BOT Services
BOT Services, Soultion and Intelligence Development
What Are Bots?
Bots are defined as software designed to automate things that you do. But that definition on it’s its own is not very helpful -- what does that actually relate to in real life? The type of bots getting the most coverage use conversational UI and interface with an existing messaging application. They help the user of the app find information or get something done in a seamless, automated way through text-based commands (think typing out: "Hey, Pizza Hut bot! Send me a large pepperoni pizza" and the pizza shows up at your door 30 minutes later).
In North America, the best known example of a messaging app is Facebook Messenger. Whatsapp, also owned by Facebook, features bot integrations, too. And the list doesn’t stop there. In fact, there are a number of messaging apps and platforms -- Slack, Twitter, etc. -- investing in a bot platform and ecosystem. But for the sake of simplicity, our examples will focus on Facebook Messenger.
Time to connect the two concepts: Let’s say a third party company, like Lyft, creates a bot that interfaces with Facebook Messenger. When a Messenger user needs a ride, she can summon the Lyft bot and order a car to pick her up directly through her Messenger app. In other words, she doesn’t need to switch to the dedicated Lyft app to use Lyft’s service.
Facebook hopes to entice more companies to build bots on its messenger platform. And why would companies want to do such a thing? Facebook’s incredible reach and user base. With a bot integration, any company can provide services to over 900 million active Facebook Messenger users. Click to tweet And by creating its own bot platform, Facebook instantly made its Messenger app stickier -- who wouldn’t want to order a pizza, book a flight, talk to a customer service rep, and chat with their best friend all on the same application? Thus, the industry freakout.
What About Apps?
The bot play is coming at a time when the app platform appears to be in decline. There are still plenty of apps, but according to analysis from Comscore, app fatigue has set in. There are 1.5 million total apps available now in the Apple Appstore, but in this increasingly crowded landscape, most smartphone users can’t be bothered to add new apps to their roster. App downloads have slowed to a trickle in recent years -- today, a smartphone user downloads zero new apps a month.
Comscore also calculated that 80% of a person’s mobile time is spent in just three apps. And the space is increasingly dominated by big players -- as of April 2016, nine out of the top 10 used apps were made by Google and Facebook.Click to tweet App leaders like Facebook, who want to guarantee that people spend most of their time in their apps, are placing big bets on aggregating content and collecting bot integrations to keep users active and engaged.
Use Cases for Bots
If Facebook and other platform’s platforms’ bet on bots works out, the use cases will not only have a significant impact on users’ lives, but they’ll also open up a new channel for businesses to reach a large audience. Early players are already exploring the following use cases:
Ecommerce
1-800 Flowers and Spring have made it easy for customers to shop for their products via Facebook Messenger. Both companies created simple conversation bots that directs buyers to the right locations or products, depending on the nature of their request:
Ecommerce Bots from 1-800 Flowers and Spring
Medical advice from the HealthTap bot
Bots are defined as software designed to automate things that you do. But that definition on it’s its own is not very helpful -- what does that actually relate to in real life? The type of bots getting the most coverage use conversational UI and interface with an existing messaging application. They help the user of the app find information or get something done in a seamless, automated way through text-based commands (think typing out: "Hey, Pizza Hut bot! Send me a large pepperoni pizza" and the pizza shows up at your door 30 minutes later).
In North America, the best known example of a messaging app is Facebook Messenger. Whatsapp, also owned by Facebook, features bot integrations, too. And the list doesn’t stop there. In fact, there are a number of messaging apps and platforms -- Slack, Twitter, etc. -- investing in a bot platform and ecosystem. But for the sake of simplicity, our examples will focus on Facebook Messenger.
Time to connect the two concepts: Let’s say a third party company, like Lyft, creates a bot that interfaces with Facebook Messenger. When a Messenger user needs a ride, she can summon the Lyft bot and order a car to pick her up directly through her Messenger app. In other words, she doesn’t need to switch to the dedicated Lyft app to use Lyft’s service.
Facebook hopes to entice more companies to build bots on its messenger platform. And why would companies want to do such a thing? Facebook’s incredible reach and user base. With a bot integration, any company can provide services to over 900 million active Facebook Messenger users. Click to tweet And by creating its own bot platform, Facebook instantly made its Messenger app stickier -- who wouldn’t want to order a pizza, book a flight, talk to a customer service rep, and chat with their best friend all on the same application? Thus, the industry freakout.
What About Apps?
The bot play is coming at a time when the app platform appears to be in decline. There are still plenty of apps, but according to analysis from Comscore, app fatigue has set in. There are 1.5 million total apps available now in the Apple Appstore, but in this increasingly crowded landscape, most smartphone users can’t be bothered to add new apps to their roster. App downloads have slowed to a trickle in recent years -- today, a smartphone user downloads zero new apps a month.
Comscore also calculated that 80% of a person’s mobile time is spent in just three apps. And the space is increasingly dominated by big players -- as of April 2016, nine out of the top 10 used apps were made by Google and Facebook.Click to tweet App leaders like Facebook, who want to guarantee that people spend most of their time in their apps, are placing big bets on aggregating content and collecting bot integrations to keep users active and engaged.
Use Cases for Bots
If Facebook and other platform’s platforms’ bet on bots works out, the use cases will not only have a significant impact on users’ lives, but they’ll also open up a new channel for businesses to reach a large audience. Early players are already exploring the following use cases:
Ecommerce
1-800 Flowers and Spring have made it easy for customers to shop for their products via Facebook Messenger. Both companies created simple conversation bots that directs buyers to the right locations or products, depending on the nature of their request:
Ecommerce Bots from 1-800 Flowers and Spring
Customer Service
Brands can also extend customer service into the Messenger app. In this use case, the buyer experience is very seamless, as all the details of their transaction appear in the same conversation thread.
Examples of customer service interactions
Bot enabled customer service can extend to other verticals beyond Ecommerce, too. In fact, even those dreaded interactions you have with your cable or internet provider can be simplified by bots, according to University of Toronto professor Joshua Gans. In an article for the Harvard Business Review, Gans recounted an interaction he has with a customer service bot from Rogers -- a broadband Internet service provider in Canada, owned by Rogers Communications. Gans noted that because of Messenger's historical record keeping, he didn’t have to restate his problem when a new service representative took over his issue. There was also no need to re-enter account numbers when a different service agent picked up his conversation. On top of the ease of the interaction, Gans noted that the conversation felt personable and friendly, which can make a big impact on the overall customer experience.
Content Distribution
Messenger users will be able to summon content on demand via the Messenger app. This will be yet another channel content creators can utilize to connect with their readers. But the platform is ad free so content distributors will have to consider how to monetize their bot integrations, if at all.
Content on demand from CNN's bot
Specialized Search and Services
Rather than go to a search engine or a topic-specific app, Messenger users can interface with bots to get answers to their questions. Topics can range from the weather outside to diagnosing illnesses and everything in between.
Weather bot
Medical advice from the HealthTap bot
Promotional Content
Marketing teams have already started using the channel to create buzz and promote upcoming releases. Adam Rosenberg, a writer for Mashable, shared his conversation with a bot created to promote the video game Call of Duty. The game’s publisher posted a YouTube video that linked to the messenger bot and teased the potential to uncover a special game code if people interact with the bot.
An interactive campaign promoting the video game Call of Duty
Enterprise/Business Enablement
This is a non-Messenger example, but it points to how businesses follow consumer behavior trends. Slack is a business messaging and communication platform that has taken off significantly in the past few years. And they feature an extensive bot store. A number of start ups have begun working on creating enterprise class business, marketing, and sales enablement bots to help professionals get their job done, including Troops, which recently raised $2.6 million dollars to connect Salesforce to Slack.
Troops' bot aims to connect Salesforce to Slack
