New in Smooch this month: Our State of Messaging 2019 report is out; we’ve launched a new status page that will allow you to more easily track Smooch’s current status and past incidents; an update to our Android SDK; changes around how integrations are surfaced in the API; a small tweak to our WhatsApp integration; and a roundup of recent news articles featuring Smooch and our customers.

What’s new 🎉

State of Messaging 2019

In case you missed it (how could you?!) our State of Messaging 2019 report is out. We talked to 34 CX experts from companies like Google, Drift, Intercom, Uber, Jetblack and LVMH about messaging, conversational commerce, voice assistants, and so much more. The report is filled with stats, facts, quotes, infographics, and original insights from our team. You don’t want to miss it. Check it out here.

The expert insight doesn't stop in our yearly reports. We're always covering emerging conversations about the messaging sphere in our biweekly newsletter. Sign up for The Message here.

A New Status Page

We’ve just launched our brand new status page so you can easily keep track of Smooch’s current status, historical updates and past incidents. We’ve switched over to statuspage.io which enables us to give you more ways to get updates on Smooch's health (opt to subscribe by email, SMS, webhook or feeds). Real-time updates are now easier to get and will help you meet your own commitments to your customers and your own SLAs.

If you’re already using statuspage.io for your own status page, you can even add Smooch as a component directly in your page to give real-time updates to your users (check out this handy how-to guide).

We’ll be running both versions of our status page in parallel (old one vs new one from February 5 to March 5, 2019. If you’ve built any custom processes to consume the RSS or Atom feeds of our existing status page, please make sure to adapt to the new status page before March 5, 2019.

Other API & SDK Updates ⚙

• Android SDK: v5.16.0 includes several updates. Amongst those, a Google Maps API Key is now required to render location messages with a maps preview otherwise they are rendered as text messages. This change is due to Google’s requirement to provide an API key to use the Static Maps API. To set your API key, use Settings#setMapsApiKey(String) before calling Smooch.init(Application, Settings, SmoochCallback). Read our Android SDK release notes for the full list of updates.
• WhatsApp: WhatsApp Business Profile information can now be retrieved via the Smooch API.
• Integration API: We’ve made a series of changes around how integrations are surfaced in the API, exposing integrationId in more webhook events and API responses. See the full list of changes in our changelog.

Messaging News & Insights 🤓

Marketing Tech Awards 2019 - Vote for Smooch!

Hosted by ClickZ and Search Engine Watch, the Marketing Technology Awards celebrate innovation at the forefront of the industry. Smooch is represented under the Best Chat/Conversational Bot Tool. You can vote for us here!

Smooch in the News

We’ve been offering insights on major platform developments and convening with experts about bolstering CX strategies. Messaging is having a moment, and Smooch is honored to be at the forefront of these conversations.

Silver-tongued Argenta Launches Conversational Banking | BankingTech

Powered by Smooch and customer service platform Sparkcentral, read about how the Argenta banking app’s new feature allows customers to engage in a continuous conversation “much like they would using WhatsApp with their friends.”

Facebook Confirms Plans to Integrate Messaging Services on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp | AdWeek

Facebook is planning to reroute the back end of its biggest messaging platforms, but what does that mean for data privacy, user engagement, and competition? Smooch Co-Founder and CTO Mike Gozzo says Apple and Google’s efforts to onboard businesses to their messaging platforms pose “a big threat to Facebook and other messaging apps. This combination gives them a very viable shot to compete.”

Google’s Two-Pronged Plan to Dominate Consumer-to-Business Messaging | TheNextWeb

Smooch’s Editorial Director Dan Levy profiles Google’s bygone messaging platforms and the introduction of messaging to business profiles. How does Google My Business enable small businesses to better reach customers, and what about Apple Business Chat?

To Improve Customer Service, Stop Forcing Customers To Repeat Themselves | Forbes

How is Smooch changing the messaging space? This profile by Forbes shows how Smooch allows customers to maintain one unified conversation across many channels — a welcome respite from platforms where customers need to introduce themselves again and again. CEO Warren Levitan says, “It's frustrating for the customer; it's inefficient for the business; it's a waste of time for everybody.”

Why Microsoft Could Deflate Slack’s IPO, WhatsApp Top Messaging App, and More | CMS Wire

With insights gleaned from our State of Messaging 2019 report, CMS Wire emphasizes the fragmented nature of the messaging space. WhatsApp claims the largest user base, followed closely by Messenger. Not bad for Facebook, eh? Also highlighted are the “windfall of new opportunities for brands to engage and convert customers.” Changes are afoot.