Every business is looking to create a profitable online presence and has one main objective in its mind, which is customer engagement. A very common but effective method for businesses to achieve better customer engagement is through messages or interactions. These interactions are crucial as they bring benefits for both the business and the end-users.
As consumer engagement for most businesses is shifting from being “digital-first” to “digital-only” due to changing consumer behavior, AI Chatbots as a part of the service delivery channel mix becomes vital for businesses.
Google Business Messages
Google’s Business Messages combines entry points on Google Maps, Search, and brand websites while enabling asynchronous messaging experiences. A multitude of global businesses use Google Business Messages along with integrated automation, such as Marketing and Sales bots, to help customers connect with their brand faster and in a personalized manner.
Leveraging Business Messages, you can place messaging buttons for brands within organic Google search results. When a user clicks on a messaging button, they start a conversation with the brand’s agent that helps in solving any query.
These business conversations take place on the Google messaging surface. The user can receive and respond to customer messages, through the agent, utilizing a webhook and the Business Messages API.
Dialogflow
Dialogflow is a natural language understanding (NLU) tool that processes user input, maps it to the intents, and responds with accurate replies. By integrating Dialogflow with the Business Messages agent, you can create simple automation to start your agent development.
Business Messages agents support direct and easy integration with Dialogflow bots.
The detailed architecture of the integration:
Steps to Integrate Business Messages & DialogFlow
- Register with Business Messages
- Confirm email with key and access details
- Enable APIs in Google Cloud for external integration
- Implement Intent setup, and webhook configuration
Register with Business Messages
Firstly, by submitting your form you need to register as a partner with Google. By doing this you can enable conversations between users and brands that represent business functions, such as website support, brand locations.
Store your information
You’ll receive an email once Google registers your project, which can take up to three days. The email includes partner information including a Partner ID and a Partner key. The email address you specified is your Business Messages Google account. You’ll need it to make API calls and access restricted parts of the documentation.
Enable APIs in Google Cloud for external integration
Business Messages agents use two APIs: One to send and receive messages, one to manage agents. One is Business Messages API, and the other is Business Communications API.
Dialogflow Configuration
To send and receive messages from users, an app engine application needs to be deployed which serves as a webhook URL. Choose any one of the sample apps to deploy and set up the required configuration. Here is the link to the samples. The webhook URL receives messages sent from consumers to the sample agent. The digital agent uses a Dialogflow agent to process the inbound messages and compute the response. The response is posted back to the Business Messages APIs via the Business Messages client library. The webhook is an important medium to integrate.
In the Business communications console, the deployed app engine URL should be configured in the settings under Webhook.
Create an agent in Business communications console
An agent is a conversational entity that users interact with. You create one agent for each brand you manage. You create and manage agents with the Business Communications API, and you control messaging for your agents with the Business Messages API.
To create an agent a brand name and an agent name needs to be given. A brand could be something like Business Messages and an agent name could be a name that represents your business.
Agent configuration
An agent is a conversational entity that users interact with. You create one agent for each brand you manage. You create and manage agents with the Business Communications API, and you control messaging for your agents with the Business Messages API.
To create an agent a brand name and an agent name needs to be given. A brand could be something like Business Messages and an agent name could be a name that represents your business.
We can use test URLs to test in Android/ IOS. Or we can do a GET request to the business communications API using the brandID created for the agent. Configure that API for conversations in the deployed app engine application.
Video Resource
Watch the video to learn more about Integrating Business Messages & Dialogflow
Conclusion
Enterprises need to keep up their business operations continuity, SpringML which is a trusted Google Cloud Partner becomes an obvious choice. Our dedicated team of certified experts with a customer-centric approach would chalk out differentiated services with ease to assess, and integrate the solutions seamlessly. With esteemed partnerships, SpringML enables quick delivery and access to a wide range of various technologies for consumption that would help run the business with minimum operational hiccups. We provide the base management services your customers are looking for: automation and orchestration, patching updates, configuration management. The experts at SpringML have rich proficiency expertise in providing data-driven innovative solutions to companies around the world. The clientele is widespread and includes several enterprises from the Fortune 500 quadrant.
