African OTA Jumia Travel claims to be first business in the region to integrate Facebook Messenger into its customer service platform.

Jumia is using Salesforce for Messenger, a dedicated product from the global CRM and sales software specialist. Salesforce was an early arrival at the Messenger party and launched its dedicated product at the same time as Facebook opened up Messenger to developers in April 2106.

At the time, it claimed that “with Salesforce for Messenger, companies will be able to manage each customer interaction, throughout the customer lifecycle, from a single platform that affords a single, cohesive view of each customer across the entire business.”

Jumia Travel will use the tool as a customer service channel. Customers will be able to chat live with its 400-or-so travel advisors, in support of existing bookings or for advice on potential purchases.

Africa is, generally, a mobile-first market and Jumia’s introduction of Messenger capabilities reflect the fact that mobile is its dominant search and shop channel. It says that 51% of its traffic comes from mobile. When it comes to bookings however the balance is much more weighted to mobile with 68% of transactions compared with desktop’s 32%.

Related reading from Tnooz:
Why travel brands should be investing in chatbots, now (July17)
Jumia Travel adds Progressive Web App, lifts conversion by one-third (June17)
What now for chatbots in travel? (Jan17)