Today, when a customer messages you on WhatsApp, you have 24 hours to reply for free. Confirming an order, answering a question, letting a customer know that their package has shipped — none of that costs you anything, regardless of how many messages you send.
I was standing at the Amazon Port, one of the activation spaces at Cannes Lions, listening to someone from WPP explain how they measure whether an AI recommends your brand over your competitor’s. I didn’t ask “how do I make a more creative ad?” I asked “how do I get the AI to recommend me?” That was the first sign this Cannes Lions was going to be different from every one before it.
Last week a retailer from Guatemala told me something that hurt to hear.
His clothing store has three salespeople. All three share one WhatsApp Business number. On a Friday afternoon, a customer wrote asking if they had a dress in size M in navy blue. All three salespeople saw the message.
The customer asked about availability. The bot answered. Asked about pricing. The bot answered. Then came the question that wasn’t in the flow – a special request, a complaint, an edge case – and the bot did the only thing it knows how to do when it doesn’t understand: it repeated the menu.
Meta Business Suite is, without a doubt, a powerful tool for managing your presence on Facebook and Instagram. But there is a critical point in every business’s growth where Meta Business Suite is no longer enough — and continuing to rely on it starts costing you sales, customers, and time.
A customer sees your product in a TikTok video. They like it. They comment. They send you a direct message asking for price and availability. And that message falls into a void because no one on your team has TikTok open
It’s 9:17 PM. A customer sees your jacket on Instagram, likes it, and messages you on WhatsApp asking if you have a medium in stock.
The bot replies in 3 seconds: “Hi there! Thanks for reaching out. How can we help you today?”
On a Monday morning, the marketing manager of a retail chain in Guatemala arrived at the office with a simple mission: publish a promotion on Facebook.
He opened the browser.
The future arrives faster than we expect and slower than we hope.
I’ve watched decades of technology promises. Every January brings predictions that “retail is dead” or declarations that “this changes everything.” Most miss.
The Day Salesforce Nearly Died: Why Customer Success Matters (Even If You’re Not a Tech Company)
It’s 2005. Salesforce is exploding. New customers flood in daily. Sales teams crush their quotas. Everyone’s celebrating.