Chatbots: Disrupting the Holy Space of Personal Relationships
More than anything else, marketing in the Internet era seems to be a matter of figuring out ways to get heard over the very loud “static” that we are constantly surrounded with. For small online business owners, solving this challenge is especially challenging.
One answer – probably the answer for the coming years – is bots, the little apps that, once unleashed on a group, can communicate with anyone and “talk” to them “face-to-face,” so to speak. With chatbots, businesses can for the first time get past the walls that separate their message from their customer – delivering them relevant information that they can use, on their own terms.
Call it the technology of “blurred lines,” turning what once was a strictly business relationship into something more personal. Bots will enable marketers to insert themselves into the holy space of people to people relationships, changing the dynamic for businesses from the current business-trying-to-sell-me-something to people relationship most folks have with online marketers to something of greater value for them. The artificial intelligence-based chatbots coming down the pike will be salespeople in the most positive sense of the word, providing information and resources that enable users to make sense of the plethora of choices they are faced with.
Chatbots, of course, have been around for a long time – Eliza was doling out psychological advice back in the 1980s – but today's chatbots are a different animal altogether. Relying on artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing, modern AI-based chatbots are already beginning the process of inserting their personalities into conversations on popular messaging platforms.
What's new is the ability of AI-based chatbots to zero in on the needs of the individual or group; as AI tech advances, the bots are going to be able to understand complicated queries, plugging into off-the-shelf AI modules offered by companies like IBM and Microsoft to “understand” what a user needs, and direct them to information, services, products, etc. For the first time, businesses will be able to communicate with customers via the same method, manner and channels that they use to talk to their friends, thus making it potentially the most effective form ever of “in your face” marketing.
While they may be peripheral now, I believe that there will come a time very soon where chatbots will become an important tool in the arsenal of marketers, if not the go-to tool. In fact, it's actually the next logical step in on-line marketing; if the web has done anything, it's made making choices an overwhelming task. “Too much information” is more than just the name of a rock song; it's a reality we all face daily. Chatbots, intelligently implemented, will be able to help users narrow in on the information they really need, enabling marketers to deliver their message clearly and cleanly, with as little interference as possible.
A good example of this concept comes from the AI world. Financial services firm USAA has an app that provides vets with information on choices that will help them transition into civilian life. The information on scholarships, job training, veteran's benefits, etc. of course exist on the web sites of the US Army, the Veteran's Administration, and probably a dozen other agencies – but who has the time, patience, or will to sort it all out? The USAA service – a pilot program that utilizes IBM's Watson Engagement Advisor – taps into thousands of documents outlining information veterans need, helping them get real answers to real questions. More than just a search query system, the service “understands” what users are asking based on AI machine learning and natural language modules, and can suggest different ideas and strategies veterans should use in order to find money for college, get a subsidized mortgage, etc.
While not ready for “chatbot prime time” just yet, the USAA service augurs an era in which marketers of all types will be able to tap into big data sources and intelligently navigate them in order to engage with the needs of customers. In gaming, for example, a bot with an artificial intelligence module for strategy could be the “captain” of an on-line team, giving that group an advantage over competitors who are botless. At the airport, a chatbot built into an airline's app could respond to complaints about delays, seating, etc. that passengers file in real-time. (Currently, many of those complaints end up on Twitter, giving the airline a black eye; an AI-equipped chatbot could parse Twitter, figure out who the complaining passenger is (using their location information and public profile) and initiate a “discussion” aimed at remediating the problem - changing a potential customer relations disaster into a victory).
Already, there are dozens of bots for Messenger and the other platforms. One site lists dozens (a number of the sites where the bots are supposed to be available appear to be down), and many of them are very basic in their approach, but show a great deal of promise.
The NBA created a Messenger chatbot that lets you get information on the playoffs and the finals, with an interesting on-demand video feature – you could ask it, for example, to create a highlight reel of the top plays by the Cavaliers from Game One of the finals. One bot even searches out unique batches and brands of whiskeys and reports to potential buyers, taking care of all the payment and shipping details when a customer presses the buy button.
That bot brands itself “the first text-based liquor store.” Want to bet it won't be the last?