In a move that will excite service-level businesses wanting more traction from their Google My Business efforts, Google is rolling out frankly massive ‘Get a Quote’ buttons for relevant businesses which have messaging turned on in the Google My Business app. (Update 1: the Google My Business App has been discontinued as of July 2022. Update 2: Google discontinued the messaging feature entirely on July 31, 2024)
These buttons appear on Knowledge Panel results for branded searches, so your customers will only see them if they’re specifically searching for your business.
While we can’t quite see this yet over in the UK, we have it on good authority that this is not a test and after rollout in the US, it’ll appear in GMB profiles worldwide over time.
Here’s what the button looks like on desktop…
And here it is on mobile…
(Examples from Sterling Sky’s Joy Hawkins, who was among the first to spot this new feature)
Where Did This Feature Come From?
It’s worth noting that in May of this year, this ‘Request a Quote’ button appeared as part of a potential feature survey sent from Google to GMB users. The following message/quote-related features were also described in the survey:
Instant Quote: Respond to customer quote requests with an automatic quote. You can customize the quote based on the details of the job. Save your attention for more serious customers.
Automated message responses: Answer some frequently asked questions (hours, services offered) so Google can respond automatically to customers on your behalf. This saves you time.
‘Request a Quote’ is another feature from the survey that’s come to fruition. Will these follow suit?
How Should Businesses React to This Change?
First of all, as long as you have the resources and availability, I’d recommend getting that Google My Business app downloaded and switching the Messaging feature on straight away, no matter your business type.
It’s clear from this new feature and the other potential features mentioned above that encouraging use of its business/customer Messaging service is something Google is focusing on, and so this area will likely see plenty of improvements over the coming months.
My advice is to take the prominence of these new buttons as a sign that this is how Google wants customers to contact your business. Not settling with using Google Duplex to take over customer calls, it seems Google is now angling to automate the messaging experience.
Of course, whether you’re happy with the same AI delivering your quotes and messages as all of your competitors is up to you. There’s still something to be said for standing out with a personal touch, but for how long will this trump the time-saving benefits of automation?
