The pandemic is a small-business tsunami. Before COVID-19, customer experience was a competitive differentiator. CX has now moved beyond differentiator to lifesaver for many SMBs.

In this context, BirdEye has accelerated the launch of Interactions. This is a new messaging platform that enables SMBs to interact with customers in their preferred manner. BirdEye, a CX platform provider with heritage in reviews management, is making Interactions free to distressed small businesses for 60 days.

Here is the basic rundown on Interactions from the launch announcement.

Interactions is a messaging platform that enables businesses to connect and respond to customers through text messaging, web chat and Facebook Messenger from one streamlined inbox. To make direct communication easier, customers can text any time and businesses will instantly receive mobile or desktop notifications to respond faster. To streamline the process, conversations can be assigned to experts within the company to resolve issues faster and answer questions more efficiently.

BirdEye President & COO Dave Lehman says the pandemic has made communications platforms like Interactions more important.

“We accelerated the launch and general availability of this product because we saw so many of our small business customers struggling to connect with their customers,” Lehman said. “It was certainly on the roadmap. But we asked how do we get this out the door as quickly as possible.”

Restaurants, dentists, gyms were just a few examples Lehman cites of distressed businesses that qualify for the free 60-day offer.

“If someone comes in and explains that they are distressed we are going to help them out and get them going,” Lehman said. “We all have to do our part.”

On Accelerating the Launch and Helping Distressed SMBs

We also asked Dave about the mechanics of CX platforms and what they actually deliver to SMBs.

He sees CX as a lifecycle that begins with SMBs being found. The next step is a customer choosing that business. The final step business delivering its product or service in a manner that delights the customer. This generates repeat business and positive reviews that generate new customers and so on.  A CX platform needs to enable and integrate these steps and collect data that makes the process more efficient over time.

“To me, the holy grail is to have one platform that understands all of the touchpoints with customers. Everything they say on reviews. All of the one-on-one interactions. Everything they say in customer surveys,” Lehman said. “Then bring all of that together and use AI to pull out all of the important threads and take action on it. That’s when it really starts to pay off.”

On Enabling the CX Lifecycle

Any distressed small business can apply for BirdEye’s free 60-day offer here.