What is Business Chat and why you should integrate

Business Chat will enable you to connect with customers directly from within Messages. By integrating your Chat account with Business Chat, you can interact with customers, respond to their questions, resolve issues and complete transactions from your iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch through iMessage. 

Note: Apple devices running iOS 11.3 or later and macOS 10.13.4 or later will support Business Chat.

Business Chat capabilities

• Send/Receive Message

Provide a rich user experience to the customer by sending an interactive message.

• List Picker

Let the customer choose from a list of items by sending a list picker.

• Time Picker

Let the customer schedule a meeting by sending a time picker.

• Apple Pay Payment Request

Provide an easy and secure way for customers to buy goods and services through Business Chat using Apple Pay.

• Message Attachments

Receive and send file attachments.

• Authentication Message

          Pass authentication data between your business and the customer's device.

How to setup a Business Chat account

To set up a Business Chat account, first you need to sign up at register.apple.com.

1. Go to Business chat accounts > Manage Services > Business Chat Accounts > Add new.
2. Acknowledge the policies of Apple.
3. Configure the new Business Chat account.
4. Fill in the account applicant details.
5. Choose the Business Chat account type. 
   • A Commercial Account is an account you use to communicate with your customers. An Internal test account is to develop and test your commercial account setup internally before taking it live.
   • Internal Test account: (You can use this for internal testing):
     1. Give a name to the account.
     2. Assign a technical contact.

        

        
     3. Select the Apple authorised commercial messaging platform as Freshchat.
     4. If you are registered in the EU cluster, add the following URL in the Advanced section,
        https://abc-webhooks.eu.freshchat.com/ieQuooxae3Hahcaalae8UvuaXeiChoh1/api/apple/webhooks/csp/252ce231-cf6e-492f-8efc-822af4ff13e4
     5. And if you are registered in the AU cluster, add the following URL in the Advanced section,
        https://abc-webhooks.freshchat.com/ohJieVingu7jae5wevaiwoa2aveijies/api/apple/webhooks/csp/d3d674e6-65ff-46d2-b83a-774012188165
     6. Click Next.
     7. In the next screen, click Add Apple IDs and enter the Tester Apple IDs of the user to whom the test link has to be sent. These users will receive a URL using which they can initiate messages and test.
        
        Note: The tester IDs should be Apple IDs with active iMessages.
        

Once the test account is set up, head over to the chat account. If you are not already a customer, you can sign up for a free trial here.

Once you add the Tester Apple IDs, you will receive a link to send and receive messages. 

All the features except for sending and receiving messages are supported via smart plugs. To know more, Click here.

Commercial account: (Customer facing)

1. To setup a commercial account, add the account owner (technical contact).
2. Select the number of locations your business is present in (offices) and add the location details (office address). 
   
3. Add your brand information.
   
4. Set the response hours.
   
5. Set up your brand identity by adding logo, choosing a header color, etc.
   
   
6. Add Freshchat as the Apple authorised commercial messaging platform.
   
7. These details will be submitted to Apple for review. Once you send your profile for review by clicking the “Send for review” button.

Once Apple has reviewed your account, Paste your Apple Business ID in your Chat account to start using it.

How to integrate Business Chat with Chat

1. Once your business chat account is set up, Click on your Business chat account name and Connect to Freshchat.
   
   Note: You can integrate your internal test account with Freshchat while your business account is pending for approval from Apple.
2. Click Connect. You will be redirected to your Freshchat account's Apple Business Chat integration page.
3.  Enter your Business chat ID. 
4. You can find your Apple Business ID in your Apple Business Chat account by clicking on the ‘Copy ID’
   
5. Paste it into your Chat account.
6. Give a name to your Message Channel for the Apple Business Chat conversations. Select the Group to which you want to assign the conversations and click Connect.

Important Note:

Once you do this, you won’t be able to edit the fields again in the Freshchat Business Chat integration page. So make sure you enter the correct details. 

If you entered the wrong values, contact our support team.

What are the message types supported by Business Chat and how to use it in Chat

Apple Business Chat (ABC) specific messages can be sent from Freshchat using Smart Plugs with a message override option. ABC supports the following message types,

• Send/Receive Message

• List Picker

• Time Picker

• Apple Pay

• Attachments

• Authentication message

Here are some screenshots...

Send/Receive Message

Rich links

You can add a Smart Plug by going to Admin > Smart Plugs > Add Smart Plugs.

To learn more about Smart Plugs, checkout this support article.

To get your Apple Business Chat Smart Plug scripts, ping us using the Freshchat messenger or write to us at support@freshchat.com.