Messaging on the rise
Over the phone number list past couple of years, as marketers have focused on building a presence on social media (primarily Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram), the phone number list total number of active monthly users of social media apps messaging (mainly WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, WeChat and Kik) has surpassed these social networks. The phone number list growing popularity of messaging is creating an opportunity phone number list for businesses to connect with their customers like never before in a contextual, relevant, personal and conversational way. This is where chatbots come in.
What is a chatbot?
A chatbot is software that automates the phone number list task of talking with people, especially on the Internet. In the phone number list same way that software (Microsoft Word, Excel, etc.) lives on your laptop and apps (Instagram, Pokemon Go, etc.) live on your smartphone, chatbots live on messaging apps. For example, chatbots can live on Facebook Messenger, SMS, Kik or WeChat.
The phone number list best way to understand what chatbots are is to see one in action. Let's take a look at the chatbot that KLM Royal Dutch Airlines recently introduced for Facebook Messenger. With the phone number list customer's permission, the KLM chatbot automatically “sends” the itinerary, boarding passes, check-in confirmation and delay notifications. It even connects the phone number list traveler to a human staff member if questions arise that the chatbot cannot answer.
Chatbots combine the phone number list ease of texting with the intelligence of built-in software to perform an unlimited number of tasks, from automating subscription content (like weather and traffic updates) phone number list to personalizing communications (such as receipts, shipping notifications and automated live messages).
These are just a few use cases. Chatbots open up new opportunities phone number list to engage your customers with content – at scale.
Risks, concerns, failures - and the need for policies
For brand protection, legal compliance and competitive advantage in this new arena, companies must analyze and prioritize risk. Risks are best addressed with policies adopted by the phone number list organization to inform decisions made by marketers regarding online content and technologies. Policies enable organizations phone number list to achieve their long-term goals. In my (Kristina's) experience as a digital policy consultant, policies are most effective when posted in a central location that is widely accessible.
You might not think you need chatbot policies. Neither did many early adopters. The phone number list lack of a full review of the risks associated with automated conversation has led to embarrassment in the business. For example, the separate New England Patriots and Microsoft chatbots tweeted racial slurs. Other miscalculations amounted to providing weird or pointless answers, as was the phone number list case with Poncho, Facebook's "weather chat" chatbot, which is notorious phone number list for giving weird answers to simple questions.