In our recently released report “Decision Maker’s Guide to Enterprise Intelligent Assistants,” Opus Research analyzes how chatbots on messaging-based platforms are still maturing and may be too early to entrust them with critical customer support tasks. We see the current opportunities for Facebook Messenger chatbots — and bots on competing messaging platforms — as residing higher up in the customer journey funnel.

In a recent article in DigiDay, Tanya Dua offers four examples of how brands are leveraging messaging chatbots to carry out customer service activities. A closer look at each of the use cases (Kia Motors, Marriott Rewards, KLM, and Expedia) underscores Opus Research’s position that messaging bots are currently best suited for promoting brand awareness and brand loyalty.

Kia Motors
Kia launched a Facebook Messenger bot to promote brand awareness for its new Niro model. The aptly named Nirobot, developed in partnership with Reply.ai, was designed to answer questions about the new car model and help people schedule test drives. Nirobot also debuted Nissan’s popular Niro Super Bowl ad on Messenger.

Nirobot is clearly an example of a chatbot that seeks to introduce prospects to a new product. Rather than providing what we traditionally think of as customer service, Nirobot is designed to lead new people into the top of the sales funnel.

Marriott Rewards
Marriott Rewards created a Messenger-based bot last spring that, according to another DigiDay article, missed the mark and was quickly shutdown. That ill-fated bot experiment resulted in the chatbot directly messaging people who had recently browsed for rooms at a Marriott property. The unsolicited messages weren’t well received.

Marriott re-vectored by creating a chatbot that helped customers link their Marriott and Starwood rewards accounts after the two brands merged. The new approach is a good example of how a conversational chatbot and assist in promoting brand loyalty.

KLM
Also mentioned in the DigiDay article, KLM released on Facebook Messenger chatbot last March to send notifications about checking in, flight delays, and other updates. The Dutch airline is also now using Digital Genius technology to assist its call center agents.

KLM’s 235 social media service agents rely on insights from Digital Genius’s deep learning algorithms to help them quickly find the best answers to people’s questions. This example supports the observation that chatbots aren’t yet a good solution for complex customer service interactions, but intelligent assistance tools are most definitely a great fit for improving customer service offered by human agents.

Expedia
Expedia’s Facebook Messenger chatbot is also listed among the customer service bots, something Opus we about after its launch last summer. The chatbot offered limited functionality and was basically a conversational search interface to facilitate locating a hotel property with availability on specific dates.

Radisson’s Edward chatbot, which we wrote about here, seems a better example of a customer service bot. Designed to run on SMS, the Radisson chatbot actually lets customers request assistance from hotel staff while they are at the hotel, and even register and get assistance with complaints.

Intelligent Assistance Still Better Suited to Customer Service
Dua’s article provides a great overview of four Facebook Messenger chatbots that brands are using to reach customers and prospects. The bottom line, though, is that each of these chatbots is more focused on brand promotion and building brand loyalty than on providing real customer service. When a customer has a question, complaint, or something that needs to be made right, human support agents or self-service tools, both supported by intelligent assistance technologies, offer a much better experience.

Categories: Conversational Intelligence, Intelligent Assistants, Articles

Tags: Facebook, customer experience, Customer service, Messenger, chatbots, Kia