Shopify Brings the Conversation Back to Commerce

Leading payments platform and PF Shopify aims to redefine the customer experience with an all-in-one app that merges several messaging platforms together in one centralized hub and provides in-app intelligence for marketing workflow.

Targeting their entrepreneurial customer base, Shopify Ping connects the messaging apps business owners use to communicate with their customers (like Facebook and Chatkit) into a single mobile app – making it easier for business owners to stay on top of their customer requests and questions without having to toggle between multiple interfaces, according to the company’s blog post.

Ultimately, Ping offers customers the flexibility and convenience to grow and manage their business from one single interface. But the main motivation? To put the conversation back in mobile-to-mobile commerce. According to Venturebeat, Shopify Product Director Michael Perry told the publication that “Ping was made to give merchants a way to run their business in a conversational way.”

From a marketing perspective, Ping also offers Kit – a built-in virtual employee that can help business owners manage their marketing activities. This includes everything from email and retargeting campaigns, Facebook and Instagram ads, new product searches, photo enhancements and the like.

While Shopify expects that Kit will soon be able to handle simple conversations and inquiries, it plans for Ping to use artificial intelligence to bring attention to conversations that would benefit from merchant intervention, according to the same Venturebeat article.

“If someone is saying ‘Hey I want to make an order right now for 1,000 pins’, that’s not the right time for Kit to be jumping in and saying ‘Let me help you order 1,000 pins’,” Perry told the publication. “That’s the right time for a merchant to take control of the conversation. We’d prioritize that at the top of the inbox and say ‘You need to get involved right now. This is a potentially large sale’.”