The Beat - Summer 2018

INSIGHTS Summer 2018 05
THAT’S FOLD-TASTIC »
that within five years, companies will start growing and
segmenting Messenger lists in the same way they’ve
historically built out email lists.
A number of high-profile brands are experimenting
with chatbots and seeing early success. Whole Foods,
for example, recently built out a recipe database that
mobile users can access by chatting with the brand
on Facebook. Customers type in the names of various
ingredients, and the chatbot sends inventive recipe
ideas in response. The bot even recognizes emojis; for
example, sending an apple emoji may prompt a recipe
for apple turnover.
Using a similar strategy, Domino’s Pizza has
integrated bot-fueled ordering services into its social
media presence. Their chatbot service provides
customers with full menu options when they send the
word PIZZA via Messenger. Domino’s timing with the
launch of this service was impeccable: the company
released the tool shortly ahead of the 2017 Super Bowl,
capitalizing on the technology as a PR push to reach
Facebook’s billion active Messenger users. (That number
has now grown to more than 1.3 billion.)
Sephora recently deployed a Facebook Messenger
bot as part of its overarching social strategy. The
company lets customers book in-person makeovers
directly from Messenger. Like Whole Foods and
Domino’s, Sephora has found a niche that blends its
products with valuable—and even fun—two-way
conversations with chatbots, ultimately nudging
customers closer to the point of purchase.
Beyond Messenger, some brands are building
chatbots with third-party platforms that use SMS,
WhatsApp, Viber, or WeChat. Marvel has conducted
one of the most innovative experiments with chatbots
to date, powered by a company called Conversable. The
tool allows fans to “text” with comic book characters
such as Spider-Man or Guardians of the Galaxy’s Star-
Lord. Duolingo, a language-learning app, has an inventive
chatbot that lets users practice newly acquired foreign
language vocabulary in a conversational way with a
computer who won’t judge and can gently correct a
beginner’s mistakes.
Will chatbots replace email as marketing’s go-to
darling? Probably not entirely—and not immediately,
either. But given the early success metrics, chatbots are
certainly worth chatting about. n
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