After Facebook’s launch of the “Facebook Messenger Platform” to provide developers with free access to various chat bots and LINE’s launch of the “Messaging API”, chatbots have become major hits in online communities, and are now the key focus of discussions regarding community maintenance.
In fact, it is not the first time chatbots have grasped the attention of the public. In the 1960s, psychiatrists developed the chatbot ‘Eliza’for patients to chat with through text messages, thereby receiving the correct medical treatment needed. But the chatbots of today’s major hit should not be underestimated. With the latest AI technology, the chatbots are more fluent and natural in conversations than their predecessors. As online chat Apps (LINE, Messenger, WeChat, Whatsapp) are becoming more popular and prevalent in the modern society, featuring chatbots in such chat Apps cannot be easier. But how can we promote brand development through chatbots, in order to boost sales? Let us take a closer look to that through the following case studies.
Case 1: The DynaFont Love Letter Event
Font companiesare business companies with low visibility and of little concern from the general public. How can DynaFont make use of chatbots to increase visibility of its fan-page, so as to promote new advertisements and increase favorability of fans?
At the beginning of the event, by inviting the curiosity of consumers and lowering participation barriers, more and more consumers are encouraged to join in to the event. Participants only need to submit their postal codes to receive a special love letter from DynaFont.
When you activate the chatbot, it will ask for your post-code for confirmation, and the conversation does not end here with the love letter.
Once you answer, you will receive your own love letter for your Post-Code.
But it is not over yet. The chatbot will ask you a second question in hope toincrease interaction with the consumers. DynaFont is foreshadowing a next stage of the event, to let love continue.
On 8/7, we find out that the ‘second love letter’ is actually a newsfeed of a new advertisement.
The series of process is to make consumers feel like they are unique, and that their love letters are tailored and written just for themselves and nobody else. It does not matter if he or she is actually moved by the content of the letter, the experience of being acknowledged and the joy of receiving the love letter are enough to put a smile on their faces.
Case 2: An Online Business Start-up Fan-Page
In addition to the propagandas and the different activities,many fan-pages have started to process individual private chats or delve into specific themes of topics through private messaging. Application of chatbots in this must therefore be carried out carefully, in order to avoid overly divergent questions. Take the conversation below as an example. Why is the length of chat not as long as DynaFont’s? There are a few reasons for that to be considered.
1. The Setting of the First Question
The first question, or the key to activate the chatbot, is of utmost importance. It is not only a password to clear stages, but also must be related to consumers. Compare DynaFont’s ‘key’ with that of this business start-up fan-page, DynaFont’s ‘key’ is Post-Codes, while that of the fan-page is simply the word ‘start’. The latter has a significantly weaker link to the emotions and curiosity of the target consumers.
2. Chatbot’s Speech and Mode of Response
Even though consumers understand clearly they are just talking to a robot,but they still long for the feeling of chatting with another being,which might even result in a surprisingly interesting conversation, like when you talk with Siri. We will further explore here the feeling of chats.Apart from the topics, the style and length of a sentence are also closely related to the feeling of a conversation. We will once again compare DynaFont with the business start-up fan-page. It is not easy to notice the style of DynaFont’s sentences are more similar to that of the spoken language. The sentences are comparatively shorter, somewhat alike what we usually use to chat online; and that of the business start-up fan-page are closer to a preach. Why are there such differences? It is mostly due to the inseparable relationship between chatbots and the setting of its scripts.
To use the chatbot as a tool for brand marketing, it is important to understand how consumers think, and to deeply consider how the brand or product features can fit into the conversation.With every exchange of words during the conversation, the brand needs to produce an excellent script for the conversation, in order to constantly draw on the curiosity of consumers, thereby guiding them to learn more about the brand, or to walk right into your traps. Otherwise, the conversation can easily come to an end, despite having great tools (that is, a ‘smart’ chatbot).After its full rage in 2017, marketing talents must focus on how to best make use of the ‘human nature’ we are most familiar with on chatbots in 2018.