who have connected their PayPal accounts to Facebook Messenger that they would like to use this as a way to communicate with us," said the spokesperson. PayPal's word, Juliet Niczewicz.
In addition, "the new PayPal Messenger bot will allow people to have meaningful interactions with customer service," she told the E-Commerce Times, such as password reset, password processing and more. payment requests and refunds. can manage their business in the context in which they are. "
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PayPal has already entered into agreements with Siri of Apple to make transactions with voice commands, noted Niczewicz. It has also partnered with Microsoft to allow sending money using the Skype chat feature.
PayPal earlier this year launched a bot on Slack that allows users to send payments during a Slack conversation, she added.
Payments can be made in Messenger by pressing the blue plus icon when writing a message and then pressing the green payment button.
To use the robot, customers can search PayPal in the search box, type a message to PayPal and the robot will appear in the Messenger application. Customers needing extra help can choose to log in to PayPal Live Customer Service.
Expanding Messenger
Facebook initially allowed the sending of payments via Messenger over two years ago, according to spokeswoman Jennifer Hakes. This feature required customers to enter a Visa or Mastercard debit number issued by a US bank into Messenger, and it offered the option to add a PIN for added security.
Facebook has adopted a strategy of creating a large consumer technology platform and working to keep users there by offering messenger services, said Jack Kent, director of mobile operators and media at IHS Markit.
"Making Messenger a platform for trade and transactions also serves Facebook's broader ambitions for platform monetization," he told the E-Commerce Times. "Reconciling payments and advertising can help increase the value of ads and promotions in the app."
Chatbots help customers manage simple transactions such as replenishing, sending gift cards or paying bills, says Cindy Zhou, senior analyst at Constellation Research.
Promoting commerce in a messaging application has been a standard tool in Asia for years – for example, with WeChat in China, she told the E-Commerce Times.
She started settling in the United States, she noted, with rival social media platforms embracing in-app commerce. Pinterest has introduced buyable pins, for example, and users can shop on Instagram.
While the automation of these transactions seems to be attracting increased interest, customers can rebel against interacting with smart robots rather than with customer service agents, suggested Paula Rosenblum, Managing Partner at
RSR Research.
"Have customers embraced subcontracted customer service representatives who know nothing about the country or the products they support?" No, they did not do it, "she told the E-Commerce Times.
The best customer service often results from companies' shame on social media, said Rosenblum, based on his experience.
"If not, I end up with one of these representatives," she says, "and that makes me crazy."
