Apple Messages for Business

According to Zendesk benchmark data, 70 percent of customers buy more from companies when they offer seamless customer experiences (CX), especially in the channels they’re familiar with. With DemandSage reporting that there are over 1 billion iPhone users worldwide, businesses stand to see better organizational success if they serve people over this popular interface.

With customer expectations on the rise and great conversational experiences a must, businesses must consider using Apple Messages for Business—AKA Apple Business Chat—to interact with customers over iMessage.

Discover what this specialized service is and how it works, and a whole lot more, in our guide below.

More in this guide:

• What is Apple Messages for Business?
• How does Apple Messages for Business work?
• Why use Apple Messages for Business?
• What are the features of Apple Messages for Business?
• How much does Apple Messages for Business cost?
• Best practices for using Apple Messages for Business
• How to determine Apple Business Chat staffing levels
• Frequently asked questions
• Optimize Apple Business Chat with Zendesk

Apple Messages for Business is a way for customers and businesses to communicate using iMessage—Apple’s instant messaging service that works across the iPhone, iPad, MacBook, and Apple Watch. However, Apple business messaging through iMessage is not a live chat software solution and requires a messaging service provider (MSP) to manage conversations.

Why is Apple Messages for Business important?

Messaging solutions like Apple’s iMessage business chat help companies deliver personalized customer service wherever their audience is. This type of messaging helps companies:

• Provide omnichannel and consistent support
• Level up customer experiences
• Complete sales
• Market their products and services

Additionally, Apple is the world’s leading smartphone seller, making iMessage one of the default places to find—and convert—customers, improving business outcomes, brand reputations, and revenue.

Apple Messages for Business works by connecting iMessage with your choice of an approved MSP. While you’ll work with Apple to connect these systems, an MSP handles most of your channel and workflow configurations.

Before launching Apple Business Chat, you’re required to have your messaging integration reviewed by an Apple team twice:

1. First, after you configure it
2. Second, when you are ready to launch

After your configuration is complete and approved, Apple Business Chat is ready to launch. However, Apple Messages for Business has a few conditions for using the service:

• Only customers can start conversations with your business.
• Personal customer data remains private unless they provide it.
• When a message thread is deleted, you cannot contact that customer through the chat until they message you again.

Apple also requires registered MSPs to provide back-end system integrations so you can integrate iMessage Business Chat with your marketing, sales, and customer service software.

With so many alternative methods of customer communication, you may be wondering why your business should add iOS business chat to its operations. However, businesses should consider using Apple Business Chat to:

• Increase customer satisfaction (CSAT): Apple Business Chat enables businesses to converse with customers where they’re comfortable, facilitating real-time communication and eliminating traditional service channel barriers.
• Improve team productivity: Apple messaging supports ticket deflection by prompting customers to send a message rather than call, routing incoming conversations, and answering FAQs.
• Boost customer engagement: Rich messaging allows businesses to send more than just text—they can send multimedia elements, like images and videos, which transforms a standard chat into a dynamic and immersive experience.

By offering customers a richer, more interactive form of communication, businesses can capture their attention more effectively and encourage deeper customer loyalty.

Since Apple Messages for Business requires an MSP, your provider, and its features play a significant role in its overall performance. The right MSP can deliver these key Apple Business Chat features.

Scheduling

Customers can schedule appointments, meetings, and deliveries using iMessage business messaging. Calendars are embedded within iOS, so customers can easily check for conflicts while updating their schedules. Also, businesses can send appointment reminders with customer permission.

Purchase and payment support

With Apple Pay, customers can select and pay for products, track orders, and share payment information without leaving their iMessage conversation. Businesses can also create detailed product lists, support order tracking, and share important order information.

All iMessage features

Apple Messages for Business supports all the reactions, GIFs, emojis, rich links, text effects, and file sharing you can use in iMessage. So, when your customers interact with you through Apple business messaging, they can message you just like they would a friend.

Integrations

According to the Apple Messages for Business MSP requirements on the Apple website, all MSPs must support the following:

• Continuous conversations and intent-based routing
• A channel connector to link the MSP to Apple Business Chat
• A customizable live agent console that supports Messages for Business features
• Virtual digital assistants, like AI agents, to triage and hand off incoming conversations
• Custom integrations with back-end systems like customer relationship management (CRM) solutions
• Conversational designers with easy-to-use graphical user interface tools

When you integrate an Apple Business Chat API with your MSP, you’re opening your business up to all of the MSP’s possible integrations.

Omnichannel support

With Apple Business Chat, teams can offer omnichannel support to meet customers across platforms. For example, your customers can message you to start conversations from within Search, Maps, and Safari. You can also enable iMessage Business Chat to accept customer messages on your website, from within your mobile app, and via email.

According to Apple support, your Apple Business Chat cost will “depend on the scope of your Business Chat deployment and the messaging service provider used to implement your vision.”

For instance, if you plan to deploy Apple Messages for Business for multiple brands, your cost will increase relative to deploying it for only one brand. Depending on your internal resources and MSP, you may have to work with an external consultant to implement your solution, which comes with additional costs. Also, MSPs vary in terms of what and how they charge you for deploying Apple business messaging.

Apple has strict standards for all companies using Apple Business Chat. Follow these best practices to improve CX and maintain compliance:

• Automate what you can. By streamlining data collection, order fulfillment, appointment scheduling, and FAQ responses, you can dedicate more resources to higher-value issues.
• Simplify data collection. Use Apple’s built-in tools to ask for and collect information and customer analytics software to track responses and personalize CX.
• Unify the messaging experience. Choose to integrate your messaging services with your existing tech stack and centralize historical data in a unified agent workspace to make it easy for agents to access customer data to personalize conversations.
• Staff sufficiently. Use historical information and AI-powered workforce forecasting to anticipate staffing needs and prepare resources effectively.

Depending on the MSP you choose, there may be built-in or add-on features to help you implement these best practices.

Apple business messaging can be a great way to provide fast and convenient support, but you need to know how to support its implementation. Before using Apple Messages for Business, estimate your staffing needs using the Zendesk staffing calculator below:

Additionally, you should consider the following to determine the number of customer service agents you’ll need to support Apple Business Chat:

• Number of visitors to your website or help center
• Frequency of agent availability
• Average conversation duration
• The number of simultaneous conversations an agent will handle

Disclaimer: The above formula should be used as a guide and does not replace a typical workforce management staffing calculator. Teams will also need to consider factors such as breaks for agents, multiple shifts, and different customer requirements.

Read on to learn more about Apple Messages for Business and its capabilities for your company.