• by Harvey Chipkin , Columnist, October 17, 2016

In the 1960’s, Marshall McLuhan, a philosopher and public intellectual, famously said, “The medium is the message” – meaning it is the media platform itself that is most important – not the content of what the medium is delivering.

And now we have come to the point where the message is the medium as messaging becomes the simplest, most efficient way for consumers and businesses communicated in what some call “conversational commerce.” They see it is as becoming a routine method of communication in the very near future

Products are proliferating to exploit this phenomenon. One is two-month-old SnapTravel, started by a young, Toronto-based serial entrepreneur named Hussein Fazal, whose product enables consumers to book travel through Facebook Messenger, SMS and Slack (a messaging version for teams). He calls it a “half bot/ half-human solution using machine learning to get smarter and more automated over time.”

Fazal said his creation is enabled by a new Facebook ad unit capability that provides the ability to have an ad say ‘Send Message’ on the button. When a user clicks on that button, they get taken straight into the SnapTravel Messenger experience. Of course, any marketer can use that capability if they have the appropriate product.

Interestingly, as is the case with some of the latest innovations in booking travel, humans are involved (the half-human part). At some point in the messaging conversation, a live travel counselor comes online to answer questions and complete details. And, in a very travel-agent style service, a person will call the hotel on the morning of check-in to request a free upgrade. 

SnapTravel, whose inventory is gleaned from online travel agencies like Expedia; and Amadeus, the GDS, recently raised $1.2 million from investors and has offices in San Francisco and Toronto.

Busy travelers will respond to products like SnapTravel, said Fazal. As he pointed out, rather than the old process of: 

• Go to website, fill out fields, click get results, scroll through tons of results and try and figure out what is best, 

SnapTravel works like this (once it is downloaded):  

• Go to Messenger:See SnapTravel, click on ad, immediately start chatting and engaging to find the right hotel. 

In fact, the service can achieve a booking in two messages if it is an itinerary that has been done before. As Fazal points out, laptops are going the way of landline phones, especially for younger people. Many consumers spend all their time on the phone and that is where they intend to accomplish what they need to do. Fazal is planning a referral program to gain users and eventually hopes to offer direct deals with hotels. 

SnapTravel is just one of what are sure to be many approaches to conversational commerce. Marketers will be looking for ways to capitalize on the technology to their advantage. What these products show is that consumers in many situations want systems that are frictionless, seamless -- and fast. As with all these technologies, the old ways will not go away but any marketer who believes in a comprehensive strategy will have to stay on top of it all. 

That’s the message.