It’s 2019 and the chatbot hype hasn’t died down. In fact, more and more industries are looking to implement chatbots in their businesses to ensure customer engagement and loyalty in the current digital age when the customer is flooded with options (read competitors).
The real estate industry is no stranger to the challenges of generating leads and closing them.
Properties are not something you can pack into your bags and showcase to people.
Hence lead generation in the real estate industry becomes a lot more complex and grueling.
In today’s time of digitization and online presence of businesses, most of the customers are converted from leads online. In such a scenario, letting all that online traffic go is something one cannot afford to do. Intelligent chatbots in real estate help you tap into that traffic in order to collect and convert leads into customers.
Let’s assume a buyer on your website is on the lookout for a new place to move into or seller is looking to sell his/her home. In both cases, the buyer and the seller need immediate answers. However, for a real estate agent that is juggling new and old property listings, evaluating products, chasing their own sales and marketing goals, and managing past clients — it is quite difficult for them to take time out and assess the requirements of an online lead.
Taking time out to ascertain the overall seriousness of the lead from scratch is pretty time-consuming. But, it is a no-brainer that if you wish to be successful when it comes to real estate, you need to capture as many leads as possible to make sure that you have a specific number of clients on a monthly basis.
The bot will handle conversations with clients that are at the top of the funnel — generally people you don’t know and who might be unsure of actually buying/selling the property. The bot can be programmed on tasks like collecting basic information in the form of asking relevant questions and generating relevant answers resulting in an e-mail capture. Additionally, the chatbot can even transfer the conversation to a human agent, if need be.
To get started, one needs to figure out what medium makes the most sense for their business — Facebook, Web Chat, automated email or SMS bots.
If you happen to have a robust Facebook presence with a good following and engagement, it makes sense to deploy a Facebook bot.
If you generate a good amount of traffic on your website, then a chatbot that pops up and assists your visitors in their journey is your best bet.
1. Real Time Enquiry
When a user lands on your website, they can immediately get their queries answered by the chatbots. They do not have to wait for assistance from a human agent in order to seek answers about the property they are interested in.
2. Available 24×7
As real estate agents have time constraints like meeting deadlines, shift timings, it is not possible for them to remain available to the user throughout the day. With chatbots in real estate being available round the clock, 365 days a year — your customer’s queries can be addressed even outside of operational hours.
3. Qualify Buyer and Seller Needs
Using natural language generation, your custom chatbot determines the prospect’s exact needs and relays the required information without you having to step in, or without your customers having to download an additional app.
4. Schedule Property Viewings
Once the prospect is deeper into the sales funnel, the bot can schedule a home tour and in a way, take care of introducing the client and the real estate agent. At this point, the agents or sales team can take over the reigns.
5. Search MLS Listings
The bot can assess a prospect’s search requirements, scan the MLS for relevant and matching properties and then display listings that are active within the chat interface itself.
6. 360-degree virtual tours
Are prospects too busy or too eager to see the property in person? The real estate chatbot has your back. Your prospects can take a quick virtual tour through the bot itself without them wasting time waiting to get an inside look.
7. Logging Conversations
With chatbots, you can keep a log of the interactions that your leads had with your bot. This comes in very handy when the human agent takes over from the bot and interacts with the lead. With access to prior interactions, you have a better understanding of the lead’s preferences even before you talk to them.
8. Automate your follow-up process
As a realtor, you have a lot on your plate other than following up on people who are yet to be customers. Chatbots can be very easily utilized to follow up on your leads via the medium they choose. Whether they want to be contacted via email or text message for more information or would directly prefer talking to the realtor, is all asked to the user.
Follow-up messages or emails can be automatically sent to the prospect without manual intervention. Or if you prefer to follow-up with the lead manually, then that too is possible.
9. Language no bar
Chatbots can communicate with your targeted audience in their language, thus further personalizing the customer’s experience. This also contributes to elevating your brand and increasing customer engagement.
10. Ease of Data Handling with Integrations
Fret not! Implementing chatbot in your business does not add to the data chaos. In fact, data handling becomes a lot easier with chatbots. Chatbots collect information and feed it directly to your CRM or database, without your assistance.
At WotNot, we have worked with leading property aggregators in the Real Estate industry and developed bespoke chatbot solutions that have resulted in pre-qualified leads for their sales team, while at the same time addressing FAQs and customer support.
With WotNot, you can have your chatbot ready in under an hour! So, what are you waiting for? We have the chatbot templates ready for you to experience for free! Visit us at https://wotnot.io/ and experience the chatbot apt for your business for free!
Article Source: https://medium.com/swlh/real-estate-chatbots-do-you-really-need-them-4f9fe892af00
Showing posts with label Ai. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ai. Show all posts
Thursday, 17 October 2019
Wednesday, 16 October 2019
Chatbot Magazine: Varia Mhitarian | 5 Ways AI is Changing Property Companies
In terms of how it is affecting the property industry, AI technology could very well be as innovative an event as the appearance of the internet itself in the mid-nineties, which went far beyond the expectations of its creators.
Rather than being fearful of AI replacing human jobs, companies are starting to embrace automation for a more intelligent way of working and providing the highest level of client satisfaction. Below we will explore the different ways in which smart technology has already been or is on its way to being implemented within the property industry.
1. Automated Property Management
Problems within rented buildings are a constant source of complaint and burden, to which the human element of a property manager also contributes. Things don’t always go wrong between the working hours of 9–6, and waiting for something to get fixed till the next working day may be a problem of the past. Companies such as UK-based Pi Labs are already implementing an AI messaging platform called AskPorter to help residents in apartments have issues within their buildings or inquiries they may have solved quickly and efficiently. All they have to do is log their complaint with the virtual assistant, and then track its progress until things are back to normal.
2. The Recommendation System
Recommendation systems are being used by a multitude of industries in order to provide customers with a wider variety of options when purchasing or making an inquiry. The AI component understands which types of products are liked by users and can then make relevant suggestions to a new person on the site. The technique is seen in both residential and commercial arenas with companies such as Green & Company (and now even our own company, Free Office Finder, as seen towards the bottom of our results page) already implementing the recommendation system.
3. Virtual Assistants
Further to the above system, making the property search experience even more seamless, recent AI programs like Apartment Ocean are providing real estate websites with chatbots that assist potential clients in their search for a property. The user can now ask an automated bot specific questions and receive answers on how to progress their search in a conversation initiated by the program, which is one that a real estate agent would usually have with potential clients. Acting as a virtual assistant and currently being implemented by team messaging app Slack, Apartment Ocean then converts this opening encounter into useful data that can be used to optimise future interactions with clients.
4. Data Analysis
There are multiple ways in which AI is being used in the property industry at the moment for more efficient analysis of data. Building IQ is one of the companies using AI for data capture analysis — it predicts possible areas in a building that will need maintenance based on information it has gathered about the condition of the building itself. Being solely data-based, AI systems can help humans infer the best course of action to take in order to make tenants save energy, money and live in optimal comfort. Brands such as Nest have implemented this energy-saving tactic into their AI-powered thermostat, learning from data that it collects about the individual who has purchased it for their home, while AirBnB uses AI to set pricing on locations based on what previous customers have liked most about a property (e.g. the photos, the geographical location).
5. Building Security
Companies are currently implementing smart technology in order to provide tenants with ultimate security. GateGuard uses facial recognition for apartment building inhabitants as a replacement for a “doorman”, as well as allowing tenants to let in delivery services when they are out, giving facial access through their phone or computer remotely. Office space provider LABS has implemented intelligent recognition software so that employees and clients can use the mobile app to enter the building without needing a set of keys or a key card.
It’s clear that artificial intelligence is not only fast-growing, but has managed to cover a great variety of industries in a small space of time, reaching the property industry, as outlined above. By improving the efficiency of simple management roles, smart technology works as a suitable partner for agents and brokers within the property field, as well as optimizing the tenant experience through a skillful gathering and analysis of data.
Monday, 14 October 2019
ALICE CRUICKSHANK | AI in property: chatbots
Everyone’s talking about Artificial Intelligence, but which solution is right for your business? In this first in a series of guides on AI application, we run through the options for using chatbots in property.
What is a chatbot?
A chatbot is a computer programme that can interpret human language and respond with text or audio. These days chatbots are getting pretty sophisticated, with many programmed to understand natural language – that means it can get the gist of a sentence, even if the user asks it in an unusual way.
While some people may mourn the lack of human interaction, the real benefit of a chatbot is that they will do exactly as trained. Programmers can input every possible question or scenario and the chatbot will know what to say. There’s no such thing as an ‘off day’, or forgetting crucial information. Even better, a chatbot can be available 24/7 and can talk to thousands of customers at the same time.
These days, brand identity is more important than ever before and customers value personality. Chatbots can be programmed to embody a company’s tone of voice and will deliver it exactly without training. Using this form of automation is a great way to keep up with customers’ preferred communication methods too, as AI bots can communicate via channels such as Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger.
AskPorter 2
AskPorter is designed to aid property managers respond to maintenance requests
How can chatbots be used by property professionals?
While there are several ways this technology could be utilised, chatbots are best used for taking care of mundane, time consuming costs. This could be by letting agents using Hey Landlord to respond to constantly asked questions, such as when the rent is due, or where to put the bins out. AI technology is equally useful for booking viewing appointments, as data processing skills ensure double booking won’t happen!
Chatbots can be of great use to both tenants and property managers when things go wrong outside of working hours. AskPorter can be programmed to provide advice for simple maintenance issues, or log more serious problems and even book tradespeople.
Estate agents and letting agents can also benefit from an AI ‘recommends’ function. This takes is consideration the features of previous properties browsed by customers and makes suggestions of other potential listings of interest. Automabots is one company that does just that, using Facebook Messenger to communicate with customers.
Automabots real estate chatbot
Automabots’ system makes recommendations to home buyers via Facebook Messenger
How much does it cost to ’employ’ a chatbot?
There are a few things to take into consideration before purchasing chatbot software. The cost will vary on your AI needs – whether it’s a simple service such as processing repetitive questions or something more complex, such as analysing naturalistic language to make viewing suggestions. Some companies offer customisable programmes, while others provide a completely bespoke solution.
Usually there will be an upfront cost as well as a recurring subscription fee to the company providing the technology. You’ll need a server to host your chatbot, the size of which will depend on the volume and complexity of conversations with customers.
Companies providing chatbot solutions for real estate
Aiva – A virtual sales representative who communicates via Facebook Messenger.
Apartment Ocean – Automates common customer queries, and can also be used to schedule property viewings and maintenance requests.
Ask Porter – Provides maintenance advice for tenants and logs more complex repairs requests.
Automabots – Uses naturalistic language to evaluate exactly the type of properties a customer is looking for and make suggestions, either via a web app or Facebook messenger.
HelloAlex – Designed to respond to customers’ queries extremely quickly to generate more leads.
Hey Landlord – ChatBot answers repetitive questions such as where the gas meter is located or when bins are emptied to free up agent time for more complex queries.
Humley – This AI system can process complex natural language, which can be used to answer social media complaints amongst other functions.
Open Box – ‘Rob Sparke’ the AI assistant is completely customisable not only in what it says but what it takes care of, which means it can be used in many ways.
Article Source: https://placetech.net/products/ai-in-property-chatbots/
Friday, 27 September 2019
Thursday, 26 September 2019
Ish Jindal: A Comprehensive Guide for using Chatbots in your Restaurant
Dominos, TGIF and Pizza Hut all have chatbots and you can too.
Early last year, a high-level Uber executive named Chris Messina claimed that 2016 would be the year of conversational commerce. If you don’t know what that means, then you are normal.
But if you work in the restaurant industry, you should definitely change that.
Silicon Valley has an uncanny habit of creating new tech trends that turn industries on their heads. Conversational commerce is one of those tech trends and the restaurant industry is one of its first targets.
This is your comprehensive guide on why this is the case and how you can get ahead of the curve.
Here’s how this is article is structured. In the sections 1 and 2, I am going to explain what conversational commerce is and why there is growing buzz around it in the tech space. Skip to section 3 if you already know all of this. In section 3, I will discuss what this new tech trend means for the restaurant industry in particular. Finally, section 4 will give you resources you need to get started.
Enjoy!
1. What is conversational commerce?
The term sounds jargony at first, but when you break it down to its fundamental parts, it is fairly basic. Conversational commerce is the process of conducting business by talking to someone. The vast majority of business conducted in human history has been conversational commerce.
If you have ever gone to a corner store, pharmacy or a shopping mall and talked to any of the store attendants you have engaged in conversational commerce.
It can even occur over distances. Ever ordered food through the phone? Or chatted with someone to buy something from them? Those count as conversational commerce as well.
2. Why it matters
There are three reasons you should care about conversational commerce:
Reason 1: The growing popularity of messaging apps.
Think about all the apps you use everyday. A messaging app surely figures near the top of the list.
Unsurprisingly, this is the case for most people with a smartphone. The chart below shows the number of people using the top 4 messaging apps vs the number of people using the top 4 social media apps over time.
In 2015, the top messaging apps overtook the top social network apps in usage by a wide margin.
Implication 1: Your customers are devoting hours of their attention to conversational apps.
Implication 2: Your customers are used to the chat interface because they use it on a daily basis (you will find out why this is important in Section 3).
Reason 2: The proliferation of platforms that allow customer interaction.
The potential of conversational commerce has not gone unnoticed by companies in the space. In the year after Messina’s statement:
Facebook introduced its Messenger bot platform which allows Facebook pages to create automated chat experiences with users
Kik, Telegram and Line developed their existing bot platforms further
Viber opened up public accounts for companies to talk to people
iMessage added apps within chats.
Seemingly WhatsApp is the only big chat app missing in action (as an Indian this makes me sad), but even they have announced plans for commercial accounts soon. In fact, they are already doing beta testing of commercial accounts with a few businesses now.
Implication: You can now easily interact with your customers in the apps that they use most.
Reason 3: The Increasing capability of Artificial Intelligence.
Conversational commerce has always been hampered by the need for human labour. We get tired, we can only talk to one person at a time, we get stressed out, and most importantly we need to be paid. This makes us too expensive and slow for certain tasks.
Till recently, the solution has been to get customers to serve themselves. Think about travel booking as an example. We have shifted from a model of asking travel agents to bundle flight and hotel bookings for us, to doing it ourselves using the plethora of online hotel and flight booking sites available at our fingertips.
Why? Because we can instantly book flight tickets and hotel rooms on Expedia for cheaper than any travel agent could afford to charge (There is a great piece explaining this shift better and more in-depth that you should check out if you have the time. Here is the link)
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is slowly enabling us to shift back to a paradigm where the user does less on their own. An ideal AI travel assistant would be able to take your travel requirements and book all the flights and hotels you need in one bundle like a travel agent. Unlike a travel agent though, they could do it instantly like an app and for cheaper because there is no human that needs to be paid sitting at the back. Computers cease to be a tool used to do something yourself and more an assistant that is doing things for you.
Before you get too excited we are still a few years away from such a travel assistant. But the underlying AI technology is becoming cheaper, more advanced and readily available. Google, Facebook and IBM all have AI resources available for anyone to use right now.
Implication: Conversational Commerce is becoming cheaper to engage in.
A Quick Note on AI
There are two caveats to consider when thinking about AI. First, AI as it is currently available is still quite raw.
Second, if you are willing to sacrifice the complexity of the interaction, you do not need AI to create a good and cheap conversational commerce experience.
You’ll find out why conversational commerce is still beneficial without AI in the next section.
3. How can restaurants use this tech?
Restaurants are arguably the pioneers of conversational commerce. One of the only reasons I still use my smartphone to make calls is when I am ordering food. But even this basic use case could stand to be improved significantly by new technology. The primary new channel through which conversational commerce can occur is chatbots.
A chatbot is a piece of software that can respond to a customer’s messages in a chat interface using either AI or pre-programmed rules. The examples we gave above of the AI fail and the hotel booking were both examples of chatbots.
Where can customers find them?
Customers can interact with them in popular messaging apps that support chatbots (FB Messenger, Telegram, Line, Kik) or even on your website.
The most obvious use case for such a technology is for food ordering. Users could use a food ordering chatbot much like they would a phone ordering system except instead of talking to a staff member they chat with the bot.
Another possible use could be a chatbot for taking feedback. Bangalore based food chain Bhukkad uses a conversational feedback form for their delivery orders. You can read more about their experience here or check out the bot that they use over here:
Real-world Examples of Restaurant Chatbots
The three most prominent users of chatbots in the restaurant space are Domino’s, TGI Friday and Pizza Hut. Dominos and Pizzahut use it for food ordering and TGI Friday for making reservations.
What are the advantages of a chatbot?
This is a natural question to ask. All of the examples above could be implemented through an app or a website so why use a bot?
Let’s break it down:
Bots require no extra downloads
Bots have one clear advantage over apps in particular. Customers do not have to download anything extra to use a bot. If you use GrubHub for delivery and a customer has Eat24, the probability that the customer downloads Eat24 just to order from your restaurant is quite low. The average American downloads 1 app per month. In developing market like India, where people have cheaper phones with less memory, the probability becomes lower.
As Cliff Kuang from FastCo Design put it
There’s an enormous amount of friction associated with learning about a new app, downloading it, signing up for it, and then remembering you even have it.
Since users can interact with bots in messaging apps they already have downloaded or in a web browser, the chance of them completing an order goes up.
Chat is mobile optimised
Regular websites don’t fair too much better than apps. While you don’t have to download anything extra to use a website, many websites have a tendency to suck on people’s phones. If they aren’t built correct, they can be slow, clunky and unresponsive. If they aren’t optimised for the phone screen, users can spend ungodly amounts of time pinching and zooming on the screen to figure out what is going on. Even if you do invest enough money to build a good website, the user’s internet connection could give out reducing your beautifully designed site to a continuous stream of loading screens.
Chatbots don’t face these problems. First, chat as an interface was designed with the mobile user in mind. So whether you implement it through an app or your website, the user can easily see what is exactly going on at all times.
Second, if you build a bot within a messaging app like FB Messenger, you can trust Facebook’s highly paid and highly trained UI team to make the interface responsive.
Finally, since each chat interaction happens on a single page the customer never needs to interact with a load screen.
The chat interface is familiar
Every website and app looks different. Even if you convince a user to use one of them, they have to learn how to navigate their way around. Look at the Domino’s website and bot again. With the website there is so much happening on the screen you do not know where to click.
With the bot on the other hand, the customer knows exactly what to do. The interface is similar to one they use everyday.
Chat feels more human than apps and websites
When a customer interacts with a bot and an app the two experiences feel very different even if they achieve the same thing. Using an app feels like using a tool to achieve something, while using a bot feels like the computer is assisting you through a process.
Before you start building… (Read this whole section. It is very important)
There are two things to consider before you start building your bot. First, I would think long and hard about what function your bot will serve. Remember that AI technologies are still very raw so the tasks a customer gets done through a bot cannot be too complex. Also, in my personal experience of using bots everyday, I have found that the best bots tend to be those which do one or two tasks really well. Add too many tasks and the user can get easily confused because you have to run through far too many menus. I wrote a whole other piece on this that you should check out for a better understanding (Chris Messina recommended it so I promise it is good).
Second, I would try and figure out which platform you want to build your bot on. This will depend largely on where your customers are. Facebook Messenger is fairly universally used so bot developers tend to gravitate towards it. But if you are in a region where another messaging app is popular then build a bot on that platform (Line, Kik, Telegram, etc).
Also consider a bot on your website as an option. Website bots offer two advantages of their app based counterparts. First, in a lot of developing markets, like India, people do not like using Facebook Messenger because it uses too much data and runs very slowly on most phones. In a case like this, you could build a bot on the preferred messaging app in the region or on your website (this is especially true if WhatsApp is the preferred messaging app in your region because WhatsApp does not support bots). Second, Messenger (and Kik and Telegram) bots all face a discovery issue. People do not know how or where to find them. Your website on the other hand is already getting traffic and people can easily run into them on Google. But be warned, if you make a web-based bot it is harder to send users notifications once they have left the site. This could be a downside if you want to ping your customers with discount coupons over time.
Article Source: https://hellotars.com/blog/restaurant-chatbot-guides/
Early last year, a high-level Uber executive named Chris Messina claimed that 2016 would be the year of conversational commerce. If you don’t know what that means, then you are normal.
But if you work in the restaurant industry, you should definitely change that.
Silicon Valley has an uncanny habit of creating new tech trends that turn industries on their heads. Conversational commerce is one of those tech trends and the restaurant industry is one of its first targets.
This is your comprehensive guide on why this is the case and how you can get ahead of the curve.
Here’s how this is article is structured. In the sections 1 and 2, I am going to explain what conversational commerce is and why there is growing buzz around it in the tech space. Skip to section 3 if you already know all of this. In section 3, I will discuss what this new tech trend means for the restaurant industry in particular. Finally, section 4 will give you resources you need to get started.
Enjoy!
1. What is conversational commerce?
The term sounds jargony at first, but when you break it down to its fundamental parts, it is fairly basic. Conversational commerce is the process of conducting business by talking to someone. The vast majority of business conducted in human history has been conversational commerce.
If you have ever gone to a corner store, pharmacy or a shopping mall and talked to any of the store attendants you have engaged in conversational commerce.
It can even occur over distances. Ever ordered food through the phone? Or chatted with someone to buy something from them? Those count as conversational commerce as well.
2. Why it matters
There are three reasons you should care about conversational commerce:
Reason 1: The growing popularity of messaging apps.
Think about all the apps you use everyday. A messaging app surely figures near the top of the list.
Unsurprisingly, this is the case for most people with a smartphone. The chart below shows the number of people using the top 4 messaging apps vs the number of people using the top 4 social media apps over time.
In 2015, the top messaging apps overtook the top social network apps in usage by a wide margin.
Implication 1: Your customers are devoting hours of their attention to conversational apps.
Implication 2: Your customers are used to the chat interface because they use it on a daily basis (you will find out why this is important in Section 3).
Reason 2: The proliferation of platforms that allow customer interaction.
The potential of conversational commerce has not gone unnoticed by companies in the space. In the year after Messina’s statement:
Facebook introduced its Messenger bot platform which allows Facebook pages to create automated chat experiences with users
Kik, Telegram and Line developed their existing bot platforms further
Viber opened up public accounts for companies to talk to people
iMessage added apps within chats.
Seemingly WhatsApp is the only big chat app missing in action (as an Indian this makes me sad), but even they have announced plans for commercial accounts soon. In fact, they are already doing beta testing of commercial accounts with a few businesses now.
Implication: You can now easily interact with your customers in the apps that they use most.
Reason 3: The Increasing capability of Artificial Intelligence.
Conversational commerce has always been hampered by the need for human labour. We get tired, we can only talk to one person at a time, we get stressed out, and most importantly we need to be paid. This makes us too expensive and slow for certain tasks.
Till recently, the solution has been to get customers to serve themselves. Think about travel booking as an example. We have shifted from a model of asking travel agents to bundle flight and hotel bookings for us, to doing it ourselves using the plethora of online hotel and flight booking sites available at our fingertips.
Why? Because we can instantly book flight tickets and hotel rooms on Expedia for cheaper than any travel agent could afford to charge (There is a great piece explaining this shift better and more in-depth that you should check out if you have the time. Here is the link)
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is slowly enabling us to shift back to a paradigm where the user does less on their own. An ideal AI travel assistant would be able to take your travel requirements and book all the flights and hotels you need in one bundle like a travel agent. Unlike a travel agent though, they could do it instantly like an app and for cheaper because there is no human that needs to be paid sitting at the back. Computers cease to be a tool used to do something yourself and more an assistant that is doing things for you.
Before you get too excited we are still a few years away from such a travel assistant. But the underlying AI technology is becoming cheaper, more advanced and readily available. Google, Facebook and IBM all have AI resources available for anyone to use right now.
Implication: Conversational Commerce is becoming cheaper to engage in.
A Quick Note on AI
There are two caveats to consider when thinking about AI. First, AI as it is currently available is still quite raw.
Second, if you are willing to sacrifice the complexity of the interaction, you do not need AI to create a good and cheap conversational commerce experience.
You’ll find out why conversational commerce is still beneficial without AI in the next section.
3. How can restaurants use this tech?
Restaurants are arguably the pioneers of conversational commerce. One of the only reasons I still use my smartphone to make calls is when I am ordering food. But even this basic use case could stand to be improved significantly by new technology. The primary new channel through which conversational commerce can occur is chatbots.
A chatbot is a piece of software that can respond to a customer’s messages in a chat interface using either AI or pre-programmed rules. The examples we gave above of the AI fail and the hotel booking were both examples of chatbots.
Where can customers find them?
Customers can interact with them in popular messaging apps that support chatbots (FB Messenger, Telegram, Line, Kik) or even on your website.
The most obvious use case for such a technology is for food ordering. Users could use a food ordering chatbot much like they would a phone ordering system except instead of talking to a staff member they chat with the bot.
Another possible use could be a chatbot for taking feedback. Bangalore based food chain Bhukkad uses a conversational feedback form for their delivery orders. You can read more about their experience here or check out the bot that they use over here:
Real-world Examples of Restaurant Chatbots
The three most prominent users of chatbots in the restaurant space are Domino’s, TGI Friday and Pizza Hut. Dominos and Pizzahut use it for food ordering and TGI Friday for making reservations.
What are the advantages of a chatbot?
This is a natural question to ask. All of the examples above could be implemented through an app or a website so why use a bot?
Let’s break it down:
Bots require no extra downloads
Bots have one clear advantage over apps in particular. Customers do not have to download anything extra to use a bot. If you use GrubHub for delivery and a customer has Eat24, the probability that the customer downloads Eat24 just to order from your restaurant is quite low. The average American downloads 1 app per month. In developing market like India, where people have cheaper phones with less memory, the probability becomes lower.
As Cliff Kuang from FastCo Design put it
There’s an enormous amount of friction associated with learning about a new app, downloading it, signing up for it, and then remembering you even have it.
Since users can interact with bots in messaging apps they already have downloaded or in a web browser, the chance of them completing an order goes up.
Chat is mobile optimised
Regular websites don’t fair too much better than apps. While you don’t have to download anything extra to use a website, many websites have a tendency to suck on people’s phones. If they aren’t built correct, they can be slow, clunky and unresponsive. If they aren’t optimised for the phone screen, users can spend ungodly amounts of time pinching and zooming on the screen to figure out what is going on. Even if you do invest enough money to build a good website, the user’s internet connection could give out reducing your beautifully designed site to a continuous stream of loading screens.
Chatbots don’t face these problems. First, chat as an interface was designed with the mobile user in mind. So whether you implement it through an app or your website, the user can easily see what is exactly going on at all times.
Second, if you build a bot within a messaging app like FB Messenger, you can trust Facebook’s highly paid and highly trained UI team to make the interface responsive.
Finally, since each chat interaction happens on a single page the customer never needs to interact with a load screen.
The chat interface is familiar
Every website and app looks different. Even if you convince a user to use one of them, they have to learn how to navigate their way around. Look at the Domino’s website and bot again. With the website there is so much happening on the screen you do not know where to click.
With the bot on the other hand, the customer knows exactly what to do. The interface is similar to one they use everyday.
Chat feels more human than apps and websites
When a customer interacts with a bot and an app the two experiences feel very different even if they achieve the same thing. Using an app feels like using a tool to achieve something, while using a bot feels like the computer is assisting you through a process.
Before you start building… (Read this whole section. It is very important)
There are two things to consider before you start building your bot. First, I would think long and hard about what function your bot will serve. Remember that AI technologies are still very raw so the tasks a customer gets done through a bot cannot be too complex. Also, in my personal experience of using bots everyday, I have found that the best bots tend to be those which do one or two tasks really well. Add too many tasks and the user can get easily confused because you have to run through far too many menus. I wrote a whole other piece on this that you should check out for a better understanding (Chris Messina recommended it so I promise it is good).
Second, I would try and figure out which platform you want to build your bot on. This will depend largely on where your customers are. Facebook Messenger is fairly universally used so bot developers tend to gravitate towards it. But if you are in a region where another messaging app is popular then build a bot on that platform (Line, Kik, Telegram, etc).
Also consider a bot on your website as an option. Website bots offer two advantages of their app based counterparts. First, in a lot of developing markets, like India, people do not like using Facebook Messenger because it uses too much data and runs very slowly on most phones. In a case like this, you could build a bot on the preferred messaging app in the region or on your website (this is especially true if WhatsApp is the preferred messaging app in your region because WhatsApp does not support bots). Second, Messenger (and Kik and Telegram) bots all face a discovery issue. People do not know how or where to find them. Your website on the other hand is already getting traffic and people can easily run into them on Google. But be warned, if you make a web-based bot it is harder to send users notifications once they have left the site. This could be a downside if you want to ping your customers with discount coupons over time.
Article Source: https://hellotars.com/blog/restaurant-chatbot-guides/
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