Amazon Connect Chat now supports interactive messages

You can now create richer customer experiences and resolve issues faster by using interactive messages in Amazon Connect Chat. Interactive messages enable you to send prompts and pre-configured response options, eliminating the need for a customer to manually type in their reply. For example, customers can choose a recent order they need help with or select their preferred appointment time from a list of options simply by clicking on it. Powered by [Amazon Lex](/lex/), interactive messages allow you to create personalized, self-service experiences for your customers using the same chatbots that you’re already using for Amazon Connect Voice and Chat. Interactive messages help to increase chatbot accuracy, reduce customer friction, and increase self-service rates. If a contact is escalated from a chatbot to an agent, the agent can see the prompt and the customer’s reply, ensuring that the full context of the conversation is available to the agent without the customer having to repeat themselves. This feature is available in all [AWS regions](/about-aws/global-infrastructure/regional-product-services/) where Amazon Connect is offered. Interactive messages are priced at the same rate as chat messages along with any associated Amazon Lex and Amazon Lambda usage. This [blog post](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/contact-center/easily-set-up-interactive-messages-for-your-amazon-connect-chatbot/)provides step-by-step instructions on how to setup a new interactive message. To learn more, see help [documentation](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/connect/latest/adminguide/interactive-messages.html), or visit the [Amazon Connect website](/connect/).