Shopify has officially released its mobile instant messaging app for business owners.
Announced in May, Shopify Ping allows small business owners to communicate with employees and customers, run their businesses, and manage marketing campaigns from a single place.
“Shopify merchants are conducting many business conversations across multiple apps every day, not only to run their day-to-day operations, but also to manage customer inquiries,” Shopify director of product Michael Perry said in a June 21 statement. “Shopify Ping was created to make all of this easier to manage.”
The app is also a response the reality of running a small business today: According to Shopify, 45 per cent of its customers already run their businesses and connect with shoppers on mobile devices.
Functionally speaking, Shopify Ping combines a user’s social media accounts from third-party apps such as Facebook Messenger, email, and online storefront into a single interface, where they can organize conversations and respond to messages.
The app also includes Kit, Shopify’s free virtual assistant, designed to help business owners plan, create, and manage their marketing through a conversational interface capable of running ads on social media, email campaigns, and customer conversations equally easily.
Shopify Ping is currently available for iOS only, and free to download for Shopify customers from the App Store. Integration partners presently include Facebook Messenger, Rep.ai, and Chatkit.
In a June 21 blog, senior product manager Ellen Dunne notes that an Android version is under development and invites customers to sign up to be notified when it goes live.