Google Sunsetting Business Profile Call History & Chat

Google will be shutting down the Google Business Profile chat and call history feature on July 31, 2024. Chat functionality will continue through July 15th, but all features and historic data will see complete removal at the end of that month.

Despite Google Business Messaging being a successful and highly convenient customer touchpoint, Google continues its “Launch, Promote, Abandon” cycle. Messaging is the latest victim of this, and businesses that have become accustomed to chatting with their customers via their Google profiles will have to find other means to keep their customers engaged and informed.

Not everything about this news is negative, however. Along with the depreciation of messaging, Google announced plans to integrate native SMS and WhatsApp support into Google listings. This may mean that Google isn’t fully abandoning messaging but is instead pivoting to integrating already widely adopted technologies rather than dedicating resources to their own first-party version. With 89% of consumers saying they prefer texting with businesses over any other mode of communication, it is safe to assume that Google will attempt to keep some form of texting available within Google Profile, if not their in-house version.