Viber Launches Ability To Chat With Businesses

Viber, the widely popular messaging app, announced Wednesday (Nov. 9) the launch of Public Accounts, which enables users to connect with businesses and brands in the same way they can chat with family and friends.

In a blog post, Viber said, with Public Accounts, users’ conversations will appear in their chat list so they are easily accessible. In order to find Public Accounts, Viber said users have to tap the Public icon in the main menu on their Viber screen. In Public Accounts, users can find all the details about the business. It also includes quick access to chat with the business.

“By giving Viber users access to the businesses they want to talk to and the brands they care about, they can continue to use the messenger they trust the most as a one-stop shop for all of their communications,” the company said in the blog post. “What’s more, businesses have the unique ability to create custom experiences for you through the private messaging feature, so your one-on-one chats with them may be through a visually rich interface or even powered by a sophisticated chatbot. Whatever experiences businesses dream up for you, they can be made possible with Public Accounts.”

According to a report by TechCrunch, there are already around 1,000 Public Accounts debuting with the launch of the new feature. Some of those include The Huffington Post, Yandex and The Weather Channel. A customer service component to the service is coming soon, with Michael Shmilov, COO of Viber, telling TechCrunch that, by the end of the month, Viber’s API will be integrated with around 10–15 CRM packages of companies. When that happens, businesses can send and read Viber messages, along with their other social media, email and messaging.