The Rise Of The Bot Brigade: How Startups Are Leveraging Chat Bots To Gain Traction

Originally Published On Inc42

Bots are the new flavour of the season in the Indian startup ecosystem as everyone is jumping on the bot bandwagon. Microsoft is building a Bing Concierge Bot – a new bot for messaging apps like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger which does what a human assistant would do. Similarly Google is working on Google Assistant – a new, conversational smart assistant that goes beyond its existing voice search feature, and Facebook is testing its personal assistant bot M, which was launched last year to disrupt the virtual assistance space.

Also, Facebook has just opened up its Messenger platform with 900 Mn users for bots. Messaging platform Slack announced an $80 Mn fund for startups developing bots on its platform. Two other messaging platforms—Kik Messenger and Telegram—also opened up their platforms for bots. In April, messaging platform Gupshup also launched its bot builder platform called gupshup.io to help developers test and deploy bots across all messaging channels. But why have these software programmes that are used to automate tasks suddenly gained so much prominence?

Rise Of AI, Fall Of Apps

There are a few reasons behind their sudden surge. Firstly, artificial intelligence and natural language processing, two technologies behind bots are now more accessible to developers and have vastly improved. Secondly, with the overcrowded app space, smartphone users are now downloading fewer apps than ever. In fact, as per comScore’s new mobile app report, most US smartphone owners download zero apps in a typical month. Comscore also calculated that 80% of a person’s mobile time is spent in just three apps. And that 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.

And that’s why Facebook and Google, who want to guarantee that people spend most of their time in their apps, are betting big on bots to keep users active and engaged. Additionally, they also want to emulate the success of apps like WeChat in China, which initially started out as a messaging app but has transformed into a platform where users can do everything from sending money, booking a cab, interacting with brands and even finding dates.

Though there are always questions about how effective a conversation can be without some human intervention, brands and startups are experimenting big with them given the fact a Facebook bot throws open a field of 900 Mn users. Added to that is the fact that Facebook follows a very stringent policy and rejects one out of every three bots submitted to it. So, though the field is wide open, as per Romesh Khaddar, CTO of NewsBytes, which launched India’s first news bot, says, “The trick is to follow all the guidelines issued by Facebook and think out of the box to give the best user experience in the limited options provided by Facebook and then keep adding features to it.”

Here’s a look at how the bot brigade has invaded the Indian startup ecosystem and what all are they doing for you.

They Will Be Your Morning Newspaper

Those days of scouring through newspaper pages with your early morning cuppa might well be on their way out with the launch of India’s first news bot by NewsBytes. The Gurgaon-based news technology startup NewsBytes launched its automated bot on Facebook Messenger last month. The beta version of their cross-platform bot is a part of Facebook’s Messenger programme revealed at F8 conference.

Available globally, in English, the bot lets users read latest news along with its timeline, search across the content and subscribe to the daily news digest. The readability is enhanced by the card-like view, further supported by appropriate images. One can decide to read just the headlines or the entire story behind that particular news item.

Here’s a snapshot of my experience with the news bot which gave us the day’s news in a couple of seconds.

Interestingly, when someone likes the news items, the bot responds – “Thanks, I like you too.” And a newspaper that talks to you, and responds like a human, is a big draw!

In the words of founder Sumedh Chaudhry,

“In simple words, it does not feel like that you are reading news; your mind perceives that you are talking to a friend who knows a lot of news.”

Meanwhile the technology behind is fairly complex because on one hand the data is being fetched from our home grown content management system, and on the other, Facebook’s API has to be integrated. So, it is a combination of PHP, Mongo DB and Facebook’s API; with some natural language processing. With Python and Java services running the background, it provides other ancillary functions like search. Currently, it is in the beta stage and a whole bunch of features will be added into it.

As far as increasing traction is concerned, Sumedh points out, “In our one year of existence, we have seen that our unique content—timeline based news—has been appreciated by a lot of people. We have more than 40K downloads on PlayStore, and rated 4.8 there. And all of that has happened organically. Till date, we have not spent any marketing dollars to get any downloads whatsoever. However, India faces a unique problem – not only are Indians “kb sensitive” but also a lot of cellphones are pretty old. So, every time someone has to download a new app, he/she is forced to uninstall the old ones. And, added to this, there are so many apps available in the market today. There is a lot of app download friction in our country. Thus, as an app company, even when you are accepted and loved, you face a lot of challenges to survive.”

They knew if they had to thrive, they needed some magic. So they started exploring other options – where they don’t ask the user to change his online behaviour, be mindful of his data consumption and space limitations on his mobile. And, then they found their answer – they needed to override on the networks of WhatsApp, Facebook, Slack, Telegram and others. So, even before Mark Zuckerberg made the announcement of FB messenger bot at F8 conference, NewBytes’ bots were already present on Slack and Telegram.

Adds Sumedh, “In our experience, getting a user activated on the bot is at least 3 times simpler than asking him/her to download the app. But, the issue is that a lot of people either don’t know about bots or have a very different expectation from the bots. So, we face the daunting challenge of educating them. That said, every first mover in any industry is supposed to do it. The first mover advantage comes with a lot of responsibility.”

As it is, getting Facebook to approve a bot is also not that easy, given their stringent guidelines around it. Since it is Facebook’s platform, they can control it very tightly. To begin with, the user interactions are limited, given the nature of the platform. Additionally, if one doesn’t adhere to the guidelines provided by Facebook, one would surely be rejected by them. They are extremely quality conscious and test each and every bot submitted to them.  For obvious reasons, they want to keep the platform spam free. So, if ‘x’ percentage of users mark your bot as spam/block you; there is a very high chance that your bot would be removed from the Messenger.

They Will Book Your Cabs And Autos!

The next thing bots can do for you is book your cabs in a couple of seconds. In May, Meru Cabs announced the integration of their cab booking system with Facebook Messenger to provide automated cab booking facility. Meru’s entire range of taxi services is now accessible to Facebook users via Facebook Messenger and will allow them to book cabs through keywords, intelligent chatbot and conversational questions through Meru Messenger Bot. With this new development, Meru Cabs became the first cab services provider in the world to implement Facebook’s Bot service.

Facebook messenger users can simply search “Meru Cabs” on Facebook Messenger under ‘Bots and Business’ section and begin interaction. After the initial mobile number verification (one time), a user can start a normal chat with Meru Messenger Bot to book a cab. I tried this and it was a matter of 5 seconds.

 Once the location is shared on the chat box, the user is then directed to choosing sedan (Meru) or hatchback (MeruGenie) cab available for the trip, with the ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival). Once confirmed, the Meru Messenger Bot responds on real time basis with the cab details along with the chauffeur’s mobile number. The bot enables the user to locate his/her cab & check the fare details.

No wonder it is easy to agree with Nilesh Sangoi, CTO, Meru Cabs, who stated that the bot will “de-clutter our users’ lives, ensuring convenience & accessibility of our services to them.”

On similar lines, auto rickshaw aggregator Jugnoo also launched Jugnoo Bot, which enables users on Facebook to book a ride through Facebook Messenger, Jugnoo’s website, or its Facebook page. The Jugnoo Bot enables users to book a ride by typing a text message in Facebook Messenger or by clicking on ‘Book-a-Ride’ option. Jugnoo automatically authenticates users through their Facebook login details, thus eliminating the need to login into the Jugnoo account separately.

Jugnoo’s AI-based engine then detects their ride location and suggests nearby multiple locations to choose from. Users can also share their location by using the FB Messenger location button. The Jugnoo Bot then shares ETA and fares with users to confirm their ride. Once confirmed, a Jugnoo driver is assigned and the driver details (name, phone number, vehicle number, and a driver picture) are shared with users. The bot also allows real-time tracking of the ride by users.

They Will Also Answer Your Health Queries

Not to be left behind, online doctor consultation platform Lybrate also launched its bot in May, which allows people to make health-related queries, get tips on health, and take a health quiz. For now, the service does not allow booking of doctors through the messenger chatbot.

However, it shares links and excerpts from articles on its Q&A portal on health issues and has also integrated its Health Quiz feature in the Messenger bot to drive engagement and awareness about health issues.

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