We say it all the time, and it bears repeating. When it comes to things like chatbots and improving your customer experience, you’re not reinventing the wheel. Plenty have come before you, and plenty will go after, all seeking the same answers and insights. Today, dozens of top brands nationwide are changing how businesses use social media and chatbots.
What better way than to learn by example? You could spend hours researching how to build the most effective chatbot and maximize what it can do for your audience. Or, you can see what the leading brands in the country are doing and take a note out of their book. The caveat here is that you need to be looking at both what you should and shouldn’t do to make your chatbot the most effective that it can be.
Starbucks has a chatbot in the app, making it ridiculously easy to do anything you need. You can order your favorite drink, find out when your order will be ready, and even get a total, all from the chatbot. You can even use voice commands instead of text input, which those on the go appreciate.
For anyone who’s ever been in the drive-thru line at Starbucks, you can vouch for the power of ordering ahead. With the chatbot, it’s seamless and straightforward, which is precisely what it should be.
Now, here’s a chatbot that’s making waves. This chatbot utilizes NLP to understand requests, provide style tips, and more. This platform is based on Kik Messenger, popular among the brand’s demographic. It features a personality quiz, personalized recommendations, and easy checkout features for simple shopping.
Bank of America created a chatbot named Erica to help consumers navigate online banking and gain valuable financial guidance. With the help of NLP and machine learning, Erica can learn users’ preferences and needs, track account use, and more. Plus, it comes with real-time updates and personalized advice.
Lyft has multiple ways to allow users to request rides, including Slack, Facebook Messenger, and Amazon Echo. The bot can tell you where your driver is, display their license plate, and keep you posted on their progress. It can even use simple Slack commands like “/lyft home,” making it easier than ever to grab a ride.
Whole Foods has a Facebook Messenger bot that makes shopping a breeze. Perhaps one of the best features is that you can search by emoji for certain recipes! Want some fish for dinner? Use a fish emoji and see what you can find. Searching for vegetables? Use an eggplant or leaf emoji and see what comes up. You can even filter recipes by dietary needs for added convenience.
Spotify is another app that uses Facebook Messenger for its chatbot. You can use it to search for and share music. It will also provide recommendations based on your mood, activity, and habits. You can select the music you want to listen to or ask the chatbot to play something you might like but haven’t already discovered.
Mastercard’s chatbot makes it simple for customers to check their accounts, transactions, and other details. Customers with Masterpass can also use the chatbot to connect directly to partners like FreshDirect and others to make purchases easily. You can input, “How much did I spend on gas in July?” and the chatbot will display all your gas transactions, as well as the total.
Pizza Hut has a chatbot that has added as much as 60% to the company’s order volume, with more than 100,000 interactions each month. You can use the chatbot to place an order, check your order status, and ask other questions. This is accessible from both Facebook Messenger and Twitter.
Like the H&M chatbot, Sephora uses Kik to provide its audience access to a personal assistant for makeup tutorials and more. The AI technology can provide personalized recommendations, beauty and personal care insights, and even product ratings and reviews.
The Facebook Messenger chatbot from the Wall Street Journal makes it easy to track news, stock quotes, and more. Users can customize alerts and type in simple commands to access metrics, stock quotes, other company insights, and more. This is a good choice for those in the finance space or investors who want easy tools.
Staples has worked for years to perfect customer service and make the entire experience more manageable. Using its Easy System in partnership with Watson from IBM, the Staples bot can answer all kinds of questions about orders, stock levels, and more. It is another bot based on Facebook Messenger, and it’s easy to use no matter what kind of information customers need.
Maya, the insurance chatbot from Lemonade, is our final example. This friendly guide helps you navigate insurance buying and ensures that you get the information and coverage you need. The avatar and friendly voice are welcoming, and the bot includes upselling techniques to enhance the quote process.
This chatbot offers an improved insurance shopping experience. It also automates part of the process, making it streamlined and simple. Lemonade has seen an increase in conversions among those who use the chatbot.
At Smith.ai, we know how powerful AI chatbots can be. That’s why we’ve developed our own AI voice assistant in addition to our existing live chat and chatbot solutions. Plus, we can even assist with your outreach campaigns and routine tasks like appointment scheduling and lead intake so that you can spend more time on what matters.
To learn more, schedule a consultation or reach out to hello@smith.ai.