A spokesperson from Google has jut confirmed the full roll out of a new messaging feature to Google My Business customers. You may recall, that we discussed this feature Google began testing in November of last year. Google has just confirmed this is now fully rolling out to businesses in the United States.

When you visit the Google My Business dashboard, you will see this new section for “Messaging” on the left and an option in the middle promoting it saying, “Message with customers.” (see image below for reference)

After you click on it the for first time, you’ll need to configure the mobile number of the Allo device you want it to connect to. (see image below for reference)

After you verify the number, it lets you set up an automatic reply to customers who use the feature. (see image below for reference)

Once the new feature is set up, anytime someone sees your company’s local panel in mobile search, they will see a message icon, which they can click to initiate a chat. On iOS, it allows the customer to message your business using their native messaging application.

The business owner gets a message in Allo or their native messaging app so they can respond. It’s as simple as that! For more information on this new feature from Google My Business, please check out this Google help document.