What Do Marketing Executives Think of Chatbots?

I recently reached out to 50 Marketing Executives across many industries and asked them 4 simple questions. And here are the results...

1. How familiar are you with chatbots?

• Around 6% of respondents said they were extremely familiar with chatbots
• 13.89% said they were very familiar
• 63.89% were somewhat familiar
• 11.11% are not very familiar
• 5.56% have no idea what a chatbot is!

My thoughts:

This data is not surprising at all. Chatbots are not necessarily "new". They've been around for a long time and are clearly a proven enterprise solution. However, the technology behind the chatbots, and more importantly the deployment of chatbots through platforms like Facebook Messenger is only a few years old. Within the next 5 years these numbers will reflect a trend among marketing teams that utilize chatbots in their overall marketing strategy.

2. Are you likely to use Chatbots as a marketing strategy, why or why not?

• 19.44% say they do not need a service like this
• 5.56% cannot afford a chatbot
• 11.11% are not willing to pay for this
• 30.56% would like to have a chatbot for their business
• 33% would have to learn more about chatbots first

My thoughts:

Again, this is not surprising and confirms my hypothesis that chatbots are still in their early stages. Furthermore, there will always be spaces where chatbots are just not viable (yet).

3. Would you be interested in creating a rewards program for Facebook Messenger using chatbots?

• 61.11% said no
• 5.56% said yes
• 33.33% said maybe

My thoughts:

I may have to do a little more educating before I ask this question again. Right now, there's plenty of software platforms that allow you to build out referral programs or affiliate programs for your business. Upviral is one of many that comes to mind. However, there's nothing that lives natively on the Facebook Messenger. This is something we're developing right now.

4. How much would you expect to pay for Chatbot development?

• Most respondents expect to pay somewhere between $10,000-$15,000 for chatbot development

My thoughts:

I left the answer field blank on the survey because I didn't want to anchor anyone to a specific number. However, I should have been more specific with my question. Typically, custom chatbot development for enterprise level will cost anywhere between $15,000-$150,000 because it takes a whole team of developers to make it happen. But if you're a real estate agent and you just need help booking more showing, the cost to outsource development will cost $1500. Lastly, you could teach yourself how to build your own and it will only cost you $50 per month for a chatbot platform.

Created by Dragoons Media