Chatbots open up the conversational business battlefield: not only seeking speed, but also demanding better
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Social media and business connections
According to the [Social Media Report] (https://blog.bufferapp.com/social-media-2016) launched by Buffer in 2016, 85% of companies around the world have used social media to strengthen brand awareness in recent years. Among them, Facebook is undoubtedly the most familiar social media. As many as 93% of marketers use Facebook as a means of corporate marketing, showing that social media is an excellent channel for promoting brands and delivering messages.
But Facebook’s ambition is not just to be the world’s largest social media or advertising platform. Founder Zuckerberg also hopes that Facebook can be more closely connected with people’s daily lives. Therefore, as early as March 2015, Facebook had launched a payment service called “Facebook Pay” on Facebook Messenger for people in Europe and the United States.
As long as the user presses the $ symbol, he will be directed to a dedicated payment interface, and then clicks on the amount to pay. It sounds like this function is similar to the popular WeChat wallet or Alipay on the other side. It is obvious that many large companies want to do similar things, and they all hope to accelerate e-commerce transactions in the direction of mobile commerce.
At the F8 conference held in 2016, Facebook further announced the release of the chatbot (Chatbot) API and the Messenger Platform plan, making chatbots the new darling of the media.
The rise of chatbots
Simply put, a chatbot is a program that uses a conversational interface to interact, allowing users to quickly obtain information or services such as calling a ride, booking a seat, reading a newspaper, or placing an order through question and answer methods. Manufacturers including Tencent WeChat, LINE, Slack, Skype and Telegram have also invested in chatbot services. Of course, with the addition of Facebook, this kind of business that has emerged based on conversational methods has become more and more important to the world.
Looking at Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp owned by Facebook alone, their monthly active users have exceeded the 1 billion mark respectively, while WeChat’s monthly active users have also reached 889 million. These data highlight people’s ardent demand for social communication tools, and the highly sticky instant messaging software has also become a battleground for military strategists.
Since people are accustomed to communicating through instant messaging software and the chat interface is easy to use, people are very receptive to chatbots. This is one of the main reasons why conversational commerce is on the rise. So starting in 2016, major manufacturers have invested in the research and development of chatbots. Microsoft CEO Satya. Satya Nadella has even publicly declared the concept of “Conversation as a Platform” (http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-ceo-satya-nadella-on-conversations-as-a-platform-and-chatbots-2016-3). In addition, the well-known LINE company has recently opened applications for Bot API trial accounts to 10,000 developers around the world.
Recently, Facebook has cooperated with [TransferWise] (https://transferwise.com/), a company that is very active in the FinTech field. Through the chatbot developed by the company, users can freely transfer cash between the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the European Union. This chatbot does not involve real bank currency exchange services. In fact, it uses a third-party payment method to transfer the equivalent amount in the user’s account, so the handling fee is lower than that of banks.
Coincidentally, Apple Pay, which is currently well-known in the global mobile payment field, is also expected to transfer money through iMessage, so that users can quickly transfer money to relatives and friends! It is rumored that Apple will also launch a personal transfer service for iOS devices this fall, which is also exciting.
Diverse business application scenarios
With the rapid development of science and technology, chat robots are still evolving. In people’s life scenes, there must be many development spaces that are still unimaginable. To give a few examples, Bank of America will begin introducing artificial intelligence chatbot Erica this year to help bank customers establish better financial management and investment habits. The American Professional Basketball Association (NBA), which is currently in the midst of the playoffs, has also cooperated with Facebook to launch a chatbot. Netizens can check the results and watch exciting video highlights of the game by entering the name of their favorite team or player.
In addition, Capital One, which specializes in financial products such as credit cards, home loans, and car loans, also announced in March this year the launch of a chatbot called Eno, which allows customers to manage their funds directly through their smartphones. Customers can ask Eno questions about their account balances, recent transaction details, payment history and credit limits via text messages, and can even help customers pay their credit card bills.
The investment of online shopping operators is not to mention. Take the e-commerce giant eBay as an example. They have developed eBay Shopbot, which is like a personal shopping assistant for consumers, helping customers quickly find the products they want. In addition to the traditional text dialogue method, eBay Shopbot also provides image search services, allowing consumers to easily search for products through pictures, which is really convenient.
Conversational commerce is about delivering convenience, personalization, and decision support while people are on the go, with only partial attention to spare.
According to the “[2017 Global and Taiwan Entertainment and Media Industry Outlook Report] (https://www.pwc.tw/zh/news/press-release/press-20170607.html)” recently released by Zicheng United Accountants, it shows that people’s consumption habits and preferences have changed, and they are vulnerable to changes in consumer preferences, rapid technological advancement, and changes in business models. The report specifically mentioned that the impact of rapid technological advancement has also driven the “direct-to-consumer” strategy; and the pursuit of excellent user experience has become a unanimous goal of the industry.
The future of conversational commerce
“Conversational Commerce” (Conversational Commerce) with chatbots as the core, because it can directly face consumers, not only helps to increase the level of customer engagement (Customer Engagement), but also understands customer needs through interaction, thereby increasing the conversion rate of consumption.
With the help of chatbots, previously busy business owners can not only focus on their different tasks, but also provide the ultimate in personalized services and user experience based on the various needs of customers. These phenomena also echo the service tenet of the mobile era - not only to be fast, but also to be good!
★ Photo Credit: unsplash.com
★ Article source: This article was originally published in the July 2017 issue of “English Island” magazine
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