There are hundreds of tasks and use-cases for chatbots, from financial advisor to beauty assistant. But none are more lucrative for brands than marketing chatbots, those chatbots that can increase your brand’s visibility, make purchases easy and fast, and super-charge your customer service.
It’s no secret that people are choosing instant messaging over calls or SMS many times over — Facebook’s Director of Platform and Product Partnerships Anand Chandrasekaran reports that Messenger has over 1.2 Billion active users per month. And eMarketer reports that consumers prefer a smaller number of apps that perform a larger spectrum of tasks — only 200 mobile apps make up 70% of app usage in the U.S. — making chatbot-integrated messaging one of the most useful marketing tools you can use.
If you don’t believe me, take a look at some of the ways that you can use chatbots, and companies that are already taking full advantage of the chatbot revolution:
1. Personalized News
Want more click-throughs for your blog or publication? Use a chatbot to send personalized breaking news updates to interested parties through Messenger, with the option to view in Messenger or click through to view the article on your site. Subscribers can also change their preferences so they get only the updates they want. Publications like TechCrunch are taking advantage of chatbots, and there are also third party apps like Newsbytes, which curates mini news stories for users.
2. Payment Tools
Obviously your goal in marketing is to bring more money into your company, so making payments easier for customers is a win. As of Fall 2016, Messenger integrates with instant-payment platforms like Stripe, PayPal, Venmo, Visa, MasterCard and more, so customers can buy your products or services with one click and never leave the messaging app they’re using. Taking into account that consumers want more services consolidated into less apps, you’d be doing yourself a disservice if you don’t make chatbot payments a part of your marketing strategy. PayPal and Due.com already have finance chatbots.
3. Event Ticketing
If you’re in any space that provides scheduling and buying of tickets, chatbots are the way to go. Event ticketing bots allows people to look for, choose and buy tickets for events and travel, without leaving Messenger at all. For instance, StubHub, one of the largest ticketing providers in the U.S., is using Messenger not only for browsing and buying tickets but also sending event maps, updates and parking passes, as well as updates on future events that buyers might be interested in.
In the travel space, the flight assistant bot created by KLM Airlines provides electronic boarding passes, check-in notifications and flight delay information, as well as their new roll-out of Emoji-led services. Users can send the chatbot an emoji based on what they would like to see: directions, the nearest hamburger stand, or nearby clothing stores, and the bot will send back recommendations.
4. Delivery Services
Delivery and gig services are a huge space right now, saturated with companies vying for attention. Don’t you want to make it as easy as possible for customers to find and use your company? Chatbots take full advantage of all the trappings of online ordering — like payment integration and delivery directions — but also offer personalized ordering recommendations based on past orders, like the chatbot that Pizza Hut built for Messenger and Twitter. You can also order deliveries to be sent using, for example, the 1-800-Flowers chatbot, which answers FAQs, makes present and arrangement suggestions, and provides live delivery updates.
5. Brand Engagement
There have been some truly innovative marketing campaigns launched on Messenger but some are more brilliant than others, and Disney’s chatbot campaign for the movie Zootopia was stellar. Based on Zootopia’s lead character Officer Judy Hops, Disney contracted to build a complex chatbot that allowed users to go on a crime-solving mystery adventure with Officer Hops, culminating in various endings that encouraged users to message Judy again. Millions of messages later, users spent an average of 10 minutes interacting with her, and Zootopia went on to gross over $1 billion globally in the first three months of the movie’s release.
Billion dollar successes can be yours with the right chatbots, and truly for pennies on the dollar.