Want a little glimpse of the future? About halfway into this conversation, Renards Skutels describes a recent experience that his agency Chatsmart engineered for a client. The client's customers engaged live with a WhatsApp GenAI chat agent — the example Renards gives is “I have dry skin in the winter.” The chat agent sent the customer a catalog of applicable products to solve the problem, and the customer purchased — all within the WhatsApp app.

In some countries — most particularly, China/WeChat — a complete in-app transaction cycle like this is commonplace. It's pretty cutting-edge for the EU, though. While WhatsApp appears to have the user-preference edge, Meta is playing catch-up to WeChat on the supporting technologies required.

For North America, it's like a peek into a multiverse future, where the winning reality isn't set yet. Is Renard's story an example of

• How Amazon will function in a few years?
• How Canadians — and perhaps Americans — will use WhatsApp in the near future?
• Or — wildcard — how RCS might seize the pocket as Apple and Android play cyber-detente / cold-war?

What does this have to do with email?

Well...everything. Email isn't going away, but it's less and less the first-habit communication channel. Chatsmart is working on the front lines of app marketing in the EU market(s). Market dynamics and culture are different there, to be sure, but ask yourself this...do you check your messages or your email first? Which do you look at immediately, and which later?

This conversation will make you think about how things might look in a few short years.