learning from the best branded bots: how chatbots flip ux norms and deliver new kinds of value
TRANSCRIPT
Lessons from the Best Branded Bots:How Chatbots Flip UX Norms and Deliver New Kinds of Value
David BerkowitzChief Strategy Officer, Sysomos
@sysomos / @dberkowitz
It’s two mints in one!
This presentation is unlike any I’ve put together, in that it’s a hybrid beast.
In one week in October 2017, I gave two talks on chatbots. First, at the Global Artificial Intelligence Conference in New York, I gave a talk on Lessons from the Best Branded Bots. Then, in Boston, at Jeff Pulver’s MoNage, I spoke about how Chatbots Flip UX Norms and Deliver New Kinds of Value. Both were new talks for me, but as I created them at the same time, I used some material from each one to inform the other. This is an annotated version that combines them.
Both of these stemmed from a project that was more of a hobby: collecting great examples of how marketers are using automated messaging and conversational commerce. This is shared publicly at bit.ly/brandedbots. You can find far more examples and details about marketers’ bots there, and I update it at least quarterly as I find more material. If you have examples of yours or others to include, plase let me know.
At Sysomos, the insights-driven social platform, we’ve created technologies to empower marketers and agencies to learn from their target audiences and interact with them. For more about this, please visit sysomos.com, or contact me for more information.
Thanks so much for taking the time to go through this. I look forward to learning much more about it, and I hope to learn from you as well.
David
I’m sharing this because I love the potential for conversational interfaces and
experiences. I worked in search engine marketing and social media marketing
in the early days, and this is the next generation of how language connects
marketers with their audiences.
To start understanding marketers’ perspectives,
consider the options they have with their website. See
the bold, beautiful imagery. We’ll focus on Victoria’s
Secret’s Pink brand, one of the more consistent first-
movers digitally.
Here’s their mobile app: lots of creative options with a
smaller form factor balanced out by added
functionality (eg location features, push notifications,
constant real estate on user’s phones, etc).
Remember Facebook apps? They were a thing, once.
It’s far more templatized, but it had some fun features
– quizzes, social couponing, games, organic reach for
promotions (those were the days).
And now, Instagram. There are video and carousels
and other image sizes, but it’s generally what you see
here: smartly shot square images, with most reach
and engagement coming from ad buys.
And now… the banded bot. It screams, “Make the
logo bigger!” And pretty much every bot looks like this
– even a better bot like this, running on Kik, with tone
and content that do well to engage the audience.
Messaging platforms focus on user experience (UX),
as they should. But marketers need to push for a
better brand experience (BX). The status quo does
not work for large consumer brands.
Here’s Katy Perry’s Kik bot for her perfume produced
by Coty. It was the first US bot to offer a real product
for virtual currency. Look at the difference between
how the brand promoted the experience outside of
Kik, and how it looked on Kik.
This is a fun game. Here are bots from two clothing
brands. Can you tell which is which? Stripping the tiny
logo out at left, it’s essentially impossible. Answers
are in the notes field. An aside: these are among the
better-crafted bots.
Your brand
here
or maybe here
or here
The brand experience is practically invisible here. It’s
like the brands have been uploaded to the cloud
somewhere; they’re no longer anywhere near where
the consumers are.
We live in a post-brand
world.
And now we have Brandless! It’s like a dollar store, but with $3 items. I’m not convinced
anyone wants to shop this way (even Amazon Essentials brands benefit from reviews and
comparing prices to other brands; choosing to pay $3 for non-branded toothpaste or $4 for
Crest is at least a choice). But it’s a sign of where things are going.
Discovery
Initiation
Acquisition
Persistence
Engagement
Retention
Different media, different experiences: the DIAPER model
Here’s a new framework I created for the MoNage talk. I analyzed
digital platforms across six criteria:
• Discovery: How well one can find the branded experience (a
website, app, bot, etc)
• Initiation: How easy is it for consumers to start the brand
experience
• Acquisition: How easily can marketers pay to attract larger
audiences
• Persistence: How well brand remains visible to consumers
when the branded experience isn’t in use
• Engagement: How rich the branded experience is while
consumers deal with it
• Retention: What are the options available for brands to hook
consumers back in
This is a subjective scorecard. In the next two slides, I first color-
code the brand experience (BX) – green is good, yellow is okay,
and red is poor. And then on the following slide, I share the
rationale.
Different media, different experiences: the DIAPER model
Websites Mobile Apps Mobile Sites Messenger Bots Alexa Skills
Discovery
Initiation
Acquisition
Persistence
Engagement
Retention
@Sysomos / @dberkowitz
Different media, different experiences: the DIAPER model
Websites Mobile Apps Mobile Sites Messenger Bots Alexa Skills
Discovery Search engines/
social media
App Store/
Play Store
Search engines/
social media
Lists, in-app
recommendations
Alexa app,
Amazon.com
Initiation Click bookmark /
extension; type in
URL; search for it
Tap icon, notification Type in or search for
URL
Send message; tap
notification
Voice trigger
Acquisition Search/display ads
(among others)
Search/social/app
store ads
Search/display ads
(among others)
Facebook ads,
owned channels
Owned channels
Persistence Bookmark / browser
extension
Icon on screen or in
folder
N/A (occasionally,
bookmarks / saved
to home screen)
May appear in
recent conversation
list
N/A
Engagement Rich branded
experience
Rich branded
experience
Rich enough
branded experience
Uses FB design;
little differentiation
Typically uses
Alexa’s voice;
differentiation tough
Retention Email marketing,
retargeting, browser
push alerts
Push notifications Email marketing Push notifications You remember you
used it?; now has
‘green ring’ alerts
Here’s one example that shows
how voice apps may overcome at
least one issue – that of how the
apps tend to use the voice and
style of the platform, not the brand.
Vogue is a strong print brand, and
it used the Google Home voice bot
as a complement, offering celebrity
interviews from its September 2017
issue to bring the magazine to life.
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,Courage to change the things I can,And wisdom to know the difference.
Have serenity to accept what you cannot change
Reach of platforms
UX of platforms
Consumer behavior
Marketers can’t control the reach of platforms, and whether their audience is more likely to use Messenger or
iMessage. Marketers can’t influence the UX of the platforms either. And consumer behavior typically doesn’t
change in an instant. Most people who don’t like calling customer service, for example, won’t tend to realize
or trust that they can have such exchanges over chatbots.
Have courage to change the things you can
Focus on BX
Strategy
Approach to platforms
Go native
Go bigger
Marketers can pursue a focus on BX. They can have a strategy for how they communicate with customers and
prospects. They can have a reason for being on any given platform, and tactics for how they use it. They can consider
incorporating chat into their sites, mobile apps, and other touchpoints. And they can dream bigger – should voice-
activated assistants be in retail stores? Could chatbots power digital billboards? There are lots of bad ideas that could
surface here, but perhaps a few could be relevant for a given marketer.
What’s next…
From here, we dive into a review of highlights from some of the Best Brandd
Bots. These examples are all in bit.ly/brandedbots, but here, they are
organized differently. These aren’t annotated, but you can find links in the
notes field for bots, media coverage, and image sources.
automation
before
artificial
24
25
26
Turn virtual
experiences into
real-world
value
27
28
Make it
Personal
29
30
Serve LOCaL
markets
31
32
adapt to GLOBal
markets
33
34
35
Combine audio
with visual
36
37
Cater to the
business crowd
38
39
40
Integrate with
mobile apps
41
42
43
Educate first,
sell later
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
Integrate
others software
with your
hardware
51
52
OFFER LIVE CHAT
aS aN OPTION
54
55
56
dont check
your sense of
humor at the
door
57
58
59
60
Make history
61
62
63
BE UBIQUITOUS
64
65
66
Have a
personality
67
68
69
Play games
70
71
72
SET BOUNDARIES
73
74
FUTURE OF BOTS:
Integration
75
76
77
a Few challenges
to learn from
78
79
80
81
82
SO LONG,
AND THANKS FOR
ALL THE BOTS
DAVID [email protected]@SYSOMOS / @DBERKOWITZ
From one of the top 3 monage.io presenters in the 10/26 9:45am time slot